© 6-21-02 Matt Frederick

• Product Name/Version: FM7
• OS 9/OS X ?: No OS X Version
• Company: Native Instruments
• URL: http://www.nativeinstruments.com
• Category: Software Synthesizer
• Price: $299
• Requirements:
  • Mac OS 8.6 or higher
  • G4 400 MHz
  • 128 MB RAM
    
• Date of Review: 6/21/02
• Bounces: 4 or 2 Bounces... Pure Lust or Lack-Luster

Ratings Legend
One Bounce: Lustless	This product is uninspiring and not only lacks lust appeal, but it also lacks even the possibility of lust-production.
Two Bounces: Lack-Luster	If you need what it is that this product does, look elsewhere or wait, it lacks lust-appeal.
Three Bounces: Lustworthy	A few rough spots here and there, but overall a high quality item worthy of lust.
Four Bounces: Pure Lust	Unalloyed lust.

NI Introduction

If you haven't heard of Native Instruments before, NI is a company which specializes in software synthesizers and sound applications. Based in Berlin, Germany, they have a US office in Los Angeles.

Absynth is perhaps their most popular application although they make a wide variety of audio applications.

FM7 Introduction

Native Instrument's FM7 is a replica of Yamaha's DX7 synthesizer introduced in 1983. The Yamaha DX7 was one of the first MIDI devices available. Because of this - and its characteristic sound, it is still a much sought-after piece of gear, and NI's FM7 makes it available to a much larger market.

Install and Setup

The install went smoothly without any hitches. The disc has a unique copy protection feature: there are two tiny holes drilled half-way into the surface of the disc. I'm not sure how this works, but it seems to be a certain visible deterrent.

FM7 works with a number of MIDI interfaces. These interfaces let you control the application with a serial or USB MIDI device. Available interfaces for the FM7 are OMS, MME, DirectSound, Soundmanager, and ASIO drivers.

For my setup at home I use OMS combined with my Oxygen8 USB MIDI controller. The Oxygen8 is a small (2 octave) keyboard with a number of dials that can be assigned to various controls in various applications (such as Propellerhead's Reason and Rebirth.) I purchased DigiDesign's Mbox a couple of months ago, but haven't really had a chance to get deeply into the version of ProTools (5LE) that is included with the Mbox. Because I'm not entirely familiar with ProTools and its immense capabilities, I've withheld from basing my review on my weak attempt at using the FM7 with ProTools .

Through the control panel (above) you can add or remove input controllers as well as the system that those controllers use. You may also set MIDI through and assign MIDI channels manually.

Manual

The FM7 manual is quite complete, much more comprehensive than most applications of this nature. The setup section seems to be pretty complete and covers installation and integration with the various solutions available. A HUGE plus to our international readers is that the manual is printed in four languages: English, German, French and Spanish.

The manual does a tremendous job of explaining what all of the features do and I've learned quite a bit about some electronic music fundamentals and what the lingo really means.

It also goes into a great deal of detail on algorithm programming and on programming operators. Sounds pretty technical, eh? Ummm - yes. To be honest, its quite a bit beyond me. But I'm sure that if I took the time (an extremely valuable commodity right now) I could figure it out. However, my interest is in the sound something creates, not how or why. Eventually I'm sure I'll be at that point, but right now I'm just enthused with the sound.

Sounds

Well, the FM7 sounds great. What more can I say? Having never seen the real deal I can only assume that this softsynth is a faithful reproduction. Running through my studio monitors or headphones the sound is as clear as a bell.

My G4 is getting on in years now but I noticed no latency while playing through the Oxygen8 USB MIDI controller. FM7 reads all of the MIDI information and will play with as much gusto, or finesse as you input into the keyboard.

The FM7 is packed with a large sound library providing the novice with a great jumping off point. There are some great sounds in here!

Interface

Well, you can't go wrong here. The interface is a replica of the original hardware interface. The controls are sized well with the entire window width taking up less than 800 pixels. Everything happens inside of this window, there are no pallets or panes to shuffle around.

Controls

Native Instruments knows what they're doing. Much more so than I. Suffice it to say, you can control more parameters than I currently understand. To follow are a few screen shots of various FM7 screens.

Master

Operator

Pitch

These are just a sampling of the screens available. Depending on where you are in the application you can create your own presets, use factory settings and adjust effects.

Perhaps 'adjust effects' isn't entirely accurate. With FM7 you can sculpt your effects. Draw your own envelopes and adjust parameters on user-defined points.

Conclusion

All in all, this application is a robust replica of a 1983 relic. If you are an electronic musician and are looking for the sounds generated by the original DX7 I would rate this application a 4 out of 4. If you are a wanna-be musician (like me) and are looking for a new toy I would rate FM7 a 2 out of 4. Not because it's less-than-satisfactory but because there are other options out there that would be more 'fun' to learn.

Comments? Feedback? Insights? Tell me.

- Matt Frederick