How to Make a Screaming Drill Synth in FM8

We welcome yet another FM8Tutorials.com community member as we bring you this lesson in how to make a semi-scream synth that can fit into Dubstep or Electro House style projects.

As our community continues to grow faster than any other of it’s kind, we begin to see more and more of our member contributing their own tutorials to the mix of resources available on our sites. This FM8 video tutorial is a perfect example of how a group of people from all over the world can each do their part in furthering the education, understanding and general evolution to young producers and those just getting started in the worlds of digital music production and sound design. He calles it a semi-scream, and it’s a fitting name, as it also has some drill characteristics to it. Let’s check out how it’s made.

To start off with the Master window, the Unison voices are increased to 3, the Portamento is turned on, and the Analog and Digital Quality sliders are both moved up some. The next big stop is the Expert Ops window, where all of the routing of the operators is set up. This is a rather complex matrix, so we will summarize that the sound is made up of two operators that are routed to the main output, after being heavily modulated by the rest fo the main operators available for sound generation.

Once your main sound is ready, the Expert Pitch window is the next destination. Here you need to set up an envelope the shape the pitch delivery of the sound. This is the step that really locks this sound in, and it’s also where you can easily customize it to your specific needs. Introduction of the envelope shape happens through the use of the Amplitude Envelope parameter, so make sure you adjust it accordingly to reveal the effects to your liking.

That wraps up this sound, as far as FM8 is involved anyway. Now if you like, you can add some distortion. Camel Phat is the plugin used in the video, but any one that you prefer working with will also suffice. To help ensure that this sound comes through clean in the final mix, you will want to make any necessary EQ adjustments to keep clashes to a minimum.

If you have a request or would like to share a tutorial of your own, please send us a message to let us know. Thanks for stopping by!

Cheers,
OhmLab