Freely Routable FM

Today I was setting up a bass patch and I wanted to apply the FM after Filter 1. So the feature request I wanted to make is to be able to point the FM algorithm to any location in the signal chain.

But rather that jumping the gun, I thought I would ask first if there is already a way to do that.

The problem is that it is only in extremely rare cases that putting FM onto an already complex waveform will be advantageous. (especially using an already complex waveform for the FM modulator source) However, being able to drop some FM after a low pass filter would be lush.

What do you think dear reader?

This is probably not what you’re asking about, but you can effectively “FM” a filter’s cutoff position by modulating it with an LFO in keytrack mode.
This is because the filter cutoff position can be modulated at audio rate levels, and not every destination in Vital can be modulated that fast.

I wanted to be able to point the FM algorithm to any location in the signal chain.

That’s not really a thing in Vital. There are some very basic filters in the spectral warp modes or in the wavetable editor if you do really need to filter a waveform before FM

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You’d probably be best to resynthesize your filtered preset to a new wavetable (right-click on the wavetable) and then apply FM. Depending on where else you’re hoping to apply FM this may also work for your other ideas.

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resynthesize is a feature i didn’t quite learn yet since I wasn’t entirely sure how it worked. it’s on the to-study list for sure. I’ve tried watching tutorials on it but at this time i can’t describe exactly what the function can do.

i know the general premise, but i do not know the bounds or limits of what the function is constrained to. for example, i haven’t learned what gets applied to the resynthesis, which i reckon is effectively an audio recording of the output from a certain spot in the signal chain, but i don’t know the size of the time window that is being recorded, etc. i need to read up on it. maybe there ought to be a wiki about Vital.