Korg Opsix
This ‘altered FM’ instrument has a lot of complex processes going on under-the-hood. Discover its most useful features with our crash course
Korg call Opsix an ‘altered FM’ instrument, which might sound like classic PR speak, but it’s actually a fairly apt description.
At its heart, the sound engine is based around the classic 6-operator FM design popularised by Yamaha’s DX7. FM synths differ from their analogue counterparts in several key ways. Firstly, their oscillators are referred to as ‘operators’, which combine a wave generator – usually a sine in classic FM – with independent pitch controls and an amp envelope for each operator. These operators can then be routed to one another, in relationships referred to as carrier and modulator. Carriers are operators routed to the output to produce sound, while modulators are routed to other operators to provide audio-rate modulation. Its this modulation that turns the simple sine tones into the complex tones that FM synths are known for. We covered FM synthesis in our recent Digital Synthesis cover feature (FM374), and brushing up on the basics of Yamaha-style FM is a good way to get started with Opsix – but it isn’t the full story.