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RealBand
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Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 114
Apprentice
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OP
Apprentice
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 114 |
I have an old Yamaha SB-01 Tone Generator somebody gave me years ago and I've never used it. Does anyone know anything about them and if so do you think it's worth hooking up or is it so antiquated that it would have little to offer
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RealBand
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Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 603
Journeyman
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Journeyman
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 603 |
Do you mean an FB-01, perhaps?
If so, it's a high-grade 4-op FM synth. It does not produce very realistic instrument sounds, of course, but it was a nice machine to play.
Larry
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RealBand
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Joined: May 2000
Posts: 38,502
Veteran
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Veteran
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 38,502 |
FM synth?
These days, relegate that to the occasional "retro" sound.
For use with BIAB or any program that demands the recreation of instruments with MIDI, there are a lot of better sounding options out there today that take advantage of digital sampling vs FM synthesis.
We tried and true MIDIOTS have a word for the sound of an FM synth: "Cheezy"
Still you may find it fun to play with and get to learn the MIDI format, etc.
--Mac
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RealBand
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Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 114
Apprentice
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OP
Apprentice
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 114 |
Hmmmm...that's what I thought, back in the attic it goes. I'll save it for "Antiques Roadshow" 2025 
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RealBand
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Joined: May 2003
Posts: 8,021
Veteran
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Veteran
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 8,021 |
Cheezy? I'd say then there are hundreds of cheezy Country or Pop tunes of the '80s done with the yamaha DX7 or TX 816. Of course they only used that one infamous "electric piano" patch.
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RealBand
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Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 10,199
Veteran
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Veteran
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 10,199 |
Silvertones,
In the 80's, the DX7 or TX816 were hardly 'cheezy', because they were state of the art. Today, however, with advances in technology, I have to agree that for general use, they are unsuitable. However, where you are looking for a realistic 80's sound, they are hard to beat.
Xan, the FB-01, if that's what you have, is a great little module, but falls short of even the Roland VSC.
Gary
I'm blessed watching God do what He does best. I've had a few rough years, and I'm still not back to where I want to be, but I'm on the way and things are looking far better now than what they were!
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RealBand
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Joined: May 2000
Posts: 38,502
Veteran
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Veteran
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 38,502 |
Here's a keyboardist who can make a claim for mental damage from having to use the DX7 "back in the day".
Arguably one of the most popular keyboards ever, judging from the sheer proliferation of 'em, they could only do what they could do.
Sitting here recalling BIAB running in W3.1 driving the DX7 brings chills. Could only use it for practicing, there was no way to do music production with those sounds IMHO.
Today we can buy (or possibly even get free) VSTi plugins that emulate the DX7 in entirety, BTW. But FM synthesis, even when you have full control of every parameter, can only do so much. And building your own sound is a job for a rocket scientist. On top of that, no matter how well you worked the internals, the most you'd end up with was a close approximation of any target instrument sound.
And silvertones is right about that one lonely Epiano default patch on the thing. It got way too much use at the time. And IMHO it generated way too much treble stuff. Nice for a minute, got very old by the third song of the first set.
This does serve as a reminder of just how far the technology has come, though. Between the sampling and the modeling, keyboardists have incredible options these days. I remember when the choices consisted of the B3 organ, the Wurlitzer piano, the Rhodes piano and the Hohner clavinet. Doggone it, I also remember lugging all four of them to the same gig. Today I'd just roll the Kurzweil deck in there and hand the soundman two Line Outs.
--Mac
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RealBand
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Joined: May 2003
Posts: 8,021
Veteran
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Veteran
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 8,021 |
That's why the grin. It was/is cheezy. At $1800.00 for 1 patch !!! Not even multi timberal. I used mine as a controller for my JV 880.
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RealBand
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Joined: May 2000
Posts: 38,502
Veteran
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Veteran
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 38,502 |
IIRC I managed to get BIAB to play the bass, drums and guitar tracks at least out of my old DX7.
They just sounded like crap.
But to be fair, I got a lot of work done with the pair at the time, just being able to hear the drums, bass and chording when practicing, and even invoking the BIAB MIDI soloist to learn some new solo tricks was worth the price of admission. And then there's the dynamic processing of the gray matter between the ears which kind of ironed out the cheese because I simply got used to dealing with it.
The sound may have been less than desirable, but the joy of having a bass player and guitarist who were always in tune and a drummer who never rushed nor dropped a beat was enough. And they were always available at anytime.
--Mac
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