Good to see people getting the DX7! I've had mine since 1986, so it's been my buddy since. The DX7 is more than just those overused factory patches, so enjoy learning FM synthesis.
Liam Static Honestly, I’ve found that the many tutorials online aren’t too helpful. I’d recommend starting with an initialization patch and just adjusting each parameter individually to get an idea of what each one does. From there you can apply what you discover into making new patches. I also recommend reading up on timbre and harmonics so you get a basic understanding of why FM synthesis sounds the way it does.
Great content. I recently bought a DX7 mostly for reasons of pure nostalgia. Always wanted one but could never afford them in the 80s and 90s. I've purchased upwards of 15-20 synths in my life, currently own 6. But I learned my lesson back in the late 90s when I sold my Linn Drum for $600. It's now worth upwards of $5000. Now the DX7 may not skyrocket as much as the Linn, but at least i'll be able to say I own one of the most iconic pieces of electronic music gear in history.
I have my Dad's old DX7 from the original run. He loved it then. He could play it like a dream. Though in the spirit of the era it sounded good.... Now I have it and never touch it out of all of my gear. I even gave him money for it before he passed, had to ship it half way across the country to ship it to me from where he was at that point. Then had to pay to get it fixed because it wasn't producing sound at all. And after getting it back.... Well there is nothing I use it for now. Oh well. Memories, I guess...
I got a micromoog years ago from a person who kind of didn't know what they had. It was in really really rough shape but after many hours with it I had it working like new. I sold it 5-6 years ago and it is one of my biggest regrets.
Also just saw your Poly 61 video. We had one in my parents basement(was my brothers) and my dad threw it away because "it didn't work". Probably just needed a new battery
Great video. I found one a Goodwill couple years back for about $35 working with the original battery. Needed a few keys and one octave board under the keys as well as a new battery. Previous owner had programed a "Jump" sound and an "axlF" sound. I was able to save those before pulling the battery. Works great now. Best deal ever!
❤ awesome 😎 The 80s wouldn't exist without the Dx7, as well as Gorbachev and Reagan. So influential and functional peice of a beautiful music history 😊
This is the review I have been looking for. Everyone else plays the piano and goes over all the good things but you actually went into why it’s great, why you don’t love it but also why it’s special. Thank you!
Over the years, I have owned a DX7 Mk 1, a TX7, a DX7S and a TX-802 (plus a 4-op TX-81Z I never really got on with). Those 6-operator FM synths are truly incredible and really come alive when layered with other FM or analogue-style sounds and put through effects. I have transferred my favourite patches to a bank in my Korg Kronos (whose MOD-1 synth engine is compatible with DX7 sysex - 32-patch banks only) so FM fun is still going strong in my studio 30 years after I started using a DX7 in early 1988.
DX-7 it's a every thing we like about 80s - movies, music, style and generally mood. This thing defined 80s. I finally found why 80s is so attractive, dx-7 sound are influensing the soul itself.
Duker Nuker if you watch Karate Kid part 1 from 1984 some of the background music sounds very much like a DX7 like on the beach scene and all through out the movie etc. but I can’t prove it lol
Watching this video in 2022 . I did the same thing in last two months with purchasing DX7II , D50 amd M1. And I am near 50 now. But still i am enjoying every second with these legends and bunch of new ones. No regrets.
Some others can say "ITS A FREAKING HATSUNE MIKU!" over there too, lol. 😀😁 But im not much exposed to that here, tho. Being born in the end of this month of 1992, its a kidna sad irony, that the synth keyboard im myself are strongly devotes to, is a SY35, though. Its a both FM/AWM/Vector syntheis thing here, that stands between those two worlds here, though. Im personally dosen't hate the DX7 here, though i feel that she is deserves and requires a patience, consistency, passion, some skill, and most of all, the love, though. Im just believe, that if you wont truthly love your instrument you are playing/composing/writing on, you are wont go much far with it here, much like with a real life girl, or woman, or even your wife, or your child here, tho. ☺ P.S. Im a proud owner of a classic SY35 and PSR-E423 here too, though i "inally" met my true synth, only the 25 years after here, tho. And even yet being with partially-atrophied hands here, (im a disabled person now, since the 2017 here, tho. ) i am is still hope to regain, and learn on how to play on syntheiser keyboards here, first the SY35, of course. ☺😌💓
Do you people know if there was any synth prior to DX7 capable of do its Syn-Lead5 preset voice?? Yes, I'm searching for THE MOST MYSTERIOUS SONG OF INTERNET!!! 😉🎶
Great video, thanks for sharing. Now that 80's tunes are getting appreciated, so are the synths of the time - DX7 and D-50. Both equally awesome as they are different.
the DX7 is still a great synth. it's really easy to program organ/piano and synth sounds. plus sound effects galore. also, the old Yamaha stuff is unbelievably well made and trouble free. they've held up really well over the years. I had over have a dozen back in the 90s, both the original and IIs. haven't had one for years but still like a lot of the sounds.
That's really good! My friend has lended me his DX7 while he's out of the country and I love it so much. I'm a devout FM synthesis user, so I am very happy with it.
Same story here : I was 12 when the DX7 came out and I could only dream about it. That, along with the Emulator II... All my musical dreams came true after a long 30+yo wait 😊
I put a deposit down on one before they came out, based on a one page ad in Keyboard Magazine: "FM Synthesis ..$2000" or whatever the price was, which was astounding in 1983. FM had been a holy grail, something you could do on your Minimoog for about three notes. Synclavier did it for $20,000. The DX-7 was revolutionary.
No, not in a million years. It's capability and versatility is just so brilliant. Thick analog sounds, ticked, sampler-like sounds ticked! I've been promoting the true capability of the DX7 for many years now. Since I got my DX7 MK1 since 1986, I've been hooked with its deep FM synthesis.
oh it does believe me, I am big into vaporwave, retrowave and synthwave futurefunk and this machine has plenty of awesome potential. I just had a batery holder mod done to an OG brown one, along with a yahama fb01 4op synth that I got from my music teacher. Next Im having the same done to my yamaha ys200 and a kawai q80
I taught programing on the DX7. I was one of the first to have one where I live. If you need some lessons I can help you. The best blend 2 keyboards are a DX7 and a Roland Juno106...
I couldn't afford it either I traded a bunch of keyboards and used part of a student loan. Congrats... My big thing was when we did Tom Sawyer and I used the DX7 for the lead...@@expat1432
Nice video. This original DX7 was built like a tank, has a really nice keybed. They make nice midi controllers, which is what most people probably use them for in 2019.
paid 175 CAD for mine. It was donated to a local thrift store by one of the old music schools nearby. saw the price and bought it instantly. dont regret it at all.
I bought one (a DX7 II) in about 2005 with some damaged keys. The keys have metal springs that I was able to bend them back. The II (1987-ish) models are built like a tank. I had the DX7 IID model, which you could play two sounds on.
