How to use an FM synth?

[Ocular]

I love sound design. One of my favorite things about making music is sound design. The problem is, I have no clue how to use an FM synth. I normally use Massive, 3xOsc, and other synths that come with my DAW, but I have Sytrus and FM8 and don't know how to use either of them.

[Lavender_Harmony]

......Read the manual?

[Alycs]

Flail Randomly on the keyboard until a good sound comes out and the save it as a cool name. You then just make tiny adjustments to that one preset for every song.

[Symphon]

I should really do a manual on FM synths since a lot of people seem to question them...

If you want to figure out how to use FM synths, try out Toxic Biohazard. If you have Sytrus, you should have that as well since it comes with FL. It's a really simplified FM synthesizer. Here's a tutorial for TB: viewtopic.php?f=13&t=6658

[vladnuke]

Does FM8 come with a manual? I couldn't find one amidst the 12 dvds I had to pile into my laptop.

[GumsOfGabby]

Use the golden ratio ofcourse

[froggy]

Watch these videos and read your synth's manual, all will become clear with time and experience





Just stick with sine waves at first, not having to worry about the waveforms makes it easier to get your head around

[froggy]

Does FM8 come with a manual? I couldn't find one amidst the 12 dvds I had to pile into my laptop.

Yep, I don't remember where the installer puts it though so here's a link

https://www.dropbox.com/s/mm3d6vfbsnz8k ... lish.pdf?m

[Stars In Autumn]

I basically read part of the manual tonight. It's kind of complicated, heh. You basically get to make an infinite number of sounds, but just messing around with FM8, it seems pretty easy to make bad sounds.

[Navron]

Even after reading the manual, FM synthesis can really only be learned by playing around.

It isn't necessarily about ratios and whatever routing matrix you design. The most important thing regarding FM synthesis (IMO) is envelopes. Utilizing various ratios and routing, you're limited to a few types of sounds, but the real magic in FM is how the envelopes (especially the modulators) fade in/out, and how that effects the sound.

[itroitnyah]

Yeah, I've read through the Sytrus manual and took notes on every single function and what it did, and I still didn't entirely get how to use an FM synth. I think all of us can really say that a lot of sound design experience and skill, regardless of what type of synth you're using, comes from practice.

[GumsOfGabby]

Yeah, I've read through the Sytrus manual and took notes on every single function and what it did

No, you didn't

[HMage]

The most important thing regarding FM synthesis (IMO) is envelopes. Utilizing various ratios and routing, you're limited to a few types of sounds, but the real magic in FM is how the envelopes (especially the modulators) fade in/out, and how that effects the sound.

Envelopes are important. For any kind of synth.

A good bassy pluck is only a few notches away from smeary one.