Yamaha DX7 vs V50 vs SY35 vs SY99: Deep Synthesis Review

[@JasonMysteria]

One of the main reasons why I kept my DX21 (which I still have today), is because of the simple stand-alone split key feature without programming, plus the one button chorus effect that sounds great live. I used that keyboard and the DX27 (they're basically the exact same keyboard otherwise) on many of my album recordings since 1997 as lead basses and melodies. Off topic note... I have owned a ton of high dollar and low dollar synths throughout the years and still to this day, the DX27 has the best feeling and quietest keybed I've ever used.

[@paulromsky9527]

Lead basses... yes!!!! What do you think of Nigel Webb, Lead Bassist for the band Xyaxis? They were world famous in Stamford, Greenwich, Stratford, and Manchester in the 1980's and 1990's. Webb designed and built his own 1000Watt Valve Bass Amp and a Sub-Sonic Sub Woofer cabinet (sort of like the speaker in the film "Back to the Future"). But you cannot hear any sounds at all from it... you only FEEL it... like a pure 6Hz to 12Hz tone at 1000Watts. When he wanted to play sub sonics, he played through 2 Morley Wah pedals that were set to just the right point to filter and unbelievably muddy up the tone from his Fender Precision Special Bass Guitar with a dropped two octave tuning on the low E string. He saw the rockumemtray "This is Spinal Tap" and was amused by it... so he made his Amp go to 100... that is not just 1 louder than the 11 Amp in Spinal Tap... it is 89 louder than THEIR puney Amp. Now THAT is a push over the cliff. In fact, he keeps the Amp in a locked case because it is NEVER to be looked at, let alone touched. He kept the original tagger on his Amp too (what it cost him to built it)... it was designed to NEVER be played, but fans wanted their bodies turned to jelly so he would fire it up for them at concerts during one of the seven or more oncores they were compelled to play at the end of each every one of their concerts. If they did not play seven, the fans would burn the place down! 3 hour single set shows were just too much so they broke up. Webb was rumored to have a revolving door installed in his house because the chicks were constantly in and out 24/7. He finally settled down and married a pretty bird from the states... millions of womens' hearts broke all over the world that day I can tell you.

[@paulromsky9527]

Yes, I have a Yamaha DX7 too.. It's the only synthesizer I have ever owned and I bought my new in 1985 and it still rocks. I now play it through my Yamaha KX88. You should try the Yamaha KX128... look it up, it's awesome.

[@615Lyfe]

V80FD Is A Brand Like Elka?

[@BigJohn5662]

I've owned my Sy35 from new for about 30 years now. I never grasped the programming but still love it.

[@paulromsky9527]

I made a FM Synthesis exploration GUI years ago. It is just two operators but it shows how the Timbre changes (with waveforms) when an Oscillator OP is modulated with a Modulatior OP. You move sliders on the screen as you can see and hear the result. I have an idea for a 20 OP software FM tone generator. It would be 5 stacks of 4 but you can arrange them in hundreds of ways (each stack has it own feedback with different taps) and even a feedback across stacks. You could even even setup 12 OPS in a single stack. It would not be real time, but after a second of calculations you could play a note, and while you are playing the note and evaluating it, it could generate other notes in the background so you play out an octave or two before you press Go and generate wave files for the entire MIDI note range. It might be a way to explore new FM sounds never before possible... like Crash and Ride cymbals that sound like the real McCoy. I just have to get a "Round To-It" before I can start that project. If someone could send me a Round To-It I will start that effort... but it MUST be a round one.

[@TrazomGV]

Very nice video! I owned DX21, V50 and still have SY77, true as you say about the quality of drum sounds on V50, they are really better sounding than those on SY77, more natural, especially the snare. I have the same horn sounds as you have demonstrated from SY99, they were available on the internet and they really blow your mind off. It seems that a sort of advanced software for editing made possible to write in the 77 something that was prior useful for 99 only. I am still devoted to Yamaha, despite many good experiences with Kawai, Korg and Roland instruments.