$157!!!!!! Bought mine new in 83, and still have it!!! And two TX7’s. I think I paid close to $2000 for it new. You can’t beat having the keyboard and the panel for playing live! You’re exactly right about the factory cartridge, I still have both of mine, as well as some aftermarket ones. But the best way is to download patches and load them from your computer. Smart to cut the battery out 1st, and then heat the solder joints to pull the stubs out. It was a dumb design for Yamaha to put in that soldier battery. Same situation with all my TX7’s, and some pro Casio equipment. ***There are a zillion DX7 patches out there. One of the best programmers in the 80s was a guy named Bo Tomlyn. He made a pretty good income from selling patches. Anyway his acoustic piano & B3 are about the best you’ll get with the 6 operator DX7. ***One thing about the DX7 most people don’t know is Yamaha misinterpreted the midi spec & designed the volume range, to be 0-100, instead of 0 to 127. Thats no problem when you’re playing the DX7 by itself. But if you want to use it as a controller, or send a midi track to it generated on another keyboard, you’ll have some unexpected results. They may have fix that with the DX7 II release. (I fix it whenever needed using Bome’s Midi translator software). You’re right about the 4K patches. Back in the Apple II days I designed an librarian, with a few other things in it, & sold it through keyboard magazine. ***One last thing about the durability of the Yamaha DX7, and about most Yamaha equipment in general, the DX7 still plays & operates like the day I bought it. It’s held up a whole lot better than my Roland arsenal of keyboards. The Fender Rhodes piano patch is probably the most famous patch used by recording artist. The bells on the DX7 are great. Used them when playing Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run”. So much more to say. Another piece of trivia, it’s amazing with just 6 operators that there’s a train steam engine patch out sound out there with the pistons swishing sound, the train whistle & bell. It’s pretty cool. We’re spoiled with sampler’s & VST’s these days, but back in the day the DX7 was the king. Yamaha did come out with the stereo FM keyboard, one of my grandsons has one. It has reverb on it too, the biggest complaint by most folks. But back in the day, keyboards didn’t come with reverb. If you’ve ever owned a Mellotron, mellow you know that reverb is an absolute must!! Sorry for all the trivia, this old arena rocker is retired and just enjoyed your post.
Awesome, legendary synthesizer and its awesome user. :) Congrats in the purchase and on the knowledge about it. It was nice to hear the sweet sounds of DX7.
I bought my fisrt DX7 used... a year and 1/2 old... $1200.oo... LOVED IT ! After about 15 years I sold it but bought another one, and found a TX7 too. Slightly out of tune and DX left/TX right was quite a sound... sold that DX7 a few years later to NineInchNails and bought another one soon after. Finally sold the 3rd DX and second TX while living in Europe to get back home to the States. After your video I'm thinking of finding another one. It had some great sounds, the action was great AND, I had wheels on one end of the road case and a handel on the other end made it MUCH easy to handle ! Thanks 4 the vid !
There was something special about the synth sounds of the 80's. DX-7, Roland D-50, etc.I started with a DX-7, then added a TX-7 module. Sold the set up after I scored a great deal on a DX-5. For those unfamiliar, the DX-5 was essentially two DX-7's with a 76 note semi weighted keyboard ( same keyboard as the KX76 controller).
I bought one new and still have it with 5 cartridges(the unit came with #3 and #4) then I got 103, 104 and 106 and still have their plastic cases. It took nearly a year to get the money together but I had to have it. I still have all the manuals and you sort of need the manual to dive deep into the menus to make your own sounds. my fav stock patch is #23 with the square wave modulation. These are great controller keyboards because they have aftertouch in addition to velocity sensitivity and they are built like tanks. I will never give it up. The battery is still good 37 w/e years later, crazy.... if anyone is curious, I did a what I call "wall of sound" jam with my old boss gm and old kawaii k4r modules, a korg x-50 and the DX7 (under the little sequencer). I used my favorite patch #23 for the ad-lib solo. check out how expressive the dx7 is. it rules (I use the foot controller on the korg and the sequencer is running the little boss module+k4r if I recall) here is the link to that video: ruclips.net/video/aIQKisZvxuQ/видео.html
I picked up a "broken" DX7-II myself last year too. Just paid around $50 for it. Had to do the exact same thing with the battery, and it works great now!
Still have my DX7II FD from '87. Soldered in a new battery socket a couple of years ago. Clean and going strong over 30 years later and is still sitting in my stack with my Access Virus, 505 Groovebox and KX8. Until I got my Virus the DX was my workhorse. Still an amazing machine and I know even after decades of use I have never gotten everything out of the machine that it has to offer.
Appreciated this video and you are right the hardware is special. People programmed the hell out of this. Dexed Cart has 1000's of presets from back in the day. These can be loaded into the DX7. However, there are so many vst instruments not withstanding KQ Dixie, Arturia's DX7, Dexed and FM8 can be used with either an iPad or laptop with sysx files.
Other kboards that try emulate the DX7 comes only close but not really because DX7 has 12bit sound quality which has a warmer and a bit noisier sound compared to the succeeding kboards that has a higher bit rate which produces very bright and clear sound but at the same time very robotic
I made the same experience. Now I bought an DX7IID first in 2017. And since Nov2019 I have also the original DX7 MK1 with SPX-Board with 128User Patches Internal. This Synth I feel have an own Charakter...amazing! You can hear this in my new Songs I released. I love the Synth-Basssounds.
My story is very similar - in 83 I was 20 and broke. I had just landed my first professional playing gig and needed a professional keyboard. I went to finance/buy a DX7, and could not get approved for the $2,200 price tag. They ended up selling me a DX9 instead, which has to go down in history as one of the biggest lemons EVER. That's another story, but I ended up selling the DX9 a couple of months later for around $300 after paying $1,500 new. The value had dropped practically overnight when Yamaha released the DX100, which did everything the DX9 did but had over 300 onboard sounds, and was touch sensitive when played through a touch sensitive midi board (the DX9 was 4-operator and non-touch sensitive, the two huge differences between it and the DX7.) My gig rig eventually became an Ensoniq Mirage and the DX100, which served me very well all through the 80s! By the time I could actually afford a DX7 proper, they were going out of fashion in favor of the workstation (namely the Korg M1, which ended up surpassing the DX as the best selling keyboard ever). In 2015 I saw a DX7IIFD on Craigslist for $200, and like you I couldn't resist - nostalgia and my youth were calling - so I bought it for my birthday that year. I still have it now, and it is lovely even today. The DX7II had many improvements over the original, including stereo outs and basically two DX7 engines in one. (I know the debate over the 12 bit vs. 14 bit converters and the DX7 vs. the DX7II - probably the stupidest, geekiest, and overall most idiotic debate EVER, but I digress.) Anyway, thanks for posting this - seems I wasn't the only one who could only wish for the DX7 when it came out. It really was a revolution in keys at the time. People who didn't live through that time will never fully understand just HOW much it impacted the keyboard market, and how lame you were if you didn't have one! It is ironic to me how the E-Piano/Full Tines sound became the most hated sound from a synthesizer ever in the 90's, given that it was truly revolutionary upon it's release. The DX7 provided the one sound that sold the keyboard community almost overnight, because the Rhodes sound was able to emulate a Rhodes on stage and only weighed 1/4 of the weight of a real Fender Rhodes. The sound became synonymous with the DX7, and really transformed the 80s. Then, because of extensive overuse, it slowly became the most hated sound in the history of synthesis, to the point where even having it on your demos or records was musical suicide. But now after another 20+ years the DX series and particularly the DX7 have (rightfully) regained a bit of their stature in keyboard history - and those old models are being picked up by new young people anxious to learn about FM. Thanks again for the vid, nice trip down memory lane!
nice write up ! i too saw things i fancied in the 80's that my family could not afford and had to wait 20+ years. But, by that time everything had become obsolete and gone out of fashion. So I often feel that in my teenager years i could only dream, and saw these things in magazine and on tv's only. Another one of my big fancies was to own a Mac II. I ended up buying an Atari ST in the late 80's. It was alright but costed me a fortune at the time.
Too looong. But you shouldve held on to the DX9 as it wasn't that dissimilar to the DX7 and you could've combined it with DX100 or TX7. Or yeah you couldve got the TX and some cheap controller keyboard
@@rachelar I was working as a young musician then and didn't have any money to spare - I was extremely lucky to get the money for the DX9. What I didn't realize is how much my bandleader would hate my DX9 over a DX7, which he felt I should have as a pro player back then. I ended up with an Ensoniq Mirage and a DX100, which ended up being the perfect combination for years.
