The VOICES
Many of the sounds here are the full 16-note poly
and some of the sounds are reduced to just 4-
notes of polyphony, and some are mono.
Depending on how you want to use the timbre
you can change this. Listed below are the names
of the Voices and the 4-note poly voices are
identified. These take advantage of the UNISON
POLY function (this parameter double-folds the
sound for a thicker timbre). The UNISON POLY
parameter was added to the FM structure when
the DX7IIFD and the TX802 hit the market in late
1986. These parameters were not available on the
original 1983 first generation of programmable 6-
operator FM synths: DX7, DX5, DX1, TX7, TX816.
If polyphony is an issue for you, navigate to the
DX Simulator’s “EDIT LIST” view - there you will
find the UNISON Switch. Set this to OFF and you
will have 16 note polyphony on the sound. For
those of you wanting more polyphony for the FM
sounds, you can add a second or third PLG150-DX
board to your host and activate the POLY EXPAND
function found in the Motif ES’s UTILITY mode/ F6
PLUG/ SF1 Status. The UNISON POLY mode is
about timbre – many of the sounds are musical
effects and polyphony is not such a big issue.
Because of how musical sounds and ‘stuff’
generated in the DX engine, the programmers
would use a 2-operator stack (minimum) to
generate a complex tone. This is why an item like
the TX-Rack became so popular at over $4,000 –
it could be expanded to house eight DX7 modules
called TF1s – that’s eight 6-operator engines. The
TX816 original Voices sets, (and Yamaha only did
one or two official Voice sets), had great detail.
There was a Rhodes sound that had 24 different
sound components, including the knock of the
hammer, the tine, the tone bar, the ‘fling’ of the
felt, etc. It was a real shame – but most recording
studios owned TX816s and no one ever did any
programming beyond stacking a sound eight
times (which really only made it louder). Then
they would compound their lunacy by detuning
each module up or down a tuning increment – this
‘bad’ programming accounted for most of the DX
Rhodes sounds you hear on records from the ‘80’s
– poorly utilized and was mainly responsible for
the misconception that you had to layer sounds
because FM was thin. Not necessarily so! What
was done in the original TX816 programs was the
additional TF1 modules were used for details
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“Stuff” is a word that was adopted by the early
programmers of FM to describe a noise or artifact that
accompanies the creation of a musical tone. It’s the
acoustic noise inside a Clavinet as the hammer releases,
it’s the quill falling back on a harpsichord, it’s the finger
noise on the acoustic guitar string, etc.
(knocks, and noises…i.e., the “stuff”). Oh well. So
many were sold that it was inevitable that it would
be misunderstood.
If you add a second or third DX board and
you turn the POLY EXPAND parameter to ON, the
boards will combine and follow the board Voice
selected by the lowest numbered slot. For
example you place a DX board in slots 1 and 2,
you will now have 32 notes of polyphony and you
will use the PLG1 Voice mode button to select
Voices. POLY EXPAND is just what it says – it
allows you to expand the polyphony. If you want
to layer sounds to get more complexity you would
leave each 16-note engine as a separate synth
and program them separately.
These sounds were derived from the
Yamaha LoopFactory DX200
and were
reprogrammed for use in the Motif ES.
The LOAD:
As is the way with the Yamaha synth engine plug-
in boards you have two files. One is the custom
PLG150-DX Board Voices that will load into the
board’s own user RAM bank (035/000), and the
second is the Motif ES level Plugin Voices that I
created to show off these sounds. Remember the
DX7 had no effects processor of its own (they
didn’t exist back in that day, circa 1983-88), so
the Motif ES level PLUG-IN VOICES use the
custom DX board data as the waveform but frame
them with the powerful functions and effect
processing of the Motif ES. Truly the best of both
worlds – I have provided both the “PluginAllBulk”
for the three possible slots (.w2b/.w3b) – load
through the type for your board’s slot; an
additional file that can be opened in the DX
Simulator for those interested in exploring
deeper into FM programming (.dxc). This contains
the same data but allows you to see the edit
parameters – provided strictly for those that want
to learn more about FM synthesis. Plus, of course,
the Motif ES level Voice data in a VOICE EDITOR
For MOTIF ES file (.w7e/.w8e) provided.
•
Copy the .w2b/w3b bulk files to a
SmartMedia card and if you are not
running the VOICE EDTIOR, copy the
.w7e/w8e files to the card as well;
Parameters you should know about:
Note Shift:
If you wish to note shift any of the PLUG-IN
Voices, you will find the NOTE SHIFT parameter
for a PLG150 sound by:
Press EDIT
Press Track 1 to select Element Edit
Press F1 OSC
Press SF5 OTHER
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