We have a question for you!
At the moment the lab is overrun with DX synths, and having had a lot of fun putting together some love-them-or-loathe-them DX Keys instruments (which we released back before the hols) we're now hard at work on PatchVault versions of our machines. For those of you not in the know, PatchVault instruments are simple, easy-to-use Kontakt recreations of the factory patches of vintage synths: we've done things like the Roland Jupiter 6, Korg PolySix, Ensoniq SQ80 and – in December – the Yamaha DX5. PatchVault instruments have some basic tweakability so you can tailor the sounds, but the emphasis is really on getting those classic patches for pennies not pounds (they sell at a flat rate of 20p per patch). Here's what the UI looks like so you can get an idea of how they work:
Having done the DX5 (which has the same factory soundset as the DX1), we're now sampling the DX7IID, and it's fascinating to listen to the difference between the two machines. The DX5 uses Yamaha's earlier 12 / 14-bit DACs, which in the original DX7 yielded quite a hissy output. In the DX5, though, they're tethered to more robust circuitry and rumour has it they were, like the convertors in the flagship DX1, hand-picked by Yamaha's engineers rather than simply being pulled from a bin; so the DX5 and DX1 have a substantial sonic edge over the original DX7. Many people say they have more heft and sound more "analog" than typical DX machines.
Then came the improved DX7II series (we have the D version), which used 15 / 16-bit DACs (basically, 16-bit chips which discarded one bit's worth of info). These completely ditched the hiss and yielded a much cleaner, shinier, clearer sound than the 1st-gen DX7. Most people prefer them for this reason (though a few don't because, hey, life would be boring if we all agreed).
To our ears the DX7II series sounds better than the original DX7; but the DX5 and DX1 sound better than anything else. (Yes, we've owned all of these at some point or another, and have the hernias to prove it.)
Now to the question.
Yamaha released a series of sound cartridges for the original DX7 which included a lot of impressive, unusual sounds, and we've managed to score a full set of these. With a little convertor cradle the DX7IID is perfectly capable of reading the cartridges; and the DX5 can of course load them too. We're looking at sampling these cartridge patches in PatchVault form. It's a fairly mammoth project since there are lots of cartridges and lots of patches so we want to be sure we go about it in the right way! So these are our options:
1) We could sample them from the DX7IID, which would give a crystal-clear, hiss-free output with all the top-end sheen and sparkle you expect from "the DX sound".
2) Or we could sample them from the DX5, which would give what we feel is a weightier, beefier sound but with a small amount of high-end roll-off and a small amount of (very controlled, almost analog-style) noise.
It may also be worth bearing in mind that the DX7 "sound" has, if we're honest, been sampled quite a lot over the years; and indeed there are some very good software emulators (like FM8) that give you a very, very close approximation of it. By contrast, the DX5 / DX1 "sound" is far less well known, and sounds distinctly different (and to our ears much more musically interesting).
You can probably tell which way we're leaning on this one, but we wanted to put the question out there and let you let us know – hence the poll! It's at the top of the post: please vote for how you'd like us to approach this project: like I said, if we're going to take on something this big, we'd like to get it right
And of course do drop us any questions, comments or thoughts below (though please try to keep any DX hate to a minimum...!
)A happy New Year to you all,
The Professor (and Mongo)
If there's a fault here, though, I'd have to say it lies in the UI control decisions Yamaha made, not in the synthesis engine itself.