Wow, what a flashback, seeing the TRS-80 Model 100: was a RS store manager then with one of their computer centers in the store. Actually owned a 100 and used it in college to type up my class notes. Several people wanted to buy my class notes!
Nice choice. I love love love the DX-7 It was my first keyboard and I had no idea at the time how many variations of ep you could actually get till i jumped into the manual. For me it was like reading Greek but, when I discovered how to manipulate that ep and realized it would just about create any DX ep out there. It all came from that one board. Sadly I lost it when someone broke into my studio and took all 3 boards I had and it wen't with those. I think loosing that one DX hurt worse than the other two combined which i think were the original Motif and a Classic Triton 88 weighted board. I could midi up to anything and make even bigger sounds. I'd love to see that new montage to see how close they got with that and all the new features. Thanks for the soft and sincere presentation and hope you enjoy your new Christmas present! God Bless
Always wanted to get a DX7 after realizing that's where "That 80's piano sound" as I used to call it, came from. So last week, I spotted one in an announcement for a junk sale. Me and my dad immediately went to the place 1st thing in the morning. We even managed to beat two guys to the punch, who also spotted the DX7 a few days before, but came in late. Needless to say, I am now a proud owner of a Mark I DX7!
@@rachelar lol that would've been one hell of a story. Nah, there were two guys who came to the shop for that particular DX, and I got to it before they did. I still remembered how their faces changed the moment I said that was the last one
I owned one from about '93-'98 or so. I wanted to get one in the '80s but I couldn't afford it. I got a smaller Roland or Korg (I honestly don't recall; it wasn't that memorable and I didn't use much more than presets). I liked, rather than loved, the DX7 though I admittedly didn't use it to its full ability. It did have the best synth action I ever played on a synth/controller. Its lack of multitimbral-ability and inability to function as a midi-controller (in fairness, not what it was designed to do) was the deciding factor in me getting rid of it. I sold it and got a Korg SG-Pro-X and did without a synth for a while until I picked up a Yamaha W5. Not sorry I sold the DX but I do have fond memories of it. I've had a TX7 for a number of years now in my studio and will finally hook it up (its been sitting for a while as I haven't had a chance to get my midi setup running). It has its limitations but I can use some of the DX sounds in what I produce now.
That electric piano sound is so mellow and relaxing to listen to, and the chords you played are really nice. I'm tempted to buy an original DX7. Good vid.
I had one back in the day. I loved it. I really liked the feel of the keyboard itself. Good response. Now though if I want to play with FM synthesis I have it on my Korg Kronos. The cool thing is that if you can find the old DX7 sounds in s sysex format, you can load them right into the Kronos.
Funny - my experience was very similar. I had worked all summer in construction to get a used Korg Poly-800. But I was drooling over the DX-7, and the sounds it could do. Then, one day I found myself in a Canadian high school (I am German), and they had a DX-7 just sitting there. Now, more than 30 years later, I still remember how it felt to switch it on...
I love all the old stuff :) I personally like the D50 and when Roland released the D-05, I grabbed one :) I use to own a TX7 but had to sell it as I owed money for a Moog
My method of quick and dirty programming was to find a patch close as possible to the sound I wanted. I then changed things like the feedback amount, or changed the algorithm (there are 32) . I came up with a lot of good sounds just exploring changing numbers and listening to the results.
Similar to you, I didn't have the bucks to buy a Korg M1 back in its heyday, so several years ago I bought one, and although it was nice to be able to afford something that I couldn't afford when I was much younger, I ended up selling it for about what I paid for it because of its inherent limitations when emulating today's synth sounds for cover tunes. But, then I bought the Korg iM1 for my iPad and it's insane. I also purchased ALL of the M1 downloadable cards plus all the Korg T1 downloadable cards as well. It's an incredible, exhaustive collection of programs and combis for a very cheap price and they all sound great and true to the original sounds (see RUclips videos of folks comparing the iM1 patches to the original ones). And, like one of the posters mentioned below, I also bought the Arturia V Collection 6, which now contains a DX7 and it's pretty sick. I now don't feel like I missed out on buying a DX7 back in its heyday day as well. But, thanks for posting this video. It's nice that you found such a great deal on a DX7 and fixed her up like new.
I love my k1m. I picked mine up in the early 2000's. I need to replace the bat and replace the power jack as the previous owner bypassed it hooked the dc cable directly to the postive and the ground shild from heck.
My first ever synth! Great memories! Had it new back in the day. Wish I kept it. I even had the breath controller! Think I ended up putting it in towards Korg M1? Cant recall now but I miss it! Great vid!
I had mine resurrected from its ashes a few weeks ago by a very competent technician. I bought it hardly used in 1992 and it's been my main MIDI controller ever since. I just love its design: it was so modern looking in its time... I dreamt of having one since I was a teenager and it was completely out of reach back then. But then I was able to pick up a TX 816 for a very reasonable price in 1994 and even though I don't use a lot of FM sounds in my productions, the DX/TX tandem is a real killer and it is among my prizest possessions!
They're actually not that complicated to program. The battery in mine is dead and I'm not confident enough with a soldering iron to put a new one in. I lucked out and mine came with a cartridge, but other than the electric piano and a string patch I use programmed patches exclusively. All you have to do is read the algorithm diagrams printed on the case itself. The audible operators are at the bottom and the ones with lines running to an audible op modulate it. Some of the modulators have ops running into them that modulate the modulator. Play around with different types of algorithms (3 audible with one modulator each, modulators with modulators running through them, etc.) and see how the levels impact the sound. Once you get a feel for that you can move on to the EG, which is just your basic ADSR, only per op instead of overall. The rates work like a standard ADSR and the levels are just the volume of the op at each stage, so it actually gives you more control than the ADSR settings you'd find on a standard analog synth. Basically if you spend a few hours messing around with it you'll reach a point where all you have to do is think of a sound and you can dial it up just as fast as you can navigate the menus.
Im 22 years old and i play the DX7II yall. One of my favorites synths. The sounds i use are fulltines, DX tine and many more. Great keyboard. Midi controlling? Its ok
im pleased to say, that as i allso love the dx7 , that my kronos 2 has a dx7 engine in it and can load original standered dx7 banks of patches, so i have loaded in 3 banks, including the original factory patches, of patches allready. i downloaded to usb around 200 banks all for free off the internet. great instrament/sounds
I picked one of these up a few years back with 5 or 6 cartridges. It's pretty nice. A little noise in the signal but some of the sounds are lush. I mostly use it for bass sounds.
Everyone made fun of me for getting my DX7. It's modded, though I don't know what the mod does (has a knob next to the volume slider but it doesn't seem to do anything), the battery is dead, but it came with a cartridge so I got it, a stand, and a gig case that needs to be restored for $200. I never thought I'd see one of those things in person, let alone own one. Also, I take it to church on special occasions and the Takeoff patch comes in very handy. We have 5th Sunday singings where we have our standard service, then a dinner, followed by one to three hours of basically "open mic." I run the synth through the church's sound system, then when it's time to start I crank up the volume and hit a chord on Takeoff. The first time everyone just came in from the fellowship hall to see what was going on. Now it's the standard signal.
so there is the two sliders and a knob next to the volume off to the left? Thats crazy its made out of metal they probably had to drill through the controle pannel somehow. Or maybe someone tried to circuit bend it?
