CfNorENa wrote:The Yamaha FS1R is said to have been a sales disaster: not only poorly marketed, but a notoriously difficult synth to edit (this was, mind you, an EIGHT op FM synth with a tiny screen and only a handful of buttons and knobs). But used prices today seem to be rising rapidly.
Some smart guys out there claim it's the best synthesizer they've ever heard. CS_TBL, would you like to weigh in on this?
<-- This smart guy here claims FM8 is the best synthesizer he's ever heard..
Within the hardware realm there're two ultimate Yamaha FM synths. It all began with the DX series, but after that Yamaha split up the FM line. One part going to the SY77/99, and the other part ending up at the FS1r. They both have a good FM core which basically matches the DX7, but the SY and the FS both have unique additions which the other doesn't have.
The SY has a phase parameter per operator (maybe it doesn't make sense to most of you, but I really liked it), 3 configurable feedback loops, samples as operators, a lot o' operator waveforms etc. It has segment-style FM scaling while the FS1r has DX style scaling. The FS1r has 2 extra operators and 8 extra formant operators, has a few operator waves which the SY doesn't have, but is otherwise limited to 8 waveforms. The FS1r only has 1 feedback loop.
Operating the SY is rather easy. It may require some experimenting during the first evening, but after that the fun starts and it's actually not a complex machine. The display of the SY is more practical than that of the FS1r as the latter uses a fixed layout while the SY's display can really display all kinds of graphs and values.
Both the SY and the FS1r have one major issue: FM. It's simply a fact that not everyone (or heck, probably 95%) understands FM. No matter how easy a display is, if you don't know you're doing with all these parameters, you're stuck. For an analogue-style synths it's easy: pitch env (6), filter env (6), amp env (6), osc1 (4), osc2 (4), lfo1 (4), lfo2 (4), controls (8), effects (8), and together you have a synth (with small 'n simple sections) wth 50 parameters for your whole sound. Now, the amount of parameters in an FS1r is staggering. If you don't know what does what, never mind, stick to presets. Or.. if you want bread 'n butter sounds, never mind the FS1r, get a JV1080.
The FS1r has one forte however, it has all these craploads o' DX7 libraries inside, about 1400 sounds. With this many sounds, and with the option to stack 4 of 'm together, .. well.., tbh, at a certain point I simply stopped making my own sounds. Whatever I wanted usually was somewhere in that immense library.
Sound designing on an FS1r can be a nightmare. If you don't know how FM works then you can as well give up immediately.. well, maybe if you create a sawtooth FM sound once and use the filter from there... a bit pointless using an FS1r then, but alas. But even if you do know FM, then the FS1r can be daunting. It's just menu after menu after menu after f*cking menu. And if there's one thing with FM, then it's that you often need overview and the ability to change totally different aspects at the same time. In such situations, having to travel through epic menus isn't fun. On the up side, the FS1r is more modern when it comes to effects, the SY sounds a bit dated.
So, no matter how you look at it, the SY isn't better than the FS1r and the FS1r isn't better than the SY. They're both the end of a development path, but with limitations. I may sound like a stuck 'n repeating vinyl record, but if you want
easy and
vast FM today: get FM8.
oh.. but this thread wasn't about all this... oh well... ^_^
