Help:Creating Articles

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Creating articles on this wiki, as well as editing any pages requires one to have an approved account once registered. If you need help with this, simply get in touch with hikari_no_yume on the DTM Central discord.

Once you have been approved, you can create and edit pages as needed.

This page will be expanded on in due time to add more topics or sub-pages as needed.

Preface

This page's sole aim is to answer a couple of questions you might have if you're thinking of creating an article. It's not hard rules you must absolutely follow, but a set of guides that should hopefully inspire one to research their topics and start off with a good article. We encourage you get in touch with us, whether that's via the Discord or via a talk page or something if you're not sure about something... or you could just create the page as is and force one of us to fix it up (though, please don't, it would add to a backlog where all of us contribute during our free time, ultimately making editing the wiki together less fun)

This wiki's scope

We're trying to make a dedicated place that contains valuable information about mid-late 80s to early 00s devices, and sometimes beyond as well if applicable. The devices in question are almost always MIDI Romplers ("ROM" Samplers, basically), where they use built-in waveform data and combine it, with volume, pitch and filtering, to create new sounds. Some of these units have been very popular in contemporary media, such as films, video games and more. Some of these devices would get cut down releases in small form factors aimed for music creation/listening at home via MIDI (Roland's Sound Canvas series, Yamaha's MU series etc), where a handful of musicians were able to keep using and create amazing compositions. There is a niche but vibrant community of people still doing as such.

What's outside this wiki's scope?

  • Old or new analogue synthesisers - we also love Moog synths, Prophets and Oberheims, but they're outside the scope of this wiki. New analogue synthesisers would also fall outside of our coverage for similar reasons. There are many other places that focus on these synths, how to maintain them and repair them, and so on.
    • Virtual analogue synths may also fall outside this scope, some more so than others. A Roland JP-8000 would be perfectly fine to cover, the Access Virus TI would be fine as well, but a Roland Boutique Juno 6 would be out of scope. Use your best judgement for covering such a synth, if unsure then feel free to ask for a 2nd opinion!
  • Although we do focus on digital synths, we don't focus on all of them - the Yamaha DX7, although notable, would fall outside our scope - not because it uses FM rather than a ROM source, but because it was made during an era where it was competing with other mono-timbral analogue synthesizers.
    • An exception to this, for example, would be the Roland D-50. Although it employs some analogue-like synthesis combined with PCM samples, ultimately it would be fit for the wiki, as it would end up directly influencing their JD, JV and XV lines of synthesizers, and also the LA32 series (MT32, CM32L, D110 etc) by reusing a lot of the synthesis methods first employed with the D50.
  • Modern digital synths may also fall outside of our focus, unless it's a reissue of a synthesiser that falls within our focus (such as some of the Roland Cloud VSTs), or is a new synthesizer that implements the same/similar synthesis and capabilities as an older generation, or is otherwise notably connected to a previous line/product that is covered by our wiki.

What is within our scope?

  • Products (such as keyboards, modules, rackmount synths etc) that, while not conforming to any of the above standards, are from the late 80s, 90s and 00s.
    • Examples: The Roland MT-32 came out in 1987 and never supported any standards other than its own mapping. Same for the Roland U-20.
    • It doesn't strictly need to be limited to ROMpler-type devices.
    • Drum modules, samplers, effects and more can fall under this category as well.
  • Modern synths that are remakes, reissues or in some way deeply related to articles covered on this wiki already.
    • The INTEGRA-7 falls perfectly into this category, it is a new synthesizer, but is overall a reissue of the XV synths combined with SuperNATURAL sounds and all expansions.
    • The JD-08 also falls nicely in this category, as it is a reissue of the JD-800 in desktop form.
    • VST remakes of synthesizers covered on this wiki are obviously fair.
    • 3rd party VST/sample library re-releases are also fair game, however you must not provide any information on where you can get copyrighted material for these products.
      • If such a product requires firmware, ROMs, etc, then you must state in the article that such material must not be provided and we will not aid in finding it.
      • If it doesn't then there's no need to mention such things, however obviously do not link to places where you can download it, or otherwise provide information to where to find it, or circumvent DRM or anything like that, unless such means have been officially provided in a legal fashion by the original or authorised distributors. Naturally, places to purchase or legally obtain software like this is allowed if deemed relevant.
      • Any infringing information will be immediately removed as soon as it is found by other editors. Please don't make the wiki a liability for the editors and admins!

A good rule of thumb is if you're in the DTM Central Discord, and you can either think of people who already own (X synthesizer) there, or who would like to own one, it should be OK to document on our wiki.

Should I create this page?

  • If you can provide substantial information about the synthesiser, standard etc in question that the page is about, go ahead. Otherwise, hold your fire and get some more information first (from reviews, interviews, manuals etc), and/or ask around if there's multiple models that may have different behaviour. Someone's always willing to help if able! ^_^
  • Avoid creating pages for red links (missing pages) just for the sake of it as well, for the same reasons as above. There's nothing worse than seeing that there's an article for something obscure, only for it to barely have any information at all.
  • If you feel the product you want to write about might be outside the wiki's scope, or something else you saw may be, then please bring it up on the Discord - remember to be respectful!

