Dtronics DT-81Z Programmer Gives You Hands-On Control Over the TX81Z, Yamaha’s Best FM Synth
It's capable of more than just Lately Bass, you know.
2,5 / 5,0 | 
Yamaha black box fans rejoice! Dtronics DT-81Z is here to revive your neglected Yamaha TX81Z with MIDI programming control.
Dtronics DT-81Z Programmer
I absolutely love it when new manufacturers turn their attention to vintage gear, whether that be mods, new firmware, or programmers. It’s the latter that we’re here to look at today with the announcement of the DT-81Z, a new programmer for the Yamaha TX81Z from Dtronics, who you may remember as making a hardware box for Dexed.
The Dtronics DT-81Z joins the company’s line of already existing programmers for such choice vintage synths as the Roland D-50, Roland JX-3P and Yamaha DX7. For its latest, it’s given the multitimbral 1987 Yamaha TX81Z the programmer treatment, adding hands-on control to what I think is Yamaha’s best FM synth. Yes, I know what I said.
Dtronics DT-81Z: Knob-Per-Function?
We don’t have much information yet on the Dtronics DT-81Z as we’ve only had a single image posted to the Dutch company’s Instagram with the message, “See you at Superbooth!” More will surely be revealed later this week but until then, let’s take a look at the front panel, which appears to be knob-per-function.
The original TX81Z was a rackmount synth with a scant few buttons and a tiny screen. Not fun to program on. The programmer addresses this by including control over all four operators (although one at a time), including pots for the envelope. There are dedicated LFO knobs with a prominent sync button as well.
You may know that the TX81Z has chorus, but reverb and delay? While the chorus is an actual, proper effect, reverb and delay are managed with MIDI tricks. Nevertheless, the Dtronics DT-81Z gives you control over all of their parameters and pan as well.
There’s a selection of global controls as well.
While there’s no photo showing the rear of the machine, we can assume it has MIDI to pair with the TX81Z.
Dtronics DT-81Z: Beyond the TX81Z
The TX81Z was the first of Yamaha’s new wave of FM synths that incorporated more than just sine waves. (Indeed, the Dtronics DT-81Z has a dedicated Wave button in the Operators section to dial this in.) Yamaha soon expanded on this new range of FM synths with (among others) the DX11 and V50, the latter of which added workstation functionality and proper reverb. Whether the Dtronics DT-81Z works with these is currently unknown. However, on the company’s Instagram page, it did indicate that you could use the programmer with Yamaha’s other 4-op FM synths like the DX21, DX27 and DX100. Nice.
Dtronics DT-81Z: Price and Availability
Dtronics DT-81Z looks like a nice addition to the company’s programmer family.
There’s no price or availability information yet, but stay tuned for an announcement from Superbooth.
Dtronics programmers are available at Thomann*.
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2 responses to “Dtronics DT-81Z Programmer Gives You Hands-On Control Over the TX81Z, Yamaha’s Best FM Synth”
Excited for this!
Love this. I think it’s a great company.
But why the tiny knobs? We really need bigger pots on all our machines.