Morphing and Sound Design with FM8 Part 1 - Pad Sequencing

This sweet tutorial kicks off another month-long series from Jonny as he shares some great tips on how to design sounds and use the morph feature in FM8 to get more out of them!

There are a few different approaches to sound design in FM8, and creating new sounds with the intention of morphing them later on is one of the most fun and challenging things to take on in this synth. I personally love creating sounds for morphing. Sometimes I go so far as to create audio sample from other synths specifically for sounds that I am designing in FM8 so I can morph between them creating truly unique and original soundscapes and other interesting results. But that is for another lesson. Let’s take a quick look at how this particular sound is set up and readied for morphing.

The sound design begins in the FM Matrix and uses all of the main operators routed through the filter (Operator Z). Although each of the operators are running a basic sine wave, the sound quickly becomes complex and full of character thanks to the modulation and feedback routing assignments made in the matrix. Once you have the basic sound set up, you can begin working on the sequencing.

To get this sound moving, the FM8 arpeggiator is used to program a sequence that is played through whenever a note is sustained. Next the envelopes can be set up to ensure the proper delivery and development of our sound. The filter settings are fine tuned to focus the sound. And finally the Effects window is set up. A Peak EQ is used to accent some top end frequencies, while some Reverb provides more room for the sound to move around in. Lastly, a Chorus/Delay effect is added to extend the sound and really builds upon the arpeggiation that was programmed earlier. In the next installment of this series, we will look at how this sound can be taken even further with the morphing feature inside of FM8.