Fm7

[whizkidtheproducer]

Hey i bought this for steal at g.c. yesterday.. They were practically giving it away. Anybody have any experience with it . Please hit me up i would like to know if it's good and easy to use .. Right now i can't even get the sounds installed because they give u a five cell registration but on the registrration for fm7 sounds there are only 3 spaces.....


Is this a good software or should i just go ahead with imposcar?

[DonaldCrunk]

I'm actually fanatical in my love for the DX series of instruments, which is what the FM7 is based off of. I'm pretty sure there's a convertor out there that lets you take MIDI SYSEX preset files that people have been making for the DX7s and let you dump them to FM7 - if that's true, then that's pretty cool. The DX7 is probably one of the most famous synths of all time (minimoog probably being the _most_ famous).

Have you ever heard a DX7? They have a really chimy, metallic sound. not warm. it's going to be a completely different sound than impOscar, so you might want to get both.

I'm not sure how FM7 is, but the DX7 is _not_ easy to program. it actually requires _math_ skills to get the sound from your head into the machine - however, some of the favorite sounds i've ever made have just kind of popped out when i was messing around.

Oh, it's a good idea to have a nice reverb unit around (hardware or software). DX7 pads with reverb on them are actually orgasmic to me. and its not just because i'm a white kid - although that might be part of it. DX7 is the quintissential white person's synth. Don't believe me? Think i'm being racist? LISTEN TO ANYTHING AT ALL BY RICK WAKEMEN AFTER 1985. You'll be like "ohhh . . . that's what he means . . . "

Since i've had a lot of coffee, and i'm feeling helpful, i'll give you a brief overview of FM synthesis (what the DX7 and FM7 use) so you can see if its right for you.

FM sounds aren't created like you would create a sound on a normal synth. Instead of having 1 or 2 or 3 oscillators with various waveshapes, you have SEVEN oscillators that are all SINE waves. Crazy ****, huh? But don't think for a second its going to sound thick. Hell no.

Okay you've got those seven oscillators - the magic of FM synthesis comes in here. These oscillators don't just all output sound mixed together - they can actually _modulate_ each other. You know how a Low Frequency Oscillator makes those neat vibrato sounds when you turn the mod wheel up? Same concept - except there are 7 of them, and they're modulating MUCH faster than a low frequency oscillator.

LFOs modulate in the Hertz range - these oscillators modulate each other in the AUDIBLE range. That blew a lot of people's minds back in 1980whatever.

Now, you can have these oscillators modulating each other in lots of ways - you select from a list of *algorithms*. Algorithims allow these oscillators to combine in various ways to create various clangy and awesome sounds. It's going to be trial and error for a while as to what combinations sound good.

You can also change the pitch of EACH OSCILLATOR in the like . . . cent range. possibly even more in depth than that, i don't remember. Each little change in frequency range affects the sound a WHOLE LOT - and remember, there are 7 of the things! AND all the various combinations that you can use the 7 oscillators in.

You see what i mean when i say you have to be good at math?

If you have the balls to learn FM synthesis, then you're going to be a master of an art that few have mastered. Everybody and their mother knows how to get a decent synth sound out of a subtractive synth (i should hope), but NO ONE knows how the hell to work an FM synth.

Not only do you get scenester cred, but frizzy haired women that fondly remember bands like Yes and . . . well . . . pretty much any light rock from the 80s will want to get in your pants.

Cool, huh?

[Beijing]

I have FM7 and the presets are garbage for hip hop. You gotta tweak this and you can get some fire, but the pres are all geared to as Donald Crunk said it 80's rock.

[DonaldCrunk]

I have FM7 and the presets are garbage for hip hop. You gotta tweak this and you can get some fire, but the pres are all geared to as Donald Crunk said it 80's rock.

yeah, but sometimes crazy new hip hop sounds can come from unexpected places. Know that song by Timbaland and uhm . . . whats her name . . . that CRAZY ASS sound in the chorus?

Pretty much everyone i know that's into hip hop at this point has asked me "Where the hell did they get THAT noise jason?"

Weellllllllll . . . that's another stereotypical white man's synth, the PPG Wave 2.3.

And i'm willing to guess that if you heard that sound on its own, outside of that song you'd probably say "That sound would not fit in hip hop like at _all_." i would probably agree with you - but apparently Timbaland didn't really care about Beijing's and DonaldCrunk's opinion, and went ahead and used it anyway.

All that to say if you're creative, you can turn a cow farting into a hip hoppable noise.

EDIT: NELLY FURTADO. That's her damn name.

[Beijing]

I agree, I just didn't want him to judge it based on the presets (you should never judge any synth on presets) because you only get 256 sounds and most aint that useable. Do a search online and you can get the syssex files to THOUSANDS of sounds!! Thats what I did. It loads in DX7 syssex files and has built in effects. Enjoy.

yeah, but sometimes crazy new hip hop sounds can come from unexpected places. Know that song by Timbaland and uhm . . . whats her name . . . that CRAZY ASS sound in the chorus?

Pretty much everyone i know that's into hip hop at this point has asked me "Where the hell did they get THAT noise jason?"

Weellllllllll . . . that's another stereotypical white man's synth, the PPG Wave 2.3.

And i'm willing to guess that if you heard that sound on its own, outside of that song you'd probably say "That sound would not fit in hip hop like at _all_." i would probably agree with you - but apparently Timbaland didn't really care about Beijing's and DonaldCrunk's opinion, and went ahead and used it anyway.

All that to say if you're creative, you can turn a cow farting into a hip hoppable noise.

EDIT: NELLY FURTADO. That's her damn name.

[whizkidtheproducer]

my music is very synth orientated it. I like to use a lot of synth leads in my music....I call my sound futuristic hip hop soul....... i just got the nostalgia too inoticed there was some dx 7 in that joint as well..