Introduction-youtube-featreqs-bugs

Vangelis -- 1492 - Conquest of Paradise (FM8)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09XYP81qZoE&fmt=18

This one was slightly too heavy for my CPU, during the chorus when the full choir did its thing!

 

Storm (Vivaldi)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_o3unmtZW4

 

Eat this!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QJTBZrWETA

 

Clair de Lune

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mM2cN9rRJdI"]YouTube - Clair de Lune - FM8 remix[/ame]

 

Warcraft II

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7xpBnhVBVk"]YouTube - Warcraft 2 Human Campaign - FM8 remix[/ame]

 

Well, when it comes to MIDI Files with new sounds, I fail to see your point.

 

There's only one point I'm trying to make with all these: to show what FM, and FM8 in particular, can do. And luckily the folks at YouTube are raving about it!

 

Sounds a bit to thin to impress me, more like slightly improved DX7 presets but FM can do much more than this...

 

..like the other remixes, you mean?

 

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RIFi6FJfRs"]YouTube - Brandenburg Concerto No.1 in F - Allegro - FM8 remix[/ame]

 

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVOHYXWcyM4"]YouTube- Xmas 2009 - FM8[/ame]

 

Brilliant! Always inspiring to see how much variety and musicality you achieve with the instrument of your choice.

Question: I see lots of pitch wheel manipulation during the solos that begin around 3:45, but I don't hear pitch bends. Are you using them for timbre manipulation instead? And if so, why use the pitch wheel instead of the modwheel?

 

They're timbre changes indeed, I rarely bend pitches anyway. People are so used to the pitch wheel being linked to pitch, I just ignore that tradition and assign controllers how I want 'em.

And why the pitch wheel instead of the modwheel?
(1) my masterkeyboard doesn't have a modwheel (tons o' other knobs 'n sliders, but no dedicated modwheel. look it up: Studiologic VMK-88)
(2) the pitchbend effect in the tracker I've used works more easy than any other controller
(3) the pitchbend effect in the tracker I've used resets the pitchbend position at each note-on, which is *very* handy for these quick between-note expressions.
(4) Pitch wheel is -for me- far more comfy for these kinds of expressions.
-- You have to do a little more effort to move the wheel, so your effects won't sound too extreme (tho that's only relevant when playing, in that tracker I was typing, so it's less relevant)
-- it'll return to the basic position, with a mod wheel you'd have to guess the central point.
-- you can define 2 different kinds of expression in FM8, for bend up and bend down, so in essence you have twice the points I've mentioned above. Tho in this cas both bend directions act as one: playing loudness.

 

Thanks for the detailed response.

 

Two new ones!

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqTQUcgCouE"]YouTube- Girl From Ipanema - retro FM8[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boh620Wkez8"]YouTube- Silk Road - FM8 remix[/ame]

 

A heavy entry (100% CPU usage at peaks)

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVT2-msMJuA"]YouTube- Space Opera -FM8 remix[/ame]

 

Forget Komplete, one single synth does it all..

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MU3mLWBGFxY"]YouTube- Ritual Fire Dance - FM8 remix[/ame]

 

Oxygene 4

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-QvM7v5T-k"]YouTube- Oxygene IV - FM8 remix[/ame]

 

Thank you and Simply Outstanding Work

CS_TBL, I had to drop an encouraging note about the quality, breadth, and depth of your work here. I too find the more natural sounds of NI preferable to the easy to make noise synths that are available enmass. I am thinking here of the numerous presets in Absynth and even some of the FM8 presets that belie the musicality of the FM synth.

Thanks for all of these demos and answering some questions that I have had for some time. Now for the really tough question. How does one actually learn to develop instruments and sounds with the FM8 synth from scratch, particularly since the manual is a bit thin? Any suggestions would be helpful.

My links to demo tunes I have published. All were performed using NI synths through my Brian Moore guitar save for the analog guitar part itself.

http://financialtrader.com/God_At_The_Kahn-01.mp3
http://financialtrader.com/abbys-01.mp3


Thanks

 

Hi, thanks,

I can only give the answer I've been giving to lots of people so far. I started out with FM since the early 90's using the typical computer soundcard extensions from that era, which was 6 or 9 2-op channels, depending on whether the last 3 channels were being used for drums. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YM2413, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Y8950, and later on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YMF278B (which you can hear in the deepest video history of my youtube page: Sphere, Coral 2 and Wings, though that's all 24 pcm channels and no FM, and no DSP either for that matter)).

The trackers I've been using back in the days featured all FM parameters in one page, which is extremely convenient in learning FM. No menu diving, only a few parameters to remember. So, I've been using all that for about 7 years, all simple 2-op FM with sine operators and only a few channels to use. That'll teach you efficiency. But, as one may imagine, it'd remain synthetic, geeky video game sound quality from another time.

What's with these new FM8 sounds then? When I'm not doing these remixes, I'm quite into orchestral writing. Not the geeky kind of orchestrating you see kids do with these big libs from today, but the kind that can actually be played - and has been played in the past. More in general, I'm quite into "instruments being played by humans", and there's not a great many synths around that offer the kind of human factor required to have convincing sounds. FM8 has. Software modular systems no doubt have this too, but are usually a disaster to use - I've never seen a good modular system that's musically easy to use (read: build) with an uncluttered interface. Oh, and I have actually used those large modulars from yesteryear, like the Roland system 100 and others, though I found them dull and I hated the fact that I could only store sounds on paper! FM8 has just the right balance between functionality and interface, though it could use some of the list on page 1!

In a nutshell, I'm kind of an 'instrument builder', using FM8. So whenever I create a brass instrument, I think of real brass instruments and try to convert some of the artifacts of 'm into my FM8 instrument. This also includes playing techniques, like using pitchbend for loudness. Not conventional, but who cares about conventions in the first place. Two days ago I made an english horn sound which responds to aftertouch; loudness decreases when aftertouching the key, and when used making transitions between notes sound more natural. Depending on a specific coder, I may have another trick up my sleeve for near-realistic instrument behavior. No hacking, just intelligent use of MIDI CC.
When I create ensemble strings, I actually use about 8 solo strings together. After all, that's what this ensemble sound represents in the first place. Forget chorus, forget unison, just think logically about the instrument instead. In some of my vids, these 8 solo strings came from a single FM8 instance though, but that's something else.

That'd be it. There's really not much I can tell about the process.. it's something one just does.. it's all a matter of parameter tweaking, endless tweaking. And intelligently use the effects section, not just for the odd reverb here and there, but for the actual sound shaping.

To give you an example of the importance of effects, here's my tenor trombone (as used in Space Opera)

http://pub.unreal64.net/boor/fm8bone.mp3

Same sound, same notes, without the effects section: http://pub.unreal64.net/boor/fm8bonedry.mp3

*sigh* .. I could really do with resonance scaling here, the low notes are bound to resonate more than higher notes.

I should really get to my upcoming video, music's been done since April already: Airwolf, more then 10 minutes of it! But yea, video recording multiple takes o' 10 minutes can be dull. ^^