Cause & Effect Sound Design in the FM Matrix

In the first part of his new series, Johnny gives us an in depth look at FM8 and how to use the operators more effectively and efficiently in the FM Matrix.

FM8 is not your normal synth. It’s not even your run of the mill FM styled synth. It’s a little quirky and isn’t laid out as intuitively as it could be, but that’s kind of why we love it. The FM Matrix in FM8 is actually pretty simple once you understand the fundamental ideas behind using the operators and modulating frequencies.

Johnny jumps right in showing us how to use the operators and how to modulate frequencies. From there he talks about how to use the ratios in the Ops tab to help program the sound you’re going for and how those numbers relate to the FM Matrix.

Frequency modulation synthesis can be a little tricky, but hopefully with this tutorial you can start to feel more at home with how to use the FM matrix and the operators.