FL Studio users will have to wait for FL Studio 6 to get the native version, although they can, of course, use the VST and Direct X versions now.

Version 2 has just been released, adding new filters, arpeggiating envelopes and more presets to an already fulsome collection. Bridging the gap between the expensive and the feature-limited is Image Line's Sytrus, a six-operator frequency and ring-modulation instrument in FL Studio native, VST and Direct X formats. Native Instruments' FM7 is a virtual update of the DX7, and there are numerous freeware and shareware FM soft synths out there. With bang for buck in the voices department and an all-new 'digital' sound, frequency modulation synthesis dominated the field for the rest of that decade and like many other '80s fads, FM has made a bit of a comeback lately. Yamaha's DX7 put to pasture the analogue synthesizer of the mid-'80s. There is also a scribble scrip to put in information about your patch.Ĭombining frequency and ring modulation with analogue-style resonant filtering, Image Line's Sytrus takes FM synthesis in new directions.

The modulation matrix at the right of the Sytrus window is set and forget, while the modulation X-Y pad at the left is where the real-time action takes place.

Imagline