Dubstep with FM8 Part 3: The Power Lead

This time around Jonny makes a nice thick power lead synth that will be right at home in your dubstep projects. Full of interest and character, it has a pitch mod at the beginning of the delivery and resolves nicely, ideal for this style of hard edge music. Starting this sound off in the FM Matrix, all of the main operators are routed through the filter unit (Operator Z). Operator F is our main oscillator, while Operators A-E are acting as modulators for Operator F. It all adds up to a complex sound which is both fat and sharp at the same time. Operators A-D are all have the Key Sync feature enable to make sure they are retriggered every time a note is played. A bit of re-routing and feedback is added to rough this sound up to make it really dirty before moving on to the next steps.

On the Master window, the total number of Unison voices is increased to five. A fair amount of Detuning is added to spread those voices out and makes the synth even wider and introduces some phasing effect. The voices are also spread out across the stereo field using the Pan slider. Now soem Analog and Digital Quality are add, which brings a lot more character to our sound. All of these changes bring a lot more tonality and musical value to this power lead.

Now the Envelopes are set up. This is a minimal change across all of the envelopes to eliminate any clicking due to a short release time. On to the Effects window! Here a Shelving EQ is used to boost the highs a bit. A Flanger is added to bring some more motion and modulation to the sound. A Reverb unit gives the sound more space to develop and move around in. Finally, the Pitch Envelope is set up to add that signature modulation to the beginning of the sound’s delivery.

Cheers,
OhmLab