Oscillator Sink had a good tip to help predict the effect of modulation ratio. When the ratio is closer to one, the effect feels like shaping the fundamental. When the ratio is much bigger than one, it sounds like adding high ringing harmonics. Simple.
"You probably don't want to see whole five minutes..." Yes I do! "It's posted on the second channel" Thanks!!!! Edit: the video comparing ratios sounds very cool also.
This series is awesome, makes learning FM engaging and interesting. I’m really looking forward to the patching episode, my Reface DX is begging for a competent “operator” lol.
i thought the sidebands under 0 and over half the sample rate appear "mirrored" only in the digital world(aliasing) and I see you are using analog gear🤔
I think you're conflating two different things. Aliasing only happens with frequencies that go over Nyquist afaik. It's the result of not having enough sample data to accurately represent a wave. I think I missed the last episode so I don't know the exact mechanics of the sidebands reflecting from 0, but it's definitely a different phenomenon from aliasing.
I tried with Brains fm algo (modulator) into 2600-VCO (carrier) but struggled as I was making it overcomplicated by sending a 2-OP (already) FM mod in which made it almost impossible to get a stable result. Don't have a Mordax, but the Korg NTS-2 is really useful. It does my head in, but I do love that FM sound. I blame the 80's. Still enjoying these explorative videos. Please continue.
An idea that popped into my head (and forgive me if you've already covered this and I forgot!) which may or may not have any merit due to how sidebands appear on *both* sides of the carrier, is whether you could do "virtual chords" by using specific ratios in combination with specific notes for the carrier to use the virtual pitch of the audio-rate modulation as a second/third note, sort of "tuning" the modulation to fit into the composition. I haven't tried it yet and I have no idea if it could work, and maybe someone's already thought of this, but I'm very intrigued by the idea.
Loving this video series. Thanks so much! If you ever get the chance, I'd especially love to build my intuitions for how FM works in an exponential system like eurorack's volt per octave. So like, if I tune my carrier and modulator to the same base pitch and then start feeding them piches from the same sequencer, what happens? What if I always add 1V (1 octave) to the pitch that goes into of them? What about adding a perfect fifth? What if the base piches aren't in tune; say I tune the modulator to a fifth above the carrier, and then feed them from the same sequencer again? Obviously I can built some of these intuotions by ear, but I'd love to see the math worked out the way you're doing it here. Anyway, irrespective of whether that ever fits into your series, I'm lobing it, and I'm already looking forward to the next one. Thanks!!
@hoperanker8395 - I'll be digging into this more in an upcoming patching video (probably the one after the next one), but feeding the sequencer into both the carrier and modulator is really important if you want to be able to 'play' the result in a consistent way. For instance, imagine you have a 440 hz carrier and 220 hz modulator, so it's a 2:1 relationship. Now add 1V pitch CV to each. 440 hz goes up by an octave to 880 hz. And 220 hz goes up an octave to 440 hz. That is still a 2:1 ratio - so the effect that the modulation has will be the same, just pitched up. Same goes for a fifth. Say the carrier is at 220 hz, a fifth above that would be 330 hz, so it's a ratio of 2:3. Now add 1V to each. 220 goes up an octave to 440, and 330 goes up to 660, but the ratio is still 2:3. Glad you're enjoying the videos!
I have a Kodamo essence fm mk2. I programmed amazing fm sounds, but somethings missing i need more variety of timbres instead of carriers multiplied 1 and modulator by 1. I can also make custom wavforms as well for carriers and modulators.
This is really interesting. Looking forward to the next part in the series
Oscillator Sink had a good tip to help predict the effect of modulation ratio. When the ratio is closer to one, the effect feels like shaping the fundamental. When the ratio is much bigger than one, it sounds like adding high ringing harmonics. Simple.
"You probably don't want to see whole five minutes..."
Yes I do!
"It's posted on the second channel"
Thanks!!!!
