![]() ![]() The minimalism developed by Robert Hood and Jeff Mills once they started working with the DX100 springs directly from the machine’s inherent resistance to quick programming progress. This also means that in FM a parameter value means nothing unless all other values are known too. Since in complex FM synthesis everything is interrelated, almost any change of any parameter changes, well, everything. Looking at the layout of the DX100, there is no intuitive way to explore the infinite possibilities it holds for shaping dynamic sounds, which requires altering the relationships between the four internal modulator/carrier units. Similarly, it was the awkward interface for entering patterns into Roland’s TB-303 bassline synth that led to DJ Pierre’s chance discovery of acid house by abandoning the frustrating note level, setting chance figures on repeat and shifting all attention to the two knobs that control the filter’s cut-off and resonance. The rigidly quantized pitches of a piano come to mind. ![]() Instrument layouts often determine central features of music. The DX7 had just one data entry slider to set any parameter, making real time control pretty much impossible and thus starting an era of excessive preset use. ![]() Then, Yamaha decided to spare the user the perils of programming altogether by hiding it underneath the surface. the relationship between parameter changes and resulting sounds isn’t easily predictable for users – especially when multiple modulators or complex waveforms are involved. In Chowning’s words, “ with two simple sinusoids I could generate a whole range of complex sounds which done by other means demanded much more powerful and extensive tools.“ 5 Changing the frequency or amplitude of the modulator would cause complex spectral variation, but such changes actually affect results in an extremely counterintuitive way, i.e. This is known today as FM synthesis, mostly through Yamaha’s success with the best-selling hardware synthesizer of all time, the DX7. As a postgraduate music student at Stanford in the mid-1960s, Chowning found out that modulating the frequency of one oscillator (the carrier) by another (the modulator) could produce rich and dynamic timbres. The DX100 was one of Yamaha’s cheaper implementations of FM synthesis, a process accidentally discovered by John Chowning and later licensed exclusively to the Japanese manufacturer. Core lessons learned while adapting to FM have been applied to other synthesizer (and synthesis) models later, shifting the focus of programming from the keyboard-derived approaches of 1970s art rock and fusion to the synthesizer’s modulation matrix. It was used by virtually every Detroit producer (including Derrick May: Nude Photo employs the ‘Wood Piano’ preset) and there were periods where it was the only other sound source in the set-ups of Jeff Mills 3 and fellow minimalist Robert Hood 4, aside from a TR-909 drum machine. 2 Researching gear lists, I eventually stumbled upon a device named DX100. Reportedly, Derrick May thought they were doing house music – until Juan Atkins insisted on the techno tag, which he in turn had borrowed from Alvin Toffler. ![]() And I don’t seem to be the only one who was confused. There are so many commonalities that I wondered what the formal differences really are. Both owed a lot to the restrictions inherent in Roland’s rigid TR-808 and TR-909 drum machines and the absence of a budget for much more of a set-up. Recently while preparing a lecture on the influence of gear on music I puzzled over the formal differences between Chicago’s house and Detroit’s techno. Jeff Mills, Robert Hood and FM Synthesis as a Metaphor 1 ![]()
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