#44

Waldorf Microwave and XT would be my choices, price is not crazy and worth it. The XT has endless possibilities, interface is fantastic, digital filters sound really good. The Microwave has a great albeit more limited filter.

Neither is brittle. Blofeld is a bit thin sounding not brittle either though and interface is step back from XT in comparison.

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#45

i love the cz series and my 101 was very intuitive to program, honestly. super warm, round sound, i foolishly sold it and the prices have tripled.

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#46

CZ style phase distortion is an underrated synthesis type

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#47

The Microwave XT is a monster! Mine is going to need it’s screen replaced at some point fairly soon, but it sounds great!

It’s definitely not an 80s synth, though.

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#48

I love my Korg DS-8. Its great and fairly underrated. It is a digital FM synthesizer with 4-operators per voice, 8 voices of polyphony and 8 parts multitimbrality. Layering, etc sounds super warm and crunchy. First heard about it in an Aphex Twin interview and found one for cheap shortly afterward.

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#49

Have you considered Norns/shield? I am a big fan of the Hello Gong script, also there is a patch called FM7.

#50

I read that the DS-8 used licensed Yamaha technology (presumably the same FM chips used in their DX line), with with different control/UI software.

From your description, I guess the chips used were the same as those on the DX-11/TX81Z.

#51

DS-8 used YM2164 “OPP” chips, same as the DX-100… sine waves only, unlike the TX81Z.

I actually went from a DX-100 to a DS-8 and it was a huge step up though. Velocity, aftertouch, multitimbral and a built-in delay :slight_smile:

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#52

There are also lots of great Yamaha FM synths in the PSR and PSS range that can be had for cheap. I got lucky and found a PSR-22 on the street in my neighborhood last year, sounds decent. The PSS-480 even has MIDI. They look like toys but have the desired YM3812 FM chips.

#53

I had a PSS-780 as a kid.

It had MIDI, drum pads under the keyboard, and a programmable drum machine, plus some (really) basic editing of the 2-op FM voices.

Apparently there was a shareware patch editor for Atari ST, but never tried it.

It even had a basic multitrack sequencer builtin.

UPDATE:

there’s a Ctrlr panel for editing patches on several PSS-x80 home keyboards.

http://ctrlr.martintarenskeen.nl/

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#54

I had a DX11 as a teenager. It was great - 8 part multitimbral and polyphonic, 4 operator fm with different waveforms, 12 bit grit, built in effects and a decent keyboard. 23 years later I wish I hadn’t sold it!
It was good for the industrial music I was into back then. Unison mode with detuning across the parts yielded some thick textures.
The man I sold it to said it was good for Balkan folk music, so it’s obviously the most versatile synth ever!

3 Likes
#55

just joined this forum because I only saw one mention of the Reface DX here and I think it’s a gem. It’s cheap enough that’ll cost around the same or cheaper than many 80s/90s digital synths, it sounds great, it’s 4-op FM and has a friendly interface. It’s not as compatible as the 6op Volca but it’s much more practical. I even bought a knobby controller for it that cost as much as the synth itself.

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#56

I’m on lookout for a multitimbral friend for my Octatrack. The Digitone is a prime candidate, but some of these 90s rackmount jobs could also work (and be a lot cheaper), like a TX802?

#57

six volca FMs and 20 chars?

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#58

can you say more about the roland D-50/05? they are calling my name but prices are sliding up fast.

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#59

The D-05 was the Roland Boutique D-50.
Discontinued (who knows if forever) but it looked perfect for the modern studio.
The thing about the vintage DX7 / D-50 is that they are HEAVY and huge. A joy to play with great keybeds but when I had a few old keyboards (Ensoniq) they dominated the studio and I eventually sold them for my sanity :robot:

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#60

TX802 is massive. I got one pretty cheap and to honest never really dug in (yet). Got the patchbase editor which I hope will make it more fun. For the money that’s a LOT of digital synth in one box and very multitimbral.

#61

Well, no one has mentioned Kurzweil yet, I have a K2000 and a K2600 and they are really good. the synthesis architecture on the K2xxx series is called VAST and is the digital equivalent of a analogue modular synth only polyphonic, I would recommend getting a K2000 as they can be bought cheaply, I got mine for £125 but it needed a new display, which is a common fault and it cost me £65 to put right. mine still has the original firmware and ROMs and no sampling option but the waveforms in ROM are plenty to be getting in to creating stuff with and others can loaded from floppy.
Its a bit like a DX7 with the different algorithms which define the routing between the modules, the big difference being that these modules are oscillators,filters and waveshapers etc etc, the list is quite large all in all quite a formidable beast, the use of samples also opens up another interesting avenue of sound design!
There is lots more info to be had here

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#62

The Korg 707 was quite fun too, a stripped-down DS8, but with strap buttons so you can wear it like a guitar on stage, it has no onboard fx tho, but plug it into some stompboxes and it’s a lot of fun for not much money, its a 4 op FM synth btw :slight_smile:

#63

Oh this thread has already made me purchase Yamaha TG33. And now I’m eyeing for more… what have I done! It’s great that it tapped into something.

2 Likes