WHERE DO I START

EIGHTIES · Post by **EIGHTIES** » Sat Oct 20, 2012 10:43 am

Hi to all, I loved the 80's synth pop and used to mess about with Synths at school but could never afford to buy any so had rubbish casio affairs at home that make plinky plonk sounds. I have been out blind I suppose and bought a Yamaha DX7IID and a Roland D50, are these any good? I intend to buy a drum machine of some sort and try to make music as I enjoy it. I am a complete novice and have joined to get experience and advice. Where and how would you suggest I start with the learning process?

Kind Regards
Mark

Post by **dubold** » Sat Oct 20, 2012 12:38 pm

EIGHTIES wrote: I have been out blind I suppose and bought a Yamaha DX7IID and a Roland D50, are these any good?

yes. They're classics. The DX7 is a notoriously tricky to program FM synth, but there's a lot of recognizable/famous sounds in the presets. personally i love the d50, others may have their own opinions.

as for where to start out, it depends on what you want to do.

Do you know how to play keys or read music? Do you have any familiarity with hardware or software sequencers?

vladimotor · Post by **vladimotor** » Sat Oct 20, 2012 3:16 pm

Actually both aren't the easiest to program. But both are decent choices for "80s synth pop".

tekkentool · Post by **tekkentool** » Sat Oct 20, 2012 3:38 pm

What kind of 80s music are you trying to capture the general tonality and timbres from? Examples maybe?

bouzoukijoe1 · Post by **bouzoukijoe1** » Sun Oct 21, 2012 12:00 am

maybe you like Xeno and Oaklander? they have a vintage modern sound. with the exception of the modular, I think they use all vintage 80's analog synths.

Post by **blavatsky** » Sun Oct 21, 2012 2:11 am

can't go wrong with a roland jx-3p or jx-8p for fairly cheap.
For effects 80s rack mount lexicon would not be bad.

madmarkmagee · Post by **madmarkmagee** » Sun Oct 21, 2012 8:50 am

Dx7? Fm is tricky

madmarkmagee · Post by **madmarkmagee** » Sun Oct 21, 2012 9:08 am

To be honest its much easier to get FM once you get subtractive. My recommendation would be to go buy a Roland Gaia. They go pretty cheap used on ebay. That will make all your classic analogue Synth tones (like digital type sounds also found in 80's music) and you'll learn all about envelopes and lfos and pitch. The gaia is simple and there is no menu driving. Most explanations of Fm rely on assumed knowledge of Analogue subtractive. Though if your willing to stake it out, I'm sure you could teach yourself to program those machines. Download the manuals.

Or If your not really into programming, you could just work out how to load patches others have made onto your boards and play their sounds.

Hugo76 · Post by **Hugo76** » Sun Oct 21, 2012 2:46 pm

Aren't there any decent software editors for these synths? Should be a good solution for getting a better understanding of them

Pro5 · Post by **Pro5** » Mon Oct 22, 2012 9:25 pm

Yes D-50 is great. (I prefer it to DX7 even though I like the DX7 fine). Having owned 3 D-50s and each one in better and better condition I think I've developed an unhealthy obsession with that synth. Yes it looks beautiful and is very well built but it's the sound I always miss when it's gone. No software or other synth replaces it. Even if I don't always need or use it in my music I still love playing it and hearing it.

Sefirosu · Post by **Sefirosu** » Thu Nov 08, 2012 6:08 pm

Yamaha DX7 would sound very good for the kind of music you want to play but as it has been previously said FM synthesis needs lot of work and patience

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