gilwe Posted October 9, 2001 Share Posted October 9, 2001 What does the IIDF version of the DX7 got that the older DX7 doesn't ? Does it have sensitive keys ? A floopy drive (1.44 ?) How is it as a MIDI controller ? Thanks. This message has been edited by gilwe on 10-09-2001 at 11:42 AM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gus Lozada Posted October 9, 2001 Share Posted October 9, 2001 While I am not sure about the differences between the "normal" and the "II", I can tell you that "FD" stands for "Floppy Disk" so yes, it has a FD drive. As a MIDI controller... Many people LOVES its keybed so they use it as a controller but it can not transmit multiple MIDI zones at once. ------------------ Gus Lozada Moderador de: MusicPlayer.com/NuestroForo "La voz en Español en Música y Tecnología" Gus TraX @musicplayer.com Músico, Productor, Ingeniero, Tecnólogo Senior Product Manager, América Latina y Caribe - PreSonus at Fender Musical Instruments Company Instagram: guslozada Facebook: Lozada - Música y Tecnología www.guslozada.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IanD Posted October 9, 2001 Share Posted October 9, 2001 The DX7IIFD does have a disk drive on it, but thats not the only difference. The II has better D/A converters on it, so it has a cleaner sound. It has better MIDI implementation, a backlit display, stereo panning, micro-tuning, Better LFO and real buttons http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/smile.gif I think its bi-timbral too Ian http://www.hypertracker.com/go/iandixon/KC1/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gilwe Posted October 9, 2001 Author Share Posted October 9, 2001 How about sensitive keys ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joegerardi Posted October 9, 2001 Share Posted October 9, 2001 Originally posted by gilwe: How about sensitive keys ? Nope. I cursed mine out continually, and it never cried once. Oh. Yes bith have velocity and pressure sensitive keys. Setup: Korg Kronos 61, Roland XV-88, Korg Triton-Rack, Motif-Rack, Korg N1r, Alesis QSR, Roland M-GS64 Yamaha KX-88, KX76, Roland Super-JX, E-Mu Longboard 61, Kawai K1II, Kawai K4. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gus Lozada Posted October 9, 2001 Share Posted October 9, 2001 Originally posted by joegerardi: Nope. I cursed mine out continually, and it never cried once. http://www.freakygamers.com/smilies/s/otn/laughing/yelrotflmao.gif ...Good one !!! Músico, Productor, Ingeniero, Tecnólogo Senior Product Manager, América Latina y Caribe - PreSonus at Fender Musical Instruments Company Instagram: guslozada Facebook: Lozada - Música y Tecnología www.guslozada.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Fortner Posted October 10, 2001 Share Posted October 10, 2001 I've owned 'em both. Original DX-7: Not polytimbral, and only had a mono audio out. Membrane control panel which a lot of musicians disliked. Its output created an infamous hiss that caused a lot of people to noise-gate it, even for live work. This was due, I believe, to a poor design in which the D/A's were picking up noise from the power supply. DX7-II: Bi-timbral. Stereo out. The hiss was reduced dramatically. Because of the bi-timbral capabilities, it had the "performance" mode now common to all Yamaha boards. DX7-II-FD added a floppy drive for storage of patches, so you didn't have to buy those overpriced RAM cartridges. DX7-S: A budget DX7-II that was mono-timbral. Still stereo. What they had in common: 16-voice polyphony, six operators per voice, 32 algorithms for stacking up the operators, incomprehensible programming theory. A quirk they all had was that they only transmitted MIDI velocity info values up to 99, not the standard 127. So if you controlled an external module with the DX, it would sound too soft. It did however receive the full range, so if you controlled the DX from another source, a value of 127 would play unmusically loud, as all the voices were programmed to see 99 as the highest velocity. Stephen Fortner Principal, Fortner Media Former Editor in Chief, Keyboard Magazine Digital Piano Consultant, Piano Buyer Magazine Industry affiliations: Antares, Arturia, Giles Communications, MS Media, Polyverse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Fortner Posted October 10, 2001 Share Posted October 10, 2001 oops. Forgot to mention that the II replaced the membrane control keyboard with actual buttons, which held up pretty well as I recall. I'm not sure if later revisions of the II's took care of the MIDI velocity issue. Stephen Fortner Principal, Fortner Media Former Editor in Chief, Keyboard Magazine Digital Piano Consultant, Piano Buyer Magazine Industry affiliations: Antares, Arturia, Giles Communications, MS Media, Polyverse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gilwe Posted October 13, 2001 Author Share Posted October 13, 2001 Thanks. I was thinking of using the DX7dfII mainly as a MIDI controller, for recording MIDI tracks into Cubase, not to directly drive sound modules with it. In this case the 99 velocity limit won't be an actual limitaion as I can record tracks and than set the "instrument" velocity on Cubase to 127 - is that right ? This message has been edited by gilwe on 10-13-2001 at 05:29 AM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Azzarello Posted October 13, 2001 Share Posted October 13, 2001 Originally posted by gilwe: In this case the 99 velocity limit won't be an actual limitaion as I can record tracks and than set the "instrument" velocity on Cubase to 127 - is that right ? There are 2 concerns here: 1. Vel. offset 2. Vel. curve You'll have to do some playing around if you want to get these right.... there's no simple way. It's been years, but I thought the max velocity was @ 116 Pat http://www.patazzarello.