![]() Formants are, in this case, the spectral patterns making up the sounds of human speech, so one of the FS1R's great strengths is the creation of vocal‑like timbres. Not only is it an eight‑Operator variant (like 1982's trailblazing, megabuck GS1), as opposed to the six‑ and four‑Operator FM of the DX/TX range, but it also incorporates a new, potentially very powerful technology called Formant Shaping Synthesis. ![]() But - and this is an important but - it's FM with a difference. ![]() Until now, that is.Īpparently out of the blue, Yamaha have released their first new FM instrument for several years, the FS1R. In current manufacturing terms, though, FM had all but disappeared. What goes around comes around, however: after all, analogue synthesis has undergone an astonishing renaissance in the '90s, and more recently, retro interest in FM has been bubbling under, with instruments such as the DX100 and TX81Z attaining cultish appeal in techno circles for their FM basses and electric pianos. Sample‑based synthesis had seemingly taken over the world, and perhaps FM was looking like tired technology at Yamaha HQ. For the first time since the advent of the hugely successful DX Frequency Modulation (FM) synths in the early '80s, here was a Yamaha hi‑tech instrument without FM in any form. When Yamaha launched their SY85 in 1992, it seemed like the end of an era. Now, with their new FS1R, Yamaha have updated the technology for the late '90s. FM synthesis was the success story of the mid‑'80s, and synths based on its principles, like Yamaha's DX7, sold by the bucketload - until affordable sample‑based synths arrived at the end of the decade.
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