Examples of good and bad in this case if you want an example

The Good One

the Roland XV-5080 is a 128-voice synthesizer released by Roland in mid-2000, notable for being one of the first synthesizers to incorporate the XV Engine, and is also further notable for including COSM effects, sampler memory and the ability to load samples from a CD or hard drive disk.[pretend there is a reference for this linked] [pretend there is an infobox here]

  • Even if it's short, this gets the main features and notable features across, and, if you use your imagination, you'll even see references and an infobox. This can be later expanded into a full article with sections where necessary. Feel free to see the actual XV-5080 article!

The Bad One

The GEM S3 is a synthesizer released by Generalmusic in 1993.

  • Ok, so, firstly, comparing the GEM S3 to the XV-5080 is apples to oranges, I know. But the point is, let's take into consideration someone doesn't know what the GEM S3 is, or even what the XV-5080 is. If the XV article was like this, they'd learn nothing about this unit at all. No notable features, no main specs, no references - nothing!
  • And, well, imagine you are still said user, and you wanted to know more information, and well, they find a blue link! OH, but it has no actual information! This can be frustrating for some.

Wow, secret third example???

The Roland SC-88VL is a variant of the Roland SC-88 that lacks the extra controls on the bottom, and uses a 9V DC power input instead of a permanently attached power supply.

  • While this doesn't even go into detail at all, we know it's a SC-88 variant, so we can refer to the SC-88 article for the information. Notably, we also go into what the differences are, which aren't many.
  • Of course, typically, this would just be listed as a variant in the SC-88 article, but for the sake of this argument, let's assume that this is not the case. This is still useful, even if the information is very brief.

Okay, well, in brief, basically, it's okay to start an article and add basics that while helpful aren't the most they can be, this can be expanded on later and any help is appreciated, but the point is, do go out there and do research! It's fun, you get to learn things you might've never known otherwise, and it's going to help folks a lot who will use this wiki as a resource.

Redirects

  • Redirects can be done for different spellings - JV1080 should just redirect to Roland JV-1080, for example. In rare events where the same model is shared between two different synthesisers, a disambiguation page is preferred, similar to Wikipedia.
  • If the synthesiser in question is different enough where you can pinpoint a notable difference, then it should get its own article instead. If the only difference is one is a keyboard, one is a rack-mount module without keyboard-related functions then they can belong on the same pages provided the differences are detailed.

Examples of differences where they are notable enough to warrant different articles:

  • Alesis Quadrasynth and Alesis Quadrasynth Plus - Former releases early '94, had no GM support, only has 2 banks total and has 16MB of waveforms. Latter has 20-24MB, 3 extra banks, GM support and a bunch of software tweaks.

Examples of differences where they aren't notable enough for different articles (sections or mentions in the opening line instead):

If you have an example where you're not sure about, please ask first! Worst case if nobody is around, create a new page for it anyway, and should we decide it's better fit merged with another page then we will action that ourselves, but we'd prefer if you ask first!

Photos

If you would like to take a photo of a missing synthesiser, then that's great! Thank you! You can find what needs a photo here.

The following are typically guidelines I follow for taking my own pictures, you don't have to follow all of these, they're guides, but this is what I found to lead to a good picture for the wiki:

  • Lightning:
    • Try and aim to achieve consistent lighting. The easiest source for getting this is using natural daylight!
    • If possible, try to capture the image with a neutral white balance. Light from in-door bulbs are typically tinted warm, cameras especially on phones will counteract this with varying results.
    • Try and make the subject bright enough (but not TOO bright either) to get the details across.
  • Zoom:
    • Generally it is a good practice to move further back and zoom in on the subject - this will lead to a more natural looking picture, as opposed to putting your camera as close to the subject, which will exaggerate aspects like the size of buttons/knobs and distort the field of vision (FOV).
    • Doing this, though, may result in an image that has less detail. Modern smartphone cameras typically will have a telephoto zoom lens to counteract this. If the detail is important to be preserved (for example, it's for a photo to showcase a specific feature, or typo or whatever) then it's a better idea to make it look less natural by bringing the camera closer and zooming out, if that would result in these important details being preserved.
    • Naturally, this is not feasible for subjects like keyboards - in this case, as long as the key details are clear, then whatever zoom settings to make it work are fine.
  • Switch power on to the subject:
    • It will look nicer, I think.
    • Also, it's a good reference for what the colour of the LCD should normally be.
    • It's also a good reference for what it normally should look like.
  • Reflections:
    • LCD displays like to reflect quite a bit, as they usually will have a protective piece of glass in front. If they don't, they might still reflect thanks to the polarising layers in use to make the LCD display work.
    • The use of a polarising lens on your camera (this can be a cheap clip-on solution for your smartphone) may work, however sometimes it will just make the LCD look all rainbow-y, normally only happens if there's another protective piece of transparent plastic material in front of the LCD itself.
    • If you can't avoid it, try and avoid capturing other subjects within the reflections.
  • Editing photos:
    • If you know how to make the photo look nicer via manipulation software (Photoshop, Lightroom, GIMP, Affinity Photo, etc) then feel free to do so.
    • You can do this to remove imperfections from your photo if desired, like if there's a scratch or crack that goes through some text or doesn't look nice, or if the reflection is so bad that you need to edit it out somehow.
    • One technique you can use is to composite two photos together - one of the subject taken for the wiki, and one of just a screen without reflections or whatever. You can also do this if you forgot to turn the screen on or adjust the contrast correctly when taking the initial photos.

