Kodamo EssenceFM

Astrolab · February 12, 2021, 12:38pm

Oh thank you

DaveK · February 12, 2021, 12:58pm

You’re very welcome. Your demo’s have had my hand hovering on the “Buy Now” button for this synth for a while. Would just love to hear a few more demos showing the lower end and distorted bass type sounds. I’m sure it could do them no problem, especially as Digitone can do these well, so I figure this should be at least able to match that.

Bionicvinnie · February 12, 2021, 1:01pm

Can’t wait for mine to be delivered… pretty psyched about this machine.

jemmons · February 12, 2021, 8:04pm

I mean, depends a lot on what you mean by dirty? Here are the noisiest bass patches I’ve made to date, played badly on a keyboard because there’s a reason I use sequencers:

Keep in mind, each of these are single voices, completely unlayered and 100% dry. There are, like, 5 different dedicated distortion effects on the EFM that could blow these out even more — to say nothing of the bit crushers and such. This is just what you get with straight FM (and sometimes switching the carrier wave out for something more saturated and square-like).

DaveK · February 12, 2021, 8:31pm

You’re a gent for posting that, much appreciated. I could definitely imagine the first few with some extra distortion would sound filthy alright and then the one that kicks in around 45 seconds in. YES! Exactly the kind of sound I was hoping to hear. Thank you!

Just to confirm, for effects. Am I right in saying theres 2 effects that can be put on these at a time on either the voice or patch layer. Presumably that’s 2 in total so if 2 effects go on the voice layer, you couldnt add a separate 2 on the patch layer. Or have I got that completely wrong?

jemmons · February 12, 2021, 8:36pm

FYI, all, the new EFM firmware is out!

Lot’s of goodies in there.

Oh, and because I’m an idiot and this took me a while to understand: it’s version “4.3b”. But the “b” is not for “beta”. It’s because they already released a quick fix around modulating algorithms.

jemmons · February 12, 2021, 9:14pm

That’s right. Basically the EFM has two global effects slots. Generally, the sound being played in whatever mode you’re in has sends to these two effects.

So in voice mode, there’s a sends to each effect. Simple. In Patch mode, the voices of the layers are summed and the mix has a send to each effect.

Performance mode is a little different. Each patch in the performance mode has its own individual set of sends. But each is still routed to the same two global effects.

Soarer · February 13, 2021, 12:01am

Oh that’s a little disappointing. I thought it would have 2 effects for each part…
So in a massive performance with 16 parts you can only use those 2 effects? They could at least have made 3 effects then. Well, gotta use OT’s fx then…

(Edit)
Had a reply from Kodamo about this which was really helpful - shifting my ideas a little:

“Effects are not the main focus of the EssenceFM, you’re right that in Performance mode having only two of them isn’t much.

We may improve that, but in the meantime here are some tips to simulate effects directly in your sounds:

Two or more detuned layers will do a chorus
Duplicate a layer with different volumes to create a delay in the Voice Sequencer (which can be also sync’d to midi clock)
Envelopes can create a simple two-reflection delay (by creating a stair-shaped envelope)
A bitcrusher-like effect can be done by using an operator with low volume and high frequency, above (modulating) other operators
Ring modulator is the same as using an LFO modulating the amplitude of the sound (can be done with envelope loops too, if you want to use the LFO for other purposes)

Then you can use the two global effects for things that cannot be done in other ways like the Reverb, Shimmer and Distortion.”

1ticio · February 13, 2021, 11:39am

Anyone have the inside scoop on the VFM37, especially what “Beyond FM Synthesis” means?

DaveK · February 16, 2021, 12:18pm

Agreed more effects would have made this an easier sell. Especially as I’d be looking to use distortion on all or most patches so that effectively leaves me with 1 free effect slot.

Can I also check, does this have any kind of voice spread control? I know theres a pan control which could be modulated with an LFO or envelope. Just wondering if theres a dedicated voice spread option? Certainly whenever I’m building FM patches in Operator I make heavy use of the voice spread control so hopefully theres an equivalent here.

jemmons · February 16, 2021, 8:33pm

It’s been a while, but I’m pretty sure “Spread” in Operator is just doubling up each voice, detuning it slightly, and panning one left and one right?

If so, I don’t think there’s a dedicated control for this, but it’s super easy to set up by adding two layers to a patch, each set to the same voice, and then adjusting “Pan” and “Tuning” of each to taste.

J3RK · February 16, 2021, 8:58pm

It means… “I need it”.

Though, I actually haven’t read about it yet.

Snipecatcher · February 18, 2021, 2:32am

I wouldn’t mind more effects, but I love my EFM too much To be bothered by it. There’s just so much it CAN do! Don’t forget you can assign different outputs and run those through fx. I do this through my Octatrack a lot and love it.

Soarer · March 10, 2021, 10:54pm

Got my EssenceFM MKII yesterday and it’s really a remarkable synth. Very addictive - difficult to stop exploring! The sound is very clear, precise and powerful. It’s a lot of fun to generate patches with the Random generator - plenty of crazy sounds and timbres from that. The sound design possibilities are really extensive.

Jukka · March 11, 2021, 1:24am

I am interested in something about the LFO that is very lightly covered in the manual.

The first parameter for the LFO is Waveform, that select one of 24 waveforms for the LFO.
It’s the next parameter that i am interested in, called Mask. The manual says this:

Mask (0 ~ 12): This mask distorts and reshape the selected LFO waveform. It doesn’t overwrite the original waveform.

“Distorts and Reshapes” — What does that mean in specific? Is there some sense to it, or does it seem more random?

Soarer · March 11, 2021, 10:43am

I didn’t try it much yet but it shapes the LFO waveform into shapes that are quite symmetrical so not just random.
There’s only that one LFO per voice (basic preset) so I do find that a bit too limited.

Petajaja · March 11, 2021, 11:04am

With how many voices you have at your disposal, you can just layer up voices with different LFO settings and you can also use an Operator as an LFO since they implemented free running Operators

Jukka · March 11, 2021, 12:02pm

Thanks for that.

By my question, “What does that mean in specific? Is there some sense to it, or does it seem more random?”, i mean a sense to the difference to the various Mask selections.

I expect that “0” has no affect, but is there a sense to the affect of the different “Mask” values, perhaps some sort of progression.

I would suppose they are called “Masks” for a reason. Is that reason apparent?

Do the LFO shapes get displayed on the screen ? Again the manual, is very vague about, the LFO Mask function.

If no one knows what the “Masks” do to the LFO Waveforms, that’s OK. I thought there might be something apparent, or documented somewhere.

Soarer · March 11, 2021, 12:57pm

I’ll film it when I get home.
Can I upload a movie directly here?

Jukka · March 11, 2021, 3:53pm

I think so if it’s not to large. Not sure.

Please don’t take a lot of effort with this. I’m only curious, and it’s not such a huge deal.

If there is only one LFO per voice, make the most of that one LFO. The LFO Waveform and Mask are listed in the Modulation Matrix destinations, which is cool to be able to change them on the fly.

Oooh — Polyphonic-aftertouch is listed in the Modulation Matrix source list.