FM Synthesis: How does it work? 

"Lumberjacks are big fans of FM synthesis, because they're so tired of hearing saws" really great joke there, mate

I can't understand how both a tech guy and an amazing musician can live inside of a single body. Love your piano album BTW.

Jeesh, given the production quality of this channel, it doesn't have nearly the number of views it deserves. Are you going strictly off of organic search engine results? We need to form a marketing gang and get your stuff promoted dude.

Very few can combine the two disciplines like that. I've known a lot of software developers who are good musicians but don't necessarily focus on sound design like that. I've also known others who are into csound etc but are not so good as writing the visceral music (stuff with groove and emotion) that people actually want to listen to. I am starting to focus on the border between being a technician and a musician myself, its a great place to be because not many people are doing this. Benn Jordan is both a great musician and sound designer. This video actually makes me want to explore FM synthesis.

I am producing for 4 years, watching tutorials everywhere, this is the most useful channel i have ever seen. Thank you!

Brilliant video and super helpful! Ordered my Digitone today and haven't found anyone who can explain FM synthesis in a way that really makes sense.

OK, so I've seen what FM synthesis *is* explained, but at 10:40+ I feel like I learned how to *use* FM synthesis. Thanks for this, Benn!

dude i am so happy that you are doing this. i love your music for like 10-12 years - so weird and awesome seeing you talk synthesis/music production/stuff :D i hope your channel blows up, you more than deserve it

Even your background music when he's talking is incredibly good! Keep up the good work Ben : )

This was perfect. I finally understand how everything combines to make fm synthesis

Excellent video, just a small point though, Linear FM is more to do with the variation from the central frequency rather than the frequencies being harmonically locked, though harmonic locking is useful for more pleasant sounding Exp FM. For example in Exp FM if you have a central frequency of 440Hz, modulation depth of 2 will create side bands at 880Hz and 220Hz so the relative distance of each harmonic from the central frequency is not even in terms of a linear frequency, resulting in a perceived change of fundamental pitch. In Linear FM this is the case, if there was a central frequency of 440Hz, the modulation sidebands would be even on both sides i.e. 440Hz +/- 220Hz, this means the average frequency is still 440Hz so it sounds more musical. With Exp FM you can see that the average frequency of harmonic content starts to increase. Of course, with Linear FM you might see a problem of increasing modulation depth. This is why through zero linear FM was developed.

Cool video. I'm still confused about some things, but it gave me a good idea of where to look next. Sick jam at the end!

Benn, you are the messiah of contemporary classic-que music production. Your design and sense of music are a huge source of inspiration. And you move industry forward with your opensource initiatives like sharing your knowledge on RU-vid or Showseed. You showed me the world of contemporary experimental music and I hope you are going to achieve much more. Can you please make some videos about writing interesting complicated rhythms, i.e. for percussion like in Winter Map or for drum solos like in Kirlian Selections? I am also very interested in technique you used to create such wonderful samples for percussion like crackling and clicking in Winter Map, or in Earthtone Morphine Battery. I can't wrap my head around design of such crisp and clean clicks. Thank you very much!

40 years later and we're still figuring out how the DX7 works! 😅

This is awesome and I thought that EP sounded really good, loved the tremolo effect! Thanks for the tutorial :)

Dude you crushed that patch in the outro, pretty impressed with dexed

Clicked to hear Benn's explanation of FM synthesis ...ended up getting a Reaktor lesson ...Thank's Benn!

I had that "aha" moment recreating the bell you made where I figured out how FM "works". Very cool tool to have in your arsenal of instruments - the sound is indeed iconic and extremely rich. These videos are unbelievably informative and have been influencing my songwriting and gear purchases with pleasing results. Benn's sense of texture is second to none.

Awesome. This is the first video to make sense to me. Thanks.

Best FM explanations I’ve seen are done with actual FM synths.

Great Job Ben I saw a previous video.. just one... months ago.. soon as i saw your intro... i remembered i loved the last video i watched. to a bright future sir.

Wait what, you are THE Flashbulb? I like you music and have found your channel completely accidentally xD Helpful video, by the way, I have Dexed, but never really used it.

Great video. DEXED indeed is great. FM is a fantastic synthesis method. And you are completely right about the ridiculously high amount of subtractive synth out there today. When things like additive and FM would have gotten more attention... Man how far could be synthesis today? Have joy.

Cheers, and thanks for the demonstration. Very nice playing at the end too!

I am starting to think the synthesizer i bought in 8th grade in the 80s was an fm synth. My female brain actually understood what you were talking about. Now I am going to watch 3 years of your videos.

I did not really understand what you are doing, but its impressive! I will be watching more theoretical videos about this and then return and see if I am able to understand this dark magic :D

Nice place here to seat, listen and learn. You are very good, Sir.

