Morphing and Sound Design with FM8 Part 2 - Basic Morphing

Welcome back to the second installment of this month’s sereis looking at sound designa and morphing in FM8. This week, some morphing basics are covered.

In part one of this series, we designed a nice sound and set into motion using the Arpeggiator feature within FM8. In this lesson we will look at some of the basic things we can accomplish with morphing this same sound. In the end, we should have a few variations on the original sound and have the ability to move freely between them as we like for more interesting and captivating results. It starts out with a quick explanation of what the Morphing Matrix is and how it works. Once a basic understanding of Morphing has been achieved, we can begin to program the Morphinx Matrix and really expand upon the sound we’ll be using.

When creating multiple versions of the same sound with morphing in FM8, it is very important to always be aware of what part of the morphing matrix you are programming at any given point in time. So always move your morphing target to the desired location prior to making any changes to your sound. This way the original sound is kept intact and unchanged, while new versions can be programmed and stored into the different quadrants of the morphing matrix. It may sound complicated at first, but as you can see in the video it is actually quite easy to do!

Once you have finished following along with this lesson, you should most definitely be empowered to begin experimenting on your own. This is one of the most powerful features of FM8, and what truly sets it apart from the rest of the FM soft synths on the market. You can also try morphing between completely different patches for incredibly unique and interesting new sounds and atmospheres. You can even load a sample into FM8 and them morph it with various presets from your library! It’s all about trying new combinations and getting creative in how you use the morphing matrix.