On FM8

[kale]

I have been working with FM8 lately, and I have a few questions, feel free to lend some advice or whatever.
Okay so I get some good sounds going in FM8 for a bass, the initial sound is okay, but really, there seems to be too much "fuzz" to make the cut for a track. Yeah, I have tried turning down how the amount one operator modifies another, and it might sound clearer, but it takes away from the sound I was going for. Like a formant and a triangle wave both modulating a Sawtooth. I like the sound I can get from it, but it sounds fuzzed up. Any pointers? Any ideas?

Also, what are some good ways to set the master tab in FM8 as far as voices and digital quality and analog quality?
Peace.

[claudedefaren]

you either like the fuzz or you don't. unison can also make it sound "fuzzy"

as far as voice count and digital / analog knobs, do what sounds best tfor the current sound you're making.

[twilitez]

With Fm synthesis you will be riding a thin line between awesome and garbage soundwise, most of the time. Find your niche.

[counterparty]

I think you might just be trying to max out on your oscillators too quickly. If you want a clear sound that hits hard, in my experience the best way is to gradually bring in 4-5 different oscillators at very low carrying amounts (were talking like 10-20%, perhaps a 1-10% feedback to taste) until you get the punch desired. Doing it this way tends to minimize the amount of high-frequency clashing.

Work your way slowly adding one at a time, changing waveforms as you go to maintain the best possible sound, until you get to the final piece. Only then will I even think of touching another tab to add effects, mess with the timbre or boost the number of voices

[kale]

well, modulating things through a operator set at 0.00 ratio and 0.00 hz seems to make things somewhat clearer

[twilitez]

If your trying to make obnoxiously annoying midrange 'bass' sounds FM8 is one of the keys. When push comes to shove nothing beats a (tastefully modulated) sine wave in the sub 90 hz canon. Proceed to hate if you want to but modulating frequencies down that far alot tends to sound like mush.