Yamaha DX7 / TX7

Instruments
41

Hi, welcome here and thanks for sharing the SH01A preset!

As far as I know, there are quite some differences in the MIDI implementation of mk1 and mk2. I do believe we got it working in the past. @AndyRivas was your DX7 mk1? And CC-ing @DanFor as he is the DX7 guru :slight_smile:

Also, you might want to check following thread on gearslutz:

If the speed of sysex communication was the issue, we can adjust the rate of sysex transfers for the parameter changes in the preset.

42

Hi Martin, thanks for your response!
I will try the gearspace function8 tip when back home (currently making music with @markus.schloesser in Sicily​:grinning: using two E1s! (and some other stuff :wink:))

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43

PXL_20211003_211633637
PXL_20211003_2116336371920×2560 464 KB

And there is proof! :blush:

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44

Hello Martin, we did get it working on my MK1 DX7. I initially purchased the unit for having a more hands on approach for my DX, but in the end I wasn’t getting the experience out of it that I wanted. Thats not the E1/s fault, but more to due with the dx7 which DanFor explains quite well. That being said, I still am very impressed with the E1 and have found use for it controlling soft synths, Fors to be exact, as I really like Ess and again want that hands on control of the instrument.

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45

It works! And it‘s great!

Hi Martin! Thanks for your support! Thanks to the gearspace thread and your response I changed SysInfo to AVAIL (Function8) and now my DX7 and E1 match! And it‘s great fun. Still FM is some sort of mysterious, but to work with it hands-on is so great!

Thx a lot!

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46

Based on the TX-7 Preset file I did a version for DX-7 II. After some changes and adding the parameters that the TX doesn´t have it works so far for controlling. I also added the Performance parameters.
Only the Patch Request doesn´t work. The MIDI IN/OUT indicators on the Electra are showing some activity and the DX on the Edit buffer dump display says “completed” but the parameters on the Electra doesn´t change their values. By trying the MIDI learn function I could check that the Sysex communication works both ways. Has anyone got the Patch Request to work with the DX-7 II ? I appreciate any help. Tanks a lot.

47

Tests until now are very promising. Considering the known limitations (The need to retrigger the key to hear the parameter change taking effect…, no patch recquest…) Editing works fine and is a lot more fun with “real” knobs!! Right now I´m trying to improve the EG copy function that I implemented for faster editing. I tried also to have the grafics of the algorithms as jpg in the list for selecting but the jpg for the list / overlay function is a bit to small to make the algorithm visible in a useful way…

48

@martin , I’m making a new version of your TX7 preset, with enhanced graphics, controllers moved to different places, program change and I hope to use a color scheme to make the algorithms ‘visible’.

However I find some DX7-TX7 dilemma’s in the original :

  • The ‘Mode controller’ has its to values ‘Fixed’ and ‘ratio’ swapped
  • TX 7 aftertouch params are swapped with the breath controller (as opposed to the DX7)
  • the 4 performance ranges should only go to 15, not to 99 (it’s 99 on the DX7 but 15 on the TX7)
2 Likes
49

Hi @NewIgnis, I’d suggest you to create your improved version of the preset. Once you are done and the your preset is public I would retract mine - so that there is only one version available. Do you agree?

50

Whatever you want, my friend.

51

Hi, I’ve released a beta version for the TX7, but I have some issues I reported about in the bugs reports. Although usable the preset is far from finished. Hence it is indicated as ‘beta’.
Mind you, this version is not really suited for a DX7. I can make a simplified and slightly altered version afterwards if some people would want to test and use it then.
https://app.electra.one/preset/HnWrGMhbnXNWNHPnITPq

1 Like
52

The new TX7 V2.1 version is finished (functionally it is 100% okay).
https://app.electra.one/preset/HnWrGMhbnXNWNHPnITPq

The purpose was the maximise the understanding of the FM operation, and this has some consequences. I’d like to hear everyone’s opinion on these:

  • The color scheme of all operators depends on the algorithm. This is explained in the preset description.
  • The Operator On/Off or Output Level zero/non-zero may show/hide operator parameters
  • Operator On/Off pad indicates if this operator is having feedback and how much
  • The order of the parameters is different from the previous preset and from the DX7, as to optimize understanding the relationship between various parameters. For DX7 users this may not be an advantage.
  • Extensive use of formatting, especially on frequency ratios (that is why Freq Fine is baptised as Freq Multiplier, which it actually does when a frequency is not fixed)
  • Key Left / Right Curves are hidden if Key L/R Depth = 0. This reads easier.
  • I hope the algo list drawings, combined with the operator color schemes, make it also easier to understand what is going on in an FM program.
  • The name of the feedback control changes according to the chosen algorithm.

