@audio/synth-dx7

Yamaha DX7 FM engine: a bit-exact JavaScript port of the Music Synthesizer for Android core; 6 operators, 32 algorithms, DX7 envelopes, LFO, pitch EG; cartridge and voice sysex

npm install @audio/synth-dx7

import dx7, { parse } from '@audio/synth-dx7'

The FM engine of Music Synthesizer for Android (MSFA, Raph Levien, Apache-2.0), the fixed-point DX7 model Dexed later forked, translated function for function: six operators through the 32 algorithms with self-feedback, the DX7 envelope with its rate and level tables, keyboard level and rate scaling, velocity sensitivity, fixed-frequency operators and detune, the LFO's six waveforms with delay, sync and pitch-mod sensitivity, and the pitch EG. Voices load from original DX7 sysex.

import { readFileSync } from 'node:fs'
let voices = parse(readFileSync('cartridge.syx'))                  // [{ name, patch }] × 32
dx7(220, { patch: voices[10].patch, velocity: 0.8, duration: 1 })  // → Float32Array
dx7(440)                                                           // INIT VOICE: one sine

| Param | Default | | |---|---|---| | freq | 440 | Hz of the key played (positional); within a cent of a key it plays that key exactly; the voice's transpose shifts it, as on the DX7 | | patch | INIT VOICE | 155-byte VCED voice, parse(sysex)[i].patch | | velocity | 1 | 0..1, MIDI velocity / 127 | | duration | 1 | Key held, seconds; key-up lands on MSFA's 64-sample block grid | | release | until silent | Seconds after key-up; by default rendering stops once every carrier EG has finished and a block peaks below −102 dB, at most 10 s | | fs | 44100 | Sample rate, above 16384 Hz (MSFA's frequency table overflows below) | | msfa | false | true: upstream MSFA's EG timing, see Timing |

Output keeps MSFA's scale, 1.0 = its int16 full scale: one carrier at output level 99 peaks at 0.125; voices with several loud carriers exceed 1.

Exactness. The family test.js compiles the unmodified upstream core (test/msfa-render.cc against a checkout in ~/.cache/audiojs/data/msfa, built for x86-64) and renders the same voice, note, velocity and length in both: all 32 algorithms with feedback 0–7; random voices over the whole parameter space at 44.1, 48 and 49.096 kHz; the six LFO waveforms with sync and delay over fixed-frequency operators with detune; every voice of the ROM1A cartridge MSFA bundles (whose voice 31 is CHIME-STRG, where Yamaha's factory ROM1A has TRAIN). The int32 outputs match bit for bit. MSFA's 64-bit products stay exact in double precision (all below 2^53; the LFO's pitch product, up to 2^63, is split in two), and the libm-derived tables are pinned, so every JS engine renders the same samples. On AArch64 upstream swaps its operator kernel for a NEON float approximation; this port follows the fixed-point path that x86-64 builds run.

Timing. MSFA advances the amplitude EG once per 64-sample block by DX7 steps, so its envelopes keep DX7 time only at the DX7's own 49096 Hz (MSFA wiki, Dx7Hardware) and run 10% slow at 44.1 kHz. This port scales the step by 49096/fs, which reproduces the decay rate MSFA documents, 0.2819·2^(q/4)·(1 + (q mod 4)/4) dB/s at rate step q (MSFA wiki, Dx7Envelope), at any sample rate. The pitch EG and LFO already run in seconds. { msfa: true } keeps upstream's EG; at 49096 Hz the two agree bit for bit.

Beyond upstream: the voice's transpose is applied (MSFA ignores it); LFO phase, sample-and-hold state and feedback history start at 0 (upstream leaves them uninitialized). Not modeled, as in upstream: amplitude modulation (AMS, LFO AMD); oscillator key sync off (every note restarts its operators at phase 0); mod wheel, breath, foot and aftertouch routing; pitch bend (held at center); portamento; mono mode; the DX7's DAC and output filter.

Raw engine. render(patch, { note, velocity (0..127), fs, duration, release, msfa }) returns whole 64-sample blocks of int32, 2^28 = full scale. new Voice(patch, opts) streams them: block(out) adds 64 samples into an Int32Array(64), keyup() releases, done reports the release finished. Measured CPU real-time factor 6–7·10⁻⁴ per voice in Node on one core (Apple M4 Max): about 1500 voices in real time, or 25 hours of rendered notes per CPU-minute.

Sysex. parse(bytes) reads 32-voice cartridges (VMEM: F0 43 0n 09 20 00, 4104 bytes), single voices (VCED: F0 43 0n 00 01 1B, 163 bytes), any sequence of these, or headerless 4096-, 155- or 128-byte data, and returns [{ name, patch }]. Values beyond the documented ranges are clamped; checksums are not enforced, since many circulating cartridges carry wrong ones. A cartridge's byte count written as a plain 16-bit number (10 00) reads as 4096 like the manual's 7-bit 20 00, and other messages in a file (a DX7II performance, another maker's data) are skipped. unpack(bulk) converts one packed 128-byte voice, name(patch) reads its name, INIT is the DX7's initialized voice, MAX holds each parameter's maximum (minimum 0): the bounds for sound matching over a voice. Bytes 145–154 are the name and make no sound, so a search leaves them out:

import match from '@audio/neural-synth'
let voice = p => { let patch = new Uint8Array(155); patch.set(p.map(Math.round)); return patch }
let r = match(p => dx7(220, { patch: voice(p) }), target,
  { bounds: [...MAX.subarray(0, 145)].map(m => [0, m]), seeds: [[...voices[10].patch.subarray(0, 145)]] })   // refine a recognized preset

Factory voices are not included: Yamaha's ROM cartridges circulate widely, but their redistribution terms are unclear. Load your own .syx.

Use when: rendering DX7 voices from sysex identically to MSFA: preset libraries, training data for FM sound matching, a recognized preset as the seed of @audio/neural-synth's match. Not for: a free-form FM operator stack (use synth-fm), or voices that depend on amplitude modulation or controller routing.

References

• R. Levien, Music Synthesizer for Android, app/src/main/jni at f67d41d (Apache-2.0); wiki pages Dx7Envelope and Dx7Hardware.
• Yamaha, DX7 Digital Programmable Algorithm Synthesizer Operating Manual: voice parameters, VCED and VMEM data formats, voice initialize.
• J. Chowning, "The Synthesis of Complex Audio Spectra by Means of Frequency Modulation," JAES 21(7), 1973.

Part of @audio/synth, the synth family umbrella.

Apache-2.0 © 2012–2013 Google Inc. (MSFA engine), audiojs (port). See NOTICE.