Frequncy Modulation , Subtractive, and Additive Synthesis in FM8

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Traditionally sine waves are the only waveshapes available in the oscillator section of an FM synth. By applying FM to these sine waves you can still generate incredibly rich and dense sounds. However, inside of FM-8 you’ll see that you have a variety of wave shapes to choose from for each oscillator. Suddenly you now have a few choices to make. The more complex the wave shape (in terms of overtones) the more complex the sidebands generated when FM is applied. In this video you’ll see how we can bypass frequency modulation all together and adapt more of a subtractive signal flow. If you choose to bypass the filter altogether (and use the envelopes to bring in and out your other waveshapes) you can work with FM-8 like an additive synth.