FM12 is a 12 oscillator 6 operator FM synthesizer. Each operate has two oscillators instead of one. The primary oscillator can be frequency modulated by the secondary oscillator and the second oscillator can also be blended with the primary. This is a true stereo synthesizer which feature keyboard tracking and each operator has two envelope generators. One for volume and the other for pitch. In general the envelope generator for pitch is used for subtle detuning that creates a natural vibrato. Where as the envelope generator for amplitude is used to frequency modulate another operator or appear directly as an output signal. The algorithms determine whether each operator is a modulator or an output. Any operator on the bottom of the algorithms is an audio output and can be panned individually. Each of the output operators can also follow the keybed. The keybed span control pans low notes to the left and higher notes to the right. It's works in conjunction with the pan control and in many cases it's best to center the pan control and use the span control to get the tones to follow the keybed. Both can be used together if desired.
There are many features included that are intended to make full use of keyboard velocities. In general the harder you play, the louder the note and the more pitch bend there is. In essence playing soft can be dull while playing hard produces a brighter tone with more vibrato. Everything about it has to do with expression being induced by the key velocity. It's not the simple synth of the early days.
I realize FM sound programming is a real groove busters but only good things come out of a little work. Let me know if you have any questions. Most of the info should be there but I may have missed something or the info is not clear. However to get started there are two thing you should become familiar with.
On the top right, set the cal to the cpu usage with no notes playing or simply turn off the Cpu button which reduces Cpu when a lot of notes are playing.
The second thing is in View B and is used to customize your Keyboard Velocity Curves to get the dynamics set properly. Play your keyboard soft to hard and adjust the curves to get the proper dynamics for that keyboard. There are 3 adjustable curves to work with, select one with the orange light and all adjustment are in a row. They are velocity gain, velocity offset, followed by two choices of curves; the log curve and the hyperbolic curve. I have a lite action keyboard and a weighted action keyboard. I use a different curve for each one. Recommend adjusting it with the basic Electric Piano patch.
Once these two things are taken care of, you are good to go. I'll check back periodically and try to answer any other questions but do this first before trying other snapshots.
One final note, 2 of the 3 demo's use FM12 to generate the "Sympathetic Resonance" of a sampled piano when the sustain pedal is depressed. Have fun!