@@coolelectronics1759 Fortunately they didn't succeed. I had to take the battery out because it was causing issues. Whatever the knob was hooked up to, some kind of integrated circuit with something I can't identify because of the epoxy covering it between the knob and IC, was just dangling in it by a ribbon cable. Doesn't look like they even tried hooking it up to anything inside.
@@possumridgeentertainment4614 sounds like some kind of scary botched job. So I take it you just run it off the cartredge rom then. I am surprised the synth works without the batery, I thought it also was what was in charge of keeping the global fundamental setttings data like the master tuning, pitch and mod range etc.
@@coolelectronics1759 I only use two sounds off of the cartridge. The strings patch and the "One More Night" piano are the only ones I find useful. Everything else I make from scratch. It's a bit of a pain without the battery. I have to tune it every time I turn it on, set the pitch bend range, turn on the mod and aftertouch functions, I can't save patches so I have to maintain a database that I update every time I come up with something I like (tried using Dexed, but no matter which tutorial I follow I can't get it to transfer sysex data. I think the issue is that I'm going through an external USB sound card), basically setup takes a while. It's still my prized possession, though, and I was almost in tears when I turned it on and it kept making weird noises. I was relieved when I found out it was as simple as removing the botched battery replacement.
You're a man after my own heart, sir! I have that Model 100 that you present in the intro as well! Unfortunately I can't get mine to work anymore but still... I have great memories of going to Service Merchandise as a little kid and playing with the keyboards on display - nothing as fabulous as the DX7 here of course, but a lot of Casios. Even still - I totally resonate with your sense of nostalgia and I'm returning to these retro sounds. Like breakdancing music, for example - I could have cared less for it in my early teens when it was popular, but now it's dope! You should check out the Korg Volca series if you haven't already. The Volca FM pretty much is a DX7 - especially with a nice MIDI controller for the right tactile feel.
FM synthesis was brilliant and yamaha got the recipe to make a classic. It came out the same time as the Roland D50. They were such good times. I just wish I brought a TR 808 and TR 909 back then because they were dirt cheap.
Thanks for the handy info here. I've been thinking about perhaps purchasing an old DX7... I love all those great '80s sounds! I didn't realize the DX7 was such a heavy keyboard. I have a serious spine condition...maybe I should opt for a Yamaha TX-7 instead (?).
You could consider a Yamaha Reface DX, it is small and light. But it has mini-keys and not as powerful as the DX7 6 operators. But it does have built in effects.
@@lumer2b Yeah I have one, It can do some very complex sounds. People keep complaining that it only has 4 Operators, however I think your right It might be just as powerful as a 6 Operator FM synth.
I did buy a couple of the DX7 products when they were first out back in those days. Had the Orig DX7 and the DX&-II Synths. Yes they were both around the 2000 dollar price range. At the time they were awesome products and fun to play, then came along the Roland-D50 products as a competitor. I dont have the DX7's anymore, but do still have a bigger brother which is the Yamaha SY99 Synth. All were FM synthesis type Synths I do notice now the difference between sampled synths and the FM synths. Where the sounds are better in just a certain key range of the DX7 or SY99. Outside of that small range on the keys, the sounds begin to sound weak. Sampled keyboards make up for the entire keyboard by having true samples across entire range of the keyboard. I was a Yamaha user and supporter of allot of their products back in those original days of FM synthesis.
Great video, at some point I had the 802 module which actually had an excellent display, the TX81 had an killer chase function and 4 operators Yeh 4 operators was easier to program, the TX802 was not but it had all sorts of output possibilities, tnx for the presentation, brings back memories
For $160, it makes sense to buy one. But for practical purposes, Dexed (for free) or the new Arturia DX7V are really more practical and easier to program. The Arturia one has a lot of added features also.
As for the tactile bit, of course you can map any VST to your MIDI controller and get as many physical controls as you want. In fact, many MIDI controllers are much more "tactile" than the DX7, which was notoriously short on controls. For the collecting part, I completely sympathize, having at least 20 instruments or more myself. The thing is, when I collect, I try to get instruments that are unique and have capabilities that can't easily be duplicated. For example, my FM instruments are the (Yamaha) TG77, SY99, FS1R and Montage8. Those are the four most powerful FM instruments that Yamaha ever made and none of them can be replaced easily by a VST. So I have a good reason for wanting to have the physical units. The DX7 is historically important, but musically, it is easily replaceable.
@@klaassiersma4892 There are a few possible areas of difference, notably in the 12-bit DACs which give the original a slightly gritty sound (the DX7-II made them 16-bit). But many VSTs such as Arturia will emulate this and even let you specify the bit depth. As for the basic architecture, a 6-op, sine-wave FM synth is pretty standard now and easy to emulate in software. Unlike an analog synth, digital synth emulations are usually very close to the original, since the original was just running software on a (dedicated) computer also.
@geoffk777 you are largely right, 12 bit makes it a bit fuzzyer than 16 bit, but the diverance lies in the analog part of the dac. That's why i prefer the mk1 dx7 over the 2's they just sound much warmer.
The DX7 is one of the most versatile synthesizers ever made. I bought one last year as well (2017) for $300. I opted for the original DX7 over the more advanced and cleaner-sounding DX7 II. The original DX7 from 1983 sounds much more raw and dirty and has a subtle warmth the later DX/TX models lacked. I personally love programming sounds on it, and there are a bunch of software editors that make it very easy. I grew up using Yamaha FM synthesis: the first Synth I used when I was a teenager when I started making electronic music back in 1993 was a Yamaha DX100, so I am totally used to programming these things. I get that they are intimidating/off-putting for young kids used to analog synths with knobs, everything on the DX7 is done via buttons and the little calculator display. It's surprisingly not as complicated as it seems. It's all basic math. Granted, I mostly produce noisy sounds which are easy to make- Great for Industrial/EBM musik, but anyone can create cool sounds on the DX7. It's one of the best synths for the money, both when it came out and today as well (they sell regularly for $150-$300). There are tons and tons of free sounds available on the net. At stated in the video, the patches are TINY files, and you can literally find bundles (rar or zip files) with thousands of sounds that are a only few megabytes in size.
Things have changed quite a bit since then. I didn't get into synths until the mid to late 80s back in college, but from what I understand, if you had $2000 back in 1982, you simply couldn't get a synth which could: change between 2 dozen patches at the push of a button; (most likely) play multiple notes at the same time; change timbre depending on how hard/fast you played the keys; make pleasant bell-like sounds (ring modulation sounds grungy compared to FM); chain together with another synth as master/slave for layering. Then the DX7 came out, with all these features. Anybody know of another synth before the DX7 in its price range that had even half of those features? Of course, sampling and other digital synthesis techniques exploded by the late 80s, but nobody had seen anything like these when they came out.
Price not with standing, I think the Fairlight was the closest in the way it could sound. However for the cost, I think the DX7 was the first in the affordable market for digital synths. At least as far as I have been able to find. It would not suprise me if there was a home made synth that someone made that was before the DX. However to market... I think the DX has the title. This is my first DX, so I am still learning the techniques. It has been fun trying to get what I want from it. Have a great day. :)
Challenge accepted. The cheaper 49 key non-MIDI Yamaha CE-25 preset synth preceded the DX7, and had 20 typical 4-op FM sounds including bells. Velocity and aftertouch response were adjustable via sliders, and it had symphonic chorus, unlike the effectless DX/TX series.
@xp50player - OK, then. Never heard of it before, but found some more details: synthmuseum.com/yamaha/yamce2001.html No MIDI for chaining, but did in fact nail the other features, for about 2/3 the $2K price guess I threw in. Thanks for the info :-)
I'm glad you love your DX7. I believe Dave Bristow who programmed the presets just wanted to demonstrate what's possible with FM rather than make all the presets usable. Get yourself a TX816 rack to go with it and you'll never leave home.
