Modern Music in general would be better if it learned more from the Japanese
>>128950789And it's sad how they're gradually become more and more irrelevant. What the fuck happened? They were a powerhouse for music instruments.
>>128950802china happened. why would anyone pay top-dollar for a japanese instrument, when they can buy a chinese clone for a fraction of the price that functions near-identically
>>128950839didn't china come before japan though
>>128950839I don't see Chinese keyboards used on stage
>>128950877China had writing and agriculture before Japan
>>128950952attend smaller shows. you'll see plenty
john chowning would like a word with you
>>128951097a patent full of math is not a synthesizer though.
>>128950987Are there any that are actualyl worthwhile? Or do those bands just buy a new one after every gig?
>>128950778DX7 is still so patrician even now. The only reason it seems dated is because almost everybody who touches it just plays with dated presets due to the fact that understanding and programming is admittedly nightmarish, but if you actually get into it and experiment with it, you can very easily create some very fresh and innovative patches in 2025. Potentially the best synthesizer ever released.
>>128950778that's not how time works
>>128951389Yeah most just used the cartridges
>>12895077880s is weeb shit then
>>128951719wow such smarts
>>128950778>The 80s wouldn't have happened without Japanese synthesizers.so two nukes weren't enough?
>digital ew
>>128952328Pleb
>>128950778Even without Japan you would have still had Oberheim OB(Xa and 8) which is maybe the more "80's" synth of choice as literally everyone notable used it from Van Halen to Prince. As well as the Prophet 5 and 10's which were used by tons of artist. Not to mention the LinnDrum that everything was paired with was an entirely American creation. The 80's was going to happen regardless.
i really want that behringer jupiter 8 clone to come out already
>>128950778Early 80s analog SOVL>>>>>Late 80s digislop. Samplers should have stayed absurdly expensive and low fi.
>>128952895>The 80's was going to happen regardless.Kinda but they'd have been a lot more traditional or even just 70s inspired. The computer revolution of the 80s and especially synthesizers kicked off an absurd amount of creativity through all the brand new possibilities. Tons of firsts, sounds that weren't possible before.
>>128950778whats ur fav YMO song?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrBAVAaREd8East Wind for me (yes, thats the Chinese named: Tong Poo song, funny name for Westerners isn't it)
>>128950778Wrong. As much as I like Japanese synths, many early 80s bands were already using western analog synths like the PROPHET V, The Minimoog, the EDP WASP, Oberheim OB etc, or some straight up went DIY and soldered their own synths using Magazine instructions, like the dude from Joy Division did because he couldn't afford to buy one.
>>128950778And Japanese synths wouldn't have happened without some Brits (and Italians) fucking around with Moogs and ARPs back in the dayhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiW302FICE0https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWI2L1g76Jghttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpOybQsDzoM
80s music is complete dogshit. the only good genre at the time was early prog metal like Maiden and Queensryche.
>>128954519Brits even beat Japs at their own game, city pophttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlATvizWvhA
>>128954540>Brits even beat Japs at their own game, city popshit baithttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDNV8zRgrikhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pPb5fmumNo
>>128954540not in a million yearshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wC4R57IO7TM
Korg M1 better
>>128954519t. chinless contrarianThe 1980s is still the most innovative music decade by far, because it was the first time the common man could make electronic music instead of it being a luxury only the already rich bands like Wings could afford.
>>128956395youre thinking of the late 80s to early 90s, theres nothing more 80s than ~87-91
>>128954540lol that's not City Pop, not even close. That's just Synth-Rock.Brits didn't made City Pop, they had their own equivalent: [ S o p h i s t i p o p ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Har7zOu2kikhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPqNs9oBvWAIt's so equivalent even Japs used Brit sophistipop songs for their commercials:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DGmExJaMZMhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipr7TVTp-NE
>>128955334>1980s city pop>1980sBruh....these songs are literally AI slop generated this very year.
>>128956779based
OP has never heard of YMO and it shows.
>>128956352Korg is Japanese, you goofy goof.
