FM/AM SOUND MACHINE

dual modulation synthesizer. FM wiggles pitch, AM wiggles volume.

AUDIO OFF
OUTPUT

WHAT YOU ARE HEARING

OUTPUT WAVE

OUTPUT SPECTRUM

While you play, vertical markers show the carrier and the sidebands the math predicts. Watch them appear exactly where new partials grow.

CARRIER

The tone you start from. Everything FM and AM do is done to this wave.

VOICE

UNISON stacks detuned copies of the note and spreads them across the stereo field: the classic hoover trick. SUB adds a sine one octave down for weight. MONO and LEGATO play one voice at a time and glide between overlapping notes.

FM MODULATOR

Off in AM mode. Switch the mode up top to FM or FM+AM to use this section.

AM MODULATOR

Off in FM mode. Switch the mode up top to AM or FM+AM to use this section.

LOUDNESS ENVELOPE

How each note starts, settles and fades: attack, decay, sustain, release.

FILTER

Tames or shapes the brightness that FM and AM create, one filter per voice. KEY TRK moves the cutoff with the note you play, and the envelope pushes it away from the knob in cents: ENV AMT sets how far and which way, ATK, DEC and SUS shape the sweep. LP24 is the steep double slope.

LFO 1

A slow modulator for movement: vibrato, tremolo, or a wobble on FM index, AM depth or the filter.

LFO 2 + MOTION

A second modulator. S&H holds a fresh random value every cycle, so the target steps instead of waving. DRIFT is a slow random walk on the operator levels, so long notes breathe instead of standing still.

CHARACTER

One amount, three flavors: TUBE saturates warm, FOLD reflects peaks back down into buzz, CRUSH steps the signal into lo-fi grit. TILT tips the whole tone darker or brighter.

CHORUS

The ensemble thickener: two short delays drift against each other in stereo, so one voice reads as many.

DELAY

Echoes: TIME sets the gap, FEEDBACK how many repeats survive, MIX how loud they are.

REVERB

A room around the sound: SIZE sets how big, DAMP how soft its walls. FREEZE loops the tail forever, so anything you play piles up into an endless drone.

PUMP

Sidechain feel: the whole mix ducks and swells in time with the arp tempo, the pulse of dance music without the kick.

Computer keys A W S E D F T G Y H U J K O L P ; play notes, Z and X shift the octave. Drag knobs up and down, hold Shift for fine control, double-click to reset. HOLD latches notes (and the arpeggio). MIDI needs one click to connect. MIC turns the keys into silent carriers for your voice: play a chord and talk, the notes pitch your speech. REC captures everything you hear to an audio file. SEQ loops a 16 step line, 303 style: the last key you press moves the whole line to that root. Drag a step up or down to set its note, click it to mute or unmute, and the color dots add Accent, Slide into the next step, and Ratchet, a double hit. LEN and DIV set the length and speed against the TEMPO clock, GATE sets how long each step holds.
PERFORM MICROPHONE