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Yamaha DX7 Technical Analysis

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Re: Yamaha DX7 Technical Analysis

#71

Post by z5h »

tgv wrote: post #4

Plogue, a Canadian software company, have recently released a (software) emulation of the DX-7 in excruciating detail. Here you can see part of the trouble they went through: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJ97iXQrqzw . Suffice to say that they used a logic analyzer to discover gritty details that no other analysis of the DX-7 I know has ever paid attention of.

I like to think I’m a synth nerd in the know, and certainly chat a lot and read synth forums. But Plogue have flown under my radar. This looks like great stuff at a good price. Do you own any of their soft synths?

Re: Yamaha DX7 Technical Analysis

#72

Post by xattt »

jacquesm wrote: post #69
weatherlight wrote: post #61

I was under the impression that, despite the name, the Yamaha FM synths didn't actually use frequency Modulation but rather phase modulation. With Frequency modulation you can't have an operator feed back on its self. If you take a DX7 patch and implement it on something like the PreenFM2 or PreenFM3 (which uses actual FM), any algorithm with more than a few operators is going to sound quite different. I still love t…

Wow, that transported me right back to my first experience listening to Kraftwerk. Thank you, keep it up, very well done!

I’m getting Aphex Twin out of this!

Re: Yamaha DX7 Technical Analysis

#73

Post by tekstar »

z5h wrote: post #71
tgv wrote: post #4

Plogue, a Canadian software company, have recently released a (software) emulation of the DX-7 in excruciating detail. Here you can see part of the trouble they went through: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJ97iXQrqzw . Suffice to say that they used a logic analyzer to discover gritty details that no other analysis of the DX-7 I know has ever paid attention of.

I like to think I’m a synth nerd in the know, and certainly chat a lot and read synth forums. But Plogue have flown under my radar. This looks like great stuff at a good price. Do you own any of their soft synths?

I think they have a decently lengthen demo period for all their plugins. I remember playing with many of them in the past for a period

Re: Yamaha DX7 Technical Analysis

#74

Post by tekstar »

weatherlight wrote: post #61

I was under the impression that, despite the name, the Yamaha FM synths didn't actually use frequency Modulation but rather phase modulation. With Frequency modulation you can't have an operator feed back on its self. If you take a DX7 patch and implement it on something like the PreenFM2 or PreenFM3 (which uses actual FM), any algorithm with more than a few operators is going to sound quite different. I still love t…

Woah! Are the drums also TX81Z? That sounds great!

Re: Yamaha DX7 Technical Analysis

#76

Post by klodolph »

weatherlight wrote: post #65
klodolph wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I was under the impression that, despite the name, the Yamaha FM synths didn't actually use frequency Modulation but rather phase modulation. With Frequency modulation you can't have an operator feed back on its self. It’s true that it’s phase modulation, but phase is just the derivative of frequency, and the derivative is a linear operator (essentially a 6dB/oct EQ). So I don’t think it’s an especially important p…

One thing that is different in the preenfm2 compared to the Yamahas stuff is, that it uses linear FM and therefore will not do operator feedback. The guy behind the preenfm2 says, that feedback is not that important, when you have a variety of waveforms for modulation. Linear FM also has the advantage of being a bit "friendlier/warmer" when using complex waveforms as modulators (Higher harmonics of the modulator will…

I will say—my personal experience, in dissecting DX7 presets, is that feedback is not really used that much. If you are porting DX7 sounds to a different architecture, you can remove the feedback and replace it with something like a noise source, or another operator, much of the time, or even remove it altogether.

This is just my personal experience. I often dig through DX7 patches in order to reimplement them for demoscene projects.

Sounds like you’re getting good use out of the TX81Z. I have the TX802, which is on paper a better synth, but controlling it from a DAW is much more of a pain because the program change messages control the “performance”, rather than the patch. So it’s been exiled from my rack, at least for now.

Re: Yamaha DX7 Technical Analysis

#77

Post by tecleandor »

z5h wrote: post #71
tgv wrote: post #4

Plogue, a Canadian software company, have recently released a (software) emulation of the DX-7 in excruciating detail. Here you can see part of the trouble they went through: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJ97iXQrqzw . Suffice to say that they used a logic analyzer to discover gritty details that no other analysis of the DX-7 I know has ever paid attention of.

I like to think I’m a synth nerd in the know, and certainly chat a lot and read synth forums. But Plogue have flown under my radar. This looks like great stuff at a good price. Do you own any of their soft synths?

They have some great things. I bought their Bitcrusher plugin years ago, which is really fun, and I think I still receive software updates for that.

Chipsounds is great if you're into 8-bit / chiptunes and the like (they also have a "chipsynths" series of plugins emulating SNES/MEGADRIVE, and other classic game consoles, but I haven't tested them...)

And Bidule is quite a thing. Is some sort of modular VST synth with tremendous options for routing that seems very well suited to prepare live performances. The Philip Glass Ensemble, through Michael Resman has used it at least once to make complex live setups: https://www.plogue.com/michael-riesman.html

Re: Yamaha DX7 Technical Analysis

#78

Post by AstralStorm »

weatherlight wrote: post #62
jacquesm wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why?

The DAC conversion is hard to nail in combined with the 12-bit certain crunchiness to the old Yamaha FM synths.

I think using 15-bit ADPCM u-law would be a quick and dirty approximation. Or similar ADPCM.

Re: Yamaha DX7 Technical Analysis

#79

Post by ChrisMarshallNY »

I used a DX7 to write my MIDI driver for the Mac, in the late 1980s. I never really played it. I was a bass player.

By the time it was ready for release, Apple released their own driver, so I just open-sourced my work.

I gave the DX7 to someone. Can’t remember who.

Re: Yamaha DX7 Technical Analysis

#80

Post by S_A_P »

z5h wrote: post #71
tgv wrote: post #4

Plogue, a Canadian software company, have recently released a (software) emulation of the DX-7 in excruciating detail. Here you can see part of the trouble they went through: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJ97iXQrqzw . Suffice to say that they used a logic analyzer to discover gritty details that no other analysis of the DX-7 I know has ever paid attention of.

I like to think I’m a synth nerd in the know, and certainly chat a lot and read synth forums. But Plogue have flown under my radar. This looks like great stuff at a good price. Do you own any of their soft synths?

Plogue has been around for a while but nobody could fault you for missing them. I have been and active member of KVR VST for over 20 years which is where I heard of them but never owned anything of theirs. It was only recently announced that they released this 'sample accurate' DX7 clone.

I have TX7 for and the Arturia DX-7V. Typically FM or Phase Distortion(Casio CZ synths) arent really the type of sound I go for, but they definitely shine in clanky metallic dissonance.

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