Again, all of these are tips/guidelines, you can follow as many or as little as you want, as long as a picture is taken. If your picture looks worse than already-existing pictures on the wiki for the synth, though, it will most likely not be used. If it is genuinely better though it can get used.

If you are uploading a better version of an already existing image, then please navigate to the original image and click "Upload a new version of this image". This will replace all instances of the image on the wiki and keep a log of the upload history for the image. You can see an example of this here.

This, on the other hand, everyone should be aware of:

  • File sizes:
    • We're trying to be frugal about our file storage situation, which also helps keep backups speedy and the site itself speedy.
    • JPEG compression is recommended unless the image needs to have its details preserved in lossless form. In addition, reducing the image's size, whether that is by cropping or by resizing the image is recommended.
    • While the maximum file size for uploads is 2MB, try and keep it even below that - most pictures don't need to be larger than 1MB, and screenshots of software don't need to be bigger than 200kb (when JPEG compressed).
    • If lossless detail needs to be preserved, then using other formats such as PNG is fine.
  • Licencing:
    • All own photos on the wiki are required to be either licenced by a CC-BY-SA 4.0 licence, CC-BY 4.0, or released in public domain via CC0.
    • Avoid uploading photos that you can't licence, or are all rights reserved.

Keep in mind that photos will need to be uploaded by someone approved if you're not authorised to upload images - if you take a lot of photos, please ask hikari_no_yume for the relevant permissions!

Infoboxes

  • See Template:Infobox_module.
  • Units should be in the metric format. Dimensions should be in mm (millimetres), weights should be in kg (kilograms), etc.
    • If such measurements are only available in imperial units then convert these to metric beforehand.
  • Photos in the article need to be uploaded by an approved upload user first. This is done so to avoid the wiki being flooded by improperly optimised images (our space is not plentiful) that may have copyright issues.

Content policy

  • Generally speaking, we ask that you do your own research and cite your sources (this can be manuals, reviews, articles, software etc). Any pictures should be either original pictures (i.e. pictures you hold the rights to and/or have taken yourself) or available in a permissive licensing format like CC-BY.
  • The use of LLMs and AI is heavily frowned upon and may be removed without notice. If you do decide to use these tools to write your article, you must double-check the information and correlate it to sources as per above.
  • Original research (writing based on your own findings from using a synth or module) is welcomed and encouraged - as long as you note as such, and is especially appreciated if multiple users can confirm your findings.
  • This wiki operates similarly to other wikis, its contents are freely available under CC-BY-SA. This means that anything you contribute will be also licenced as such, and if you do use material from this wiki you are obligated to share your material under the same or compatible licence. For more information, please refer to this: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

References

Oh no, this isn't references from this page, but rather what we do for referencing here!

  • References to manuals or books can be done without needing to link to the actual manual or book PDF - although linking to a manual would still be appreciated.
  • References to YouTube videos or other video content should be done with a time stamp as well as a link to the video itself.
  • If possible, use archive.org to create a permanent record of the article in question. This avoids the issue of sites restructuring their link formats which may render links in a "dead" state (or just sites outright getting deleted or modified without prior notice)
    • Wikipedia provides their own permanent records of edits, you can just use the most recent one but permanently link to that version.
    • Avoid using any sort of links that decay (such as Discord hot-links)
    • For Bluesky, Twitter or other posts like this, archive.org is the way to go, or a screenshot would suffice as well of the material in question.
  • Reference styles should typically follow this format: [Author] via [Outlet], [Publication date] - [Quote, if necessary].
    • For example: Paul Nagle via Sound on Sound, May 2005 issue (archived) - "The VC1 is supplied with all of the D50's original presets, plus the sound libraries for the D50/D550. In addition, 64 new patches are supplied using 28 extra waveforms that were too large to fit into the original synth..."
  • Original research doesn't necessarily need to go into the references.

Discussion pages

If there is some information that you're not sure about, feel free to ask about it in a discussion page. You can also ask about it on the Discord server should you prefer this.

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