Edit: the video comparing ratios sounds very cool also.
loving the series so far
I'm glad you're enjoying it!
This series is awesome, makes learning FM engaging and interesting. I’m really looking forward to the patching episode, my Reface DX is begging for a competent “operator” lol.
Great series, having fun following it with some Matlab implementation.
@CyberBlob69 - That's excellent! There's a good mathy episode coming up next!
Fascinating, and very well presented 😊
Thank you so much!
Great series.
Thanks!
This is fantastic, it's like 3blue1brown but specific to music.
@PinkKittenTech - Thanks so much! It's probably pretty clear that 3b1b is one of my big influences. Just wait for the next video, it's all mathy. :)
i thought the sidebands under 0 and over half the sample rate appear "mirrored" only in the digital world(aliasing) and I see you are using analog gear🤔
I think you're conflating two different things. Aliasing only happens with frequencies that go over Nyquist afaik. It's the result of not having enough sample data to accurately represent a wave. I think I missed the last episode so I don't know the exact mechanics of the sidebands reflecting from 0, but it's definitely a different phenomenon from aliasing.
serious meditative qualities in this video. similar vibes to those alan watts videos..
I tried with Brains fm algo (modulator) into 2600-VCO (carrier) but struggled as I was making it overcomplicated by sending a 2-OP (already) FM mod in which made it almost impossible to get a stable result. Don't have a Mordax, but the Korg NTS-2 is really useful. It does my head in, but I do love that FM sound. I blame the 80's. Still enjoying these explorative videos. Please continue.
The 2600 VCO doesn't have linear FM so the whole discussion here won't apply. Exponential FM will mess with perceived pitch even with sine waves.
Nice !
An idea that popped into my head (and forgive me if you've already covered this and I forgot!) which may or may not have any merit due to how sidebands appear on *both* sides of the carrier, is whether you could do "virtual chords" by using specific ratios in combination with specific notes for the carrier to use the virtual pitch of the audio-rate modulation as a second/third note, sort of "tuning" the modulation to fit into the composition. I haven't tried it yet and I have no idea if it could work, and maybe someone's already thought of this, but I'm very intrigued by the idea.
Loving this video series. Thanks so much!
If you ever get the chance, I'd especially love to build my intuitions for how FM works in an exponential system like eurorack's volt per octave. So like, if I tune my carrier and modulator to the same base pitch and then start feeding them piches from the same sequencer, what happens? What if I always add 1V (1 octave) to the pitch that goes into of them? What about adding a perfect fifth? What if the base piches aren't in tune; say I tune the modulator to a fifth above the carrier, and then feed them from the same sequencer again?
Obviously I can built some of these intuotions by ear, but I'd love to see the math worked out the way you're doing it here.
Anyway, irrespective of whether that ever fits into your series, I'm lobing it, and I'm already looking forward to the next one. Thanks!!
@hoperanker8395 - I'll be digging into this more in an upcoming patching video (probably the one after the next one), but feeding the sequencer into both the carrier and modulator is really important if you want to be able to 'play' the result in a consistent way.
For instance, imagine you have a 440 hz carrier and 220 hz modulator, so it's a 2:1 relationship. Now add 1V pitch CV to each. 440 hz goes up by an octave to 880 hz. And 220 hz goes up an octave to 440 hz. That is still a 2:1 ratio - so the effect that the modulation has will be the same, just pitched up.
Same goes for a fifth. Say the carrier is at 220 hz, a fifth above that would be 330 hz, so it's a ratio of 2:3. Now add 1V to each. 220 goes up an octave to 440, and 330 goes up to 660, but the ratio is still 2:3.
Glad you're enjoying the videos!
very nice
Thanks!
I have a Kodamo essence fm mk2. I programmed amazing fm sounds, but somethings missing i need more variety of timbres instead of carriers multiplied 1 and modulator by 1. I can also make custom wavforms as well for carriers and modulators.