NI FM7 Vs FM8?

[loachm]

 
My favourite is FM7, hands down!

It has more the 'look and feel' of a DX7 (alas I never owned one) AND it has also the excellent randomization feature which is great to instantly create new sounds ... . (my favourites are the 'endless' sounds that constantly evolve and change.) .

And that is what FM8 doesn't have
 

...for me it was also a letdown at first that NI dropped the randomisation feature. However, now I think it makes sense. If you want to modify your sound slightly to create variations you can do that via the Easy Edit page (it was like this right from the start). If you want to randomise a sound you can use the XY pad for that if you load different sounds into its squares. There you could do more "targeted" randomisations. If you're happy with a result, click normalise timbres and save it as a new sound. And if you don't like that approach you can have both versions installed and use FM7 and its randomisation as a scratch pad and import these sounds into FM8 later on. Or you could use FM7 with Guitar Rig, as FM8 borrows heavily from it (I think both plug-ins have the same lead developer).

Anyway, FM8 is a great synth, you can get wonderful sounds out of it. The only thing that annoys me is that it can produce some weird timbre shifts from time to time even though (in my view) the preset settings should produce a sound that shouldn't. I don't know it this is by design or a mistake. FM8 is supposed to emulate a digital synth so I expect it to create identical sounds at every key strike when I want it to.

[BlackWinny]

My history goes back to the boxed version of FM7

The same.

I got FM7 a few months after its first release in 2002.

[waltercruz]

FM8 deserves a update. Sometimes it freezes and feel slugish, and you have to rebuild the DB.

[ZeePok]

 
My favourite is FM7, hands down!

It has more the 'look and feel' of a DX7 (alas I never owned one) AND it has also the excellent randomization feature which is great to instantly create new sounds ... . (my favourites are the 'endless' sounds that constantly evolve and change.) .

And that is what FM8 doesn't have
 

...for me it was also a letdown at first that NI dropped the randomisation feature. However, now I think it makes sense. If you want to modify your sound slightly to create variations you can do that via the Easy Edit page (it was like this right from the start). If you want to randomise a sound you can use the XY pad for that if you load different sounds into its squares. There you could do more "targeted" randomisations. If you're happy with a result, click normalise timbres and save it as a new sound. And if you don't like that approach you can have both versions installed and use FM7 and its randomisation as a scratch pad and import these sounds into FM8 later on. Or you could use FM7 with Guitar Rig, as FM8 borrows heavily from it (I think both plug-ins have the same lead developer).

Anyway, FM8 is a great synth, you can get wonderful sounds out of it. The only thing that annoys me is that it can produce some weird timbre shifts from time to time even though (in my view) the preset settings should produce a sound that shouldn't. I don't know it this is by design or a mistake. FM8 is supposed to emulate a digital synth so I expect it to create identical sounds at every key strike when I want it to.

The keyword was 'instantly' .
 

[loachm]

The keyword was 'instantly' .
 

...didn't miss that. my keyword was 'targeted'...

[KingTuck]

FM8 deserves a update. Sometimes it freezes and feel slugish, and you have to rebuild the DB.

I'll just chime in to say that I (running latest version of FM8) don't have really any notable stability problems with it. Or sluggish performance. Most NI stuff has been quite solid in my experience.

[ChamomileShark]

I've read some odd stuff about FM7/FM8 - I think I even saw somewhere that FM7 was the same kind of FM as DX7 but FM8 was something different. I thought that was really unlikely.

Can anyone confirm what FM8 uses? Is it the same as DX7?

And to get DX7 patches to load exactly do you have to fiddle with the quality slider?

[crimsonwarlock]

And to get DX7 patches to load exactly do you have to fiddle with the quality slider?

Nope, you just get Dexed (for free)

[BDeep]

The only thing that annoys me is that it can produce some weird timbre shifts from time to time even though (in my view) the preset settings should produce a sound that shouldn't. I don't know it this is by design or a mistake. FM8 is supposed to emulate a digital synth so I expect it to create identical sounds at every key strike when I want it to.

I have a feeling this might be due to the oscillators set to free running. Set each operator to Key Sync, and each note should sound the same. I can't understand why this isn't on by default. As you noted, it can make a bit of an impact with FM synthesis.

[pethu]

I've read some odd stuff about FM7/FM8 - I think I even saw somewhere that FM7 was the same kind of FM as DX7 but FM8 was something different. I thought that was really unlikely.

Can anyone confirm what FM8 uses? Is it the same as DX7?

And to get DX7 patches to load exactly do you have to fiddle with the quality slider?

IIRC, in FM7 could only use sine waves in the operators (same as the original synths) whereas in FM8 you can also use other waveforms if you like. That would be a difference, although essentially still exactly the same!

[Ghostwave]

IIRC, in FM7 could only use sine waves in the operators (same as the original synths) whereas in FM8 you can also use other waveforms if you like.

Nope, there are plenty more waveforms in FM7 (32 in total).

[loachm]

The only thing that annoys me is that it can produce some weird timbre shifts from time to time even though (in my view) the preset settings should produce a sound that shouldn't. I don't know it this is by design or a mistake. FM8 is supposed to emulate a digital synth so I expect it to create identical sounds at every key strike when I want it to.

I have a feeling this might be due to the oscillators set to free running. Set each operator to Key Sync, and each note should sound the same. I can't understand why this isn't on by default. As you noted, it can make a bit of an impact with FM synthesis.

...nope, key sync switched on, digital and analog faders down, no unison, no modulation effects, careful leveling of the distortion and cabinet fx volumes - and still some weird timbres fade in and out occasionally (maybe it's the voice stacking). I guess, it just behaves strange from time to time. It's a pity - I really love this synth and I enjoy experimenting with it very much, but it is annoying as hell in situations when I need a stable sound and it starts drifting.

[taldt33]

Hi,

So Id really like to try the original FM7 version, does anyone have the genuine installer (for mac) and could share it in order for me to use my serial?

Thanks in advance,
T

[Chris-S]

IIRC, in FM7 could only use sine waves in the operators (same as the original synths) whereas in FM8 you can also use other waveforms if you like.

FM8 = FM7 + more FX + ARP + morphing + more presets + nicer GUI.

[BDeep]

Hi,

So Id really like to try the original FM7 version, does anyone have the genuine installer (for mac) and could share it in order for me to use my serial?

Thanks in advance,
T

There was a FTP server from NI that had many old installers, can't find the address now. You could ask NI for an installer if nobody can help you out.