The Yamaha AN1x Synthesizer mailing list

Ed Edwards wrote:

> So, Bruce, don't you think the vast collective of the keyboardist
> community
> sound a collective "duh" when discussing true FM synthesis?  It
> awfully
> complicated, and you've done a nice job of overviewing it, and at I do
>
> appreciate the discussion.
>
> You said that you had access to old mono synths that you'd patch up
> from
> scratch.  I did too - you old dog. ;-)  Imagine trying to do that with
> an FM
> synth!  With subtractive synthesis an instinct develops as to what
> works
> (and Yamaha has even given us the sound templates in the AN).  With FM
> it's
> pretty hard to guess how to set up a sound.  I would suppose that the
> majority of patches for the DX series that were musically useful may
> have
> been stumbled upon at first, rather than thought out.

 I have no problem making new musically useful sounds on my old DX7II
from scratch, maybe other have.

> As far as the FM abilities of the AN1x go, it's been given the
> modulation
> capabilities of DCO driven synths of the 80s, like the Roland JX
> series with
> the master/slave thing.

Bummer the JX series don't have FM, what you are referring to is Sync.

> What one gets when using an FM setup is something
> more than the standard sine, saw and pulse waves.  One classic "sync"
> (another term for analog FM)

I see... You think FM and Sync are the same its not. and it doesn't
sound the same.

    FM = The frequency (the pitch) of and oscillator is modulated
typically by the output of an other oscillator.
    SYNC = For example if oscillator1 is the master and oscillator2 is
the slave oscillator2 wave forms is re triggered each time Oscillator1
have played a wave cycle

sound that I can recall is the lead line at the

> beginning of The Cars' "Let's Go", or the synth line from "I'm Just a
> Girl"
> by No Doubt.  They've got a vocal quality to them as the filter closes
> down.
> But the bottom line about FM in the AN1x is that it is somewhat
> limited.

I agree at least they should have made it so the output of an oscillator
modulate the frequency of an oscillator, at first it seems it does but I
found out it is only using a triangle wave for FM.

Joergen Traun.


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