[LAU] native FM/PM synths for Linux

[Dave Phillips]

Greetings,

Just a quick tabulation. Please advise if you know of other synths to be 
added to this list. However, please note that I've purposely omitted 
general-purpose synthesis environments such as Csound, Pd, RtCmix, or 
SuperCollider, all of which include FM synthesis implementations. I have 
also omitted non-native solutions, e.g. Airwave-enabled VST instruments.

6PM - Free, open-source. 6-op PM. Cool synth, good sounds. Standalone only.

     http://sourceforge.net/projects/mv-6pm/

Bazille - Commercial, very unlike the typical DX-oriented FM synths, but 
very powerful.

     https://www.u-he.com/cms/bazille

Bristol - Free, open-source. 6-op FM. Includes an emulation of the DX7.

Cabbage - Free, open-source. Various FM synths, including 3CarrierFM, 
the ChowningCollection, and FM_Clang. Good stuff !

     http://cabbageaudio.com/

Dexed - Free, open-source. 6-op FM. Really nice UI, good sound, huge 
collection of presets. Btw, I suggest using falkTX's port from his 
KXStudio repos.

     https://github.com/asb2m10/dexed

Digits - Free, closed-source. A Casio PM emulator, very good sound. Nice 
presets, but no GUI for the Linux version.

     http://www.extentofthejam.com/

Hexter - Free, open-source. 6-op FM. My favorite. I prefer it over 
Dexed, not least because it accepts the sys-ex for my original TX802 
patches (Dexed doesn't). Also capable of multi-timbral performance with 
the Ghostess host.

     http://dssi.sourceforge.net/hexter.html

mda DX10/EPiano - Free, open-source. 4-op FM. Good sound, no GUI, good 
presets.

     http://sourceforge.net/projects/mda-vst/

OxeFMsynth - Free, open-source. 4-op FM. Good sound, easy to program, 
good collection of presets.

     http://www.oxesoft.com/

Tracktion FM Synth - Commercial. Adds a GUI to the mda DX10.

https://marketplace.tracktion.com/app/tracktion-micro-synth-pack.html#.VjdQ52wVhBc


Best,

dp