4 ms·
A DX7 USB Dongle
- Kye 3y agoI think I'll stick with DX7 V, but this is neat.
- fortran77 3y agoHackaday is a great site to discover new things, but it may be a good idea to just link to the site they're summarizing: https://diyelectromusic.wordpress.com/2023/11/22/a-dx7-usb-dongle/ https://diyelectromusic.wordpress.com/2023/11/22/a-dx7-usb-d...
- dang 3y agoThanks! Changed from https://hackaday.com/2023/11/24/a-yamaha-dx7-on-a-usb-dongle/ https://hackaday.com/2023/11/24/a-yamaha-dx7-on-a-usb-dongle... above.
- mr_sturd 3y agoDexed is a really good implementation of the DX7, and there are thousands of "cartridges" to be found online packed with presets for it.
- InCityDreams 3y ago...a lot of those presets are 'dice driven', it seems to me. Press a dicembre random settings, save: give it a name. Synth1 on the other hand....
- singingfish 3y agoI believe that these days Dexed is the preferred environment for people who make presets that they're subsequently going to play on an actual DX7, it's that good.
- munificent 3y ago> it's that good. For what it's worth, being "that good" is relatively easy for a DX7 compared to other synthesizers since it's a purely digital design and the algorithms (in the software, not FM sense) are pretty straightforward. It's not like emulating, say, an Ensoniq SQ-80, where you have to emulate analog filters which always involves a level of compromise and approximation.
- singingfish 3y agovery smart and simple little machine. I recall thing on HN a while back - impressive stuff https://www.righto.com/2021/11/reverse-engineering-yamaha-dx7.html https://www.righto.com/2021/11/reverse-engineering-yamaha-dx...
- ajxs 3y agoI do this. I use Dexed as a patch editor for my DX7. It's fantastic. I wish I had editors this good for the rest of my synths!
- schemescape 3y agoDon’t forget “This DX7 Cartridge Does Not Exist”: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23373730 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23373730
- Joeboy 3y agoIf I understood right, it's a DX7 synth running on bare metal on a Raspberry Pi, and the news is that they added the hardware / software to use it as a (device-side) USB device. Which is very cool, but "USB Dongle" confused me a bit.
- kristianp 3y agoThe article uses a raspberry pi zero to be pendantic, but it seems to support any pi. I was researching using the Pi Pico for FM synthesis recently, it turns out it isn't powerful enough to do more than about 3 voices of 6-operator FM due to having no fpu. Here's the hardware docs page: https://github.com/probonopd/MiniDexed/wiki/Hardware https://github.com/probonopd/MiniDexed/wiki/Hardware
- mr_sturd 3y agoIt'll look good when the audio out is routed in to the USB audio interface to come back to the computer for recording!
- mseidl 3y agoI have an original dx7 and rx5 drum machine.
- brudgers 3y agoI think the RX5 is an awesome drum machine. Made me see the value in old flagship instruments. The design logic is robust and nothing in the workflow lags. I have a Pharmasonic ROM cartridge for mine.
- mseidl 3y agoI also had a Roland boutique d-50 clone which was awesome, but I sold it which i regret.
- brudgers 3y agoSome things I buy more than once. I buy it. Don’t use it. Sell it. Then find myself with the same problem and go through the same research and come to the same conclusion. The net costs are just rent in my mind. Or the difference between getting a great deal and paying more than I might have. Or just money I spent on my hobby.
- brudgers 3y agoI guess that’s one way to solve the tiny screen problem.
- ChuckMcM 3y agoThe sound of a DX7 not the 10 ton keyboard[1] :-) The ability to re-create these sound flavors "on the cheap" is really something. I keep wondering if someone is selling nice keyboards that one could pair with these sound modules. [1] Keyboard not literally 10 tons, it just feels that way when lugging it to and from the van to the gig, typically about 40lbs in the case with accessories.
- dave_sullivan 3y agoMPK Mini is all you need, they're like 80 bucks
- fahrnfahrnfahrn 3y agoHah hah! I had to lug around a Rhodes suitcase, a B3, and a Leslie. My DX7 in an anvil case weren’t nothing.
- jacquesm 3y agoSure, but you'll always have some lag and the aftertouch of the DX7 might not come across in the same way. But any half decent midi keyboard should work, for instance: https://www.thomann.de/nl/native_instruments_komplete_kontrol_s61_mk2.htm https://www.thomann.de/nl/native_instruments_komplete_kontro... They have Fatar keyboards which is more than good enough.
- ChuckMcM 3y agoI was thinking more like the burgeoning mechanical keyboard business for computers. If the mechanical structure was there your could provide arbitrarily low latency (some of the high end 'gamer' keyboards are sub-millesecond). Given the physical system you're modelling (Harpsichord, Piano, Etc.) all of the computation vis-a-vis the velocity can be computed while the key is moving and delivered when the key is "down", after touch on a per-board basis is easy, per key basis doable with more sensors. After touch doesn't have quite the latency requirements either. With these 25 cent M0+ 45MHz processors you could put one on every single key and 88 keys would incur like $88 cost for electronics.
- jnovek 3y agoI’d love to see one of these dexed-based devices designed with knobs to control the operators and envelopes. FM can create some gnarly sounds. There are a few VST plugins (thinking of Plogue’s OPS7 and Reason’s Algorithm in particular) that can do this and I think you have a lot of control with the Korg Opsix but I don’t know if a Dexed/miniDexed design that does that.
- squeaky-clean 3y agoLittle fun fact, but the Korg Opsix is also a raspberry pi powered FM synthesizer. https://www.raspberrypi.com/success-stories/korg-synthesizers/ https://www.raspberrypi.com/success-stories/korg-synthesizer...
- jacquesm 3y agoIf you're in Europe and want an actual DX7 I still have one that has been doing nothing for the last 12 months because I'm too busy with the piano. But Dexed is pretty much bit-for-bit perfect so if nostalgia isn't your thing you're better (and cheaper) off with Dexed.
- palemoonale 3y agoHas Dexed improved since both OGS and EGS were reverse engineered? It is a nice implementation of 6op FM synthesis compatible with DX SysEx dumps, but _i_ wouln't call it bit-perfect.
- jacquesm 3y agoCan you name a specific thing that doesn't work the way it should?
- codetrotter 3y agoHow much are you selling your DX7 for?
- jacquesm 3y agoHm, email maybe? jacques@modularcompany.com I'm in NL and sending it in the mail isn't an option.