From Giles Ward Sent Fri, Sep 28th 2018, 21:43
> It's not necessarily any secret sauce but the DX7 was more flexible than > the TX81Z/v50. The DX7 has 6 operators vs the 81Z having only 4 > operators, although to be fair there were other waveforms besides sine > waves on the 4-op synths. Also, the DX7 has more algorithms as well > although I don't recall the relative numbers of them for each. Six > operators means you can have an algorithm with three stacks of two on a > DX7, for example, and so have three sound construction kits in a sense. > That's a distinct advantage over the 4-op synths which would only give > you the possibility of two 2-operator stacks. Or as another example if > you're "faking" additive synthesis you'd have six partials in the > "straight line" algorithm on a DX7 vs four on an 81Z. Another advantage > of the DX7 is that it had more buttons than the 4-op models. Not > necessarily easier to program but at least there were more parameters > accessible without menus. Yes. To me, 6 ops vs 4 ops is like 3 osc vs 2 osc. It's another layer of detuning that thickens things up and adds movement. 16 note poly vs 8 on most of the 4 ops too.