Yamaha Reface DX

[JereFuzz]

15 minutes with the Reface DX:

Took the unit out of the box and registered it with Yamaha. I threw in some batteries (6XAA) and hit the on button. I didn't read any manuals. Within 10 minutes I felt comfortable going through patches and editing them. And by editing them I mean turning operators on and off and adjusting the variable attributes of those operators. I didn't store any of them. I did notice that playing with only a single operator sounded fine. The speakers built into the unit are not very loud which is fine since I like the idea of grabbing and going; I didn't want to plug into an amp, etc. The little that I've heard impressed me. I think that FM synth gets the reputation of having that 80s one-dimensional sound but I found that the presets varied quite a bit. FM also has the rep of being difficult to program but I found that tweaking to significantly change the sound of the preset wasn't difficult at all. I can already tell with my short date with the DX that it has wide wide sound possibilities. My DX to-do list includes:

- Learn how to change the routing of the operators
- Find out what each operator parameter does
- Learn how to use the looper
- Find out what the up/down touch "screen" arrows do when not in edit mode (I suspect they are a sort of mixer for each operator, but I'm not sure)

Anyway, I'm very excited about what I can create with this synth as well as what sounds others have created (Sound Mondo). Anybody with tips/suggestions for the Reface DX?

[JereFuzz]

OK,

Under the FM Section you hit ALGO to change the operator routing (use up/down arrow pad to choose) - there are 12 of them
Under the FM Section you hit FREQ to change the frequency of each operator (use up/down arrow pad for the appropriate operator to adjust the frequency)
Under the FM Section you hit LEVEL to change the operator volume for each operator (use up/down arrow pad for the appropriate operator to adjust the level of the operator)
Under the FM Section you hit FB to change the operator feedback for each operator (use up/down arrow pad for the appropriate operator to adjust the frequency of the operator)

The looper is easy to operate. Hit Looper Button adjust parameters using the arrow pad, select REC to go in record mode, hit record when ready ... etc.

I just need to learn/understand the attributes/behaviors of the attributes of the operators. This part won't be so easy ...

[JereFuzz]

A lot of the refaces have been on my radar.

It's so hard to narrow it down to one.

There aren't many dedicated FM synths out there ... i'd recommend the DX but I hear the others are great ... plus, the FM does the metallic thing great (but it does so much more beyond that)

[JereFuzz]

BTW, found a cool program for windows: miSynthFM

It is free and is quite instructive w/respect to FM synthesis. In fact, it takes away some off the mystery of fm synthesis. I think its good to think of FM synthesis as having channels (operators) that can be played independently of each other or can be run into each other. If you play the channel independently it is called a carrier. If the channel is used to modulate another channel (i.e. the carrier is run into the "other" channel) that "other" channel is called a modulator. The various configurations, or algorithms, route the carriers into different modulators for different sound varieties. To use a guitar analogy, imagine if you have two amps and two guitar pedals (distortion and phaser). If you split your guitar signal in two and run one signal into a distortion and into amp 1 and route the other guitar signal into the phaser and into amp 2, you get a certain type of sound. In this scenario both the distortion pedal and phaser are carriers. If you run one guitar signal into the distortion which is then run into the phaser which is then run into an amp, you get a different type of sound. In this scenario the distortion pedal is the carrier and the phaser is the modulator. Now, in the case of the DX, you have four operators (channels) which can be configured in many ways (12 ways actually).

When you think about FM synthesis as in the manner above, it is quite easy to understand and editing manipulating the operators becomes very intuitive and you find yourself achieving great sounds. In fact, treating each operator (simplest algorithm) as a carrier and adjusting the volume as you would a mixer gives you huge control over sound shaping.

The montage has 8 operators but costs over $4K ... I can't imagine the kinds of sounds you can produce with that. I'm getting the strong feeling that FM synthesis, because of the old DXs lack of a friendly programming, was never maximized. The awesome pads and weirdness you can produce from FM synthesis is pretty crazy.

Also, sound mondo has over 10K sound patches uploaded. That's for all 4 Refaces not just the DX.

[Dr. Sherman Sticks M.D.]

i always thought FM was beautiful because even tho it seems daunting you really don't need to know exactly what u are doing at all.

in fact, you'll likely come up w/ some sounds you never would have if you knew exactly what u were doing. (this is prob true for any type of synth tho)

having said that, having more knowledge of anything never hurts

and yes FM is capable of soooo many sounds beyond the standard. after all at its core its basically just sine waves modulating each other to create other waveforms. (at least thats how i have come to understand it)

[spacelordmother]

Yeah -- it seems to me that FM is "hard" if you think of it in terms of "how do I make XX specific sound" (an electric piano for example) but there are a ton of cool noises that can be made/found just by fiddling.

[JereFuzz]

Well, I've been downloading the patches from sound mondo and ... I want another reface DX ... the sounds you can get out of this are AMAZING ...

[Dr. Sherman Sticks M.D.]

Well, I've been downloading the patches from sound mondo and ... I want another reface DX ... the sounds you can get out of this are AMAZING ...

thats another cool thing about FM. tons of patches out there to help you.

my local library even has some old DX programming books that are pretty cool. (amongst other cool music related books too)

[spacelordmother]

Well, I've been downloading the patches from sound mondo and ... I want another reface DX ... the sounds you can get out of this are AMAZING ...

thats another cool thing about FM. tons of patches out there to help you.

my local library even has some old DX programming books that are pretty cool. (amongst other cool music related books too)

I got so excited when I thought you were going to say we have one of those fancy synth libraries.

[JereFuzz]

This dude does the Reface DX some justice ...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_3eMvozTLY[/youtube]

[plaidbeer]

^He used several Pet Shop Boys songs as part of the demo. And he covers the Twin Peaks theme! I still hate those DX7 Rhodes sounds, though, every bit as much as I did back in the day.

[JereFuzz]

Btw, picked up a usb female to micro usb male adapter for the dx and my samsung galaxy pad and it works great - syncs to soundmondo