I'm thinking about using a realtime FM synth for music and sound effects in my next game. I'd write a library myself, but I don't want to waste my time if there's already something good out there. The thing is, google turned up no results. Am I going to have to get cracking on my own?
>>10
That's kinda the whole point of using a limited soundchip. You don't get the luxury to think with generic terms like "crash cymbal". You have to learn its language in a process of self-discovery, obliterating the needs for naming things once you discover its real intent, leaving in front of you only a necessary, self-evident world of pure sound.
In short, you have to let it seize you by the throat and drag you to your apex.
>>16
Not really. The point of a limited soundchip is "we know we can make instrumental sounds with FM because we've been doing it since before we had dedicated synthesis hardware, and this is cheap."
>>19
No, in 2009 it's about retro style. But nobody actually builds *limited FM chips* for game consoles any more outside the purposes of being cheap. Bryond game consoles, said FM chips are not in any way limited and haven't been since the '80s.
>>20,22
I have a DX7. My taint has more appreciation and understanding of this than either of you do.
>>24
Congratulations, you own something material. Ironically, you don't know the first thing about the material being the message. I can't believe you are so arrogant as to decide what other people use to make things and why. You don't even know what you yourself are making. Crack a book, anon. You're clueless.
>>25
No, you missed the point. Sure we like to work with constraints, in a way that defines art. But those constraints are largely natural ones, and FM synthesis is no exception.
>>24
Just because you claim to own the most popular FM hardware, which is probably the first example on wikipedia for FM synthesis, doesn't mean you're immune from having to understand the points you attempt to refute.
>>26
That's like saying that a concert grand piano that costs more than ten cars is better than some cheap upright that wasn't tuned for ages: objectively correct, and artistically stupid.
Attempt to make something that sounds like it came from a MD with only a DX7 or whatever else that does FM and is expensive: unless you're making a cover or an uninspired copy, you'll fail.
There's a reason some people did MIDI their MD. Artists, as opposed to mere synthesis nerds, consider the limitations and artifacts of these chips an important part of its vocabulary.
>>27,28
You're still missing the point guys. It's comment on history and the roots of FM sound, not a critique on what "art" is. Try at least to argue against what is being presented if you need to argue. Especially you, >>27
>>30
If you don't like pianos, we can reformulate this example by replacing "expensive grand piano" and "cheap upright piano" with the two following things that people who dislike pianos enjoy: PHP and Nazis.
This whole discussion only depends on what was meant by "the whole point of using a limited soundchip". >>16 speaks from the perspective a musician who gets to choose his hardware, >>18 understood it from the perspective of a console vendor.
Now let's talk about MJ and nazis.
>>28
The only source that has even suggested that MJ wrote the music was someone who knew someone else who worked on the game. It's entirely hearsay, and unless Sega issues a press release or someone who actually was involved in the game puts something out officially, it will continue to be nothing but hearsay and rumors, and invented proof that doesn't actually prove anything.
I can find any two songs that sound remotely similar and claim that the same person wrote them, but that sure doesn't mean it's a true statement.
>>33
Read the link. New info surfaced, a close MJ collaborator said he wasn't satisfied with the results and refused to be credited.
Many sega sources suggested as much over the years. Even Naka was all "I'm not allowed to speak" in interviews. Still no hard evidence, but it's obviously not the simple case of a couple of songs sharing chords you imply it is.
Name:
Anonymous2009-12-13 18:27
OP here. Anyone who understand how FM synthesis works and doesn't just enjoy the way it sounds, please shed some light for me.
As I understand it, FM synthesis works as follows: Constantly output a sine wave (actual waveform doesn't matter, but I'll use it for simplicity's sake) of a certain frequency to your speaker. Use another sine wave to alter that sine wave's frequency. At low frequencies, it will sound like vibrato, but as up increase the frequency, the sound becomes distorted. Use more sine waves to alter that sine wave, route different sine waves to the speaker, etc, until you have a decent sounding instrument.
If that is true, it would not be terribly difficult to create an FM synthesizer. Samples are integers, correct? Therefore, all we would need would be a sample output library and a sine generating function. 48000 times per second (maybe more, I don't know much more than the basics of FM), we calculate a sine wave based off of the time elapsed. The value of this sine wave is then routed to another sine wave, and so on, until we reach the sine that will be heard by the speaker. The value of this sine we convert into a sample and forward to the sound output library.
Is that all that is needed to do FM synthesis on a modern computer? ADSR envelopes, filters, etc can be implemented as well. Don't bite my head off if I'm forgetting something stupid; all that I know about FM, I've learned from dicking around with Analog Box 2 and reading random articles on the internet.
>>35
yeah i wrote a really basic thing one that output wave forms ..using SDL i think under windows... i mapped the keyboard keys to notes (tracker style)..no asdr or anything..
Name:
Anonymous2009-12-13 18:50
>>35
Yeah, that's it. You can get some good stuff going with only one modulating tone too. IIRC, the OPL chips just had one.
>>34
I did read the link. It's a conspiracy theory like any other, and the "evidence" they cite is a forum post by someone, which I find pretty hard to trust. Until I see hard and fast, indisputable evidence, I don't believe it. No one actually involved is either confirming the rumors or outright denying them, and the only ones who are saying anything at all about it had nothing to do with the game.
And just because someone who worked with Michael Jackson also was credited with Sonic 3 doesn't mean anything in itself. For a fairly random example, Terry Date has worked with both Incubus and Smashing Pumpkins, but that doesn't at all imply that Billy Corgan wrote any of the music from Make Yourself.
I'm sure if you dug hard enough, you could find many other cases where two separate albums had similar thematic elements and where some of the same people were involved. You can't extrapolate that to say that the second band wrote the first band's songs.