I believe here the Electra One shows very well how it can help in understanding sound synthesis :slight_smile:

Be aware
You better perform a program change using the program change controls found on page 2 and 5:

  • Simple patch parsing by pressing the upper right button works, but will not set the correct colors or control shows/hides.
  • If you change a program on the TX7 itself, it will send out function parameters which are supposedly meant for an attached DX7, but which will be interpreted by the E1 as well. As a result, the TX7 will not show the correct function parameters anymore.

Example

image
image1153×663 63.6 KB

This example shows you that:

  • Op1 and Op3 are the audio outputs (their Output Levels are in white),
  • Op2’s level (in red) is controlling Op1,
  • Op4’s level (in yellow) is controlling Op3,
  • both Op5 and Op6 (with their levels in green) are controlling Op4.

On the operator pad, you can see (view only) that the blue Op2 is getting the feedback with a level of 5 (a level of 7 will generate noise). The feedback is set on page 5.

  • Operators 1, 3 and 4 are tuned to the TX7 base frequency of 8 feet or value (1).
  • Operator 2 is tuned one fifth above 4 feet (freq coarse is on “4 FEET” or value (2), but the fq multiplier multiplies this with 1.50 which is a fifth above the original frequency). The same frequency could be set by choosing “4 FEET + FIFTH” as freq coarse and 1.00 as fq mulitplier.
  • Operator 5 is tuned 31 times above 8 feet (value 31), which is then multiplied by 1.18. The resulting frequency is thus 36,58 times above 8 feet.
  • Operator 6 is tuned to 8/13 foot, which is a little more than half a foot, and will sound as 13 times the frequency of 8 foot. On the Yamaha this is value 13 as well.

All envelopes have a zero sustain level in this example, so all notes and all its modulations will eventually fade out if you hold then notes.

I truly hope this will make the TX7 have more sense to program yourselves !

53

Nice! The picture illustrates nicely why I want the fonts to be colored too… Took me a while to see how the Freq Coarse were related! :wink:

D.

1 Like
54

Immediate bell gratification: use 2 ops, one as carrier, the other one as modulator. Set modulator coarse freq one octave above the carrier and set the multiplier on 1.75. Modulator output level on about 78-80. Give both operators a sharp attack with fast decay.

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55

Thank you! Will need to try this on my TG-77 at some point! :slightly_smiling_face:

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56

@NewIgnis cool looking forward to try your template out. Thanks man, I am in love with my TX7, what a sound.

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57

for basic patch editing/creating, this preset should work for the tx802, am i understanding this correctly?

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58

Not sure: you’ll have to compare the SysEx used on the TX802 to those used on the TX7.

Currently SysEx on TX7 has a header looking like
image
If the first 3 bytes are the same on the TX802 and of the 4th byte is the same for each function, then it should work.

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59

Quick reply - away from my computer, but they are not the same. The TX 802 has the multimode plus other differences. Years ago I wrote a TX 802 editor for the Liine Lemur software running on an iPad. You can certainly use a lot of the core functions and concepts, but they need to be tweaked to work with the TX 802. If anyone wants to tackle that, I still have a lot of my notes about the TX format and parsing the sysex

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60

Just quickly browsed the TX802 manual. Main differences are:

  • that multimode (8 timbres possible) @oldgearguy spoke about, and correlated to that, the Performance Edit
  • the linking of tone generators in a voice

At first sight Voice Edit is really similar except for

  • Amplitude Mod sensitivity (0-7 instead of 0-4)
  • LFO Multi mode