I'm a complete novice to synthesizers. I find the manual and online info like another language.

I play guitar in a band and need to add some synth parts at times. I've been given a Yamaha DX11 but the onboard sounds are awful - very 80s synthpop and they all wobble !! I need a big Van Halen "Jump" sound, a huge harpsichord and some nice phased pads.

Can anyone tell in simple English how to download some new tones for the Yamaha DX11 please.

I've followed advice and bought a midi interface and downloaded pfarm, I've been on www.synthzone.com and also the Yamaha forums and am struggling to work exactly what I'm looking for and how to get it into my synth.

Please advise, what does a new synth sound look like on the screen, how can I listen to it to see if its what I'm looking for and how do I download it. I'm also not sure if I need to pay for the sounds - one website seemed to list a whole list of licences that made no sense to me.

OK the wobbly sound you are getting is simply because that second wheel from the left ( see the 2 wheels in the top left of the DX11 ) is pushed forward. Turn it back toward you as much as you can and that modulation will disapear. It is the mod wheel and is usually introduced while you are playing and then turned off to bring some life into your performance. But leaving it on just sounds bad. The other wheel is pitch bend so you can temporarily bend notes like a guitarist can.

You gotta understand a DX-11 does come from the 80s so of course it will have that 80s sound. No getting around that. But I like FM sounds although FM is not an easy thing to program. Even if you find a DX-11 editor the sounds will just probably be a bunch of numbers onscreen and won't mean anything to you. So just looking at sounds won't achieve anything. The only way will be to load them into your DX-11 and listen to them.

The DX series was very good at plucked types of sounds so you shoulf be able to find an acceptable harpsichord sound close to what you are looking for. The "Jump" sound will be much harder to do as that was an analog synth which sounds very different from an FM synth. You can probably come up with a brass type sound ( that is what the Jump patch was "synth-brass" ) that will work but it will never be exactly the same.

The DX synths had no effects in the 80s so putting it through a little reverb or/and chorus will make the DX-11 come to life.


[This message has been edited by Nigel (edited 07-29-2006).]

Okay, I'm gonna tell you how to do a cheat "jump" sound- you'll need a chorus pedal to thicken it up, but here goes...
Initialize a voice you hate. It's under utility, I believe. then go back to play/perform.
Set the algorithm to 8
Set Operator 4 feedback to 6
set all operator output levels to zero EXCEPT operator 4. Turn its output all the way up.

Now save the patch. You have a sawtooth wave.
It won't sound like an Oberhiem OB-Xa, but its a good start.

[This message has been edited by Justin Gazda (edited 08-09-2006).]