Bought a FM synth to replace a stolen Juno-60 and an Alpha Juno around 1988 ish Just couldn't get on with the "clean, sterile" sound. They really need FX. I've revisited FM some 40 years later with my SY-77, and I'm really starting to appreciate it. Also, recently had a 4 op synth (V-50) with custom patches, and I was very impressed.
I saw just now your video. As you, I biught DX7(s) at low price. I found it very good. I also using Dexed vst, which can ease the way of programming DX7, and it can send patch to DX7 and from it. there are TONS of patched in the internet so discovering whole patches is a kind of a long trip
It was a good synth in it's day. I believe that the Digital Rhodes was the selling point for the keyboard. Some of the pads were pretty good also. Now having said that, the DX system was probably best when two or more were connected midi and each engine production part of the final sound. I had a DX7 with the TX7 module. I then sold that set up and got a deal on a DX5. I once heard the rack mount with the 8 DX7 with the 8 DX equivalent modules. fantast sound.
4:56 'Sounds more like an EDM thing" yup, because FM made a big comeback a few years back and is in all kinds of DubStep type tunes it's crazy. Is cool to see people exploring FM, and what can be done with that style of synthesis given a more user friendly interface. Unfortunately IMO Yamaha still has a hard time with that. Congrats on getting your dream synth as a child! Very cool! Ps, according to an inflation calculator 2k USD would have been over 5K in today's dollars. Insane!!
I had it's baby cousin, the DX100 (but I can't solder very well...). Anyway, the 4-ops weren't beautiful sounding, they were kinda nasty. But that's how we liked it :-) Yeah, having an effects box for these REALLY helped. I had a little Alesis reverb box to downstream, and it really filled out the sound.
there are mods out for the 4op machines now. Back in 2017 my audio class professor gifted me a yahama fb01 and I just had it modded with a batery holder for the sram batery. I was considering getting the dac mod done but Im cool with how it sounds, great for vaporwave, sega genesis-type, lofi and new jack swing r&b styles and funky punchy basses! I like the rubbery sounding basses out of all fm synths! I even have a 2op one from 88 that I got off of craigslist it is the pss480 and I have another 4op machine called the yamaha ys200 that I got free on freecycle.
@@coolelectronics1759 yeah, I replaced the battery with a clip to hold the coin-cell. Something on the main board needs to be resoldered, as it goes on and off if the board is flexed just a bit.
That unit is in desperate need of new upstop felt. The felt in that thing is probably original, and it’s definitely brittle and smashed. If you replace the upstop felt, that annoying thunk would go away when you let go of a key. It’s not a quick job, but it’s totally worth it. A re-felted DX7 is a joy to play.
When I was in high school(85-89),my classmates were dreaming about their first car.i was dreaming about my first synth.
and when did u get it¿
@@crazyspeedyjoe Well if we can call the Casio SK1 a synth,than it was,if I remember correctly,early 1988.
Good to see people getting the DX7! I've had mine since 1986, so it's been my buddy since. The DX7 is more than just those overused factory patches, so enjoy learning FM synthesis.
Yeah! Take my money!
where is a good place to start learning FM?
Liam Static Honestly, I’ve found that the many tutorials online aren’t too helpful. I’d recommend starting with an initialization patch and just adjusting each parameter individually to get an idea of what each one does. From there you can apply what you discover into making new patches. I also recommend reading up on timbre and harmonics so you get a basic understanding of why FM synthesis sounds the way it does.
Power DX7's tutorials. Extremely detailed and made by a guy who loves his instrument.
Lucky you. I've been writing programming code whole my life long. Finally, want to program something really interesting like DX7.
Great content. I recently bought a DX7 mostly for reasons of pure nostalgia. Always wanted one but could never afford them in the 80s and 90s. I've purchased upwards of 15-20 synths in my life, currently own 6. But I learned my lesson back in the late 90s when I sold my Linn Drum for $600. It's now worth upwards of $5000. Now the DX7 may not skyrocket as much as the Linn, but at least i'll be able to say I own one of the most iconic pieces of electronic music gear in history.
I have my Dad's old DX7 from the original run. He loved it then. He could play it like a dream. Though in the spirit of the era it sounded good.... Now I have it and never touch it out of all of my gear. I even gave him money for it before he passed, had to ship it half way across the country to ship it to me from where he was at that point. Then had to pay to get it fixed because it wasn't producing sound at all. And after getting it back.... Well there is nothing I use it for now. Oh well. Memories, I guess...
You are SO REAL! Your love of this instrument is apparent. Thank you, Buddy!
Next up.. Jupiter 8 for 50.00... sold by a church who's pianist hated all the knobs and synth sounds...
I got a micromoog years ago from a person who kind of didn't know what they had. It was in really really rough shape but after many hours with it I had it working like new.
I sold it 5-6 years ago and it is one of my biggest regrets.
Also just saw your Poly 61 video. We had one in my parents basement(was my brothers) and my dad threw it away because "it didn't work". Probably just needed a new battery
@@bobthesalesclerk More than likely just needed the battery.. yes.. ugh
Sounds like one of my anecdotes
@@bobthesalesclerkthen why
Great video. I found one a Goodwill couple years back for about $35 working with the original battery. Needed a few keys and one octave board under the keys as well as a new battery. Previous owner had programed a "Jump" sound and an "axlF" sound. I was able to save those before pulling the battery. Works great now. Best deal ever!
❤ awesome 😎 The 80s wouldn't exist without the Dx7, as well as Gorbachev and Reagan. So influential and functional peice of a beautiful music history 😊
This is the review I have been looking for. Everyone else plays the piano and goes over all the good things but you actually went into why it’s great, why you don’t love it but also why it’s special. Thank you!
I always loved the DX7. The 80's in a box.
Over the years, I have owned a DX7 Mk 1, a TX7, a DX7S and a TX-802 (plus a 4-op TX-81Z I never really got on with). Those 6-operator FM synths are truly incredible and really come alive when layered with other FM or analogue-style sounds and put through effects. I have transferred my favourite patches to a bank in my Korg Kronos (whose MOD-1 synth engine is compatible with DX7 sysex - 32-patch banks only) so FM fun is still going strong in my studio 30 years after I started using a DX7 in early 1988.
DX-7 it's a every thing we like about 80s - movies, music, style and generally mood. This thing defined 80s. I finally found why 80s is so attractive, dx-7 sound are influensing the soul itself.
Duker Nuker if you watch Karate Kid part 1 from 1984 some of the background music sounds very much like a DX7 like on the beach scene and all through out the movie etc. but I can’t prove it lol
Watching this video in 2022 .
I did the same thing in last two months with purchasing DX7II , D50 amd M1.
And I am near 50 now. But still i am enjoying every second with these legends and bunch of new ones. No regrets.
So happy your childhood dream came true...you deserve it!!!
Short answer... CAUSE ITS A FREAKING DX7!!!!
yes of course
Some others can say "ITS A FREAKING HATSUNE MIKU!" over there too, lol. 😀😁 But im not much exposed to that here, tho. Being born in the end of this month of 1992, its a kidna sad irony, that the synth keyboard im myself are strongly devotes to, is a SY35, though. Its a both FM/AWM/Vector syntheis thing here, that stands between those two worlds here, though. Im personally dosen't hate the DX7 here, though i feel that she is deserves and requires a patience, consistency, passion, some skill, and most of all, the love, though. Im just believe, that if you wont truthly love your instrument you are playing/composing/writing on, you are wont go much far with it here, much like with a real life girl, or woman, or even your wife, or your child here, tho. ☺ P.S. Im a proud owner of a classic SY35 and PSR-E423 here too, though i "inally" met my true synth, only the 25 years after here, tho. And even yet being with partially-atrophied hands here, (im a disabled person now, since the 2017 here, tho. ) i am is still hope to regain, and learn on how to play on syntheiser keyboards here, first the SY35, of course. ☺😌💓
Hell yeah!