[@mootbooxle]

I’m a rabid Yamaha enthusiast (I own over 180 pieces of Yamaha gear) and this is a wonderful video!

[@offthematrix5310]

Thanks much.

[@whatistau]

Very interesdting in depth stuff. Ive had TX7, DX7FD, TG33, TG500, EX5 and CS6X ( the last one left) of Yamaha synths. Used to do some comparissons myself. Thanks!

[@SaifSameer]

Super info, would be really helpful if you make a video on installing wave rom card to the SY22/33/35 & TG33 models.

[@offthematrix5310]

Unfortunately, the card slot on the vector synths is for patches not wave cards. I don't know why Yamaha did not give it a sample card slot, the other models like the SY55, TG55, SY85 and TG500 could.

[@serhiymarchenko8361]

Thank you for another great video! One clarification though for the 3rd generation models (TG/SY-77/99) - AFM polyphony is 16, not 32 "elements". Another 16 is for AWM section. The first time Yamaha did 32 FM voices was in FS1R in 1998. And even that one has polyphony drop to 16 when using filters (it has filters similar to AN1x).

[@offthematrix5310]

Yeah, I know the 32 polyphony is from 16 AFM and 16 AWM. If 16 was listed it would have been misleading.

[@serhiymarchenko8361]

@@offthematrix5310 Understood. Probably the least confusing would be to say “16 + 16 AWM” to avoid interpreting that those models have 32 FM voices. Anyway, thank you for your great work on FM!

[@oupahens9219]

DX1 and DX5.

[@serhiymarchenko8361]

@@oupahens9219 That is true, but I see those more like DX7 x 2, not single tone generator with 32 voices.

[@Zaccyonline]

I love my SY99! ❤

[@ShallRemainUnknown]

Although both SY and M1 PCM cards limited to 512kB/0.5MB (artificially so on SY, as the card bus could actually address 2MB), the SY/TG/77/99 supported 44.1kHz samples, while M1 only 31.25kHz. Of course, higher fidelity, higher frequency samples would eat more memory, but that might partially explain the quality differences in the compared horn PCM cards.

[@offthematrix5310]

I thought the rate was fixed to 31.25kHz for the M1. Samples in the the Emulator III factory library often used that rate. It actually high enough for most sounds.

[@ShallRemainUnknown]

@@offthematrix5310 The M1 PCM-ROM may well be all 31.25kHz, I haven't read otherwise (although some samples might be lower frequency) - and I didn't state otherwise in my comment. I wouldn't say "fixed at 31.25kHz" because I believe M1 will play back at higher frequency to speed up samples when increasing pitch. Yes, if original sound doesn't have higher frequency content, then a higher sample rate wouldn't be of benefit (and that may indeed be the case with the acoustic horn sampled on either the M1 or SY card your demo'ed).

[@oupahens9219]

Yes, at 2:36 U just put the "HUMP". Any FM synth before that only used two "operators" anyway, like the Synclavier.

[@fochtyu2694]

French horn can be played with various technique to sound from mellow to trumpet-like bright. M1's French horn was just sampled at lower playing velocity and sounds fine to me.

[@offthematrix5310]

It's difficult to tell the quality of sounds by just listening. As in playing a guitar, there is a quality of how a keyboard sound responds to playing. The M1 card horn is mediocre.

[@paulromsky9527]

When you plug the ROM Card into the Korg M1, how far in millimeters does it stick out? I need to know that to the nearest millimeter.

[@offthematrix5310]

I'll measure it.

[@paulromsky9527]

Nice video! That Korg M1 Card... is that the one you are sending me? [laugh].

[@offthematrix5310]

Yes, It is.

[@albertraymundo]

Is the SY55 really that bad?

[@offthematrix5310]

I did not include the SY55 because it has no FM synthesis.

[@matthiasstock9620]

It's a wonderful synth but not an FM synth but sample based only.