The Yamaha AN1x Synthesizer mailing list

Dear Mr. Bing Beng Bong,

 

Congratulations for stepping into the mysterious, unexplored world of FM
systhesis – hereby barely touched on this list.

We all should admit that there’s been very little discussion about this
powerful parameter that Yamahaha has provided.  After all, Yamahaha owns the
patent on “FM synthesis”… they were kind and foresighted enough to enclude
it with the AN series… but they committed the sin that so many manufacturers
make: They didn’t explain it very well.

 

Pages 58 and 59 of the manual are where the parameters are provided.
However, they didn’t provide an overview of how FM synths work, their
implementation, the “operators” the “algorithms”, etc.

 

I never owned a DX7 but I had a Korg Z3 guitar synth which had the same
engine as a DX11.  Both of these are extremely more powerful than what the
AN series has, but I learned a tiny bit about how to program.
Unfortunately, that was so long ago it’s all vaporized in my head.

 

Maybe you could provide a link or two to good explainations of FM synthesis
so the list members might try to discern what Yamahaha was trying to say in
the manual.  Over the years I’ve collected many patches for my AN1x and I
must say that some of the strangest ones involve the FM section… and I’ve
never been able to figure out what’s going on at all.


Ed²

PS – if you need the manual, it is in the files section of the list

 

(Wow – it wasn’t there!  So I took the liberty to upload it and the Data
List document.  Both are essential for AX1x programmers.  Under the
“Documents” section.)

  _____  

From: AN1x-list@yahoogroups.com [mailto:AN1x-list@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf
Of buenlimon
Sent: Tuesday, October 21, 2008 2:39 AM
To: AN1x-list@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [AN1x] Question about FM

 

I own an AN1x since about 1 Year and the only synthesizing I did so 
far was changing existing sounds, be they factory presets or 
downloaded in internet. 

I went and had a professional teach me the basics of FM theory 
(which he kindly showed me on a Nord Modular). I think I have 
understood the most important things. 

I am particularly interested in developing different piano sounds 
which implies creating "bing", "beng", and also "bong" sounds. 

So far I have understood that you need (as a minimum): 

- a carrier which is near to sine wave formed 
- a modulator which is fix tuned to a number of octaves (or part of 
octaves above the carrier, near to sine wave formed 
- a narrow envelope for the modulator (fast attack, fast decay) 
- a somewhat broader envelope for the carrier (fast attack, somewhat 
fast decay) 

If done properly you won't necessarily need much filtering. To 
change the sound of the above algorithm you can vary the fixed 
interval between carrier and modulator, or you can add a further 
sine wave synchronized to the carrier by some interval. 

This will generally provide you with a good "bong" sound, am I 
right. 

==== 

Now to my simple question: 

Can anybody be so nice and to explain me in simple words how I am to 
understand the various settings of AN1x such as "master", "slave", 
"both", "only fm", "fm source" etc. These don't seem to fit into 
the things I described above. How do you set the envelope of the 
modulator in an AN1x? 

Even if I don't understand the AN1x-specific terms very well I still 
seem to have created quite nice bong-sounds anyway. But to create 
good pianos I want to know the whole truth. 

By the way, the DX-Piano which is factory preset I find is a 
beautifully sounding instrument which I can use a lot in my band, be 
it for solo playing or accompanying a singer. But I still feel the 
need of developing more of the same stuff - from marimba over 
e-piano to bells of various kinds. 

 



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