Sonicware Liven XFM Prototype - Demo 8 - Traditional FM

video by ChrisLody

"So here we are, the last of the XFM prototype only demo videos. I'm sure there will be plenty more XFM videos on the channel but I'll most likely explore the possibilities of combining it with other equipment from now on. There will also be non demo content for it here like tutorials etc.

I've spent a lot of time making these demos trying to make something that sounds like 'Traditional FM synthesis' and I think this is about as close as I've got so far. On all the other demos I have been distracted by a lot of the other features on the pattern edit level like the filters so I've been using it more like a hybrid synthesizer.

Even this demo has a tiny bit of high-pass filter on the bass to be honest but that was just for something to tweak. The main bass part uses the X-Lab morphing mode with quite a lot of automation programmed in to get that crunchy feel but the other parts are running in Library mode which just play back the FM presets without using morphing. The other 3 tracks are 'Traditional FM' in the sense that they are FM synthesis in it's capacity to sound like acoustic instruments, in this case a flute with delayed vibrato, a sort of slapped pipe sounds and a bell like sound.

Personally I can't name this as a genre! But it's quite like a 90s Sega Megadrive/Genesis soundtrack I think, probably because that also has a 4op FM 6 voice chip inside."

Sonicware Liven XFM Prototype demos