The Yamaha AN1x Synthesizer mailing list

Linda: 

You do some interesting and impressive things. Do you happen to have 
any mp3's with the AN1X? I am not sure where I think the AN1X's sweet 
spot is. It's quite the competent chameleon, but doesn't seem to have 
anything unique to it (yet). I still think about it though, and spend 
some time programming it.

--- In AN1x-list@yahoogroups.com, Linda Dachtyl <lindaleed@e...> 
wrote:
> Glad to help you out, especially someone who sounds like they know 
the
> science behind trying to get these sounds. Like I said I just 
tweak, tweak,
> tweak. But I do know where to start to get there. FM programming 
however is
> not my forte. I would like to understand how this works better. I 
have never
> been able to make 1+1=2 doing FM. Subtractive synthesis and a little
> additive synthesis (from my experience with Hammond) is about all I 
can do
> at this time!

Well, you clearly know what you are doing, if you could just name the 
pitch relationships off-hand! I've done three things with FM on the 
An1X that I like:

1 - For plucked sounds (momentary FM), I use the pitch eg to sweep 
osc 2, with fm on. Or just modulate fm depth instantanously with a 
free eg. Either way you get a useful burst of noise and side-bands at 
the point of impact.

2 - For sustaining sounds with FM, there are a few sweetspots. FM 
depth=42 allows you to retain the current pitch of both osc. I've 
done a couple of others (21, 25 if I recall right) where you end up 
retuning the oscillators. This works well for reedy timbres if you 
adjust osc1 volume and octave/harmonic to taste, allowing osc 2 to 
give the fundamental (make it mellow, so that osc 1 provides the 
character). The downside is aliasing at the high end of the keyboard. 
So I just don't play there. But it helps to tune your oscillators 
(with the FM) if you test it with the high notes.

3 -  FM as a "modulation" effect. Two ways. a) I sometimes map FM 
depth to the pitch wheel and wiggle it a bit for rasp. (I pitch bend 
with ribbon x instead) The pitch wheel is smoother than any of the 
other controllers for this effect, because of it's 128 X 128 
resolution. b) One other way is to have two "consonant" patches in 
the two scenes. One with FM, one without. The osc pitches may not be 
the same as a result. As you morph, the FM relationships (being non-
linear) cause side-bands to come in. When you are all the way to 
scene 2, the sidebands have gone away and you have a consonant sound 
again. You control the degree of side-bands based on where your mod 
wheel is.

Hope this helps. I am enjoying this give and take of ideas. Do you 
have any suggestions for expressive lead sounds?

Jerry