makes me wonder if Ae used MM on LP5…
Can you explain the settings of FM+ machine to achieve the marimba?
Unless Autechre made a time machine in Max/MSP, I doubt it 
LP5 was mostly Nord Lead, and it’s really obvious when you play with a Nord on its own!
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Hmm, I’ll have to blow the dust off my monomachine this weekend and see if I can get that for you.
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Oh thank you Psedolux! Much appreciated!!
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Actually I think I documented it in this thread:
It’s two layers, but I think in the example I posted in this thread it’s just one of the layers. Give it a try and see if it sounds right! I’m away from my monomachine at the moment so can’t test it for myself.
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Great I’ll give it a deep reading… waiting for your help this weekend. Thanks again!
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I’m wondering, because I’m trying to understand the FM+. I understand FM synthesis, where there is a carrier and modulators…So, my quick question that could help me conceptualize how these machines are working. In the diagram, it shows a carrier at the bottom, and then the modulator, env, freq, tune ect above… So is that carrier actually a fixed frequency (like a hidden sin wave in the background)? Thanx for your reply.
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Not quite.
Think of the carrier as an oscillator whose pitch is controlled by the sequencer.
Think of the modulators as fast LFOs that are routed to the pitch of the carrier.
If the output amplitude (“volume”) of the modulators were zero (for example, when using an FM+STAT machine and setting 1ENV and 2VOL to zero), you would hear the carrier on its own, tending towards a sine wave as the value of TONE is lowered.
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Ah, perfect @PeterHanes. I knew you would know this one. Thank you. So, if the frequency of the carrier changes with where I hit on the keyboard, do the modulators also follow in a tuned freq? I think I remember not…So, this may be an important part of programing. Maybe I need to adjust as I go up in octave?
oops:
So they are. Thank you Peter.
Usually, but you can also use modulators with fixed frequencies. This is one of the sound design tools to create more complex sounds such as modeling resonant structures.
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I’ll have to google that one. I kinda just wanna use the FM machines like a futurist cowbell. I have no idea why. But, if I understand the structure more, maybe I’ll get more cowbell. 
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Indeed. What FM synth are you using?
Well, now that I am finally getting an understanding of them, I suppose I would have to choose one. I think lastnight I was using the FM+Static. It seemed to be the most predictable. Right now I’m getting pretty good future cowbell out of the Swave:Ens. I find this one of my favorite machines so far. But, I really want to get the same on the FM+, cuz I know it’ll sound right with FM. Which would you suggest?
I like the digitone, but it’s mostly all the same since math is math and FM is very much math. 
Cheaper would be a volca FM and more expensive would be Essence FM. Notable mentions are the MEGAfm and OpSix.
Hmm, yeah…I don’t need another machine. If I really needed an FM sound i could just open FM8 and trigger it with my OT, resample it. I’ll just keep pluggin away at these Monomachine FM synths until I figure it out. I know there will be a reward if I keep up the work. I think your math comment is something I was thinking about. Wish Elektron made a FM calculator. 
Yeah just do that. I wasn’t thinking about software. I learned a lot about FM using a patcher (Audulus 3) but @Ess uses Max and of course his Fors project just came out with a M4L instrument that is FM based.
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I would say FM+ is maybe not the best way to learn FM, it’s quite unconventional in many ways. From the envelopes to the implementation its all pretty non-standard. Not that it’s a bad thing, but it is a bit obscure and opaque in some areas.
On that note, I’m pretty sure FM+ is linear FM as using feedback detunes the pitch, and also sounds pretty dull compared to feedback in a phase modulation implementation - which is what Yamaha used, and Digitone, my own synths etc… Personally I love PM, it has so many advantages over Linear FM that I wouldn’t think twice of favoring it.
The bizarre controls of the FM+ machines does lend itself to some happy accidents, and for understanding what exactly is going on I think you just need to go slowly and try and see how each parameter affects the sound by itself, and together with the others until there’s some sort of grip of what impacts what. Probably best to avoid any of the envelope parameters to start out though.
But the structure is similar to other FM-synths in that it has a modulator and a carrier, some of the modes several modulators IIRC. There are great diagrams and some explanations in the Monomachine manual that should help with figuring things out. Although, again I believe that the mappings of the parameters are a bit on the weirder side… 
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Yeah totally. I have used Operator, and understand FM to an extent (the math not so much). It seems well laid out. I can watch a tutorial and understand how everything is working (it has the advantage of being on a computer screen). But even looking at the Diagrams in the MnM manual- the controls and the way they set it up it seems very esoteric. And from what you said, this could be purposely done…For those happy accidents, using p-locks and LFO’s. But, it seems like I’m driving someone else’s truck and it has 13 gears instead of 5 and it’s a double clutch… Lot’s of accidents.
Okay, yeah. I get it. I’ll embrace that part of it. I’m dabbling in phase distortion at the moment as well, cuz I luv the way the cz series sounds…Maybe I’ll study the FM synth in Bitwig too, see if anything in that one translates into the FM+.
This advice is worth a million. I’ve been down this road a few times, and I get sidetracked with all the other amazing engines on the MnM. I’m gonna stay away from the envelope parameters, see what happens. Thank you.
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That’s actually kind of surprising. Linear FM is like my second favorite after PM but since it is a digital implementation I would think it is actually more of a hassle to code.
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