{"id":285,"date":"2021-08-13T07:01:12","date_gmt":"2021-08-13T07:01:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nilamox.com\/mancave21\/?page_id=285"},"modified":"2023-08-02T07:32:57","modified_gmt":"2023-08-02T07:32:57","slug":"tx81z","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/nilamox.com\/mancave21\/tx81z\/","title":{"rendered":"Yamaha TX81z \ud83e\uddfb \ud83e\uddfb"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cYou are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Sensible Review<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I know I get stuck on names but what is that Z for? OK so they already had a TX816. But that\u2019s the one and only Z. There must a cabalistic reason. There’s also a TX81P. Piano?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was a module I could afford back in 1988 and ended up all over Rotund For Success<\/em> alongside the ESQ-M. There was an awful lot of EQing and effecting mind you, but Lately Bass<\/em> 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. \u2013 I also had a DX100, which only had sine waves – the same wheezing, but very dull sounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/a>. Or like Korg they’ve figured out how to make FM not hurt <\/a>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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hear It In Action<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Everything here is either TX81z, ESQm<\/a> or Roland MKS100<\/p>\n\n\n\n