Twisted Electrons Twist FM

Twisted Electrons is showcasing a prototype of the upcoming Twist FM synthesizer at Superbooth. Once again, the chiptune experts have reached deep into the vintage computing bag of tricks and dug out a couple of YMF262/OPL3 FM chips from the Sound Blaster era.

While these chips are also in the manufacturer’s Blast Beats FM groovebox, they’re configured differently in the Twist FM. Blast Beats offers six drum tracks and four monophonic or duophonic synth instruments, whereas the new Twist FM uses two chips to create 8-voice polyphonic FM sounds.

The synth offers two layers that can be stacked. One layer consists of four operators and five algorithms, while the other uses two operators and two algorithms. Unfortunately, however, it is not possible to combine the layers into one 6-op FM engine. Like Blast Beats, Twist FM offers numerous sliders for hands-on control over all FM parameters.

Both layers go through an analog filter with a dedicated ADSR envelope. This adds a nice touch of analog warmth to the sound, which is great for lush pads and chords. For modulation, Twist FM has triple LFOsand an additional envelope that you can assign to various parameters.

For even more real-time control, there’s a ribbon controller that can also be used to play notes. Moreover, the synth has a 128-step sequencer, an arpeggiator, and a chord mode.