FMOS

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The FMOS brings FM synthesis to the AE modular. It offers the basic FM synthesis with one oscillator and one modulator, which can be either sine wave or triangle wave independently. The modulation depth and frequency ratio of the modulator can be set with a knob and additionally by CV control. It can also produce a sine wave if needed.

Module power consumption: 30 mA

Inputs

• CV1 - CV control over the pitch of the oscillator.
• CV2 - CV control added the CV1 to control the pitch.
• MLT CV - CV control over the FM frequency ratio of the modulator.
• DPT CV - CV control over the depth of the modulator's depth.

Outputs

• OUT - audio output signal
• B.CTRL - CTRL signal from MIDI bus
• B.CV - CV signal from MIDI bus

Controls

• Switch triangle/sine - switch between triangle or sine waves of both carrier and modulator.
• PITCH - Potentiometer for changing the pitch of the oscillator. When CV is sent, then that will be added to this setting.
• Switch +2OCT - When in high position, the pitch will be increased by 2 octaves
• MULTIPLIER - Potentiometer to select the FM frequency ratio. Any CV control will be added to this setting.
• MOD DEPTH - Potentiometer to select the depth of the modulation. Any CV control will be added to this setting. Turn it all the way to the left (set to 0) for pure sine wave.

Patch Suggestions

FM synthesis lends itself to bell sounds in particular, and brings a whole different colour palette to regular oscillators. Very useful for percussion also.

FMOS lends itself to be used as the main oscillator in a patch. One famous patch where a FM-type of oscillator got used is the Krell patch by Todd Barton on a Buchla.

A version of the patch you can rebuild with the AE Modular is described here: http://manual-synthesis.info/2017/01/26/krell/#fn:1

The full details of the patch used with AE Modular are to be found here https://forum.aemodular.com/post/7208/thread

Any settings of FMOS can make sense in that context and should be done to your liking.

The sine wave can be really good as a modulation CV, usually attenuated with a 2CVTOOL or similar.

Here is a video by The 5th Volt which features this module.

https://youtu.be/J5syne2sP6I