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FM synths

I had a look at the demo, missed to many parameters I tend to use often like fixed Frequency (at least almost) down to 0Hz or feedback or scalable waveforms for every Operator, but its pretty affordable. So I think it depends what you're after.
 
José Herring said:
I have FM8. I like FM synthesis but I don't really enjoy at all working with it.

Got any suggestions for some good FM synthesis?
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Most likely not what you are expecting, but the Yamaha Montage has the FMX Engine and it is freaking awesome. I wouldn't expect any VST FM Synth to be on that level. I have the Yamaha Montage 7 Keyboard, and love it for everything it offers, including the FMX engine sounds, It's also my main Controller Keyboard in my Studio.

I never liked NI's FM8, and no other VST FM synth for that matter.

Used to have a DX7IIFD, and TX802 Synths years ago. :)
 
muziksculp said:
Most likely not what you are expecting, but the Yamaha Montage has the FMX Engine and it is freaking awesome.
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Yep, Yamaha tends to know how FM should sound, interpolation on FM parameter changes could be a bit smoother, but on the other hand almost everything can be assigned to change multiple Parameters at once.


muziksculp said:
Used to have a DX7IIFD, and TX802 Synths years ago. :)
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Old digital Synths probably are the biggest part of my HW-Synth setup, I bought a few of them when they were new like the TX81z and FS1R and a couple of them used in the 00s, when everyone started to use VSTis and old HW got pretty affordable.
 
gamma-ut said:
Which is slightly ironic given that the main algorithm used by Yamaha is phase rather than frequency based.
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I know, but calling it phase modulation might be a bit confusing for ppl. who aren't diving that deep into the rabbits whole. But knowing the difference tends to help me picturing what happens to the waveforms (clinching/expanding wise) on certain parameter combinations.
 
muziksculp said:
Not that I need an FM Synth :) , but I haven't heard about this one.

Now, I'm curious about Phase Plant.

Do you like it better than other FM-VST Synths ?

Thanks.
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I can tell you it's the only one I really use. Pure synthesis is... good, sometimes, but I tend to stick to additive and granular for most of my stuff unless I'm going for a retro vibe. And in the process of looking for a nice retro softsynth besides the Knifonium I bought, I actually ended up going with Phase Plant because the workflow was so good and the depth was so insane, I was confident I could get the cool retro sounds I was after but also have the whole insane playground available for anything else I could think of. So yes... personally I do like it better than other FM vsts, and I would wager it's probably the deepest (having amplitude modulation, phase modulation, and linear & exponential frequency modulation. 3 optionally polyphonic effects lanes and the ability to nest multi-lane/multiband plugins inside of each other in each lane with any number of instances of 30+ effects available... 32 generator slots for oscs/output nodes/filters + distortion units that act polyphonically directly on the oscillators before even hitting the effects section...)

Plus it even has sampler and wavetable oscillators built into it as well (and they're great, and granular is coming soonish, confirmed), and like 15 different unison modes, and yeah. It kind of feels like you can do anything, it's worth the demo + a few months of testing-the-waters $10/mo sub. 12 non-consecutive months of subscription also gets you a $100 voucher. Pretty cool.
 
Russell Anderson said:
I can tell you it's the only one I really use. Pure synthesis is... good, sometimes, but I tend to stick to additive and granular for most of my stuff unless I'm going for a retro vibe.
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For FM it should have some type of FM-Matrix, combined and not segmented to several modules, since this makes (at least to me) creating FM-Sounds alot easier. I kind of missed that within the explanatory videos.
 
Summa said:
For FM it should have some type of FM-Matrix, combined and not segmented to several modules, since this makes (at least to me) creating FM-Sounds alot easier. I kind of missed that within the explanatory videos.
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I agree. Something like a Carrier - Modulator Table, with feedback. that FM Synths usually have. But Phase Plant is more of a general semi-modular synth, and not a dedicated FM synth.
 
Summa said:
For FM it should have some type of FM-Matrix, combined and not segmented to several modules, since this makes (at least to me) creating FM-Sounds alot easier. I kind of missed that within the explanatory videos.
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Perhaps it may get one someday, but personally I've found the layout of Phase Plant to be a lot more inviting (probably familiarity); I always found normal modulation matrices to be daunting enough to mostly avoid them (or maybe it's that Sytrus has one, but the OSC section is a little arcane with the couple of shaping tools and the tabs upon tabs upon tabs-based workflow... I've opened up to it more since using Phase Plant though.)

And @muziksculp, I'd say Phase Plant is fundamentally an FM synth. Even wavetable and sampler oscillators (and noise oscillators), distortion and filter outputs can all be used as both carriers and modulators for all of the audio-rate modulation you can do in it. And you can also do osc1->osc1 feedback modulation, or feedback modulation from the filter/distortion attached to the osc. FM is pretty much the core, it just doesn't have a matrix and yes, there's certainly a lot else going on...
 
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