

WolframAlpha FM Synthesizer - mgunes
http://codehop.com/wolframalpha-fm-synthesizer/

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seagaia
While we're in the vein of FM Synthesizers, if anyone has MAX/MSP, it should
come with an example patch called "X-FM~". If you modify things right you can
get _usable_ and interesting sounds.

In terms of other similar things to MAX/MSP (a visual audio programming
interface, among other things), here's one for unix-likes, I believe (never
used it, anyone know how good it is?)

<http://puredata.info/>

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rasur
To answer your question, PureData is excellent.

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JonnieCache
It's good fun, but its tcl interface makes me want to cry.

The audio engine imparts a very specific sound upon everything that comes out
of it, much like Max/MSP.

It was developed by one of the original Max/MSP authors. I think it was
released after they left cycling74 amidst some sort of drama, but don't quote
me on that.

~~~
seagaia
Yep. A lot of sounds tend to get that FM-synthesis flavor. I've found MAX/MSP
to be useful when processing audio in realtime or using some pre-recorded
stuff (some funky custom flanger on some piano recordings, for instance).

~~~
JonnieCache
You can do really nasty things to samples with it as well.

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muxxa
Beware! I have the volume on my soundcard turned down (windows xp), but the
'Play sound' button didn't seem to honour that, and blasted out the
synthesized sound extremely loudly into my headphones.

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JonnieCache
My trigonometry is lacking, but here's a challenge: Try and get some of the
classic 808 noises out of wolfram alpha.

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wazoox
808 doesn't use FM, but VCOs with low pass filters (aka "analog synthesis").
Yamaha synths from the 80s, OTOH, were running on FM (the DX7 being the best
known member of this large family). The most "interesting" FM synth probably
was the original NED Synclavier, but it's rarer than the white tiger and was
as expensive, back then (probably still costs an arm and a leg nowadays).

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effn
The 808 has specialized synthesis circuits for every sound. Nowhere does it
use a traditional VCO+Filter circuit AFAIK.

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wazoox
That's true, but on the other hand the principle of operation for these
specialized circuits was actually a traditional (though of course simplified)
bunch of oscillators or noise generators, with simple filters, all controlled
by simple envelopes. There may have been a ring modulator (for the bell?)
somewhere too :)

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JonnieCache
I was mainly thinking of the bass, which is simply a big fat sine wave with a
lowpass, and then a short clicking noise at the start, which is basically just
a sine as well.

You can replicate it well enough with just those two elements anyway.

The snare is just some white noise and a highpassed sinewave.

The bell definitely sounds like it has ring modulation. I seem to remember the
cowbell being the hardest one to rip off. The toms were tricky as well.

On the other hand, my fake 808 had a dub siren built in, a tape delay,
overdrive and it could do triplet beats. It was awesome. That whole lab class
was most amusing.

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effn
The bassdrum is just an impulse exciting a lowpass filter at very high
resonance. The clicking noise is generated by a specialized envelope that
raises the pitch of the filter for the first few ms. The whole thing is then
slightly overdriven to color the sound.

Filtering a sine wave makes little sense, as you'll only end up altering the
volume (unless you take the phase respone of the filter into account but this
should be barely audible).

~~~
wazoox
That reminds me of the phase change synthesis of the Casio CZ :) I'm wondering
if there's something (software or else) still able to do it?

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akx
Xoxos has a couple phase distortion synthesis VSTs.
<http://www.xoxos.net/vst/vst.html>

If you lack a VST plugin host,
<http://www.hermannseib.com/english/vsthost.htm> is very bare-bones but does
the trick for doodling away and <http://reaper.fm/> by Justin Frankel (of
Winamp fame) et al. is a more full-featured DAW that supports VSTs.

