Until the end of August, you can get the infamous FM8 softsynth by Native Instruments for just 10$ at PluginBoutique.
This is a great opportunity to save and grab this classic FM synth monster!
In addition, you get iZotope Neutron 4 Elements or Excite Audio Lifeline Console Lite as a gift with the purchase.
FM8 might look old-fashioned and not user-friendly, especially compared to modern FM8 synth plugins, which may have a more attractive and resizable GUI with cool new features.
Still, even if FM8 has been around for more than 15 years, it’s one of the most powerful and flexible FM synths on the market.
Originally it was conceived as a successor to FM7, which tried to bring the complex but versatile algorithm structure of the Yamaha DX7 to our DAWs in a more convenient way.
Indeed, the core of FM8 relies upon its programmable matrix modulation with six operators, effects, and external input.
The vast array of controls is spread over pages, like the Arpeggiator panel or Effects page.
One of the most advanced and coolest features of this synth is the graphical envelope stage, which allows up to 32 breakpoints, looping, and tempo synchronization. This can be hugely powerful and very handy for building intricate, evolving pads or sequences.
Also very handy is the option to see all of the operators’ envelopes stacked on top of each other at a glance. This lets you instantly visualize the overall envelope behavior of your current patch and how each operator interacts with each other.
FM8 excels at classic FM sounds like digital keys, bells, and punchy basslines. It also works for more experimental and complex sounds like monster basses you hear in classic Skrillex and Noisia tracks.
Together with Massive, FM8 has been a bass music producer’s first choice for several years. I think it’s a great sound design environment to learn for those of you interested in the pure synthesis process.
While Massive got its Massive X redesign and fresh update back in 2019, FM8 didn’t. So you may ask, is it about to be discontinued like Absynth?
It doesn’t seem so, or at least not soon. Last year, Native Instruments released a VST3 version as well as native Apple Silicon M1/M2 support for FM8.
It also offers NKS support and a huge amount of presets for those looking after quick-access sounds.
It’s compatible with macOS and Windows systems and runs as a VST, VST3, AU, and AAX plugin.
Get the deal: FM8 (10$ until the 31st of August!)
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6 Comments
Numanoid
onPlug and mix collection is $39 at JRR Shop, individual plugs cost $6
Yeah right
onOr free from piratebay :)
Jacques (BlackWinny)
onI’ve been for a long time a fan of FM8. It’s been a while that I’m no more.
There are bugs which have never been fixed and will never be. And some are really annoying bugs. The last true update for fixing bugs was more than 10 years ago. There will never be, the product is quite dead. And in the meanwhile there are several true (FM8 is not) emulations of Yamaha DX-series which have been produced by other developers, and some being even free with a great quality and, to crown it off, several of these true emulations are with direct import (and sometimes export) of the sysex files! On FM8, the import of sysex files is not a true importation, it is a conversion.
Even for $10 today I would not take it.
ASJ
onFM8 is abandonware at this point
Jacques (BlackWinny)
onYes, you’re right. There’s no doubt about that.
It’s a shame because it was an incredible start point for something which could have been awesome if it had been capitalized to take it to a much higher level. But NI is really an incomprehensible business. They make awesome products, and they almost never support it and involve for a long time.
At NI, apart from Kontakt and Maschine (and to a lesser extent Guitar Rig) they are unable to keep up with their products. A phenomenal financial (and sentimental) loss for the users who trusted them in the early years.
The result is that I would strongly advise any beginner not to trust NI with their equipment, because for the majority of products there will be no updates for ten or twenty years and suddenly the company will decide without the slightest warning to discontinue the product. Everything you’ve invested in time and passion (and money if you buy soundsets) with the product will be lost. It’s better to turn to more reliable companies that really stand by their products. Even at 10 euros, it’s better to turn to discount offers from more reliable companies. In the case of FM8, it’s likely that this $/€ 10 offer (which they’ve been repeating several times over the last year or two) only serves to make the product profitable one last time by encouraging people to buy NI… before discontinuing the product in the next year or two, as new buyers now have an account with NI.
Jacques (BlackWinny)
onAbsynth, B4, Battery, FM8, Intakt, Kompakt, Pro-53, Vokator… Which one will be the next one?
I wouldn’t be able to count all the brilliant products I’ve bought from them, which for a few years represented a major investment in terms of brainpower, of work and of extension purchases, and whose bugs sometimes went uncorrected for ten or twenty years… only to see these products suddenly disappear without even the slightest warning early enough to allow the user to rework his files so as not to lose everything.
NI: never more!