Lazerbeat
Offline
Tokyo, Japan

I think the DX11 is a pretty underrated synth, it has all kinda of things going for it so I though I would share a few thoughts.


Synthy stuff

- It sounds awesome. I don't really feel these demos are pushing the unit THAT hard but they give a nice overview of some of the synths capabilities. Just the DX11 or Just the tx81z (rackmount dx11)

- It is an 8 wave form 4op synth (like the TQ5/TX81z), not quite at hard to wrap your head around as the 6op dx7 series but a bit deeper than the dx100/9/21/27.

- IT HAS A PITCH ENVELOPE!!!! Something that makes programming drums way more simple. The only DX synth with one I think (tx81z does NOT have one).

- It can do pretty awesome fake filter stuff.

- Velocity / Aftertouch and nice key action make it a great master keyboard.

- Can easily do famous patches like Solidbass / FM Sawtooth

- Can layer up to 8 voices.

- Breath control, don't knock it, you can assign breath control to all sorts of things and use midi to control it.


Non synthy but other nice touches.

- Robust as hell.

- It is pretty small for a 5 octave keyboard. (90 x 30 x 6 cm) also light at 7kg.

- Looks awesome, black, push button rather than membrane keys, very bright screen.

- There is an excellent Windows patch editor

- Seems very cheap, I have bought 2 for under 100 bucks, last one I say on Ebay went for 150 bucks.

- Self contained power supply.


Possible downsides,

- 8 voices / 8 part multitimbral (this might be a bit lacking for some people)

- Only 32 user patches.

Last edited by Lazerbeat (Jun 10, 2012 12:56 pm)

b4by f4c3
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ohgodno, Indiana

I dont know if its just me but the photo's not loading

Shiru
Offline
Russia, Moscow

The same for me. And here is why: it is the only invisible synth ever made.

Lazerbeat
Offline
Tokyo, Japan

Sorry, I was updating the post, submitted when I should have previewed!

ant1
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uhajdafdfdfa

i hate my tx81z sad

Victory Road
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Gosford, Australia

yeah it looks gooood! seems like it's harder to get a hold of one than a dx-7 though, at least in australia

Lazerbeat
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Tokyo, Japan

Oh, one more good point. The bass is absolutely terrifying.

calmdownkidder
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Liverpool, UK

Do you know how easy it is to fix? There's one on eBay (advertised as spares/repairs), that's in driving distance, if I could get it for a silly low price, dunno if it'd be worth a punt :\

geckoyamori
Offline

That's cool, I didn't think any of the old Yamaha synths had a pitch envelope. FM8 has it which is a huge boon for programming drums and sound effects. How does the "fake filter" work? Usually I don't bother with filters for FM, but FM8 has a separate filter operator which I can actually use to modulate before the output signal, which is really cool and gives me even more options for altering the timbre.

Lazerbeat
Offline
Tokyo, Japan
geckoyamori wrote:

How does the "fake filter" work? Usually I don't bother with filters for FM, but FM8 has a separate filter operator which I can actually use to modulate before the output signal, which is really cool and gives me even more options for altering the timbre.

Basically make a nice filtery patch with op4 doing lots of feedback then assign the modulation wheel (with a square wave lfo) to control the amplitude modulation sensitivity to op4. you can then use the mod wheel to turn op4 up and down which "opens" or "closes" the filter.

calmdownkidder wrote:

Do you know how easy it is to fix? There's one on eBay (advertised as spares/repairs), that's in driving distance, if I could get it for a silly low price, dunno if it'd be worth a punt :\

Depends what is wrong with it, if it is the battery or reseating a couple of keys should be pretty easy, I have done both and I am a hopeless 10thumbed goon at electronics,

geckoyamori
Offline
Lazerbeat wrote:
geckoyamori wrote:

How does the "fake filter" work? Usually I don't bother with filters for FM, but FM8 has a separate filter operator which I can actually use to modulate before the output signal, which is really cool and gives me even more options for altering the timbre.

Basically make a nice filtery patch with op4 doing lots of feedback then assign the modulation wheel (with a square wave lfo) to control the amplitude modulation sensitivity to op4. you can then use the mod wheel to turn op4 up and down which "opens" or "closes" the filter.

Can't you do that with any DX/TX synth?

Lazerbeat
Offline
Tokyo, Japan

Not sure you can get the fizz with only sine waves. The modwheel trick should work though

boomlinde
Offline
Sweden

You can get pretty filter-sweepy sounds out of any 2-op synth with feedback modulation, or at least a patch that goes from no harmonics to a lot over the TL range. Here's a sample of my own 2-op FM 303 emulator thing: http://soundcloud.com/boomlinde/r-odent-dx303. I guess that with some imagination, those sweeps could as well have been filters.

nitro2k01
Offline
Sweeeeeeden
boomlinde wrote:

You can get pretty filter-sweepy sounds out of any 2-op synth with feedback modulation, or at least a patch that goes from no harmonics to a lot over the TL range. Here's a sample of my own 2-op FM 303 emulator thing: http://soundcloud.com/boomlinde/r-odent-dx303. I guess that with some imagination, those sweeps could as well have been filters.

That's nice and all, but it's not a filter sweep. You only have one overtone at your disposal at a time, which you can change the amount of influence of.

herr_prof
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Unsubscribe

Thats why he used the words "SWEEPY". Perhaps "SWEEPISH" would have been better,

boomlinde
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Sweden

It's obviously not a filter sweep, but the effect it has on the harmonic content is similar in that decreasing the modulation index eventually leaves you with only the base tone, and increasing it gradually introduces more higher frequency partials, not unlike closing and opening a low-pass filter respectively. I'm not sure what you mean by only having one overtone at your disposal.