Looking at the quality of your content, I just had to subscribe and comment to push your algorithm rating. Great job!

This is a great explanation of FM synthesis.

You modulate my heart every time I see your dashing eyebrow.

The more fm synths I see the more I appreciate the one I use. That synth being MOD-7 which is an engine in the Kronos.

8:02 stopped to download the plugin and spent the next 15 minutes making some sweet lofi jams. Thanks for introducing me to Dexed.

So glad you covered FM. I'm a huge sucker for EPs as well. Have you played with Keyscape? Is it worth the buy?

Great playing at the end!

12:46 - "It's very easy to get the Sonic The Hedgehog sound"

I appreciate confident and verbose Ben of 2023, but can relate humble and up-and-coming-RU-vidr Ben of 2018 much more personally.

I think Akemie's Castle is my most used module, I'm so happy i bought it.

Thanks that was a really helpful vid.

You are an excellent piano player.

Superb video. I've been a serious lover of FM since the 90s. I bought a Dx7IIFD after reading about synthesizers. The Volca FM is Dx7 patch compatible (6 operator), but only 3 voices. Fruit had a Dx10 basic FM Synth which does a lot. Many Virtual Analogue synths support at least basic FM, Korg MS2000 does 2 operator FM, sorta poorly. The Blofeld has comprehensive FM . Yamaha wrote a book about FM Synthesis Theory (and applications) I have a scan of it here - paper copies are pure unobtanium. loscha.com/scans/FM_Synthesis-Theory_Applications.pdf Please keep up the great synthesizer videos, Benn. I really enjoyed the last album (and all of em). The wooden case is just beautiful. Cheers from Australia.

Very well presented

Would love a video covering generative music with modular synths! Maybe just you playing around with your eurorack, explaining what's happening and why you do certain things, bit of tips and tricks etc. Sadly VCV Rack doesn't have a quantizer just yet so a bit hard to make generative music in that atm, but I'm sure someone will make one soon.

really love the ending song :)

Thanks for the tips!

Great video, thanks!

Hey Benn, First of all, i love your music very very much and you are one of my top favorite artists. thank you so much for your great music. this may appear a little bit Off-Topic, but i got a question that i'm really curious about: You often use pianos in your music. I'm thinking about getting some of these Kontakt piano libraries - do you think there's a big difference between real piano recordings and those Kontakt library things ? Do you always use your disklavier-thingy for all your piano lines or did you also used libraries? anyway, have a nice day man big love

This is good. I believe harmonic series and musical harmony should be inseparable. Hammond organ players seem to understand that.

Nice work on the Dexed. A powerful recreation of the DX-7 but not the friendliest of programmers. A darn sight easier than the little LCD window of the original though. I had (still have ) a Yamaha CX-5M MSX Music Computer, got it as soon as it came out. in '84. There are sounds in there that I can't find anywhere else, I've tried recreating them from my memory in various virtual FM synths but the sound I'm most eager to hear again must be relying on an aspect of zipper noise/quantization aliasing artefacts and just won't appear for me in the 64-bit world.. I'll just have to get the CX-5M going again if I can. A tipped lightbulb melted the mini music keyboard but I should be able to trigger it via MIDI ... Hopefully

I leaned everything I needed to know but could find out elsewhere.

this video is helpful. thanks man

awesome tutorial

It'd be nice to mention an oscilloscope when using Dexed, e.g. Signalizer by Lightbridge to see the wave.

You mentioned that you think the Volca FM has 4 operators but actually it has 6 - it's the same form of synthesis as Dexed / the DX7.

What does the "A mod sens" knob do? Thanks for the video I learned a ton.

Nice little joke in the beginning. However, that actually was all I really needed to understand, thanks! 😂 I’ll still watch and like

Great vid. What’s your camera, lens, and editing setup? Sorry to be off topic I just dig the presentation.

I get it now. Dexed has these things called EGs (envelop generators) and these shape the envelope that goes around each sine wave. The algorithm section arranges which operator affects the next one in a chain (leading to output). This from what I gather changes the timbre/tone and thus you get other sounds, like a square or saw wave. One thing I don't get is why are the 6 oscillators called operators? All in all I have a lot more to learn yet. 😕

super helpful!

Cool man, you think a sound behaviour and model it. You got the knowledge., BTW I know this is old but Volca FM also has 6 operators. Be lucky

Regarding the equation shown in the video there's another video by a guy called composing gloves that explanations how that equation works.

Man dat playing in the end was even more crazy then the main tutorial! How to learn to play like that?...

Can you cover fm ratios?

can you please do more dexed?

Hey is that a spec of poliosis on your eyebrow? By coincidence I too have two toned eyebrows courtesy of pigment deficiency.