>>128954359you are a fucking moron and should revise your history.the dx7 changed EVERYTHING in the synth market. it was such a massive hit that roland had to enter panic mode and scramble to get out the D50 which only arrived like 4 years after the DX7. It was a turning point in the industry, unlike the fucking EDPAHSHAHAHHA
>>128958973You were born after 9/11, so zip it Zoomer scumbag.
>>128958973>the dx7 changed EVERYTHINGdid it fuck
>>128958949Yes I only saw the dx7 in the thumb and kneejerked
>tfw 90s had now significant synths
>>128950802They never adapted to software. If you look at the history of things, Japan was a powerhouse when it came to synths and ROMplers, but can you name a dominant Japanese VST developer? Literally the closest I can think of is vocaloid. Japan has no Serum. No Omnisphere. No Native Instruments. No Eastwest. No Spitfire.
>>128956352no
love me some synth sounds https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzq3-QQ_aqA&t=71s
>>128950778the DX7 RUINED SO MANY BANDS
>>128969015trvke nvkemThat shitty electric piano sound is pure concentrated corn
>>128969015??????
>>128950778based>>128950802japan still makin' the goods. picrel
>>128970415>3mm red LEDs in use and not smd for everythingsovl
Apologize.
>>128970998>from the mighty M1 to............ thisHow the mighty have fallen....
>>128973051Lol, try again retard
>>128954519>the only good genre at the time was early prog metal like Maiden and Queensryche.AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
>>128970289Earth, Wind & Fire as just one examples.the transition to the 80's coincided with the indtro of the DX7 and consequently a lot of music not just sounds horribly dated now, but also sucked crusty donkey balls at the time, too.Kate Bush complained about the Orch 5 or 7 sound specifically, appearing on so many albums in such a short timetons of bands overused themRush and Van Halen, interestingly, used them very sparingly and to great effect.most bands did noteven Yes, who unlike almost all band were no strangers to synths, went a little overboard
>>128973531You are actually heavily retarded if you don't think it will all circle back. In the 80s the sound of Moogs and ARP Odissey from the 70s was considered outdated and out of fashion.Just wait enough time, the horribly plasticky sound of 80s FM synths will become a trend again.
>>128950839China doesn't make any clones. Ulli built a new factory and his new clones are mostly made in Germany now.If you're talking about those Donner brand instruments, I've never heard of anybody using one IRL. They seem to be oriented toward low-cost gifts which will be forgotten.>>128950987No you won't.>>128951389I have had a TX-81z for years, recently got an FS1R and I like that even more. FM is just incredible.>>128973051Volcas are great. One of the reason they made them was persistent calls from musicians for something they could gig with that was inexpensive enough to give away after the show.>>128974740There's nothing wrong with FM, it's incredibly versatile. PEBKAC. Old FM synths are a little crippled by the lack of a resonant filter but this can be solved with an outboard unit.
>>128973123Opsix is unironically one of the greatest electronic instruments produced in the past 20 years.Also, it can do play all dx7 patches op :) >>128950778
>>128977026Agree, opsix is great. If only it was multitimbral...
>>128977140yeah, that would make it the perfect synth
>>128951389There are FM synths out there with better controls, more operators, more waves than just sines etc
>>128978577With a 4-op like the TX81z which offers different waveforms you can do almost as much as you can with a 6-op with just sine waves. 8-op is nice, incredible really. But 4-op is all you strictly need to just crank out some cool sounds.
I just recently discovered my EX5R can do 2-op FM with any two AWM2 voices + FDSP if you just toggle a thing in the FDSP setup page. It isn't mentioned anywhere in the manual. That synth's manual is misleading and terrible, in many ways. It feels half finished.
>>128978577>more operators8 is already verging on the edge of practicality. 6 is fine.
>>1289802748 is great. https://csclub.uwaterloo.ca/~pbarfuss/FM_Synthesis_of_Real_Instruments.pdfIf you use this guy's method you can analyze any waveform of an instrument and recreate it with FM synthesis, his method works with varied implementations and is very slick. It's autistic.
>>128980471This is nice and cool but it's also a prime example of verging on the edge of practicality.
