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I asked a friend about how Skrillex gets his wonderful sounding basslines and he pointed me to FM8. I am somewhat knowledgable about synthesis but this synth has me going in circles trying to figure out how to work it. I guess I don't know so much about Frequency Modulation. Does anyone have tips on how to tackle this synth?

1. Read up on FM synthesis
2. Watch videos on how FM8 works
3. Read up on the midrange bass thread, top of the forum - on tips for creating those fat sounds

And btw - kudos to you for NOT using massive I think I might shed a tear...

Best way to learn something is through doing it. Lots and lots and lots and lots and lots...
I don't use it for midrange bass, but I've had it about 4 months and slowly you pick it up through trial and error. I love it.

JemGrover wrote:Best way to learn something is through doing it. Lots and lots and lots and lots and lots...
I don't use it for midrange bass, but I've had it about 4 months and slowly you pick it up through trial and error. I love it.

It's amps, reverb, and the talk-wah feature are freakin' great

amphibian wrote:

JemGrover wrote:Best way to learn something is through doing it. Lots and lots and lots and lots and lots...
I don't use it for midrange bass, but I've had it about 4 months and slowly you pick it up through trial and error. I love it.

It's amps, reverb, and the talk-wah feature are freakin' great

The reverse delay feature is amaaaazing.

Im going to let the secret ninja shit out...

Start by having a playing don't go after a certain sound when learning a synth, learn what changing stuff does to the sound, this way you will develop as a synth programmer, not just have set skills imo.

Start off with two sine wave, and use this for the next few hours, or even a few days, maybe even weeks. First thing to try is modulate one with the other when they are at the same pitch. Now start playing with one of the amp envelopes, then the other one, then both together. Then start playing with the pitch of the modulater, then start to play with the pitch envelope.Their is still even more to explore with just two operators, you can make them modulate their self, or even both modulate each other, and if you want to push the FM to the max with 2 operators, you can have them both self modulate, and then have them both modulate the other.

Thats most of what you can do with just 2 sinewave (i forgot to add you can use them as static wave shapers) so now if we add other waves in the mix you got all that to explour X's times with different combo's of waves, and different waves make a bigger difference in FM than subtractive synths imo.

Now I think you should learn every thing that happens with all the different ways to use just two operators, and their is a lot to try, before you mve on to 3 operators. This is were the real fun begins. The amount of combinations (logarithms) you can make with 3 operators is vast, im not sure how many, but it's lots. To start with you can use A modulates B, B modulates C. Then you can play with A & B modulate C, but this to are just the start to using 3 operators, just get creative and make wild logarithms.

This should keep you busy for sometime, if you won't that skrillex's sound with less of a learning curve, just use Massive, but if you take the time to learn FM, and get over the initial learning curve, you will be able to make lush sounds really quick that other synth types struggle at.

Anyway It's late, I'm tired, and I hope that makes sense to you... If not I will sort it out tomorrow.

Peace.

Thanks for all the great feedback guys. It just looks like ALOT more to handle than massive haha. I'll definitely try everything you guys have mentioned.

rtothaoss wrote:Thanks for all the great feedback guys. It just looks like ALOT more to handle than massive haha. I'll definitely try everything you guys have mentioned.

Well subtractive synthesis is a lot more straight-forward. FM synthesis can have unexpected results.

definitely. do you have any ideas on where to read up on FM synthesis? Is there stuff that's useful on this forum?

rtothaoss wrote:definitely. do you have any ideas on where to read up on FM synthesis? Is there stuff that's useful on this forum?

Part 12, and 13 are on FM, you might want to read all of them starting from part 1 thought;
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/allsynthsecrets.htm

amphibian wrote:Well subtractive synthesis is a lot more straight-forward. FM synthesis can have unexpected results.

Don't think I totally agree with that, but I see where your coming from.

I see them as two different languages, after spending lots of time with FM synths, you no longer feel like your searching in the dark imo.

FM8 is a beast and well worth taking the time to learn...

here are a few great tutorials from Brian of Trifonic on FM synthesis basics using FM8:

Sadly - theres only one part but this is amazin' at getting a basic under of how FM synthesis works

http://insidesynthesis.blogspot.com/200 ... art-1.html

Thanks for all the help guys. I appreciate it. I'll check out all this stuff after my classes

You know I have The Komplete pack that came with Kore 2, and have messed with some FM8 presets for some stuff but never really experimented with it, after watching these videos I think massive might take a back seat here, so many ways to modulate its crazy...

I think there are two ways to go about fm... just turn dials and push buttons until the sicknez comes out of your speakers, or fucking read up and do the maths. That's why subtractive (and massive) is so much fun, even a caveman can do it.