That outro 🤙🏻🤙🏻🤙🏻

In my city, there was an advertisement for the sale of the Yamaha DX7-2FD at a price of $429. I really like the unique sound of dx7, but I'm not sure if the 2FD version sounds like the first dx7 version, since 2fd used a stripped-down version of fm-synthesis. Tell me if they sound the same and if the 2fd justifies the $420 price tag? Thanks. (Sorry, I don't know English well, so I used google translator)

Thank You!

Pure genius

you are so better than aphex twin ! I know I shouldn't compare people, it makes no sens but still

will dexed work with volca fm?

Is doing this stuff in reaktor much different than doing it in something like VCV rack?

Dexed is the Martin Luther of synths!

3 types. Linear, exponential, and through zero, which doesn't alter the carrier's pitch. Pretty sure a lot of the old fm synths used phase modulation instead of true fm for the same reason

9:38 My mind instantly went "Syndicate!"

nice work but what is the music at 6:41 please..

FM Synthesis is randomly turning a bunch of knobs until it doesn't sound like crap anymore, right?

"Musical instead of Atonal" ? or Tonal instead of atonal, no ? : )

Replaced Dexed with KQ Dixie and haven't looked back since. No longer get the crashes I was getting with Dexed.

and I liked this video before 5 seconds

I klicked for the formula on the thumbnail, then I could only follow the first few seconds :D

This video is great! Only qualm is around 7:35 it looks like the camera is focused on the microphone and your face is out of focus

you're working on fl studio : same fight against our shame

a plus!

LOL... each time he says oscilatior..... I can't help hear "now let's go from the asshole ator ! hahaha

best intro XD

Operator 5 was turned off on the bell sound. Thats why it wasn't audible. Oops! Fantastic video thought!

I think that about a year from now, I might understand this.

Love your videos and explanations but this video also made me once again realise how boring I find soft synths. All that mouse work just takes out all the joy of synthesis

FM-Synthesis is for the guys and gals who don't have a problem with the RT part of FM (RTFM that is. 😀)

FM stands for "F****ing Magnets"

Cover FM for Axoloti!

Anyone else hear Melve by Autechre when Benn played around at 14:08? This guy....

FM synthesis: How does it work?Whatever the fuck it wants.

noice

FM synths are the most important musical instrument along with the sampler since the electric guitar, FM was not popular because of the lack of hands-on controls, it is way more powerful than subtractive synthesis, just have a play with the free DxD software, or buy a volca FM

FM is best synthesis, change my mind. #YamahaDX7

9:17 a little blue monday huh

There is a lot of misconceptions here. Let me clarify. 1) FM and Subtractive synthesis are not exclusive, and can be easily combined, and usually are. 2) FM is just an extension of subtractive, and not some miracle design. 3) Operators are nothing new and were in modular synthesisers forever, it is just a marketing speak (yes, sure they are operators in a mathematical sense to some extent, which makes them pretty good name, but we all call them modules usually in synth world). Similarly algorithms are patches, in the sense of patch cable arrangements. 4) You can do FM in analog, and often do. 5) FM was choosen by the Yamaha for DX7, because DX was a digital synthesisers and it is (was) real hard to design good sounding digital filter back in the day, and analog ones with digital control and big polyphony would cost a lot, drift, etc. In fact is is also pretty hard (or not cheap) to design pure sine wave oscillator in analog world, but pretty easy in the digital domain, however, nobody wants to really listen to sine waves itselfs because they are boring and have very limited harmonics and timber. FM resolves that by adding extra variability, that changes the shape of the waveforms dramatically. You could change sine into almost any other wave form by properly modulating its frequency. Similarly further extension of FM synthesis is phase modulation, which has added advantage of making waveforms be even shaped in more ways, and be cheaply implemented in hardware. On the analog synthetizer on the other hand you also don't want to hear sines as it is boring and doesn't give many options to explore. So instead most analog synths use triangle, sawtooth and/or pulse (square), which not only have more harmonics and other frequencies present, but have parameters that you can change to affect these harmonics (i.e. pulse width, slope of triangle, etc). These are easy to implement in hardware cheaply, and make them modulated by other oscillators, lfos or envelopes. Once you have plenty of harmonics using filter is a great way to make it sound and evolve to your taste. However, in analog synth, if you use more complex initial waveforms, or have bigger control of it (i.e. via oscillators, which you might need a lot to do, which means paying more), you can recreate all the same things you can do on "FM" digital synth, even without filter. There is nothing inherently special about FM, PM or pure substractive, as they are all usually used together, even on purely subtractive synths.

I just love watching sombody fight their Daw to explain something. Editing is like additive synthesis. You get alot more from alot less.

"musical instead of atonal"! wow!