I keep coming back to the TX81Z. It's a weird little 1U rack from 1987 that somehow ended up all over dance records through the late 80s and 90s, mostly because of one preset: Lately Bass. Four operators, but unlike the DX7 each one can pick from eight waveforms instead of just sine, which is a big part of why it doesn't sound like its bigger brother.
The problem was always programming the thing. Two-line LCD, a handful of buttons, menu diving for days. Jun Murakami, the developer behind Synth-80, apparently got tired of that too and built Synth81Z: a software version modeled down to the chip level. He measured an actual TX81Z, the YM2414 chip, the DAC, the output stage, and matched the envelope timing and waveform rounding by ear against the hardware.
The part I like best: everything is on one screen. All four operators with their own colors, envelopes drawn as graphs, click any parameter label and it explains what it does right there in English or Japanese. No paging through a tiny LCD. And if you actually own a TX81Z, it doubles as an editor and librarian over MIDI, your edits in the plugin get mirrored to the hardware.
420+ factory presets, up to 32 voices (8 matches the real unit), an 8-part performance mode, and a five-slot effects rack carried over from Synth-80. Standalone, VST3, AU and AAX on Mac and Windows.
It's $39 on intro sale through the end of October, normally $59. There's a demo, which is what I'd grab first.
Product page and demo: https://jun-murakami.web.app/synth81z