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Want to get an outboard FM synth and this seems to be the go to piece of kit. Seem to be going for about 300 on ebay at the moment. Any pro tips, recommended sellers, things to watch out for before I take the plunge?

Do it.

Or save for a Juno 106.

wub wrote:Do it.

Or save for a Juno 106.

I have no experience in either, but I'm lead to believe the 106 is much better for those aiming for a more acid sound?

Go DX7 anyday.

Never owned a DX7 but it was massively popular in the 90s. Not much similarities between the FM DX7 and the analog subtractive Juno 106 tho. Two completely different synths.

dx7's a bit of a one trick pony. A fun 1 trick pony, sure, but a pain to program and takes up a ton of space.

for the same synth engine w/o the keyboard, the tx81z (seriously where does Yammy come up with these names) is a great bargain. again, the programming is such a pain that you'll wind up using it pretty much only for the presets, but they are fun presets. bright and gritty.. EXTREMELY 80s sounding, in a good way.

dx7 and juno are apples to oranges.

edit-- if you do go the dx7 route, look for a mkII-- besides having a bit more going on, it's got a stereo output.

Yea. I looked into the DX7 and other Yamaha FM synths but pretty much everything people had to say in reviews/discussions was they are extremely painful to program.

I'm not against getting something like the tx81z for the presets though. Sometimes it just fun to work with hardware. If they price is right you can score one, record the each preset over a couple octaves (if it's got MIDI you can set up a MIDI to play all the notes over three octaves, record, chop later all from your DAW). Then just re-sell it at your leisure.

But again, you might be able to find something like this online already...

I will second the TX81Z suggestion. You can get them for cheap, I got mine for 50 bucks. It doesn't have as many operators as the DX7 but it has more waveforms to modulate them with. The DX7 only uses a sine wave. This means you can get different sounds out of the TX81Z than the DX7. There are also software editors out there for them which makes editing easier. It is also multitimbral and takes up a lot less space as a 1u rack mount.

mks wrote:I will second the TX81Z suggestion. You can get them for cheap, I got mine for 50 bucks. It doesn't have as many operators as the DX7 but it has more waveforms to modulate them with. The DX7 only uses a sine wave. This means you can get different sounds out of the TX81Z than the DX7. There are also software editors out there for them which makes editing easier. It is also multitimbral and takes up a lot less space as a 1u rack mount.

All this dirty talk as my gearlust going...

I have a dx9, which is a little brother to the dx7, one thing to check is that the internal battery is still good, else each time you switch it on you get however many programmes of sine waves.

I do little sketches of how I want my patch to sound before I start. I don't really know how to explain it.

Oh, you can use an operator with feedback, short attack and short decay to make a nice noisy transient.

Superb suggestions all, thanks!

Hey Pete -

I know this is mainly a talk about about the DX7 (and I also recommend the TX81Z - I almost bought one several times, and is still on my list)...

...but seeing that seeing someone mentioned a Juno106 (and yes a totally different beast)... a friend of mine just posted on Facebook that he is selling his, plus flight case for £500 ono. Pick up only (he is in Truro, Cornwall)...

Just thought I'd mention it in case you wanted to go that direction, and didn't mind a road trip.

Ah cheers for the heads up, a mate has a fuckload of synths just sat in his bedroom atm, so going to borrow a few and see which ones tickle my fancy. Must admit, as suggested here, the button based tree structure to programming the DX7 was a ball ache when I tried it!

I've never used a DX7, but I have to ask why not use FM8? They're both digital, does the DX7 sound better? Or is it just the hands on experience that you're after?

Simulant wrote:I've never used a DX7, but I have to ask why not use FM8? They're both digital, does the DX7 sound better? Or is it just the hands on experience that you're after?

Hands on experience to be honest, I'd like to move further away from the computer screen. Plus I want a decent FM synth. But even my friend with the DX7 said the same thing, he said the vst sounded better even.

pete bubonic wrote:

Simulant wrote:I've never used a DX7, but I have to ask why not use FM8? They're both digital, does the DX7 sound better? Or is it just the hands on experience that you're after?

Hands on experience to be honest, I'd like to move further away from the computer screen. Plus I want a decent FM synth. But even my friend with the DX7 said the same thing, he said the vst sounded better even.

Yeah I know that feeling, hands on is a lot more fun. I'm surprised about the sound quality, although the DX7 is an old synth now I suppose it makes sense that newer digital stuff would sound better. They do seem like a good deal though!

Personally I'd like a CS-80, I just don't have a few thousand spare ££s.

^Aside from the DA converters being used, it should sound the same, being digital. Right? If the sampling rates and such are the same.

Artie Fufkin wrote:^Aside from the DA converters being used, it should sound the same, being digital. Right? If the sampling rates and such are the same.

Well I guess the vst can model the sound in 32 bit / floating point precision? I dunno what the DX7 is.. But then being able to have multiple instances, save millions of settings, automation etc etc I DONT CARE I WANT SOME KNOBS TO PLAY WITH,

pete bubonic wrote: I DONT CARE I WANT SOME KNOBS TO PLAY WITH,

Wrong synth for that.

A DX7 has no knobs... Just a slider and some membrane buttons.

Work flow is interesting on the DX9, and envelopes are written out in a weird way! I'm assuming its similar on the DX7, although it has 3 more of them. I wish I had the pitch envelope!

Well the difference is that you would still have a physical instrument rather than something on a screen.

Plus the DX7 presets could be useful for certain things.