FM Synthesis (techniques, anecdotes)

  On 4/30/2024 at 7:18 AM, Crazing said:

The ploque op7 has a random button which is a very useful feature. The algorithms can't be changed though through some kind of matrix which is kind of annoying. 

It’s meant to be a bit-accurate emulsion of the DX7, so of course you would only get to select between the algorithms that were available on the DX7. 

Component synthesis with the TX816, neat idea:

  On 2/17/2025 at 4:35 AM, psn said:

Component synthesis with the TX816, neat idea:

 

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this is super good stuff! love love love the sounds he's getting with it

it sorta surprised me to hear about because i've been working towards some ideas with FM synth combinations for the last few months with plans to do similar-ish ideas as this at times (tho with different synths i'm not sure it counts) ....i'm often playing the same/similar thing on multiple synths and letting them sync up at times to give these super rich waves of synthesis in line with what he's getting there at times. though his is really well done and matured, i'm still in early stages of experimenting and recording and patchwriting and such. very cool what he's done here, i'm sure one could easily replicate this in software of course.

  On 2/18/2025 at 2:18 AM, auxien said:

this is super good stuff! love love love the sounds he's getting with it

it sorta surprised me to hear about because i've been working towards some ideas with FM synth combinations for the last few months with plans to do similar-ish ideas as this at times (tho with different synths i'm not sure it counts) ....i'm often playing the same/similar thing on multiple synths and letting them sync up at times to give these super rich waves of synthesis in line with what he's getting there at times. though his is really well done and matured, i'm still in early stages of experimenting and recording and patchwriting and such. very cool what he's done here, i'm sure one could easily replicate this in software of course.

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this might just be me in a mood but i think its kind of silly to call this “component synthesis” and act like its something new. even ancient organs had split keyboards where you could have a different sounds on different voices. any  old analog synth had multiple waveforms that should be mixed differently. generally this is just called multitimbral and its ridiculously common

  On 2/18/2025 at 3:55 AM, exitonly said:

this might just be me in a mood but i think its kind of silly to call this “component synthesis” and act like its something new. even ancient organs had split keyboards where you could have a different sounds on different voices. any  old analog synth had multiple waveforms that should be mixed differently. generally this is just called multitimbral and its ridiculously common

maybe? idk.

i think forming the sounds created with the idea of purposefully utilizing the alterations possible between voices isn't exactly new or unique of course, but pushing them together in unique ways, crafting patches for them with unique goals in mind, or creating the sounds by way of some interesting manipulation of the voices might be considered unique.

is it a new form of synthesis? idk, i'm no academic. maybe not. maybe a unique modern twist on a composition tool. 

the sounds he's getting in there are often very lovely, that's most of what i was paying attention to. some really rich and a bit novel maybe. i liked it, it got me thinking about composition/etc. 

https://roberthenke.com/technology/operator.html

Henke talking about FM synthesis as Ableton's Operator just turned 20

3 folks who know a lot more about synthesis than me talk about that 'component synthesis' video. 

At first I thought it was a bit of a reach calling it a new type of synthesis seeing as how its essentially just a refinement of controlling the parameters of fm, but Nick Batt makes some good points there, re: LA synthesis, and the idea you could make a plugin to do this potentially creating some new sounds. It does sound monolithic doesnt it? props to that guy. I always thought the TX816 and other 'stacked' megasynths were a bit overkill and redundant but its kind of making me re-asess that view.