Do you people know if there was any synth prior to DX7 capable of do its Syn-Lead5 preset voice?? Yes, I'm searching for THE MOST MYSTERIOUS SONG OF INTERNET!!! 😉🎶
Great video, thanks for sharing. Now that 80's tunes are getting appreciated, so are the synths of the time - DX7 and D-50.
Both equally awesome as they are different.
Great demonstration and breakdown of the functionality and tips when for online purchasing. Thanks man!
the DX7 is still a great synth. it's really easy to program organ/piano and synth sounds. plus sound effects galore. also, the old Yamaha stuff is unbelievably well made and trouble free. they've held up really well over the years. I had over have a dozen back in the 90s, both the original and IIs. haven't had one for years but still like a lot of the sounds.
Which version of it do you prefer?
That's really good! My friend has lended me his DX7 while he's out of the country and I love it so much. I'm a devout FM synthesis user, so I am very happy with it.
Same story here : I was 12 when the DX7 came out and I could only dream about it. That, along with the Emulator II... All my musical dreams came true after a long 30+yo wait 😊
I put a deposit down on one before they came out, based on a one page ad in Keyboard Magazine: "FM Synthesis ..$2000" or whatever the price was, which was astounding in 1983. FM had been a holy grail, something you could do on your Minimoog for about three notes. Synclavier did it for $20,000. The DX-7 was revolutionary.
Good review! The DX7 doesn't get much love these days, but I still dig it. Kudos for bringing this one back from the brink.
Loving it. I have been using it with mainstage (mixed). Using the e-piano (DX7) and pads (mainstage) together. Love it....
No, not in a million years. It's capability and versatility is just so brilliant. Thick analog sounds, ticked, sampler-like sounds ticked! I've been promoting the true capability of the DX7 for many years now. Since I got my DX7 MK1 since 1986, I've been hooked with its deep FM synthesis.
oh it does believe me, I am big into vaporwave, retrowave and synthwave futurefunk and this machine has plenty of awesome potential. I just had a batery holder mod done to an OG brown one, along with a yahama fb01 4op synth that I got from my music teacher. Next Im having the same done to my yamaha ys200 and a kawai q80
@@coolelectronics1759 can the dx7 do darksynthwave or heavy sounds?
@@chinossynthesizer705 yeah man this machine is a beast.
I taught programing on the DX7. I was one of the first to have one where I live. If you need some lessons I can help you. The best blend 2 keyboards are a DX7 and a Roland Juno106...
I couldn't afford it either I traded a bunch of keyboards and used part of a student loan. Congrats... My big thing was when we did Tom Sawyer and I used the DX7 for the lead...@@expat1432
Ryder you still available to do a lesson?
Nice video. This original DX7 was built like a tank, has a really nice keybed. They make nice midi controllers, which is what most people probably use them for in 2019.
paid 175 CAD for mine.
It was donated to a local thrift store by one of the old music schools nearby.
saw the price and bought it instantly. dont regret it at all.
Glad to hear you were finally able to grab one for yourself!
DX7 on my bucket list / even more now after seeing your great video! thnx
I bought one (a DX7 II) in about 2005 with some damaged keys. The keys have metal springs that I was able to bend them back. The II (1987-ish) models are built like a tank. I had the DX7 IID model, which you could play two sounds on.
Thx for your video! I liked ervery second of your review. You provided good info and shared your love to music and this synth with us... thx a lot!
$157!!!!!! Bought mine new in 83, and still have it!!! And two TX7’s. I think I paid close to $2000 for it new. You can’t beat having the keyboard and the panel for playing live!
You’re exactly right about the factory cartridge, I still have both of mine, as well as some aftermarket ones. But the best way is to download patches and load them from your computer.
Smart to cut the battery out 1st, and then heat the solder joints to pull the stubs out. It was a dumb design for Yamaha to put in that soldier battery. Same situation with all my TX7’s, and some pro Casio equipment.
***There are a zillion DX7 patches out there. One of the best programmers in the 80s was a guy named Bo Tomlyn. He made a pretty good income from selling patches. Anyway his acoustic piano & B3 are about the best you’ll get with the 6 operator DX7.
***One thing about the DX7 most people don’t know is Yamaha misinterpreted the midi spec & designed the volume range, to be 0-100, instead of 0 to 127. Thats no problem when you’re playing the DX7 by itself. But if you want to use it as a controller, or send a midi track to it generated on another keyboard, you’ll have some unexpected results. They may have fix that with the DX7 II release. (I fix it whenever needed using Bome’s Midi translator software).
You’re right about the 4K patches. Back in the Apple II days I designed an librarian, with a few other things in it, & sold it through keyboard magazine.
***One last thing about the durability of the Yamaha DX7, and about most Yamaha equipment in general, the DX7 still plays & operates like the day I bought it. It’s held up a whole lot better than my Roland arsenal of keyboards.
The Fender Rhodes piano patch is probably the most famous patch used by recording artist. The bells on the DX7 are great. Used them when playing Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run”. So much more to say.
Another piece of trivia, it’s amazing with just 6 operators that there’s a train steam engine patch out sound out there with the pistons swishing sound, the train whistle & bell. It’s pretty cool.
We’re spoiled with sampler’s & VST’s these days, but back in the day the DX7 was the king.
Yamaha did come out with the stereo FM keyboard, one of my grandsons has one. It has reverb on it too, the biggest complaint by most folks. But back in the day, keyboards didn’t come with reverb. If you’ve ever owned a Mellotron, mellow you know that reverb is an absolute must!!
Sorry for all the trivia, this old arena rocker is retired and just enjoyed your post.
Awesome, legendary synthesizer and its awesome user. :) Congrats in the purchase and on the knowledge about it. It was nice to hear the sweet sounds of DX7.
I bought my fisrt DX7 used... a year and 1/2 old... $1200.oo... LOVED IT ! After about 15 years I sold it but bought another one, and found a TX7 too. Slightly out of tune and DX left/TX right was quite a sound... sold that DX7 a few years later to NineInchNails and bought another one soon after. Finally sold the 3rd DX and second TX while living in Europe to get back home to the States. After your video I'm thinking of finding another one. It had some great sounds, the action was great AND, I had wheels on one end of the road case and a handel on the other end made it MUCH easy to handle ! Thanks 4 the vid !
Thanks for the video, I’m gonna try out a DX7 soon looks mint in the pictures.
There was something special about the synth sounds of the 80's. DX-7, Roland D-50, etc.I started with a DX-7, then added a TX-7 module. Sold the set up after I scored a great deal on a DX-5. For those unfamiliar, the DX-5 was essentially two DX-7's with a 76 note semi weighted keyboard ( same keyboard as the KX76 controller).
They can be cool but most of the time they sound cheesy in pop songs but if that’s the expression the artist is intending it works
I bought one new and still have it with 5 cartridges(the unit came with #3 and #4) then I got 103, 104 and 106 and still have their plastic cases. It took nearly a year to get the money together but I had to have it.
