Yamaha TX-816 arrived

This mean looking Yamaha TX-816 just arrived! The TX-816 is a monstrous FM synth from the 80’s. It’s actually eight (!) Yamaha DX7s in a 4U rack.

The TX-816 is a monstrous 4U rack and requires a large box.

Mounted in the rack. Each number represent the current preset (1-32). The Midi connectors on the left are “global” and each TF1 module can be patched to this. Each TF1 has individual Midi ins at the rear. The audio connectors are balanced XLRs!

Each “DX7” is called a TF1 module, the TX-816 has eight TF1s. Two cheaper versions were also sold, the TX-216 and TX-416 with two respectively four TF1s. Those were of course upgradable to TX-816 by adding additional TF1 modules. When new in 1984 a TX-816 cost more than $5000. I payed less than $400 which is a bargain.

View video on YouTube (opens external site in new window)

This particular unit was used on the big hit “Highland” from the early nineties. I don’t know if that’s good or bad. It was a bargain anyway, got it for a good price since the second module shows error number 4, which actually is no worse than low battery. In other words, the internal battery must be unsoldered and replaced.

80's synth and sampler blog