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Bryce Posted October 13, 2001 Share Posted October 13, 2001 Originally posted by PatAzz: It's been years, but I thought the max velocity was @ 116 That's really funny...I thought the same thing when I saw Steve's post, because I had always heard that it was 112. Now I'm gonna have to find out... Does anyone have a DX that they can play into a sequencer and check out the data stream to find out for us? dB ==> David Bryce Music • Funky Young Monks <== Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soapbox Posted October 13, 2001 Share Posted October 13, 2001 If you're looking for FM sounds without the keyboard limitations, and you don't mind software, you can try Native Instruments' FM7 . It looks like it is going to be much more powerful and flexible than any of the old FM Yamaha keyboards & modules. Plus it can load the libraries of all of those vintage boards. It's due to be released next month... Enthusiasm powers the world. Craig Anderton's Archiving Article Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Bryce Posted October 13, 2001 Share Posted October 13, 2001 Originally posted by soapbox: If you're looking for FM sounds without the keyboard limitations, and you don't mind software, you can try Native Instruments' FM7 . It looks like it is going to be much more powerful and flexible than any of the old FM Yamaha keyboards & modules. Plus it can load the libraries of all of those vintage boards. I was actually speaking with Anderton about it - he has a copy. He says that it's unbelievably cool... Those NI guys have their act together big time. B4, Pro-52, Reaktor, Absynth - have they had a miss yet? dB ==> David Bryce Music • Funky Young Monks <== Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Smedberg Posted October 14, 2001 Share Posted October 14, 2001 Originally posted by Dave Bryce: That's really funny...I thought the same thing when I saw Steve's post, because I had always heard that it was 112. Now I'm gonna have to find out... Does anyone have a DX that they can play into a sequencer and check out the data stream to find out for us? dB The funny thing is that I heard that the velocity supposed to go to 120. Three opinions! I did a check this morning and got to 118. ------------------ --Smedis,-- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soapbox Posted October 14, 2001 Share Posted October 14, 2001 This one goes to eleven! Enthusiasm powers the world. Craig Anderton's Archiving Article Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bucktunes Posted October 15, 2001 Share Posted October 15, 2001 I think 120 was the max on the original DX7, and also on the KX88. But the synth engine in the DX7 was scaled to respond to its own keyboard. So if you used it as a MIDI slave it would get unusually bright if you drove it with a keyboard with full velocity range. And if you played it from a KX88 it would sound more "normal" because it never received the highest velocities. I think the DX7II family got the velocity thing straightened out, though. A lot of players still use KX88's, but they have to re-scale the velocity externally so it works with modern modules. This is the best my memory serves me, so if I'm wrong about any of this, please straighten me out! Peace all, Steve ><> Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Azzarello Posted October 15, 2001 Share Posted October 15, 2001 Originally posted by Robert Smedberg: I did a check this morning and got to 118. You must be stronger than I am http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/tongue.gif I remember sequencing on another keyboard and how bright the DX sounds were. Unfortunately the sequence wouldn't allow me to change MIDI channels after the fact, and since the original DX only transmitted on Channel 1, I ended up rescaling every one of my "popular" DX patches so that they would react appropriate. What ever happened to DX7's with e! ??? Many of the DX7-II features were first available as an e! retro fit. Don't remember his name (I believe he was Orland Park, IL), but I hope the e! guy is still doing cool stuff. Any ideas where he might be? Pat http://www.patazzarello.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Smedberg Posted October 15, 2001 Share Posted October 15, 2001 Originally posted by PatAzz: You must be stronger than I am Maybe not stronger, but dumber, I was actually sure that I was going to break some keys when I tried the velocity. Luckily I didn't. http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/biggrin.gif ------------------ --Smedis,-- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aeon Posted October 15, 2001 Share Posted October 15, 2001 Originally posted by Dave Bryce: Those NI guys have their act together big time. B4, Pro-52, Reaktor, Absynth - have they had a miss yet? Yes. They offer options for PC users in terms of flexibility with their copy protection methods, but they do not do so for the Mac, so I am a Mac user who wants to use Reaktor and I have $400 to give them, but they do not want it from me because they think of people as thieves first and musicians second. Go tell someone you love that you love them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mEm0 Posted October 16, 2001 Share Posted October 16, 2001 Hey guys. I have what I like to call a DX-7IIFDE! I love the instrument and will not get rid of it intentionally. Yes, neither DX7 or Dx7ii will transmit over 120 (most I got on mine was 118). Except... if you got the E! thing for it. Among other things, it offered different velocity curves, not only for it's internal engine, but to be transmitted over midi. E! for the DX7II makes all the difference in the world. It adds multitimbrality (up to 8 voices), a sequencer, an arpeggiator, lots of program memory, expanded microtuning, expanded disk and midi controller options, etc. But what I like the most (and has helped to keep this synth alive) is that it lets you layer up to four patches under the same key, allowing for some really "fat FM" sounds (if such thing is possible)... You can even layer patches that were set in unison mode (a feature only found in DX7II)and maintaining full polyphony with a very unique feature which "stealed" voices in order to preserve polyphony. Whatever happened to the creators of Grey Matter Response (makers of E!) I have no idea, but hopefully they'll come up with retrofits and upgrades for present day synths. Would a resampling option for my Triton be too much to ask???? Also, if anyone has or knows how to find any DX7II patches (not the old DX7 ones, but the ones using dual patches-12 operators!) i would GREATLY appreciate it. There was a company called Sound Source Unlimited which just vanished in thin air. Thanks. memo. Memo ____________________________________________ Roland Fantom 6/Px-5S/Hydrasynth/DX7IIE! MBP/Logic/Mainstage/Omnisphere/Native/Arturia Roland Pk-5A Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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