I still have all the manuals and you sort of need the manual to dive deep into the menus to make your own sounds. my fav stock patch is #23 with the square wave modulation. These are great controller keyboards because they have aftertouch in addition to velocity sensitivity and they are built like tanks. I will never give it up. The battery is still good 37 w/e years later, crazy....
if anyone is curious, I did a what I call "wall of sound" jam with my old boss gm and old kawaii k4r modules, a korg x-50 and the DX7 (under the little sequencer). I used my favorite patch #23 for the ad-lib solo. check out how expressive the dx7 is. it rules (I use the foot controller on the korg and the sequencer is running the little boss module+k4r if I recall)
here is the link to that video: ruclips.net/video/aIQKisZvxuQ/видео.html
I picked up a "broken" DX7-II myself last year too. Just paid around $50 for it. Had to do the exact same thing with the battery, and it works great now!
Thats awesome that you ended up with one and you actually fixed it too great video. I have a Roland JV 90 no sound im gonna try and fix it myself
Still have my DX7II FD from '87. Soldered in a new battery socket a couple of years ago. Clean and going strong over 30 years later and is still sitting in my stack with my Access Virus, 505 Groovebox and KX8. Until I got my Virus the DX was my workhorse. Still an amazing machine and I know even after decades of use I have never gotten everything out of the machine that it has to offer.
Appreciated this video and you are right the hardware is special.
People programmed the hell out of this. Dexed Cart has 1000's of presets from back in the day. These can be loaded into the DX7.
However, there are so many vst instruments not withstanding KQ Dixie, Arturia's DX7, Dexed and FM8 can be used with either an iPad or laptop with sysx files.
Other kboards that try emulate the DX7 comes only close but not really because DX7 has 12bit sound quality which has a warmer and a bit noisier sound compared to the succeeding kboards that has a higher bit rate which produces very bright and clear sound but at the same time very robotic
I bought a DX7 from Japan in perfect conditon but just needed a battery, I love it and had always wanted one!
I made the same experience. Now I bought an DX7IID first in 2017. And since Nov2019 I have also the original DX7 MK1 with SPX-Board with 128User Patches Internal. This Synth I feel have an own Charakter...amazing! You can hear this in my new Songs I released. I love the Synth-Basssounds.
My story is very similar - in 83 I was 20 and broke. I had just landed my first professional playing gig and needed a professional keyboard. I went to finance/buy a DX7, and could not get approved for the $2,200 price tag. They ended up selling me a DX9 instead, which has to go down in history as one of the biggest lemons EVER. That's another story, but I ended up selling the DX9 a couple of months later for around $300 after paying $1,500 new. The value had dropped practically overnight when Yamaha released the DX100, which did everything the DX9 did but had over 300 onboard sounds, and was touch sensitive when played through a touch sensitive midi board (the DX9 was 4-operator and non-touch sensitive, the two huge differences between it and the DX7.) My gig rig eventually became an Ensoniq Mirage and the DX100, which served me very well all through the 80s! By the time I could actually afford a DX7 proper, they were going out of fashion in favor of the workstation (namely the Korg M1, which ended up surpassing the DX as the best selling keyboard ever). In 2015 I saw a DX7IIFD on Craigslist for $200, and like you I couldn't resist - nostalgia and my youth were calling - so I bought it for my birthday that year. I still have it now, and it is lovely even today. The DX7II had many improvements over the original, including stereo outs and basically two DX7 engines in one. (I know the debate over the 12 bit vs. 14 bit converters and the DX7 vs. the DX7II - probably the stupidest, geekiest, and overall most idiotic debate EVER, but I digress.)
Anyway, thanks for posting this - seems I wasn't the only one who could only wish for the DX7 when it came out. It really was a revolution in keys at the time. People who didn't live through that time will never fully understand just HOW much it impacted the keyboard market, and how lame you were if you didn't have one! It is ironic to me how the E-Piano/Full Tines sound became the most hated sound from a synthesizer ever in the 90's, given that it was truly revolutionary upon it's release. The DX7 provided the one sound that sold the keyboard community almost overnight, because the Rhodes sound was able to emulate a Rhodes on stage and only weighed 1/4 of the weight of a real Fender Rhodes. The sound became synonymous with the DX7, and really transformed the 80s. Then, because of extensive overuse, it slowly became the most hated sound in the history of synthesis, to the point where even having it on your demos or records was musical suicide. But now after another 20+ years the DX series and particularly the DX7 have (rightfully) regained a bit of their stature in keyboard history - and those old models are being picked up by new young people anxious to learn about FM. Thanks again for the vid, nice trip down memory lane!
nice write up ! i too saw things i fancied in the 80's that my family could not afford and had to wait 20+ years. But, by that time everything had become obsolete and gone out of fashion. So I often feel that in my teenager years i could only dream, and saw these things in magazine and on tv's only. Another one of my big fancies was to own a Mac II. I ended up buying an Atari ST in the late 80's. It was alright but costed me a fortune at the time.
Too looong. But you shouldve held on to the DX9 as it wasn't that dissimilar to the DX7 and you could've combined it with DX100 or TX7. Or yeah you couldve got the TX and some cheap controller keyboard
@@rachelar I was working as a young musician then and didn't have any money to spare - I was extremely lucky to get the money for the DX9. What I didn't realize is how much my bandleader would hate my DX9 over a DX7, which he felt I should have as a pro player back then. I ended up with an Ensoniq Mirage and a DX100, which ended up being the perfect combination for years.
THE 80'S MUSIC WAS MADE FROM THE DX7.
THANK YOU FOR THIS GREAT VIDEO, ONE OF MY DREAMS TO HAVE ONE 🙏.
SOME DAY 😃
at 11:15, absolute pure 80s bliss, those voice pads were used on almost every top 40 song back around 1985 1986. :) :)
What song is that?
Wow, what a flashback, seeing the TRS-80 Model 100: was a RS store manager then with one of their computer centers in the store. Actually owned a 100 and used it in college to type up my class notes. Several people wanted to buy my class notes!
Nice choice. I love love love the DX-7 It was my first keyboard and I had no idea at the time how many variations of ep you could actually get till i jumped into the manual. For me it was like reading Greek but, when I discovered how to manipulate that ep and realized it would just about create any DX ep out there. It all came from that one board. Sadly I lost it when someone broke into my studio and took all 3 boards I had and it wen't with those. I think loosing that one DX hurt worse than the other two combined which i think were the original Motif and a Classic Triton 88 weighted board. I could midi up to anything and make even bigger sounds. I'd love to see that new montage to see how close they got with that and all the new features. Thanks for the soft and sincere presentation and hope you enjoy your new Christmas present! God Bless
Always wanted to get a DX7 after realizing that's where "That 80's piano sound" as I used to call it, came from. So last week, I spotted one in an announcement for a junk sale. Me and my dad immediately went to the place 1st thing in the morning. We even managed to beat two guys to the punch, who also spotted the DX7 a few days before, but came in late. Needless to say, I am now a proud owner of a Mark I DX7!
You beat up two guys?
@@rachelar lol that would've been one hell of a story. Nah, there were two guys who came to the shop for that particular DX, and I got to it before they did. I still remembered how their faces changed the moment I said that was the last one
I owned one from about '93-'98 or so. I wanted to get one in the '80s but I couldn't afford it. I got a smaller Roland or Korg (I honestly don't recall; it wasn't that memorable and I didn't use much more than presets). I liked, rather than loved, the DX7 though I admittedly didn't use it to its full ability. It did have the best synth action I ever played on a synth/controller. Its lack of multitimbral-ability and inability to function as a midi-controller (in fairness, not what it was designed to do) was the deciding factor in me getting rid of it. I sold it and got a Korg SG-Pro-X and did without a synth for a while until I picked up a Yamaha W5. Not sorry I sold the DX but I do have fond memories of it. I've had a TX7 for a number of years now in my studio and will finally hook it up (its been sitting for a while as I haven't had a chance to get my midi setup running). It has its limitations but I can use some of the DX sounds in what I produce now.
great video!! Amazing synth. I remember when it came out, it was amazing.
