Fm synthesis "tips & advices"

[Philippe Arnal]

I try for the first time an Fm processor "Fm8", so where to start...
If any have some advices or good tip...

At first sight, it look like an 6 oscillators processor...

 Enveloppe are fun, far away from simple adsr.
i use them to make a first patch, with severals sines at different pitch evolving in time,

More later...

[jonny]

Hi Philippe,

I have been exploring FM synthesis a lot recently since I've been using a TX81z (a four operator synth).  The most useful guide I've come across is called FM Theory and Applications, by John Chowning, the man who created FM synthesis.

Here is a link to the PDF I found of the book, which is out of print (yes, the domain has a strange name, but it's fine.:
http://www.spoogeworld.com/music/instruments/yamaha/fm_theory_and_applications.pdf

If you are interested in hearing some of my experiments with FM synthesis, check out my blog noisecycle.com.

[billygomberg]

FM8 is definitely the place to start.  While it does have a lot more features than the OG FM synths (DX and TX series), the expanded interface is a boon to rookies - it's much easier to pick apart the presets (something NI provides in spades) and get on to your own experiments.

here's a contemporary tutorial featuring FM8:

http://nextstepaudio.com/synthesis/trifonic-fm-synthesis-101/

and something from an earlier generation of explorers:

http://www.sfu.ca/~truax/fmtut.html