“You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike”.
That, ladies and gentlemen, is the problem with FM synthesis. You could probably get some great sounds with it if, like Brian Eno, you did absolutely nothing else for years on end. But how many ways can you connect up those 6 operators, and what proportion of the choices lead to a tedious sizzling sound?
There’s actually only a limited set of things you can do with FM of the sort that was available from Yamaha, which often involves teaming up two operators to get something approaching a square or a saw wave. If they just go ahead and provide waveforms that equal these combinations then you can cut the number of operators down to 4 and still get a good result, in fact a better result because the combinations and tedium are both less.
I know I get stuck on names but what is that Z for? OK so they already had a TX816. But that’s the one and only Z. There must a cabalistic reason. There’s also a TX81P. Piano?
This was a module I could afford back in 1988 and ended up all over Rotund For Success alongside the ESQ-M. There was an awful lot of EQing and effecting mind you, but Lately Bass did get a workout. I guess this was the main reason I wanted to blow 100 bucks on another, to see it again 24 years later. I used to program it through the little window and buttons in a way that I could never figure out on the DX7, and this still seems a more humane system than the big 6-op machines. The different wave forms matter. – I also had a DX100, which only had sine waves – the same wheezing, but very dull sounds.
Since that time FM has fallen out of copyright and people have worked out how to get pretty much the same result with traditional synthesis. Or like Korg they’ve figured out how to make FM not hurt quite so badly. Sonically, the TX81z not going to set your world on fire, but then neither is it a terrible use of a single rack space. Mine is sold, again.
Hear It In Action
Everything here is either TX81z, ESQm or Roland MKS100
I actually linked this and other Rotund songs to that girl Michelle. State of mind type situation. Timing. Most of these songs make me think of her.
Everyone needs to bow to Elektron. The Digitone is the only FM synth I’ve met that is intuitive, sounds good and is fun to use. Got a Digitone Keys for a great deal with my 1st Covid check.
I couldn’t find a place that would deliver any fresh vegetables to us for months. But I had a Digitone Keyboard and an iPad with Nave. Fun times.
How many FM synths allow you to knob your way through the operator ratios and such? Plus there is Overbridge so you can do it from your computer.
Super weird because it’s not an 8 voice FM synth like you might see it advertised.
It’s 2 voice 4 part multi-timbral. So each part gets 2 voices. Or you can have 2 parts 4 voices each and any other combination of 8 voices spread over 1-4 parts.
It’s also very compact and well designed. There are one or two things I’d have done differently but then I don’t live in Sweden. Like I do not like the octave switch buttons right under the pitch mod wheels (which are pure sex).
But it also does sequencing including MIDI sequencing other devices.
It’s one of the better deals in my opinion. The plain Digitone is only a little less the full Digitone Keys, which adds a keyboard and several more controls.
Sorry but Elektron doesn’t suit me, and too pricey. But your review is welcome. Don’t forget to make fun of things as well!