thinking about building a fm

[syamajala]

So, i have been working on an edrum (www.edrum.info) for the past couple of months and it is almost done, just waiting for a pic, new crystal (broke the old one ;-|), and lcd before i can test it out. In the mean time I figured I would decide what I am going to build next. Basically, I have been thinking about building a midibox fm to synthesize the sounds for data coming from the edrum, but what from I understand, the percussion channel only supports 2 bass drums, 1 snare, 1 tom, 1 hi hat, and 1 cymbal. My final set, will have 2 bass drums, 5 toms, 1 snare, 1 hi hat, and 3 cymbals. So, I am wondering if I would need more than 1 fm module, or if I can configure the percussion channel for this in software. If it is not possible to do this should I look at the midibox sid, or just use a computer with something like toontrack's dfh or fxpansion's bfd?

[TK.]

Hi,

concerning FM drum kits: you can create 4 additional, more complex, drum sounds by using FM instruments. They can be assigned to the same MIDI channel like the drum kit, and assigned to a special note (or keyboard range)

Best Regards, Thorsten.

[syamajala]

so if i modify my drumset a little, maybe get rid of 2 toms, then i should be fine right? also, I was wondering if I would still be able to create loops to play along with on the same synth, or would that be too many instruments for 1 opl3?

[TK.]

Drum kit and instrument voices are seperated. Each drum has a dedicated voice (no issue here), but the 4 instruments have to share 6 voices. So, it depends on what exactly you are planning to play (poly or mono sequences?). However, maybe better to build a MBSID in addition for more voices and more variation - especially because MBSID has improved inbuilt sequences. :)

Best Regards, Thorsten.

[syamajala]

ok, guess I will have to build both then!  ;-D I'll let you guys know when my edrum starts working. hopefully I did everything correctly and all i have to do is pop the pic and it will "just work" (yeah right ;-p ) then I can order the parts for the fm right away!

[syamajala]

I finished my edrum today, but its not exactly working yet, (maybe that means its not finished?).