Yamaha TX802: Under the Radar Review

The TX802 is essentially a DX7 II in a rack but has the advantage of being eight part multitimbral. I'll show how easy it is to use.
The patches can be found at: www.offthematrix.net/shop

[@gunnarschillings6782]

Hi, I am surfing for the first time, because I am getting bored in my old age, most of my friends are dead now. I do like Synths, my first one was build by Joerg Bueche, who was building a Vogelmaschine for the elusive Drummer Paul Lytton, because Paul wanted to hit a drum and the sound of a bird was supposed to be emanating. Joerg did that as well. Thank you Joerg. I hope U r still alive. Meeting Lytton for the first time was actually a bit of a scare, because he was as well a dentist, which looked into my teeth, but did nothing wrong. Big Amulette in front of his white gown was another thing not to forget. yeah, all these old stories. I would like to go back and savour them with my mind now. Then, the ridiculous was happening: Paul and his friend Paul Lovens were inviting me and my friend Schumacher to listen to a Revox tape that they were then publishing on ECM. In that moment on that farm in the Belgian outskirts, I snapped. They wanted to have our approval of the most outrageous sounds ever produced. We were yougsters. In a time were youghters were just pawns. More later. I am tired now

[@meilstone]

Maybe one solution for delaying the sounds would be to run them through different (digital) mixer channels and delaying one of the channels. I use this technique to create a wider stereo image for mono synths, for instance.

[@Sharkpuss]

This is a great video. Very succinct and it has helped remove some of the mystery surrounding programming straight into the TX :) I love the TX802. I bought one and sold it on because I wasn't;t using it as much as my analog keyboards but when the next opportunity came up to buy one I snapped it up. I really missed the purity of the sound. It is such a beautiful sounding instrument and truly expressive. Your patches are fantastic btw!

[@asynchronicity]

Alternate assign mode is cool… you can cycle through patches for a nice kaleidoscopic effect.

[@GlenJDiamond]

I bought your patches and I can duplicate the TX802 easily by layering Plogue OPS7 (which has 2 x DX7 engines) and using Pluginguru Unify I can really layer and add fx etc... Sounds authentic to me. Multiple layers of OPS7 within Unify -- and save each config as one patch... so easy and at the same time complex.

[@mudi2000a]

OPS7 is a bit exact emulation of the DX7 so of course it sounds authentic. I love it!

[@littlebritain64]

Wow, another good video about this marvel on KZbin! I have it but I miss that sheet plastic under it. Would You kindly provide a scan of it since I tried and tried searching with Google but I could not find a decent photo of the two faces?🙏 Thanks in advance,!

[@offthematrix5310]

Sure, I could post the pictures on the site.

[@littlebritain64]

@@offthematrix5310 Omg, You are so kind! Do You mean a link in the Infos?

[@littlebritain64]

Oh, I see now about Your site! The free Sy Editor for my TG33 Is a Life saver!!! Thank You! Waiting for the Scan, thumbs up.

[@offthematrix5310]

@@littlebritain64 I just uploaded the operation pullout to the site. I had to put it in a zip file because my host would not let me just upload the image.

[@littlebritain64]

@@offthematrix5310 You have done a very useful thing to we synth users, especially TX802 ones! Greatly appreciated. Thanks a lot, really!👍

[@______BS______]

Thank you for the great tutorial! few questions to TX802 users: 1. is it possible to use dx7 ROM cartridge with the machine? 2. do you edit the sounds (level, rate, frequency, operators levels) in practice? or more often just use the presets?

[@offthematrix5310]

Good question, No, a DX7 cartridge has a different jack. I always edit the sounds. The factory sound only scratch what the synth can do.

[@xfloodcasual8124]

Wow! I thought Tim Cook was giving this demo. Great synth of course

[@mkdoddart]

Its a versatile synth but buyers beware the battery is soldered to the board so a little mod work is needed.

[@offthematrix5310]

I bought mine over 20 years ago and never had to changed the battery. It's amazing how long the battery lasts.

[@jmarvosa6x3]

Any qualified tech can swap the battery.

[@littlebritain64]

​​@@jmarvosa6x3 Yes, on most synths It is not hard to do. I soldered in one of mines a little black battery slide thing, so I can swap at once the new one.

[@Robert44444444]

I have 2 of these, the 1st I got in '90 or '91. I will say this using it multi-timbrally with a sequencer to play several parts on their discrete MIDI channel while quite 'doable' can be a pain in the ass because there is no dynamic voice allocation system in the instrument's design… rather you have to assign the number of voices of polyphony (of the 16 total) that will be available to each part of TX-802 performance in increments of 2. That requires way more thinking about what you're doing and adjusting than you might otherwise need to do with an instrument having dynamic voice allocation.

[@offthematrix5310]

I realize that the lack of dynamic voice allocation can be a challenge to work with but it's not as bad as working with the TX81z which only has 8 voices of polyphony. The V50 seems to be the first synth from Yamaha with dynamic allocation which makes it a pleasure to work with.

[@texacomann]

I usually use my DAW to copy instances of my Tx802 😂so nowadays nö need to have any plan how to worry about polyphony shit😅I love my Tx802, it was my very, first professionell keyboard back in 1992 but back then I have had a Dx7II which was quite the same. And I have to say, there is no other FM Synthesizer of the new Generations after 2020 that has the same Sound, no NI nö Arturia even Yamaha Sound different, and why? They have nö Chips but Software emulated shit, and thats definitifley not the same!

[@Robert44444444]

@@texacomann - "I usually use my DAW to copy instances of my Tx802 " This is non-standard terminology you're using here, "instances" or instantiations typically refer to software instrument tracks, so it's unclear what you're referring to. Are you talking recording MIDI or Audio? Multiple audio recordings of your TX-802 obviously get around polyphony limitations, but then that applies to EVERYTHING… and there are some limitations (mainly efficient use of time) working with audio rather than MIDI tracks during the composition phase. Also not sure why you'd refer to a TX-802 as a "professional keyboard".

[@texacomann]

Yes I have had just one Dx7II professionell keyboard back in the days and a 8 track recording fostex, I recorded one Instrument after the other, and there was no need to have a whole bunch of Synthesizers to make compositions and music. Nowadays we do it all with DAW, someone has 200 Plugins and 20 Synthesizers doing the same at the end I did 35 years ago..... 🤣🎶🎶🎶

[@Swanlord05]

So would 2 tx802 be as good as a tx816?

[@offthematrix5310]

Well, a TX816 filled with TF1 modules would have a lot more polyphony but the TX802 it better for the screen and editing.

[@Swanlord05]

@@offthematrix5310 would they sound close?

[@offthematrix5310]

Yes, they should sound the same.

[@littlebritain64]

TX816 costed waaaay more expanded with all the modules. More It has no screen, only two digit numbers for each module. I think that, if You can live with reduced poliphony, the TX802 can be used with profit since It is multitimbral and easier to edit.