John Chowning

Elektron · January 27, 2018, 5:47am

We had a good, solid talk with John Chowning, inventor of FM synthesis. Since its first musical use, FM has greatly expanded the musical possibilities of digital instruments. Its impact on every imaginable genre cannot be overstated, from contemporary classical music to dubstep. It was the synth sound of the 1980s, immortalized through the Yamaha DX7. John, however, does not refer to it as an invention. According to him, FM is a gift of nature that was just waiting to be discovered. [Read the Talk with John Chowning here](https://www.elektronauts.com/talk/120)

jefones · January 26, 2018, 10:27pm

this is a great interview. deep and informative.

elektrobot7 · January 27, 2018, 5:43am

Great Talk awesome. Thanks!

t · January 27, 2018, 5:47am

That is nice.

Prints · January 27, 2018, 5:59am

Here’s my copy of FM Theory & Applications. It’s in excellent condition; the binding feels like it’s new.

r1n9o · January 29, 2018, 1:30am

Very cool.

Say, that shade of green looks familiar. I wonder if…

psyclone001 · January 29, 2018, 1:46am

Absolute legend.
A god among mere men

psyclone001 · January 29, 2018, 2:07am

Awesome

psyclone001 · January 29, 2018, 2:28am

Bargain

t · January 29, 2018, 5:25am

Don’t buy used books from Amazon or eBay. Use more specialized book seller websites instead. For example: https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?an=Chowning&tn=Fm+theory

basehead617 · January 29, 2018, 10:42pm

Wow, what a legend!!

LyingDalai · January 31, 2018, 9:57am

This interview is very interesting, I like that it gives leads to explore FM synthesis, such as deciding ratios and explore from there.
I don’t really get what Chowning means with synthesizing female voice and especially the part about resonances, would someone care to explain ?

t · January 31, 2018, 10:03am

Reading https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vocal_resonation and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formant might help.

LyingDalai · January 31, 2018, 3:15pm

Thx mate Seems you help me with readings on a daily basis

Just came across this video, while trying to understand the article you mentioned…

johannes · January 31, 2018, 3:18pm

nice that alvin pops up here.

LyingDalai · January 31, 2018, 3:28pm

I am so excited to discover such people’s work (and lately I have felt like I have a better measure how ignorant I am )

Until one month ago I had never understood contemporary classical music or music concrete. Feels great to discover new sonic territories.

dubathonic · January 31, 2018, 10:37pm

John Chowning, from the interview:

…the fact that I had to sit and wait and think, and listen, and then think about what I heard, “what will be the next step?” greatly enhanced my ability in realizing the discovery … That’s my working process, even today. I do discrete experiments, then wait and think. It’s not that I don’t make use of the real-time controls, but it’s a practice that’s had huge pay-off over the years. So I think these were special circumstances that very much enhanced the likelihood of discovery.

In Chaos: Making a New Science, Mitchell Feigenbaum had nearly the exact same experience working with a shared mainframe computer that forced him to wait for the results. The thinking he did in the interim periods was an important part of the discovery process.