sahayman@watcgl.UUCP (Steve Hayman) (02/14/85)
Back before I knew anything about anything, I became enamoured of a synthesizer that Radio Shack was selling (I think it's technically the "Concertmate MG-1"). Well, I bought one of those stupid things; so of course the next week Radio Shack discontinued it and dropped the price by 50%. I haven't had the heart to get rid of it though. Anyways that little episode convinced me to learn more about the synth business and I eventually would up getting a Yamaha DX-9. This is the little brother to the DX-7 (Yamaha seems to number everything backwards). It works along much the same lines but has only 4 operators instead of 6, a non-touch sensitive keyboard, no cartridge storage capability (you use a cassette tape) etc. In spite of this it is a lot of fun to play around with. The presets that come with it are more than acceptable - for instance, some nice string sounds, a good Rhodes and some great bells. You get a tape with 120 interesting voices. I have barely scratched the surface of programming it, having been more than content to play with the existing voices, but it is a very flexible and programmable instrument. I've been quite pleased with it, although I must admit that if I had had some more money I would have gone for the DX-7. However the DX-9 is a fine synthesizer in its own right and I think it would be a fine choice for beginner-to-intermediate level synth players. I payed $1400 Canadian for it. I couldn't believe what a difference in sound it made after I bought a chorus box. If you haven't got one, get one. It should be the first accessory you buy (i.e. get one before you buy the breath controller, which is probably not as wonderful as the salesman says). One of these inexpensive devices will make any sound much warmer and richer, and you'll wonder how you ever lived without one. Some other thoughts: Today I just got my first copy of a user's group newsletter put out by Yamaha Canada full of interesting tips on the complete (and expanding daily) line of Yamaha products. A lot of what they talk about relates to the DX-7, but many of the published patches are usable on the DX-9 also. Oh yeah, read KEYBOARD magazine. I read KEYBOARD for a year before I had the nerve to buy the DX-9 and was quite encouraged by their positive review, and also knew a lot of the jargon so I wouldn't get hosed by the salesman any more than necessary. The DX-9 has MIDI, and recently I picked up Passport Designs' Apple ][ interface card along with their "Polywriter" and "Midi/4" software. Midi/4 simulates a 4-track recorder reasonably well and is a lot of fun for jamming around with. Polywriter, on the other hand, is a great idea but is poorly implemented. It's supposed to be software for music transcribing and printing, but I have found it inconvenient to use and at best only marginally faster than transcribing the music by hand. Polywriter allegedly has the smarts to allow you to prepare full orchestral scores, but in my experience there are too many holes in the program for this to be useful. For instance, you can't even delete a bar! All you can do is replace it with rests. Sort of like a word processor that allowed you to do editing so long as you always had exactly 527 words in your document. In addition the program doesn't seem very robust; I spent all evening preparing an arrangement for a pit band I was leading and then managed to lose all the work because the program somehow created two files on disk with the same name. One other drawback is that the interface card comes with zero documentation that would allow you to program it yourself. Perhaps they're shipping such documentation now ... In conclusion, if anyone is still reading, I'd recommend the DX-9, recommend Midi/4 but suggest you wait for version 2 of Polywriter. I'd like to hear from anyone out there using any of these products. Steve Hayman U. of Waterloo watmath!watcgl!sahayman