Hello everyone, I was wondering if there is a VST for Windows that is able to analyze a sample and resynthesize it using FM, giving the user the ability to modulate the FM parameters (besides Synplant that I'm already aware of). Thanks in advance!

 

You can use Vital synth with MicroMusic utility, it's not really FM but you drop a sample and it creates a preset for Vital so you can see how its done.

 

Even if it's not what exactly I'm looking for, it definitely sounds interesting. I will check that out, thanks.

 

Well, you need to be more specific then, FM is not really re-synthesis friendly way of creating a sound, that would be the addictive synthesis then, but its a pain in the ass to program, besides no one makes them anymore so Vital is your best beast I can come up with and it has FM (although limited one) so Synplant or Vital. Or you can use Serum, it will create a wavetable for you to mangle then with FM (but its the same as Vital only without the preset making utility)

Maybe there is some weird obscure Reaktor ensemble that can do that, but I highly doubt it will be of the quality worth to mention but you can look it up at the NI webpage for Reaktor user base

 

Razor is one of the best additive synth options, and not even in just Reaktor. It also runs in Reaktor Free Player.

https://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/synths/razor/

 

Totally possible inside Ableton's Operator. I did this a year or two back, rebuilding sounds like a Piano, copying its harmonics directly. But that's really using the additive section of FM...

The way I did it was by loading a sample I think inside a Sampler/Simpler and had it running on loop, possibly muted because I was just copying the shape. You need a pair of analyzers like Pro-Q3 to see both sets of harmonics. Then you shape by adding volume levels to each areas where you can see the level. You can get pretty close.

Quite a good learning experience.

 

While I love Razor, it seems to me it uses harmonic filters, but if I'm not wrong Absynth, Thorn, Synclavier V (some have FM too) and others that I don't recall use harmonic generation.
I personally don't like much to edit FM synthesis, the result is too unpredictable.

Edit: Pigments too.

 

I thought the "DNA" resynthesis in Synplant2 is pretty sweet. For FM, I mostly used to use FM8 of the Komplete plugins. Just like videos where people say "nobody understands compression correctly", it's probably even more true of FM synthesis. With the Virus and Phaseplant we have Phase Distortion synthesis, and short of some DX7 sounds I do not do a lot of FM. One look at the GUI of Dexed adequately summarizes what I think about FM. lol. It does not create sounds that are much better than preset bashing, for me anyway.

I forgot about DS Thorn; but it seems like everyone else did too. When I want something Additive, I usually do not make it past Alchemy in Logic. Maybe the "addictive" spelling error earlier in the thread was actually correct. PC Users can get the Camel Alchemy version working, no?

 

tone2's icarus also does resynthesis and has FM

 

I didn't know Razor does re-synthesis. It must be some special unique version you have))

 

Does Synplant really do reverse FM beyond 2 operators?

The best repo I've found is this one:
https://github.com/Sound2Synth/Sound2Synth

It uses a modified version of Dexed that can be automated via scripting and the sound examples sound like the best FM approximations I've heard so far.
Unfortunately, it depends on a relatively large training set that has yet to be uploaded by the authors (I have contacted them last year but only got a "when I find the time" response), and I don't have the GPU horsepower here to create it myself.
Hopefully someone will take the challenge and provide something beautiful for us all.

I agree that creating FM approximations by hand can work for simple sounds but anything more complex with transient attacks needs the help of modern machines if you don't want to spend the rest of your life FM'ing.

 

Last edited: May 5, 2024

No pardon my confusion. It doesn't do FM either, does it? You mentioned that additive synthesis might sound bad in RKT, when Razor is literally one of the best options available.

 

While I already pointed out that it does not have a proper additive synthesis, I wouldn't mix it with the term re-synthesis.
A re-synthesis device requires additive capabilities PLUS partials analysis to reconstruct harmonically any sound fed ito it.

I don't think they are so many, Alchemy for sure does this, and by chance I remember the the CMI V does that too, plus others that I don't know or remember.

 

The nicest aside from Alchemy, has been Synplant2 for me. It is nearly instant, and the results are very close. Conversely, a Fairlight and an Arturia version at that, are surely a true speed demon. Maybe it runs faster because the gigabyte worth of bitmaps are monochromatic green screen?

 

I never did that. If you bother to read my comment entirely, not just the last sentence, it pretty obviously I was talking about re-synthesis, the only confusion that possibly could occur its whether I was talking about re-synthesis with additive type of controls or FM.
Cmon mate, just look at the thread it is "Sample Analysis to FM"?