FB-01 Vs MT-32 | History and Combat

video upload by Espen Kraft

"Yamaha FB-01 from 1986 and Roland MT-32 from 1987. Two modules that over time has gained a cult classic status. For different reasons. Before any of them became that, they were 2 multi timbral sound modules that fought for the money of the happy amateur musician in the mid-to late 80s.

00:00 Intro
00:34 Rumours about the MT-32
01:00 The D-50 is released
01:26 The MT-32
02:24 The FB-01
04:40 Sound comparison
10:42 Gaming
11:45 Outro/Conclusion

The MT-32 had 32 voices of polyphony and had a simplified D-50 sound, effects and drums. The Polyphony came with one "downside", if the voices were made up of the maximum of 4 partials, the total polyphony was only 8 voices. The voices/partials were dynamically allocated so you didn't have to keep track of the numbers though.
The FB-01 has a total polyphony of 8 voices, but you can distribute those as you wish in a quite flexible way. 8 mono voices over 8 different midi channels was very new in 1986.
None of the modules made it possible to edit sounds on the front panel, so you needed a sysex editor for that."