4 ms·

What about FM synths ? They seem even wackier to program.

cageface 7y ago
FM synthesis is fascinating and extremely flexible but it’s notoriously difficult to master. If you are interested I’d recommend learning basic subtractive synthesis first since they have some concepts in common.
- foobar_ 7y ago
  Oh, I'm alright with subtractive/additive synths ... I have a Novation. FM puzzles me to no end. I can handle 2 oscillators but 4 or 8 seems maddening. I'm not sure if I need to approach it by trial and error, or there are a few tricks to program it!
  - cageface 7y ago
    If you take apart some more complex patches you can see they’re sort of composites of simpler patches. But then there are also some patches that are just very complex. I think ML and GANs might be interesting to apply to FM patch design.
    - fit2rule 7y ago
      Indeed, one of the most prolific of all synthesists has even established himself as a leader on this particular topic - using ML techniques to create FM patches. And, it is simply bloody awesome: https://www.factmag.com/2017/07/14/watch-aphex-twin-midimutant-ai-artificial-intelligence-patch-generator/ https://www.factmag.com/2017/07/14/watch-aphex-twin-midimuta...
fit2rule 7y ago
FM is hard. Let the machines do the work. :) https://www.factmag.com/2017/07/14/watch-aphex-twin-midimutant-ai-artificial-intelligence-patch-generator/ https://www.factmag.com/2017/07/14/watch-aphex-twin-midimuta...
- SeanLuke 7y ago
  Midimutant is an evolutionary resynthesis system. These have been around for about a quarter century but I think they've not proven very helpful. There is another way to let the machines do the work: interactive evolution. Brian Eno thought of this in 1995 (among others): the system presents you with N candidate patches, you select the ones you like, and it uses your selections to think of N new patches to offer you. Basically it's assisting you in moving forward through the space of patches in search of interesting stuff without having to program them. Interactive evolution works really well for FM, but systems which provide it are rare. And now for the self-promotion. As it so happens, I just presented a paper on this a few days ago on my system. https://cs.gmu.edu/~sean/papers/evomusart19.pdf https://cs.gmu.edu/~sean/papers/evomusart19.pdf https://github.com/eclab/edisyn https://github.com/eclab/edisyn
  - fit2rule 7y ago
    It depends on your goals and what your modes and means are as a musician. In terms of being helpful, systems which allow the musician a grip on the sound are as good as one another, essentially. Inasmuch as the purpose of advanced technology being applied to synthesis is as much a head game, its also about the ingredients of the jam. Music as a substance benefits from all approaches; even the lowliest of AWM boxes can be masterfully applied, by masters of the art .. EDIT: Great work, adding your paper to my stack of read-todo's...
tomduncalf 7y ago
Elektron’s Digitone hardware is probably the most approachable FM synth I’ve come across. They’ve made some clever design decisions such as a fixed selection of ratios to make it easier to find musical sounds, and adding two conventional subtractive filters (one resonant, one more of a utility one to high/lowpass the resulting output) which makes it easier to tame the sound in an intuitive way. If you’re into FM I really recommend it, combined with their excellent sequencer which lets you lock any set of synth parameters to any step really quickly and great on board effects, you can get some excellent results. I guess the closest software equivalent I’ve seen is Ableton’s Operator but I find the Digitone much more fun, not least because it’s hands-on hardware which encourages exploration!

FM synthesis is fascinating and extremely flexible but it’s notoriously difficult to master. If you are interested I’d recommend learning basic subtractive synthesis first since they have some concepts in common.

foobar_ 7y ago
Oh, I'm alright with subtractive/additive synths ... I have a Novation. FM puzzles me to no end. I can handle 2 oscillators but 4 or 8 seems maddening. I'm not sure if I need to approach it by trial and error, or there are a few tricks to program it!
- cageface 7y ago
  If you take apart some more complex patches you can see they’re sort of composites of simpler patches. But then there are also some patches that are just very complex. I think ML and GANs might be interesting to apply to FM patch design.
  - fit2rule 7y ago
    Indeed, one of the most prolific of all synthesists has even established himself as a leader on this particular topic - using ML techniques to create FM patches. And, it is simply bloody awesome: https://www.factmag.com/2017/07/14/watch-aphex-twin-midimutant-ai-artificial-intelligence-patch-generator/ https://www.factmag.com/2017/07/14/watch-aphex-twin-midimuta...

fit2rule 7y ago

FM is hard. Let the machines do the work. :) https://www.factmag.com/2017/07/14/watch-aphex-twin-midimutant-ai-artificial-intelligence-patch-generator/ https://www.factmag.com/2017/07/14/watch-aphex-twin-midimuta...

SeanLuke 7y ago
Midimutant is an evolutionary resynthesis system. These have been around for about a quarter century but I think they've not proven very helpful. There is another way to let the machines do the work: interactive evolution. Brian Eno thought of this in 1995 (among others): the system presents you with N candidate patches, you select the ones you like, and it uses your selections to think of N new patches to offer you. Basically it's assisting you in moving forward through the space of patches in search of interesting stuff without having to program them. Interactive evolution works really well for FM, but systems which provide it are rare. And now for the self-promotion. As it so happens, I just presented a paper on this a few days ago on my system. https://cs.gmu.edu/~sean/papers/evomusart19.pdf https://cs.gmu.edu/~sean/papers/evomusart19.pdf https://github.com/eclab/edisyn https://github.com/eclab/edisyn
- fit2rule 7y ago
  It depends on your goals and what your modes and means are as a musician. In terms of being helpful, systems which allow the musician a grip on the sound are as good as one another, essentially. Inasmuch as the purpose of advanced technology being applied to synthesis is as much a head game, its also about the ingredients of the jam. Music as a substance benefits from all approaches; even the lowliest of AWM boxes can be masterfully applied, by masters of the art .. EDIT: Great work, adding your paper to my stack of read-todo's...

tomduncalf 7y ago

Elektron’s Digitone hardware is probably the most approachable FM synth I’ve come across. They’ve made some clever design decisions such as a fixed selection of ratios to make it easier to find musical sounds, and adding two conventional subtractive filters (one resonant, one more of a utility one to high/lowpass the resulting output) which makes it easier to tame the sound in an intuitive way. If you’re into FM I really recommend it, combined with their excellent sequencer which lets you lock any set of synth parameters to any step really quickly and great on board effects, you can get some excellent results. I guess the closest software equivalent I’ve seen is Ableton’s Operator but I find the Digitone much more fun, not least because it’s hands-on hardware which encourages exploration!