On this Tutorial we will dip our toes into the world of FM synthesis. Ableton is the DAW of choice in this memoir.
(Video at the end)
You can go ahead and read up on Frequency Modulation synthesishere
Let's Rock on!
To begin i show off an instrument rack i will be making available for download by link in my next tutorial. Stay tuned for more information on where to get your hands on a copy!
This downloadable folder will include Instruments racks mapped to serum along some other third party plugins that can be recommended by me personally as i use these plugins often myself. Included will also be instrument racks and effects that come natively to Ableton.
Drag any digital synthesizer into your midi channel as long as it supports FM synthesis.
For this i select Serum to hold this tutorial in.
Using the waveforms provided by Xfer, i select basic shapes in the analog dropdown menu.
Pull down the random phase knob so that your note starts from the same point on every hit. This allows us more control while doing surgical work with fx and lead sounds that cut through the mix.
The Current waveform is set to a sine wave so i bring it up to the next waves' threshold where we come to a saw wave.
I repeat the same process after switching on oscillator b only this time bringing down the amp volume to down to 0%, and keeping the waveform at a sine wave
So far we have now two oscillators set up, but sound only coming out of one. With oscillator a i assign the warp knob to FM (from B) and give it a turn until i feel i find a nice spot where the growl fits what i'm looking for to fit my track. For this i like to listen to the higher frequencies of my bassline and try to match them nicely so that they work together as one sound.
Myself i like to use external effects to do my dirty work. On this video i work with Ableton's native autofilter.
Recently i have become fond of using the morph filter so i select this one. I found a nice jam using morphing with my FM scratches and other countless new ideas i haven't gotten around to trying yet.
Arpeggiator can also be dropped in if you want to be lazy like me and use the gate function to make nice variations in the length of notes. Particularly i use this to send audio into a delay plugin in many of my own productions. I find this very effective.
With this in mind i like to think about what is is i'm sending through the channel and in what order. As i make modulations to filters and phaser (also native) in this video you can hear how the spaces you allow in between midi information allows the modulations to carry the new sound further away from the sound previously sent through the delay.
NEVER FORGET EQ!! At the very least you should cut all frequencies below 100-150, but i usually cut even higher for this type of effect.
Also on this video i have demonstrated disarming my channel and moving over to arrangement view to record a live modulation i made by holding in left click on the mouse while moving my hand around. Later Dragging the clip back into session view after a quick freeze & flatten. * don't forget to select loop in the clip itself
rock your sock's off!!
Enjoy, Upvote, Follow, Subscribe, repost, and don't forget to actually try some of these tricks out!
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