Dtronics DT-DX synthesiser

General

In the distant past, Yamaha kicked the whole synth world upside down when the DX7 appeared on the scene. Suddenly, the epic analogue synths of that era were ripe for the museum. The DX7 was a phenomenon. The larger DX1 was even a rare dual DX7 in a huge enclosure. The DX5 also had two DX7s in it, in an enclosure that was a bit more traditional. But there was technically something even bigger than that: the TX816 module. This was a 19-inch rack module in which you could fit up to eight small modules, each module being a complete DX7 (one part, sixteen polyphonic). No editing with the device itself, just a stack of DX7s you could program via MIDI. Super expensive, of course, and yet always eagerly viewed in the magazines by many a keyboardist with some twinkle in their eye. These old times are revived with the Dtronics DT-DX synthesiser.

Features of the Dtronics DT-DX

This is a compact desktop module, with a Raspberry Pi 2 on the inside that can accommodate eight DX7 implementations. Add to that a reverb and compressor, and that makes the DT-DX even more versatile than that once-coveted TX816 - and for a pittance of what you had to cough up for it in the 1980s. The synthesis - you can tweak it! - is best done with editor software. However, the real die-hards can also use the push-button to control the whole unit, all FM parameters of all parts. And the term 'die-hard' probably doesn't even cover it here; don't see it as a problem, but as a challenging one!

• Note that the maximum polyphony can fluctuate. In theory, this would be 8x 16 = 128, but with the current CPU this is very unlikely to be achievable without glitches. Dtronics states that with a maximum polyphony of 16 voices per part, you should be able to handle up to four parts. With a less lush polyphony, you can of course handle more simultaneous parts.