Interesting stuff. I've listened to that album many times and some parts sound like a real violin while others sound synthesized.

It wasn't an 01/W, I had one once and it sounded different. Not sure about that particular sound, but a lot of the other sounds sound very "Rolandish" to me.

Sounds like a faulty voice. If you select a patch that's in WHOLE mode, then play 8 notes, which note(s) drop out or sound out of whack?

If you try one of the Split modes, you should be able to determine which of the voice cards (upper or lower) is causing your issues.

For a poly I consider 5 to be the minimum. If you're playing a base note + chord (4 voices) and you switch notes and overlap them at all (even inadvertently) on a 4-voice synth, you end up robbing a voice to cover the overlap. Of course, more is always better, to allow for release envelopes and unis...

The DX21 is a 1st generation 4-operator FM synth (similar to the DX100 and DX27), while the TX81Z (and its keyboard brother the DX11) are 2nd generation. The DX21 has sine-only waveforms and a grittier sound (due to a lower bit resolution, 12-bit in the 6-operator synths like the DX7, not sure what ...

I haven't downloaded it yet, but I may give it a spin sometime (I don't use VSTs much).

Anyway, just wondering, what did you write it in? Do you use library functions for the filters etc. or do you write your own DSP code?

In addition to the above suggestions, you can record the track twice (tweak the tuning or something else on the patch slightly between takes), then pan one take hard left and the other hard right. Instant stereo.

Most synths have a master tune function somewhere in the menus, or a knob. Check that before calling DSI.

DCOs don't drift out of tune like VCOs do, but if the master clock that runs the DCOs is broken, or the master tune is changed in the menus, then it will sound out of tune.

It depends on the effect... If the sound repeats like an echo, going left, right, left right until it fades away, that's a ping-pong delay (example: tambourine sound in "Drive" by The Cars). If it pans smoothly left to right and back (like a lot of EP/vibraphone sounds in the 70s and 80s), that is a...

I never played an M1 but I had an 01/W and on that the rotary effect on/off could be assigned to the value slider and/or to aftertouch, so try those.

1. “I would record a description of when a certain key for a certain note should be depressed and released”. Record a “description...” – what does that mean? Does he mean a digital recording of the note number (akin to MIDI recording) but instead into a track of a Roland MC-8? I think that means he...

Does the slider still work, if you stick something in the hole to move the wiper to change the cutoff? That would get you by until you get it repaired/replaced. Looks like the slider piece is bent, it might be better to just replace the entire slider. There are places on ebay that have parts for Jun...

The DX7 and Motif XS are completely different synths... in fact, the only thing they have in common are the "Yamaha" printed on them. :) That said, if you get the Motif, it does have some sampled waveforms from the DX synths in it, and some presets based on the more popular DX7 presets, mainly elect...

If cleaning doesn't work, you can get some "Keypad Fix" stuff on ebay that can be used to apply a new conductive coating on the membranes. It worked great when I restored a DX100 I got on ebay last summer.

A lot of it has to do with how the tuning algorithms work, and how many bands/frequencies are tuned. Basically how auto-tuning works: the CPU sets the voice being tuned to a certain frequency, then it "listens" to the voice to see how far out of tune it is. It then adds/subtracts an offset to that v...