F' me, IE FMeron - FM Synthesis pedal

[jondom22]

Guitar, bass, synth--but mostly guitar....

What’s your thought on using with guitar as far as tracking, and working with different pedals? Got any clips or demos? Thanks man!

[Dandolin]

No demo or clips yet. If anything develops, it'll most likely be pretty lofi, and I'll post here, but don't hold your breath--my home music setup is in disarray these days, though there's a chance I'll end up with a full-on music room once things work there way through....

As for tracking, it's pretty good. If you're familiar with the nature of FM synthesis, you'll know that this is a fairly simplified implementation out of necessity, and the degree to which you can achieve those beautiful bell-like tones that FM excels at is heavily dependent on the quality of your guitar signal, and I don't mean it's crystal lattice mojo. The classic FM tones were derived from sine (or other simple) waveshapes, which the average harmonic-laden guitar signal does not approximate....

Anyway, backing off tech talk mode, if you roll off most of your highs going into the pedal, it's really helpful. If you want a blend of guitar and FM tones, it's worth it to set up some parallel mixing and eq (and compression)....

All that said, plenty of bell tones and other prettiness are available, for monophonic input. You're not going to be able to feed it chords and get that 80s FM el-p sound out of the other end, though...the more simultaneous notes you feed it, the more atonal the clash that comes out. Still, some very cool things can happen when you play diads, especially if you do some compound bends... Morphing from pretty tonality to chaos with all stops between using your hands is an awesome feeling. Using vibrato also produces some fascinating and not completely outrageous sounds.

I can find use for those tones, and edgier "hard-sync" type tones, but I really love the pedal for all the range of noisier clash available, which it sounds like might not be your cuppa.

Anyway, the tones in the Zach Rizer bass demo are there in upwardly transposed versions on the guitar and they're not drastically different in tone/feel beyond that....

If you are really jonesing to make classic FM synth sounds using your guitar, you might not be satisfied with the FMeron (maybe check out what you can achieve using pitch-to-midi conversion with a Sonuus G2M, Fishman Triple Play, or something like Midi Guitar 2 for iOS).

If you are interested in getting a few juicy monophonic FM sounds that track pretty well (ie., don't expect Holdsworth-style SynthAxe tones from you legato shred), *plus* a tonne of fascinating sounds that while not "pitch-friendly" per sé are fantastic for noise, drone and sound-scaping uses (in many ways going beyond the what you can get from a DX7 because, while you are giving up multi op complexity in the modulation department, you are able to build of a crazy complex and variable waveforms (ie., your effected guitar signal) as a carrier)--then FMeron is well worth checking out...


Sorry if any of that comes off as presumptuous or preachy I know it's tough making gear decision-making when the product (pedal) you're interested in doesn't have a large user-base and isn't readily available to try out....

[jondom22]

No demo or clips yet. If anything develops, it'll most likely be pretty lofi, and I'll post here, but don't hold your breath--my home music setup is in disarray these days, though there's a chance I'll end up with a full-on music room once things work there way through....

As for tracking, it's pretty good. If you're familiar with the nature of FM synthesis, you'll know that this is a fairly simplified implementation out of necessity, and the degree to which you can achieve those beautiful bell-like tones that FM excels at is heavily dependent on the quality of your guitar signal, and I don't mean it's crystal lattice mojo. The classic FM tones were derived from sine (or other simple) waveshapes, which the average harmonic-laden guitar signal does not approximate....

Anyway, backing off tech talk mode, if you roll off most of your highs going into the pedal, it's really helpful. If you want a blend of guitar and FM tones, it's worth it to set up some parallel mixing and eq (and compression)....

All that said, plenty of bell tones and other prettiness are available, for monophonic input. You're not going to be able to feed it chords and get that 80s FM el-p sound out of the other end, though...the more simultaneous notes you feed it, the more atonal the clash that comes out. Still, some very cool things can happen when you play diads, especially if you do some compound bends... Morphing from pretty tonality to chaos with all stops between using your hands is an awesome feeling. Using vibrato also produces some fascinating and not completely outrageous sounds.

I can find use for those tones, and edgier "hard-sync" type tones, but I really love the pedal for all the range of noisier clash available, which it sounds like might not be your cuppa.

Anyway, the tones in the Zach Rizer bass demo are there in upwardly transposed versions on the guitar and they're not drastically different in tone/feel beyond that....

If you are really jonesing to make classic FM synth sounds using your guitar, you might not be satisfied with the FMeron (maybe check out what you can achieve using pitch-to-midi conversion with a Sonuus G2M, Fishman Triple Play, or something like Midi Guitar 2 for iOS).

