Lots of digital goodness at an affordable price.

I'll have to admit I don't use this synthesizer often. I have a lot of analogue hardware and digital music software. This synthesizer is fully digital. Most things it can do, you can do better or more easily on a computer. Having said that, there's nothing inherently wrong with the instrument and I must respect it. It sounds particularly good for the price. Good for live performances, or in the studio for a backlog of sounds.

I bought this instrument for live usages, so next to my hardware analogue synths I can get it digital synth sounds and samples, without having a computer on stage. It's a stripped down version of the Montage line, which are Yamaha's flagship synthesizers. It has the exact same sound but in a cheaper casing. Plastic instead of aluminium, less buttons and sliders, and a lower quality key bed. The MODX6 cost's 4x less than the Montage8, but has the same sound (only halve the polyphony with the FM engine though). It looks and feels like a toy keyboard only one 3rd the the price, but sounds like a synthesizer 3 times the price. If you buy it just for the sound, it's a bargain.

It can do authentic FM synthesis like the old-skool DX7. You can load in all patches from the DX7. But it has an FM-X engine that has 8 part FM synthesis instead of just the 6 part of the DX7, and it has more wave forms that the sine of the DX7 and a polyphony of 64 instead of 16.

On top of the FM-X engine, the MODX6 also has a wavetable engine that lets you do all of the classic sounds from the Motif series and many more. It's obviously not as realistic as high quality Kontakt libraries, but you get a lot of sounds for relatively little money and they're actually reasonably good. It's a good thing to have an extensive library of sounds at hand for if you need them. For example I once needed a solo jazz flute, but all I had were these classical orchestral Kontakt library flutes from OrchestralTools - Berlin Woodwinds Solo. I used the legato and runs from the Berlin Woodwinds, but the thrills and overblown jazzy sounds from a MODX6 presets. I Frankensteined the two together, and in the mix it sounded like a quite acceptable jazz flute solo. Most of these wavetable sounds are very upfront and overproduced. Sometimes I use the MODX6 for snare samples that cut a little clearer through the mix than most high quality drum samples. It can be nice to pit the overproduced Yamaha samples against your more realistic Kontakt libraries. Let them grow towards each other. You can dirty up the Yamaha samples to liven them up, and mix the Kontakt samples in such a way they can stand their ground against the very in-your-face Yamaha samples. This way you get a really energetic mix. You'd need some less aggressive sounds to fill the back ground though. The MODX samples work best for instruments that aren't supposed to be too realistic, but have that classic digital synthesizer sound. Those sound actually pretty nice and interesting. Not too clean. You can use the super knob to change the character as you play, to create evolving sounds. It can do cool granular sounding pads. For granular synthesis I prefer to use software though, because it makes it easier to see what I'm doing and it feels like it gives me more control.

If you're thinking about getting a vintage DX7 or Motif, you're better of getting a MODX6 that's the same price as each of them, but does what both of them do, only better. It can even combine FM synthesis with wavetable.

On top of that, you've got some great build in effects to make your sounds complete. You can use these effects on an external signal.

The MODX6 is very lightweight so it's easy to take along to gigs.

The AD converter isn't as good as that of the Montage. In the studio it doesn't matter, since you can use the USB for digital audio out with no compromise. For live gigs it may be a problem.

From Gear Setup

Too powerful for its own good !!!

In 1993 I bought the Yamaha SY99 and have had a SY77 and TG77 since. The Montage/ModX is a return to complex FM paired with AWM2 samples. A great pairing. BTW in the intervening 20 years they went nuts with arpeggiators/arrangers and included 10,000 arpeggios/rhythm tracks.

very creative to use

very creative and useful yamaha dx like and more machine...like it...fantastic possibilities...