Also from Twisted Electrons: BlastBeats is great
I don’t own a MegaFM, but from the sound demos, I’d say the BlastBeats sounds more gnarly
I’m sure the Digitone will be an excellent choice. But I will cosign on the MegaFM for the “broken YM2612 mojo” and the hands-on interface. Alas it’s not multitimbral which seems to be a dealbreaker.
I actually have a TX7 which I’ve had since I was a teen (my stepfather passed it on to me), but I’ve never used it. I have a TODO on setting up my Novation Zero SL mk2 to control it. Or Dexed, but I would prefer to avoid the computer. I wouldn’t be too worried about hardware failures on that one, it’s basically a big digital plastic brick with a super minimal interface. You could crack someone’s skull with it.
I just hope more manufacturers will have the balls to make FM synths will full hands on control layouts. It really makes sense to be able to quickly and simultaneously tweak various parameters of each operator with FM, as the trickyness of the synthesis method is largely due to how interrelated everything is.
Opsix seems decent in this regard with the operator level faders, but I still think the MEGAfm has it beat by having all the envelopes to hand too.
It’s almost definitely placebo, but my old DX7 sounded fucking great, better than all the other FM synths I’ve used.
But like I said, it’s probably bullshit I made up in my head.
I like M8 FM engine.
You have to embrace the tracker workflow, though.
DN FM is very different from Monomachine.
And filters don’t sound the same.
DN is 4-part polytimbral, with 8 voices of polyphony.
I’ve used the FS1R, the DX5 (funnily enough never played a DX7) and FM-X inside of the Montage.
Would honestly love to have more quality hardware FM-synths available with more dedicated controls. FM has always been my favourite form of synthesis, but interfacing with it has always been a bit of an exercise.
Through the years, I’ve used Yammy TX81z and TX802 … FM8 softsynth … Montage … Opsix … Volca FM … Digitone.
I think FM hardware synths are like analog hardware synths … meaning, all FM synths mostly make the same sounds, but one hardware FM synth will have a slightly different core character than another (original Volca FM crunchier, Montage very full and clear, Digitone a little darker, Opsix less dirty than Volca FM and less crystalline than Montage). What you prefer, and whether you hear a difference, is a matter of taste.
The other thing is, you have to decide if you want to actually learn how to program Yamaha-style FM or not.
If you just want to tweak presets, or dik around randomly with the FM engine and filter the results (which I suspect is all a lot of people do in the real world) … then you’re fine with a Digitone—you don’t need a full 4-6-8 operator synth. (The DN is very programmable, it just doesn’t let you fully control each of the 4 ops with its own envelope, which is how old school Yamaha FM works. The DX7 doesn’t even have a filter, everything is done by modulating operators.)
If you are interested in reading up a little on FM and programming from scratch, then you may want Opsix/Volca FM/Montage/ModX/others, where you have 6-8 ops and an envelope for each operator.
Edit: And yeah, if you can find an interface you like, that helps a lot.
I have a MnM and I really like the FM engines but so far the DN has been the most rewarding and interesting FM synth I’ve come across.
This is of course mostly the case bcs of the interface. Very immediate.
The variable waveforms and all the crossfade capabilities combined with modulatable algos makes it a wild instrument.
Cut my teeth on a TX81Z that has now died
Bought the volca FM but missed the gritty operators of the square wave in the TX81Z, i don’t use it much.
My favourite is the DN, i get far more useful results, far quicker. It can be nice or it can be nasty…
Some great insights in this thread. Cheers all! I’ve had a small light bulb moment. Next time I dive into DX patches on the Nord G2, I’m going try inserting wave shapers, bit reduction, saturation modules between the operators output and the DX router’s inputs and vice versa. This should add quite a bit of controllable grit!
And the Digitone will be my second Elektron device. The OTs midi tracks will provide lots of extra modulation options. I’ve been tempted by the A4, Syntakt and Cycles, but glad I resisted.
This thread has made me realize that the only dedicated hardware FM synth I’ve owned is the Digitone, and that one day soon I may need to remedy that.
what’s my experience? well …
PreenFM2 – very strange beast, but worked pretty well for industrial and alike kinds of music.
now shelved.
Yamaha FB-01 – just loving it. the only thing it misses is some aux outputs.
since it’s 8-timbral – can be used as MIDI controlled drum module.
Made some time to immerse myself in the G2 DX modules today: Finally getting a feel for the envelopes (NI FM8 envs are better visually!), Patched from scratch a classic DX 7 bass, then organish thing, then spent probably too long on ratios, ratio fine tune and detune to get them out of sounding like presets to something a bit darker, off-key but still musical. Then the fun came: Added some colour and shaping into to the standard DX7 6op setup - overdrive / waveshaper / saturation patched between the ops outputs going into the DX router. Then modulation - AM with envelope-controlled lfos and a touch of pitch mod. Then 12 byte reduction (better mixed than inserted) on the output. I was more than pleased with the results!
What threw me a bit was the mostly (too) subtle effect of feedback on the DX router - big contrast with NI FM8 (long time no try) where feedback is freely patchable between ops. But I didn’t wire anything between the 6 operators’ individual outputs and frequency inputs, so that’s the next area of exploration.
I have/had dx7 tg77 tx81z korg707 fs1r DN EFM.
If you want character i’d get an older 4op Yamaha. For 6op DX7-style Plogue OPS7 is really good, loads patches correctly and very close to the DX7 ‘wooden’ character. I’d skip the hardware unless you can find a cheap TG7 module. SY/TG77 has its own thing but you have to work on it, i loved it for weird sounds/percussion (Those older Monolake releases are a lot of TG77).
FS1R is cool but felt too convoluted for me and not worth the hassle. EFM is clean but it’s forte is the 300 voices so it shines if you make interesting layers. Also fs1r and EFM made me appreciate the DN sound quality regarding modern FM (too bad elektron didn’t implement SRR/BRR, or some other quantization of the individual operators tables)
The only two I use a lot today: my hardware Opsix and Ableton Operator.
What have you used in the past?
This post nails it. 4OP Yamaha modules for woody earthy character that is harder to achieve in modern equipment. The Plogue emulations are the next best thing for that sound. Fingers crossed for future updates to digitone regarding srr and brr. 12 bit operators seem to be decent for lo-fi results on the opsix.
i preferred the responses to the questions than the questions themselves.
maybe one of the last verbal documents of his work.
You can load all gen 1 DX7 patches into the opsix… and they sound pretty dang close… love my opsix…
I’ve had a TX7 for some time and it’s a time machine: any sound I get out of it has a nostalgic 80’s appeal, it’s really evocative. Some considerations:
True: it is vintage gear of 40 years old, so prone to malfunctions, but spare parts are still easily available, cheap and fixing it isn’t crazy difficult
The FM sound design is complicated: I’ve always used analog synth and fm programming is still a shock. Luckily, there are thousands of ready-made presets online from which I can start crafting my own personal sound.
The mere fact of owning a DX7 didn’t magically transform me in Herbie Hankock as I hoped, actually it made me respect even more all those artists who, in the past, have played masterpieces on such a limited instrument