If you are interested in getting a few juicy monophonic FM sounds that track pretty well (ie., don't expect Holdsworth-style SynthAxe tones from you legato shred), *plus* a tonne of fascinating sounds that while not "pitch-friendly" per sé are fantastic for noise, drone and sound-scaping uses (in many ways going beyond the what you can get from a DX7 because, while you are giving up multi op complexity in the modulation department, you are able to build of a crazy complex and variable waveforms (ie., your effected guitar signal) as a carrier)--then FMeron is well worth checking out...


Sorry if any of that comes off as presumptuous or preachy I know it's tough making gear decision-making when the product (pedal) you're interested in doesn't have a large user-base and isn't readily available to try out....

Thanks for the very insightful review! Yes, it’s hard to make a decision on a pedal that isn’t regularly available at local shops or has any demos. I ended up pulling the trigger on one cos I’ve been intrigued about it for a while, so we’ll see how I get on with it. Totally, the sounds I tend to make with my guitar are brash, noisy, or weird, while still being able to play rich clean or more standard guitar sounds. I tend to use fuzz and od with ring mod, glitch pedals, filters, pitch shifting etc to create sounds that are not classically harmonic, which frees me in developing ideas that are more rhythmic in nature. But I do like having the freedom to run around the neck and follow where my ears lead me, which can sometimes be difficult with pedals that essentially convert pitch rather than modifying your guitar’s waveform. Long story short, hoping that the fmeron will be a nice companion to my ring mod sounds for atonal playing and creating interesting textures. I should have it in later in the week and will follow up with my impressions.

[Dandolin]

Sounds cool--based on your description of your playing/music, I think you will enjoy the FMeron. I think it really excels at sounds that extend the palette of "traditional" ring mod sounds. The biggest issue you might end up dealing with is wanting presets...not because it's so difficult to dial in a useable sound, but because it produces so many cool variations, you're going to end up wanting fast and easy access them....

I would just like to emphasize that the pedal's sensitivity to the quality of the guitar signal is your friend in grabbing great tones on the fly--a wah or other expression adjustable filter in front really juices the possibilities imo....

[jondom22]

Sounds cool--based on your description of your playing/music, I think you will enjoy the FMeron. I think it really excels at sounds that extend the palette of "traditional" ring mod sounds. The biggest issue you might end up dealing with is wanting presets...not because it's so difficult to dial in a useable sound, but because it produces so many cool variations, you're going to end up wanting fast and easy access them....

I would just like to emphasize that the pedal's sensitivity to the quality of the guitar signal is your friend in grabbing great tones on the fly--a wah or other expression adjustable filter in front really juices the possibilities imo....

Awesome! Will be fun experimenting with in combination with my wah, fuzz/dirt, ring thing, pitch fork, and using the LPF via expression or LFO controller filters in my sy-300. Thanks again for your insights.

[jondom22]

Got the Fmeron today, and had a chance to play it for 30 minutes between jobs. First impressions are that it can definitely make some really cool grimey sounds that I haven't heard on other pedals. The sweet spots for me on it are using the envelope filter to trigger the FM amount or using the expression pedal to control the fm amount. With guitar, I like using the octave down switch with the mod freq on 2, with just a hair of clean signal mixed in. It sounds best with dirt afterwards, and really gives it an aggressive edge I like. As far as playability, it sounds best on the E-A-D strings, and mostly the first 12 frets. Not too much of a difference rolling the tone/volume off, so I just used my palm to mute while picking. You have to adapt your playing a little bit to get it to trigger decently. I was able to get good sounds with both slow attack and fast attack responses on the Attack-Decay knob. Gonna play with it a bit more of the next week or so, maybe make some recordings before deciding if it's gonna make the pedal board or if I will sell it.

[Dandolin]

Cool Compression and eq up front? Might help improve responsiveness, even at somewhat higher pitches....

[NoizeMe]

Probably a major understatement but these seem like one of the coolest pedals around!

How do i get my hands on one? lol

[Taylor Livingston]

Probably a major understatement but these seem like one of the coolest pedals around!

How do i get my hands on one? lol

Glad you're liking the sounds! The FMeron is in stock right now in the shop:

https://ironether.com/shop/

[Dandolin]

[Deltaphoenix]

I have one on the way, so excited!

[Dapper Bandit]

Recently received a shiny new FMeron and frankly it's blown me away. This is a great synth pedal and should be garnering a lot more attention. This might be the first pedal where I made my partner put headphones on and hear what the new thing I bought can do. "It sounds like alien music" was the unbiased, non-spon review and I can't help but agree.

For those on the fence, I found it work just as well for guitar as bass. Not tried it on synth yet but that will be on the cards at some point in the future. I shan't promise recording but if any come up I will share them here for sure.