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VI review Native Instruments FM8 Review by Lee Sherman Native Instruments FM8, $339; upgrade from FM7, $119. www.NativeInstruments.de System requirements: Mac OS X 10.4, G4 1.4 GHz + or Intel Core Duo 1.66 GHz +, 512MB RAM; Windows XP, 1.4GHz Pentium or Athlon, 512MB RAM. Formats: Stand-alone, Audio Units, VST, DXi, RTAS. Copy protection: online authorization using included utility to manage all Native Instruments auths. 24 VIRTUAL INSTRUMENTS The second coming of the DX-7 gets a major update Native Instruments’ FM7 has become a staple of modern music production. In a way this is the second coming of the famous Yamaha DX-7, which dominated the world in the early ’80s when it came out. While the FM synthesis technique these instruments have in common is capable of creating some of the cheesiest sounds ever recorded, it’s also capable of creating some wonderful, unique sounds. As a result it’s never really gone out of style. Among other things, FM synthesis can produce a metallic sheen that’s fantastic for clanging bells, lush pads, glassy electric pianos, and tight basses. It’s as welcome as ever in today’s music. Recreating the sound of the original hardware is a lot easier when the original hardware was a digital synthesizer. But what’s really important is whether the software has improved upon the original. Indeed, FM7 not only delivered the sound of the DX-7 (you can even import all of the old patches—see Random Tip: Loading original DX sounds into FM8 [which works the same way]), it went some way toward improving the arcane process of programming FM sounds. We’ll explain FM synthesis in the next section, but FM7 also provided an advanced sound architecture that includes a Fig. 1: FM8 now includes the intuitive KoreSounds Browser. This allows you to search for sounds and filter them according to instrument, genre, synthesis type, and musical attributes such as timbre and articulation free-form FM matrix, additional waveforms for the Operators (the original only had sine waves), graphical envelopes with nearly unlimited stages, host-syncable looping, and chorus and delay effects. While FM8’s considerably revamped user interface no longer resembles the panel of a DX-7 (it’s now a soothing gray-on-white color scheme), the biggest changes are due to the software’s integration with Native Instruments’ Kore software host/controller/interface. FM8’s own patch brower is similar to Kore’s, and its sounds use the Kore Single Sound Format. If you do open FM8 within Kore, you can use complex layers of FM8 and Native Instruments programs. KoreSounds can take advantage of the new morphing technology and multi-effects chains, making for some truly massive sounds. A tabbed navigator along the right side of the software’s main window lets you switch
quickly between the Browser and Attributes view, expert and novice programming modes, access the new arpeggiator, or bring up the effects rack. The Attributes view lets you filter your sounds according to instrument, genre, synthesis type, and musical attributes like timbre and articulation. Like all NI instruments, FM8 runs standalone or as a plug-in on both Macs and Windows XP machines in all the standard formats. It is now a universal binary, meaning it works on Intel-based Macs. Smooth operators In FM synthesis, sounds are created by modulating one waveform with another, producing a more complicated waveform. Waveform generators are called Operators; an Operator that’s modulating another one is called a Modulator, and one that’s being producing actual sound is called a Carrier. Any Operator can act as either a Carrier or a Modulator, and it is the arrangements of these waveforms that form the building blocks of FM synthesis. In FM8, up to eight Operators can be freely mixed in any combination, and you can choose from a wide variety of waveforms— unlike the DX-7, whose Operators produced only sine waves and were arranged into 32 set configurations (called Algorithms). Other DX-series instruments had four Operators. The last two FM8 Operators are special and aren’t found in Yamaha’s implementation of FM synthesis. Operator X adds noise and waveshaping, while operator Z is an analogstyle multimode filter with a filter envelope. Also unique to NI’s version of FM are multistage envelopes that can be edited graphically. The next step would be the ability to import your own samples as you can on the Yamaha SY77/99; perhaps that will come in FM9? Instead of only allowing you to view a single Operator at a time as you did in FM7, FM8’s Expert window now provides an at-a- Fig. 2: FM8’s new Expert window provides an ata-glance view of Operator parameters. glance view of the key parameters for all Eight Operators all at once. Alternatively, you can choose to drill down into the more advanced parameters for individual Operators by clicking on labeled buttons in the navigator or the FM matrix. The FM Matrix provides an intuitive view of operator routing. If you’re not interested in dealing with the complexities of FM, an Easy/Morph page can be used to tweak an overall sound quickly. Here you can route LFOs, adjust the amplitude envelope, apply effects, and more. FM7 was limited to a pair of fairly standard effects: chorus and delay; FM8 now has a full effects rack that includes 11 high-quality effects including talk, wah, phaser and flanger, tremolo, reverb, pitch-able delay, tube amp, overdrive, and EQs seemingly drawn from NI’s Guitar Rig. Why should guitarists have all the fun? The smooth workflow and visual approach to parameter editing remains a huge advantage over the old hardware, while the highresolution audio engine in FM8 sounds even better than its predecessor and far better than a real DX7 (due to better D/A convertors, oversampling, multi-stage EGs, and the builtin effects). Motion sickness Since it takes some work to master FM programming, FM8’s sound morphing features are particularly welcome as a serendipitous means of coming up with new sounds. The sound-morphing feature provides a 4-way matrix onto which you drag and drop sounds from the browser. By clicking and dragging across the matrix, you can morph your current sound with the timbres of the additional sounds. (In order to ensure that the original sound is still playable, only the correct parameters morph.) A Randomize button generates new VI review Fig. 3: The new arpeggiator looks and acts like an old-school analog sequencer, bringing life to sounds sounds for use in the matrix. The 4-way matrix is reminiscent of waveshaping synths like the Sequential Prophet VS and the Korg VS software but much easier to program. It made me wish for a joystick to control it with. Fortunately all movements can be automated. Additional movement comes from the programmable arpeggiator, with its 32-step matrix that’s reminiscent of a classic analog step-sequencer. It’s the arpeggiator that accounts for the many on-board patterns you’ll find in the browser. DJs, dance producers, and musicians of all kinds will find new inspiration from the groove presets. One of the great things about FM7 has always been the wide availability of additional presets. You could purchase one of NIs sound packages, choose from hundreds of FM7 presets available online, or import patches from the DX-7 family (most of which are readily available on the Internet). FM8 ships with 960 preset sounds for all styles and genres, including both original FM7 patches, the complete FM7 Sounds Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 libraries, as well as 200 new sounds—enough programs that you may not ever need to know what an Operator is. Plus there’s the above-mentioned KoreSound format. Is eight enough? At a time when most new virtual instruments seem to play tribute either directly or indirectly to their hardware forbears, its gratifying to see Native Instruments extend the DX-7 legacy. FM8 sounds better, it’s easier to program (the interface improvements alone are worth the upgrade price), and its sound morphing and on-board arpeggiator go far for updating digital FM synthesis for today’s music. VI VIRTUAL INSTRUMENTS 25
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