FM sounds

3DOFan · Post by **3DOFan** » Mon Oct 08, 2012 8:12 pm

I was wondering if anyone knows how to make/replicate all the basic 2 and 4 op fm sounds ie: bells,bass,slap bass,brass,electric piano,semiacoustic piano,saxophone,saw/square chords,organs,leads,strings,drums,distortion guitar,choirs...etc.

I've been able to get rough approximations of some of these sounds, but not as crisp or accurate as that of a sega genesis/sega master system/dx7.

If someone had a guide, sound library with a lot of fm/cross mod sounds on the R3 that would help a lot.

Also on a sidenote, does anyone know of any synth that uses something like an Adlib? also, what would be the best synth for FM in the Yamaha PSS/PSR series, when it comes to modern analog modelling synths, and in general?

Just to contribute rather than ask a boatload of questions, here is what I've been able to make with the R3's FM without really knowing what I was doing.

http://soundcloud.com/blgraffix14/smb3- ... korg-r3-fm

3DOFan · Post by **3DOFan** » Wed Oct 10, 2012 11:22 pm

Anybody really know? if not, does anyone know a place with people with enough knowledge of FM to be able to simplify creating all the basic FM sounds with the R3's synthesis engine?

thehighesttree · Post by **thehighesttree** » Fri Oct 12, 2012 1:59 pm

Get a DX7: they're pretty cheap and you'll have allllllll the FM you want

I hear they're pretty hellish to program and I have no personal experience with FM synthesis beyond what my VAs can do. I think ultimately you should go this direction because you clearly want the sonic palette that's unique to FM. Personally, I always associate FM with corny 80's electric pianos, but lately I've been thinking about it more in a gritty Sega Genesis-type way. I'm a firm believer that different sound-machines do have their own "soul", so I can't blame you for looking for THAT sound. The equivalent for me is probably the SID chip of the Commdore 64...check some demos or download the High Voltage SID Collection and let the thousands of tunes just play randomly if you want an idea what it's like.

If you're looking for that general type of sound with your R3, you might wanna milk the CrossMod, comb filtering and waveshaping power of the R3 to make really buzzy gritty sounds.

Re-Member · Post by **Re-Member** » Mon Oct 15, 2012 5:06 pm

Here's some tips for staying close to Yahama FM styled sounds:

1. OSC 1 and OSC 2 should both set to sine wave.
2. You actually don't want to use the filter since the early DX synths didn't have a filter.
2. OSC 2 volume should be set to zero since it will be acting as a modulation source for OSC 1.
4. When using Cross Mod and/or Ring Mod, the key to shaping the sound will be tweaking the tuning of OSC 2. You can do it manually or with an envelope, LFO and the mod sequencer.

I can't say I'm particularly good at programming "realistic" FM sounds, so I don't have any advice beyond this. I will say though that I highly recommend the DX200 desktop synth. You can import any of the old DX patches into it, plus it has a handful of knobs that make programming FM feel more like programming a subtractive synth.

3DOFan · Post by **3DOFan** » Mon Oct 15, 2012 8:31 pm

What do you think of the Yamaha FB-01 or TQ-5?

sohatyi · Post by **sohatyi** » Mon Oct 15, 2012 11:03 pm

The fb01 is a bit limited, how about a tx81z? I have a dx11 (a tx81z with keys practically) and it is great, only cost me £40!

3DOFan · Post by **3DOFan** » Mon Oct 15, 2012 11:55 pm

i'm looking for something more portable, that's why I brought up the FB-01 and TQ-5, are there any other more portable yamaha synths that don't take up much space? and why is the FB-01 limited? isn't it very similar to the tx81z?