Yamaha 4 OP Synths

300 New Sounds

Only $25

Mac/PC Sysex or Midi File

Yamaha released a whole series of 4 OP, FM synths throughout the 80's which were aimed at the musician who could not afford to purchase the 6 OP DX7. In case your note familiar with the term, "OP" stands for "Operator" - which is essentially the FM term for Oscillator. So the more OP's you have - the better. Yamaha cut the 2 OP's to make FM more affordable. A typical 4 OP synth would sell for under $500. - while the DX7 was still selling for about $1500. I bought a DX21 when it was released in 1985 just for that reason.

While programming the DX21, I quickly found out that for many types of sounds the extra two OP's were not really needed. You could still get a great FM synth bass on the 4 OP synths. The "Lately Bass" - which was a preset on the portable DX100 soon became a classic patch that everyone wanted. Synth Leads, Electric Pianos, Organs and Clavis still sounded great on the 4 OP's as they did on their big brother DX7. Many of these type of sounds are featured in our collection. Using a computer editor definitely helps since the tiny displays on the 4 OP synths did not make programming from the front panel a joy!

Following the DX21, Yamaha released several other 4 OP's including the 49 mini key DX100, The DX27 and DX27s - which was essentially the same as the DX21 - 5 octaves, 8 voices - except the DX27s had a built in chorus and speakers. The DX11 Keyboard and the popular TX81Z rackmount which were 8 part, 8 voice multitimbral. The DX11 and TX81Z featured the ability to use waveforms other than just a sine wave. The eight voices that can be split, layered and detuned. Also onboard are some effects including delay and reverb. These features can be stored as performance setups.

Patch King sounds are compatible with all Yamaha 4 OP synths including the Yamaha DX21, DX27, DX27s, DX100, DX11 and TX81Z. Note that the sounds were created on the DX21 which stores 32 patches at a time. If you have a DX27, DX27s or DX100 you can only load in the first 28 patches in each group since those synths are set up to only load 28 patches at once.

Our Yamaha 4 OP patches are available in system exclusive (.syx) or standard midi files (.mid) for Mac or PC computers. If your computer has a midi interface connected to the USB port, you can use your midi interface to load in the sounds. We provide the software along with your order that will load in the sounds for you. Midi interfaces are an inexpensive alternative to purchasing RAM or PCM cards.

Our sounds will also get you back in business if your Yamaha 4 OP battery has died and you lost all the sounds in the memory.