3 ms·

You could easily synthesize something like this in real time now. But not many people do, which I think is a shame. I've kind of been following very loosely al

You could easily synthesize something like this in real time now. But not many people do, which I think is a shame. I've kind of been following very loosely along with this DX7 series with some (not DX7) FM and phase modulation in my own code. If you're running Linux, you can try something like this in the WIP graph-synth branch[0] of my mb-sound Ruby app/gem (feedback welcome on the DSL syntax): play 300.hz.pm( 0.1.hz.triangle.at(1) * tone(300.constant * 1.618) + 0.04.hz.triangle.at(1) * tone(150.constant * 1.618) ).forever [0]: https://github.com/mike-bourgeous/mb-sound/tree/graph-synth https://github.com/mike-bourgeous/mb-sound/tree/graph-synth

weatherlight 5y ago
doesn't sound the same though, those early Yamaha FM synths has a sound all on to themselves.
- nitrogen 5y ago
  those early Yamaha FM synths has a sound all on to themselves For sure, though the parent comment's video link was presumably rendered by software on a PDP-10. I've spent the last week of my spare time trying to write code to make a bass sound that reasonably approximates Lately Bass, and I'm close, but since I'm not even trying to emulate any of the quirks of the Yamaha FM synths it doesn't ever sound quite right.
  - TheOtherHobbes 5y ago
    To be clear - I didn't mean it was a shame that people weren't specifically emulating FM, but that people weren't experimenting with weird synthesis techniques to make weird non-pop music with sounds no one has heard before. It's the last part that's still really difficult, possibly even harder than it used to be. And that's even with the insane processor power we all have now.
    - nitrogen 5y ago
      I guess movie soundtracks are the closest to that in widely distributed music, or artists like Aphex Twin. There's an infinitely vast space of potential sounds, and an infinitely long fractal knife edge of interesting sounds, and it kind of makes sense that finding unexplored areas of that fractal edge between boring and incomprehensible gets harder over time.
    - weatherlight 5y ago
      speak for yourself! hehe https://soundcloud.com/cassilda_and_carcosa/ontologies-tape-tx81z-bass-mix https://soundcloud.com/cassilda_and_carcosa/ontologies-tape-...
  - weatherlight 5y ago
    c15 on the tx81z, you'd have to model the 12 bit DACs and the steppy-nees of the wave shapes. also the CPUs in the tx81z were slow and some calcs would lag a bit which contributed to its sound... try sending midi data to the TX81z while sequencing it, your pattern with start swinging! TX81z is one of my favorite synths.

weatherlight 5y ago

doesn't sound the same though, those early Yamaha FM synths has a sound all on to themselves.

nitrogen 5y ago
those early Yamaha FM synths has a sound all on to themselves For sure, though the parent comment's video link was presumably rendered by software on a PDP-10. I've spent the last week of my spare time trying to write code to make a bass sound that reasonably approximates Lately Bass, and I'm close, but since I'm not even trying to emulate any of the quirks of the Yamaha FM synths it doesn't ever sound quite right.
- TheOtherHobbes 5y ago
  To be clear - I didn't mean it was a shame that people weren't specifically emulating FM, but that people weren't experimenting with weird synthesis techniques to make weird non-pop music with sounds no one has heard before. It's the last part that's still really difficult, possibly even harder than it used to be. And that's even with the insane processor power we all have now.
  - nitrogen 5y ago
    I guess movie soundtracks are the closest to that in widely distributed music, or artists like Aphex Twin. There's an infinitely vast space of potential sounds, and an infinitely long fractal knife edge of interesting sounds, and it kind of makes sense that finding unexplored areas of that fractal edge between boring and incomprehensible gets harder over time.
  - weatherlight 5y ago
    speak for yourself! hehe https://soundcloud.com/cassilda_and_carcosa/ontologies-tape-tx81z-bass-mix https://soundcloud.com/cassilda_and_carcosa/ontologies-tape-...
- weatherlight 5y ago
  c15 on the tx81z, you'd have to model the 12 bit DACs and the steppy-nees of the wave shapes. also the CPUs in the tx81z were slow and some calcs would lag a bit which contributed to its sound... try sending midi data to the TX81z while sequencing it, your pattern with start swinging! TX81z is one of my favorite synths.