[A6] fm instability

[Mike Peake]

I'm the reason, if I may be bold, that the
FM paths are there. It's one of my contributions
and the team were quite understanding in fulfilling
my requests for them (as well as not laughing
at the signal path chart; when you see the
nest of paths that exist, your first instinct
is to reduce the clutter). Not everything on
the synth is what was intended from
the beginning, as is the case in many projects,
yet it is there for what it's worth. FM is
very important to me, even if it's uncalibrated.
The VCAs, for some reason, were not looped back
into the feedback path which allows the computer
to calibrate things. I don't remember if this
was due to an impossibility (chip layout) or
not.

We saw the forest, but did not have the time
nor the resources to shape it into Bonzai.

I know. It would be nice. It was an enormous
project as it was. If one day it were possible
to hand-tune the FM VCAs, it would rock.

Easier,

-Mike

At 10:18 AM +0100 11/27/02, oliver hesch wrote:
>yeah mike, i have noticed, that FM on the a6 allows very strong modulation.
>but imho it is somewhat strange that this all important feature has 
>not been really
>well implemented. personally, i'd rather sacrifice some if the very 
>exotic mod sources
>or other rarely used features (quite numerous on the a6) for a good 
>implementation of this one which is at the very heart of the voice 
>structure. i guess this is a classic case of not seeing the forest 
>because of the trees. voice architecture issues as this should have 
>received higher priority in the design process. i mean what is the 
>point of being able to apply all sorts of mods to FM if the feature 
>itselfs doesn't work properly? really a pity because FM is the tool 
>et create other timbres that the standart VCO waveforms and have 
>them evolve in real time by ENVmod. anyway, i guess alesis did this 
>on purpose so that we all can keep at least part of our old vintage 
>stuff ;-) i keep my MKS!! at least sync works fine i the A6!
>manually tune the VCA's? at each power-up? out of the question... 
>why not implement a little new section of the autotune for the VCAs?
>by the way, the YAM FM stuff has nothing to do with analog FM. the 
>sound is totally different (quite soft actuallyfor analog) and 
>analog FM (two operators) is very very basic in general.
>
>
>
>Mike Peake <peake at pacificnet.net> schrieb am 26.11.02 22:02:17:
>>  At 3:13 PM -0500 11/26/02, charles graef wrote:
>>  >Fair enough.  This sounded like an application where accurate tracking
>>  >was paramount, which most people's analog equipment isn't really
>>  >designed to deliver.  (Supposedly that's an MO*M claim to fame.)
>>  >
>>  >(Ducks Mike.)
>>
>>  The A6 allows an extremely deep index of
>>  exponential FM on the oscillators and filters
>>  as well, far greater than on the MKS80 (I've
>>  had a couple of those as well). The VCAs
>>  which control this amount, along with the
>>  VCAs which control the amount of external
>>  modulation of oscillator frequency, filter
>>  frequency etc. are not calibrated, as you've
>>  found; I don't remember the specific reason
>>  why, but there it is; you should be able to
>>  duplicate what can be done on the MKS80
>>  with the A6 if you use the FM sparingly.
>>  An issue way down the wish list would be
>>  to see if these parameters could be hand
>>  set in some sort of sub-menu; it is unknown
>>  if they would have to be tuned after each
>>  power-up (by hand, again).
>>
>>  Analog is, well, analog. Digital offers
>>  perfect tracking and pitch stability (with
>>  the resultant precise FM) for those who
>>  need it. It has yet to be demonstrated
>>  that virtual digital systems can produce
>>  the organic character of musically-oriented
>>  gear.
>>
>>  Easier,
>>  --
>>  Mike Peake, Your Psychic Friend
>>
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>
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