Grokking the FS1R: Part 5 - Formant Choir Dissection

YouTube Uploaded by NoisyLittleBugger on Mar 30, 2011

"WARNING - This video contains loud audio. Even though a limiter was placed on the output, the nature of FM means that noise peaks are inevitable when experimenting. You have been warned!

If you don't know what FS1R or FM synthesis are then there's no point in watching. Really.

Part 5: Formant Choir Dissection

The FS1R was primarily marketed for it's formant synthesis and Formant-sequencing (FS) abilities.

In this video I dissect a non-sequenced formant patch. Performance B008 - Choir uses formants and noise generators to mimmick the human vocal tract. Formants provide the vowel sounds, whilst the Unvoiced (noise) operators provide the consonants and/or breath.

I am collecting articles that explain the theory behind formant synthesis, with Frequency charts for common formants - see http://stimresp.wordpress.com/tag/formant/.

Essentially, the formant operators on the FS1R can be thought of as band-passed oscillators. The frequency and bandwidth of these formants can be changed to approximate the resonant qualities of real-world acoustic sounds, instruments, speech, etc.

The human voice can be approximated by at least three formants in parallel set at different frequencies. Research has produced charts that map the frequencies for common vowels and consonants - so in theory these can be used to make the FS1R say whole words. However the temporal aspects of such a patch would be too complex to program, as even 64 operators may not be enough. Changing the frequency and bandwidth is possible using MIDI knobs/automation, but the results are still far from convincing.

Yamaha's answer to this is/was formant sequencing. I will look at the formant sequences in a later video.

Software used:
Sakura FS1R editor - http://synth-voice.sakura.ne.jp/fs1r_editor_english.html (thank you K_Take!)
Reaper - http://www.reaper.fm/
S(m)exiscope vst - http://bram.smartelectronix.com/plugins.php?id=4
Voxengo SPAN - http://www.voxengo.com/product/span/
Camstudio - http://camstudio.org/

Grok: 'to understand intuitively or by empathy; to establish rapport with' and 'to empathise or communicate sympathetically (with); also, to experience enjoyment.'"