[sdiy] FM Sytnthesis, was: Yamaha PSS460 users?

[Duane R Balvage]

Hi George, all -

> As usual, it all depends on how much $$$ you have to spend!  DX-7's are all
> over eBay at reasonable prices.  This is what I would recommend.  They are 6
> op synths with plenty of algorithms and 61 keys.  A cleaner sounding better
> built DX-7 is the DX-7IID and DX-7IIFD (the FD has a floppy drive).

One thing though ... The DX-7 II's exhibit what I call "sloppy keyboard response" IE,
they are a bit "slow" to respond to the keyboard/MIDI. I guess the CPU in 'em was a bit
overtaxed with the extra overhead in the II's. (Mk.1 DX7's do not exhibit this
behavior... I have owned both at the same time, and it was pretty noticable slack on the
II)

>  A cheaper
> alternative to the DX-7 is the DX-9, a 4 op synth.

Actually a pretty cool synth. The modulation index can go MUCH highet than the standard
DX7s,
making for more "heavy, aggressive" sounds. Bought one for a friend of mine ... he loves
it!

>  The cheapest is the
> DX-100, a 4 op synth with tiny keys.  If you already have a midi capable
> synth, you might want to go for a FM synth module instead of a full blown
> keyboard, like the TX-7 (DX-7), TX-81Z (DX-11)

I have a TX-81z. Nice box, sounds good! Needs more user patches, though...

			-Duane

-- 
        

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