>>128980274>>128980471>6 is fine.6 ops... oh you mean like...>>128973123Absolute unit
>>128980274stacking all 8 on top of each other is insane but there are plenty of practical uses for more operators. regardless it's not like more operators has any downside (aside from options paralysis I guess but I mean we're talking about fm). even disregarding all of that my fs1r has 4 knobs and that alone makes it better than a dx7
>>128970998>a fucking toy
>>128983346>literally an entire DX7 but with added sequencer, parameter automation, reverb, chorus, battery power and a body the size of a matchbox>for under $200Apologize.
>>128982267There's not much sense to use 8 operators just to stack them. At that point just make 6 operator algos and make it multitimbral. 8 operators require unironically machine learning for intuitive controls (there are plenty of max msp projects regarding this)
>>128950778The 80s wouldn't have happened without the Americans who knew what to do with em because they obviously didn't. We all made the 80s happen.
>>128983346Don't worry, korg has it covered for literally retarded buyers like you. They made the full-keys version
>>128985796>The 80s wouldn't have happened without the Americans who knew what to do with em because they obviously didn't.
>>128981346How is it impractical? You don't need any fancy equipment or anything.>>128986160The '80s wouldn't have happened without Dave Smith and Roger Linn and John Chowning.
Fairlight 50th AnniversaryDecember 2025 marked the 50th Anniversary of the founding of Fairlight in 1975 by Kim Ryrie and Peter Vogel. The founders - and many of the staff who worked for Fairlight, including Michael Hornsby (software engineer #1) and Andrew Cannon (software engineer #2) - gathered in Sydney to celebrate.The Fairlight CMI Series I instrument they created in the late 1970s went on to influence the design of so much of today's recording and music technology. Initially set up to develop a digital synthesizer, Fairlight's early experiments resulted in the development of the eight-voice QASAR M8 CMI, which ultimately ended up being too bulky and expensive to be deemed marketable.The Fairlight CMI established the idea of a workstation instrument that was much more than a synthesizer. It brought together a sampler, waveform manipulation, an eight-track rhythm sequencer (composer) and a means of 'fast' storage (at least by 1980s standards) thanks to its use of floppy disks rather than tape. All of these ideas were copied by several competitors as the 1980s progressed and computer memory became cheaper. The Synclavier was the first direct competitor before E-mu, Ensoniq and Akai all entered the marketplace.https://www.soundonsound.com/news/fairlight-50th-anniversary
>>128950778>The 80s wouldn't have happened without Japanese synthesiz- ACK ACK ACK AAAAACK!!!!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfwJ7SCz4m8https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlmPKN465H8https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3T1bmvRBcqg
>>128987473>How is it impractical? Moar operators = moar fiddling and unpredictability.
japanese synths had an astounding feature to price ratio so yes, they did define the 80s. most contrarians itt posted either at the time fuck expensive synths or mono one trick ponies. in terms of creative freedom and inspiration at affordable prices the jap synths were just market dominating
>>128951389Yea, it's great. FM synths in general. >>128950778Japanese synths wouldn't exist without American analogue synthesizers. Both are equally as important.
>>128988258For the record, I think Japanese synths are the tits, fuckin love em.But there's a huuuuuuuuuuge difference between "Jap synths are great" and "the 80s wouldn't have happened without them". Pue the youtube video essays crack pipe down, you zoomer freak, you weren't even alive before 2000 and there's a 100% chance you don't even own a synth from the era because you're, like you guys says, "a broke-ass nigga fr no cap skibidi rizzz".
What's the point of a digital hardware synths? FM8 mogs them.
>>128988071Maybe if you're new to FM, I've gone from 4 to 6 to 8 operators and loved it each time.>>128988258They only got good when MIDI came around, once it did they were ahead of the game. Several large US firms lagged in supporting MIDI, shit Studio Electronics made it a going business for like 15 years to simply package a Minimoog FROM MOOG in a box with MIDI control. By the time Moog knew what the hell was going on virtual analog already came onto the scene and you could buy a BassStation Rack for $250 if you wanted a real analog synth.Other US synth makers died for shady reasons, there's no reason EMU/Ensoniq had to get parted out to Creative Labs.
>>128956352this
>>128954519Even Maiden used synths, retard.
