Alesis Micron FM Experimentation

[Ori0n1975]

Good demo. I like these kind where they run through the sounds and tweak as well as play instead of talking.

[TheRealTakumaji]

Interesting stuff, thanks for uploading this one. Looks like I have to put the Micron on my wanted list, FM is something I always wanted to go into, next to the Micron's other great options (and sounds!) of course. Man... I wish money would grow on trees...

[9JohnSmith9]

Great FM sounds.

[9JohnSmith9]

This video surely shows that you shouldn't judge a synth by its size!

[TheFreeboop]

Funny, at approximately 03:07 that sound like CocoRosie

Good job Getchure u make on your Utube vids

[zero33AD]

I love this, such cool sounds, would sound great through a delay too - does it have global effects ?

I;ve got a basic understanding of synthesizer building blocks, do you think i could get to grips with this or should i get more knowledge on complex synthesis first?

[ThatsABiggon]

Can any of this be done on the Ion model?

[Tupo8]

Is the vocoder on this synth more understandable than the one on the microkorg XL?

[javiceres]

I can't beliebe my ears!!! This is what I've been looking years for, this video is a true revelation...

I play guitar and I'm going to start with synths and I think this is the one, the olny problem is how long will take me to learn synthesis, specially FM, to get this degree of control.

I LOVE your taste in this demos...

[sweepstakes]

I really appreciate your Micron videos; they are the best on Youtube, bar none. Thanks for sharing.

Do you have any music available for download? I'd love to hear more of your work.

[piratesalami]

hey, can you hook it up to ableton via midi and get tempo information from ableton to control the patches on the micron?

[offthewallman]

how do you assign settings for the x y and z

[ReneeNme]

By dropping your Mciron on the floor multiple times.

[defaultxr]

To assign a parameter to the x, y, or z knob, you scroll to that parameter, hold down the select button (press down the main white knob) and turn the knob you want to assign that parameter to.

[DaiReborn]

@offthewallman Scroll to the setting you want, press down on the main knob (that translucent one) and hold it while tweaking the knob you want it assigned to. That's it!

[Thedangergirlsship]

This beats the the Korg Microkorg. This is going to be my next synth cause I'm getting sick of my microkorg

[astrodronaut]

@Thedangergirlsship jup, me too

[AirHendrix91]

So can I make a Floyd-ish organ, with a bit of 8-Bit as well as some distortion (like going through a Marshall amp) without making it sound corny?

Just wondering. Cool stuff here though. Thanks for demoing this out.

I'm stuck in the middle of either buying an electric guitar or a nice synth cause I'm going to college and I can't bring a drum set nor play it anymore due to my asthma lol.

Any suggestions on what I should do?

I love effect pedals and synths do it for me. Should I get one?

[mastertrev]

wow, killer stuff. as with others ive seen on youtube, i'm making a tough decision in purchasing either the micron or the xiosynth. from what ive seen so far, i have to say that the micron sounds much nicer, although the xiosynth had some cool bass patches. is this a much more complex of a synth, and can this be used as a midi controller?

[mastertrev]

i'd assume that would be so with a midi to usb, but your computer would make you choose what your output device would be, and you can't use your soundcard, mixer, and usb2midi interface at the same time...or can you? :)

[imakery]

get the micron and yes it can be a midi controller and also you can plug midi controllers into it.

[hafstrat]

Great post dude!! Thankyou for sharing.

[MrT1ki]

2:48 was sick.

[sk8in4god]

is this a good beginner synth?

if not what should i go for?

[Gtechture]

The parameters are vast and not readily accessible. Its not a very hands on synth. I think the small size and price fools people. A good beginners synth is a Roland SH-201. It really depends on how willing you are to learn. If one read the entire user manual they could operate the micron just fine.

[sk8in4god]

o ok i see.

and woah nelly, i dont think im going with that roland... $600? :(

the reason the alesis micron appealed to me was mostly because of the sounds it could do, and because it would take me a year to save up for it.

[velomicro]

FM synthesis can be done on a number of synthesizers. The most famous of these authentic FM synths was the Yamaha DX-7, it has a smaller cousin, the DX-100. Both are VERY nice synths. If you're really interested in FM stuff buy an old laptop with an OPL3 soundchip and use AdlibTracker to make stuff. Other than that, I'd start off with something like the CZ-101 or DX-100. Probably a lot cheaper than a new synth.

[H3liosphan]

Cool effects!

Speaking of synths, I have a Roland Fantom X workstation.

