KVR Audio

the professor · Post by **the professor** » Mon Apr 07, 2014 1:05 pm

Hmmm.... FM leads.... is this our mandate to go window-shopping for DXs?

(Full disclosure: I kinda hope it is

)

We've got a vicious little module in the modular system that pumps out pretty aggressive digital wavetable sounds. That might be a tempting starting point, unless anyone's got a nice DX5 they want to sell?

Numanoid · Post by **Numanoid** » Mon Apr 07, 2014 1:12 pm

the professor wrote:We've got a vicious little module in the modular system that pumps out pretty aggressive digital wavetable sounds.

Should fit the bill nicely

the professor · Post by **the professor** » Mon Apr 07, 2014 8:50 pm

Mmm... now I want a DX...

The_Hidden_Goose · Post by **The_Hidden_Goose** » Mon Apr 07, 2014 9:16 pm

My mate used to have a DX7. First real synth I ever got to play with. It was so oblique to me at the time that all I could do was make very strange noises with it, but it kinda hooked me into the idea of making music, even though I only had it for a few days. Wasn't long before computers started to be halfway useful and the early days of recording out of the computer into a cassette because I didn't have a duplex soundcard, and then re-recording it into the computer again. The recorder eventually kinda broke so it wouldn't properly erase and everything would just get smeared and weird. It was great! I spent half of last year wishing I had a broken tape recorder still, and thinking about buying one to break - even half-arsed research into how to do it right to get the effect I was after, and then spent just an hour messing with some free plugins and mixing sources and realised I can get that old broken sound easier on a computer now, with more control!

So I'm very chuffed when people take the time to get some of these old sounds and present them to me in a way I can easily and quickly make them my own and get them to do what I want (there was a point to all that rambling!)

the professor · Post by **the professor** » Mon Apr 07, 2014 9:46 pm

I know... the first gear you own is always pretty much the best. I worked all summer when I was 15 and ended up with enough cash for a second-hand DX5 (really – how the guy ever let it go is beyond me. He said his wife needed kitchen cabinets). It was waaaay too much synth for a 15-year-old in a lot of ways

I should've started with something simple. But I got absolutely hooked too. That plus a Fostex 4-track and an Alesis MMT8 sequencer... hours and hours of fun. I should never have let the '5 go, I miss it!

Rhythmic Robot is basically a mid-life crisis disguised as a software enterprise

Timman · Post by **Timman** » Tue Apr 08, 2014 12:28 am

the professor wrote:Rhythmic Robot is basically a mid-life crisis disguised as a software enterprise

LoL I wish I'll have the same mid-life crisis then

Nice idea on these btw.

Numanoid · Post by **Numanoid** » Tue Apr 08, 2014 9:21 am

I find the CX5 intriguing.

It was Yamaha's foray into 8 bit computing in the mid-80's

They basically took a DX9 (4op) and put that into a MSX computer, with MIDI applications.

DX programming was at that time all behind the hood, so to get those waveforms on as screen would help a lot I believe. But too bad it didn't catch on.

the professor · Post by **the professor** » Tue Apr 08, 2014 10:38 am

I had one! And the little keyboard that came with it. The programs worked from cartridges, I think... or maybe I'm getting confused with sound carts?

You're right, it was a revelation seeing the information laid out on screen, and it was a great tutorial in terms of getting your head around the architecture. There were also two sequencer programs available for the CX5, of which I had the crappier one. There was a real-time MIDI sequencer which would've been cool, but I never managed to get one; and there was a step-time sequencer that was only programmable in musical notation, one staff at a time, and one staff on screen at a time. So, if you wanted to program a bass and melody, you had to notate the entire bass part on one screen, then move to a new screen and notate the whole melody part, trying to remember as you did so what the bass part you'd just programmed sounded like. NOT particularly intuitive, but good for training your memory!

TBH it sounded fairly lame, though in theory it should've been at least as good as the other 4-op DXs. I was a bit spoiled because I was comparing it to the twin 6-op engine of the DX5. The moment I came into enough cash to buy an Atari ST, the CX5 was straight into the SOS small ads

Rhythmic Robot NANOMODS: mighty miniature machines for £3!