It helps me to think of the difference between AM and FM radio. In an AM radio signal, the frequency of the carrier is constant; the amplitude of the audio mod

It helps me to think of the difference between AM and FM radio. In an AM radio signal, the frequency of the carrier is constant; the amplitude of the audio modulates the amplitude of the carrier. In an FM radio signal, the amplitude of the audio modulates the frequency of the carrier. That's the difference! In musical terms, I very much like some analog, and some FM, synthesizers. But certainly, back in the day, getting some rich sounds out of FM synths was a lot cheaper than analog. (Just in terms of the cost of patch cords alone ;-) Without Chowning there wouldn't have been a synthpop era!