The learning curve is a cliff! I would NOT recommend it to beginners. I haven't touched it in ages as a result.

.

.

.

Wanna buy a Fantom-X? ;-)

[brwest16]

i learned a lot from this video thank you

[plinko747]

The good thing about the Micron: it can be as simple or complex as you want. If you just want to tinker with juicy-sounding presents, great. If you want to dive into designing sounds, it certainly has the muscle for it! It's an ION in a small case, plus more onboard effects. Me likey!

[Enthusiasmicalness]

This is sweet. I hope it doesn't take me a year to figure out. The micron doesn't have to be set up with external programs to do this, does it?

[TheFirmament]

Nope, this can be done with just the micron.

Took me maybe a couple of hours messin about with it after lookin up FM on wikipedia to make some pretty sweet (and musical) sounds.

[sk8boi7]

im a bit confused, i own a micron but what exactly is FM?

[d3p3ch3mod3]

for a good tutorial on it look up acepincter & fm/frequency modulation synthesis... i'm still not sure i understand exactly how the hell it works but im learning how to use it and the more i learn it i start liking it more than subtractive synthesis

[sk8boi7]

thank you sir :D

[johnjohnjuniorjohnso]

Frequency modulation

[andreweatsairplane]

does this have a vocoder?

[Gtechture]

yes

[andreweatsairplane]

is it a good one? like the korg?

[Biopharmer]

from what I've heard, it's only okay. But it makes up for it in actual synth features

[skinfaan]

This is just fantastic. I love the sounds. Thanx for showing ;)

[slickluw88]

that is a relly good syth for its price

[ketaminebean]

have u read the manual all the way through or did u figure most of the synthesis out yourself??? i own a micron AND read the manual but still find it difficult to program especially arpeggios.

[d3p3ch3mod3]

for a second it sounded like you were generating an arp with just FM... i'm going to try this at next possible opportunity

[Gtechture]

Yea ,that arpeggiation tends to happen when exponential algorithms are used.

[d3p3ch3mod3]

hmm exponental... so does that mean i'd need osc 2 transposed up an octave and osc 3 up two octaves with 3>2>1 FM?

[Hoodedfigure831]

if you put fm type to 2->3, have all square oscilator waveforms and turn the fm ammount to 100% you can get some CRAZY glitch sounds. you can also tweak it a lot with the pitch wheel.

[acidchild]

I'm wondering if you can FM the drum sounds as well. Get a nice drum pattern going and just FM the hell out of it! =o]

[Gtechture]

Sure it can. Its all about Amp envelope and filter w/ drum sounds.

[d3p3ch3mod3]

and pitch envelope mod for bass drums right?

[Gtechture]

Yea you can do that too. I think thats to have kind of a lazer sound. It has the same effect as a low pass filter with high resonance.

[Kitschead]

I'd like to see one of these bad boys do a wurlitzer sound. Do you reckon you could make one?

[acousvnt]

Do you feel that if you had a particular kind of sound in your head, you could easily create it with FM? Or is it more like, you have to monkey around until you find things you like? FM has always seemed like it would be intriguing in concept but somewhat trial and error in use. (I have never programmed an FM patch, only played with presets on a DX a long time ago.)

[Gtechture]

FM is very complicated. I cannot predict the sound or aim to create a sound specifically like I can using subtractive synthesis. What I do is keep all of the oscillators related to eachother harmonically so there are clean modulations. In this patch all oscillators are sine waves set on the same pitch, octave, and waveshape. The sounds get very inharmonic and dirty when i use different oscillator sync modes. It takes a lot of experimenting.

[acousvnt]

That's pretty much what I figured. Thanks for taking the time to answer. :)

[plaidEmu]

If I were choosing from the synths you've listed I would get the Micron. It's a really deep synth and it sounds great for a VA. It's got sequencing capabilities and can also process audio for $400 USD. Makes this a no-brainer for all synth freaks. The user interface is really not that bad. You can even find VST software editors.

[speakerspushtheair]

nice vid.

i'm confused on what i should get. I've been thinking about the micron, korg r3, korg ms2000b, and roland sh-201. Do you think the micron would be good for live shows?

[d3p3ch3mod3]

i haven't played many synths live but i think micron is probably the best for live shows for the price since it has a sequencer that can transpose and everything. my dream set up would be a nord rack controlled by a computer though

[addth]

i havnt tried the micron yet but it looks pretty good i'm thinking about buying one soon. I have a korg R3 at the moment and i love it. and its good for live playing plus its got a vocoder which i like.