That Mega Drive and Japanese PC sound, LatelyBase, AdLib, gnarly metallic harmonics, icy/crystally caves…
I really don't have my head around FM synth yet, but I'd like to get one to learn about it. These're my notes on different machines. A lot unfortunately require dicking about in menus, but I'll probably be doing any patch editing in a DAW anyway. Kinda need to combine with reverb and/or other effects I think.
Philips PMC 100
Kinda dinky portable synth, can save data to tape, can make really long sequences. Seen for $200.
Jomox Mod FM
I have areal soft-spot for
Jomox stuff for some reason, but they're all very $$$. Seems full-featured.
Yamaha TX81Z
Rack version of the DX11. Can be found for a good price compared to the DX synths. Leaning towards grabbing one. You have to use SysEx to change setting over MIDI, but it's popular enough that there are editors available that make it easy (The
Ctrlr one looks good, but Ctrlr doesn't work right for me).
Korg Volca FM 2
Affordable option. Something about those dinky little knobs is offputting to me, but would actuallt be a great starting point I think…
Korg Opsix
Range of contemporary synths. Has a sequencer in there. Mixed opinions, but seems like a little bit of a different take on FM. Lots of presets.
PreenFM2
DIY FM synth you can by put together. Nice texture.