Yamaha CX5M is an MSX-system compatible computer that expands upon the normal features expected from these systems with a built-in eight-voice FM

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

module, introduced in 1984 by

Yamaha Corporation is a Japanese multinational corporation and conglomerate with a very wide range of products and services. It is one of the constituents of Nikkei 225 and is the world's largest musical instrument manufacturing company. The former motorcycle div ...

. This FM synth itself has stereo audio outputs, an input for a purpose-built four-octave keyboard, and a pair of

MIDI MIDI (; Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a technical standard that describes a communications protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, computers, and re ...

Input/Output ports that could be used for normal MIDI on the second revision of the CX5M, but only used for management of data from a

Yamaha DX7 The Yamaha DX7 is a synthesizer manufactured by the Yamaha Corporation from 1983 to 1989. It was the first successful digital synthesizer and is one of the best-selling synthesizers in history, selling more than 200,000 units. In the early 1980 ...

on the first model.

Specification

The CX5M was built for the MSX standard, which included slots for inserting programmed cartridges. These cartridges extended the machine's capability, accepting a range of games, office applications and so on. Yamaha produced a range of cartridges for the system including a programmer for Yamaha's DX range of FM keyboards and a real-time sequencer. Two of these, the ''Voice Editor'' and ''Music Composer'', allowed the user to program a bank of 48 sounds for the CX5M's own built-in synthesizer and to

sequence In mathematics, a sequence is an enumerated collection of objects in which repetitions are allowed and order matters. Like a set, it contains members (also called ''elements'', or ''terms''). The number of elements (possibly infinite) is calle ...

up to eight channels of music, controlling the built-in module or external instruments via MIDI, in step-time using a musical-stave input screen. Three versions of the CX5M were released. The first contained as its FM module the SFG-01, which could not receive external MIDI note information; it required a proprietary keyboard and only used its MIDI port was an output to send data to Yamaha's then-flagship

DX7 The Yamaha DX7 is a synthesizer manufactured by the Yamaha Corporation from 1983 to 1989. It was the first successful digital synthesizer and is one of the best-selling synthesizers in history, selling more than 200,000 units. In the early 19 ...

. The second version, the CX5M II (or CX7M/128 in Japan — for details, see CX7/128. ), upgraded the FM system to the SFG-05, which supported MIDI input and thus allowed the internal FM synth to be played by any external MIDI keyboard. There was also a later CX5M II with some smaller differences. Later in 1986, Yamaha released the Yamaha FB-01 MIDI module, which was effectively an SFG-05 in a standalone, portable case.FB-01 is an independent

Z80 The Z80 is an 8-bit microprocessor introduced by Zilog as the startup company's first product. The Z80 was conceived by Federico Faggin in late 1974 and developed by him and his 11 employees starting in early 1975. The first working samples were ...

microprocessor system that sends and receives data from YM2164.

References

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External links

* * * {{Yamaha CX5M MSX Computer music