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In a message dated 1/16/06 11:08:59 AM, elmacaco@nyc.rr.com writes:<BR>
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<BLOCKQUOTE CITE STYLE="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px" TYPE="CITE"></FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Geneva" FAMILY="SANSSERIF" SIZE="2">What about that DX200 thing yamaha made a while ago?<BR>
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That's a really great box -- one of the coolest products Yamaha ever made. It's able to load any six-operator Yamaha FM patch via sysex, and it has a bunch of very useful real-time controls on the front panel for editing and morphing the sound -- including an excellent multimode resonant filter. Built-in effects, too, including very cool distortion. All the panel controls send and receive MIDI data, so your edits and movements can be recorded into a sequencer. Of course, it has its own internal 303/606-styled groove sequencer, too, and built-in drum sounds, so it's pretty much a rave DJ in a box. It does, however, work just as well for non-acid styles of music.<BR>
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The only down side is that you can't do full, operator-specific detailed patch editing from the front panel. For that, you still need to edit from an external DX or SY synth, or from a computer-based DX editor. The front panel knobs do give you a lot of editing control, though -- most of the basic additive-synth type editing stuff, kind of like an FM-based Prophet V or Minimoog. With the tens of thousands of FM patches that are floating around on the web, you're bound to find a sound that pleases you -- or at least distracts you for a few months.<BR>
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Mike B.<BR>
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