FM is a conundrum. On one hand, it’s the ideal form of synthesis, capable of a rich range of sounds and transformations. On the other, it’s hard to actually get all that sound under control – the very thing that range would make you want to do. And accordingly, a lot of sound libraries have just skipped over FM altogether.
Not our man Francis Preve and Symplesound.
Here’s the concept: make FM fun and playable again. Make FM something where you want to start toying around and turning knobs, without fear that you’re going to get lost in a muddle of sound. And as usual, integrate those sounds with Ableton to inspire you to play with a controller (or Push) and get into automation and song making right away.
The Symplesound take on FM comes with a deep library of three instruments:
Yamaha DX7
Yamaha TX81Z
and Ableton Operator
That covers two original vintage hardware instruments and one more contemporary Ableton instrument, respectively. (The latter requires a copy of Operator, the others don’t.)
And it’s exactly what you want. It’s got loads of attention lavished on instruments you want, and skips over obscure stuff you don’t. So for the DX, you get Electric Bass, Electric Piano and Marimba multisampled, in a form you can tweak and play to your heart’s delight. There’s even chord select. It’s retro friendly, for sure – but could also be a staple for something new.
The 81Z selection for me is the real standout, in that it lets you cover a lot of vintage territory but in a way I think could be really versatile. The “Lately Bass” (“Solid Bass”) alone could be worth the price of admission, but then you get Perc Organ, Reed Piano (Wurli) and EZ Clav – now as beautiful for their distinctive simplicity as once for their realism. And there are Leads and Plucks, some velocity multisampled.
But then there’s Operator. Having a library for Operator might sound like overkill, but as beautiful as Robert Henke’s panel design was for the original, it’s still a sound designer’s instrument – it doesn’t quite reach that level of being able to turn a knob and immediately get a satisfying result. That’s where this collection comes in.
And then because it’s Symplesound, this isn’t just a collection in presets. It’s a lesson in history and sound design – both historically in music you know and for modern creative use. So you get complete tutorials. You get presets and macros that themselves tell a story – you’re learning something from Francis’ approach to sound design when you just turn a knob. The MIDI loops, rather than just giving you some dull stock building blocks, will genuinely demonstrate what the parameters are for and how to use automation. You’ll get a sense of where recognizable sounds come from — which might prompt you to recreate something you know, or to move beyond that and find some new hit.
If you just want to play around, you can go do that.
http://www.symplesound.com/shop/
US$14.99 for the sampled Yamaha libraries, $24.99 for the Operator library, or get the bundle for $49.99.
And if you care about the history and technique here, you can nerd out with the creator. Francis Preve is a regular on this site precisely because his experience in sound design, teaching, and production spans decades, and … let’s be honest, because he likes to nerd out about his passion as much as we do. So it’s worth reading the blog post for some background.
The Making of The FM Collection [Symplesound]
I mean, how else would you curl up for a nice evening with a set of FM synthesis presets?! That’s why we love you, Fran.