That electric piano sound is so mellow and relaxing to listen to, and the chords you played are really nice. I'm tempted to buy an original DX7. Good vid.
I had one back in the day. I loved it. I really liked the feel of the keyboard itself. Good response. Now though if I want to play with FM synthesis I have it on my Korg Kronos. The cool thing is that if you can find the old DX7 sounds in s sysex format, you can load them right into the Kronos.
Funny - my experience was very similar. I had worked all summer in construction to get a used Korg Poly-800. But I was drooling over the DX-7, and the sounds it could do. Then, one day I found myself in a Canadian high school (I am German), and they had a DX-7 just sitting there. Now, more than 30 years later, I still remember how it felt to switch it on...
I love all the old stuff :) I personally like the D50 and when Roland released the D-05, I grabbed one :) I use to own a TX7 but had to sell it as I owed money for a Moog
I purchased one in 2018 the 2d model. It's fun to play on.
Proudly own a DX7 II FD. Also purchased a plain DX7, waiting for delivery from Europe.
Did you get them?
pics please did younget it?
Man, I came here to share your love of classic keys, and I did...but god, I can't get past those bangs. Good lord, your haircut.
The fuck you gonna do about it
Most iconic synth of the 80's if not of all time.
No the Korg Poly 800 was the Beast!!!!!!
I thought its the Roland Jupiter
The Yamaha CS80 for me
@@mikkywhalan I have to say I've never seen that one being used by any synth pop legends of the 8os and early 90s
@@katakisLives just my opinion is all lol. It was used in the sing Africa and i think Billie Jean. And may be a few others
My method of quick and dirty programming was to find a patch close as possible to the sound I wanted. I then changed things like the feedback amount, or changed the algorithm (there are 32) . I came up with a lot of good sounds just exploring changing numbers and listening to the results.
Similar to you, I didn't have the bucks to buy a Korg M1 back in its heyday, so several years ago I bought one, and although it was nice to be able to afford something that I couldn't afford when I was much younger, I ended up selling it for about what I paid for it because of its inherent limitations when emulating today's synth sounds for cover tunes.
But, then I bought the Korg iM1 for my iPad and it's insane. I also purchased ALL of the M1 downloadable cards plus all the Korg T1 downloadable cards as well. It's an incredible, exhaustive collection of programs and combis for a very cheap price and they all sound great and true to the original sounds (see RUclips videos of folks comparing the iM1 patches to the original ones).
And, like one of the posters mentioned below, I also bought the Arturia V Collection 6, which now contains a DX7 and it's pretty sick. I now don't feel like I missed out on buying a DX7 back in its heyday day as well.
But, thanks for posting this video. It's nice that you found such a great deal on a DX7 and fixed her up like new.
I had a Kawai K1 back in the day. Used to play with the DX7 in keyboard shops too ;)
I love my k1m. I picked mine up in the early 2000's. I need to replace the bat and replace the power jack as the previous owner bypassed it hooked the dc cable directly to the postive and the ground shild from heck.
Kawai k1 rocks ...still got my k4 ....love em'
I purchased one in 2022. Why? Because I wanted one.
Congratulations Man!!! Never is too late to meke your dreams true.
My first ever synth! Great memories! Had it new back in the day. Wish I kept it. I even had the breath controller! Think I ended up putting it in towards Korg M1? Cant recall now but I miss it! Great vid!
Great video. Great synth. I love the hair cut and green shirt!
I had mine resurrected from its ashes a few weeks ago by a very competent technician. I bought it hardly used in 1992 and it's been my main MIDI controller ever since. I just love its design: it was so modern looking in its time... I dreamt of having one since I was a teenager and it was completely out of reach back then. But then I was able to pick up a TX 816 for a very reasonable price in 1994 and even though I don't use a lot of FM sounds in my productions, the DX/TX tandem is a real killer and it is among my prizest possessions!
Wow, virtually every single sound you played I recognize from Depeche Mode songs! Some of those just give me chills.
They're actually not that complicated to program. The battery in mine is dead and I'm not confident enough with a soldering iron to put a new one in. I lucked out and mine came with a cartridge, but other than the electric piano and a string patch I use programmed patches exclusively.
All you have to do is read the algorithm diagrams printed on the case itself. The audible operators are at the bottom and the ones with lines running to an audible op modulate it. Some of the modulators have ops running into them that modulate the modulator.
Play around with different types of algorithms (3 audible with one modulator each, modulators with modulators running through them, etc.) and see how the levels impact the sound. Once you get a feel for that you can move on to the EG, which is just your basic ADSR, only per op instead of overall. The rates work like a standard ADSR and the levels are just the volume of the op at each stage, so it actually gives you more control than the ADSR settings you'd find on a standard analog synth.
Basically if you spend a few hours messing around with it you'll reach a point where all you have to do is think of a sound and you can dial it up just as fast as you can navigate the menus.
IT guy. That explains why you referred to the firmware as the BIOS ,Ha. Much respect for you and thanks for sharing.
Im 22 years old and i play the DX7II yall. One of my favorites synths. The sounds i use are fulltines, DX tine and many more. Great keyboard. Midi controlling? Its ok
Liked because of the XR-18, I use it as well and love it!
im pleased to say, that as i allso love the dx7 , that my kronos 2 has a dx7 engine in it and can load original standered dx7 banks of patches, so i have loaded in 3 banks, including the original factory patches, of patches allready. i downloaded to usb around 200 banks all for free off the internet. great instrament/sounds
I saw the title of the video and I instinctively thought to myself, “Why the fuck not?”
I picked one of these up a few years back with 5 or 6 cartridges. It's pretty nice. A little noise in the signal but some of the sounds are lush. I mostly use it for bass sounds.
Ironically as its 16 voice poly
Everyone made fun of me for getting my DX7. It's modded, though I don't know what the mod does (has a knob next to the volume slider but it doesn't seem to do anything), the battery is dead, but it came with a cartridge so I got it, a stand, and a gig case that needs to be restored for $200. I never thought I'd see one of those things in person, let alone own one.
Also, I take it to church on special occasions and the Takeoff patch comes in very handy. We have 5th Sunday singings where we have our standard service, then a dinner, followed by one to three hours of basically "open mic." I run the synth through the church's sound system, then when it's time to start I crank up the volume and hit a chord on Takeoff. The first time everyone just came in from the fellowship hall to see what was going on. Now it's the standard signal.
so there is the two sliders and a knob next to the volume off to the left?
Thats crazy its made out of metal they probably had to drill through the controle pannel somehow.
Or maybe someone tried to circuit bend it?
@@coolelectronics1759 Fortunately they didn't succeed. I had to take the battery out because it was causing issues. Whatever the knob was hooked up to, some kind of integrated circuit with something I can't identify because of the epoxy covering it between the knob and IC, was just dangling in it by a ribbon cable. Doesn't look like they even tried hooking it up to anything inside.
@@possumridgeentertainment4614 sounds like some kind of scary botched job. So I take it you just run it off the cartredge rom then.
I am surprised the synth works without the batery, I thought it also was what was in charge of keeping the global fundamental setttings data like the master tuning, pitch and mod range etc.
@@coolelectronics1759 I only use two sounds off of the cartridge. The strings patch and the "One More Night" piano are the only ones I find useful. Everything else I make from scratch.
It's a bit of a pain without the battery. I have to tune it every time I turn it on, set the pitch bend range, turn on the mod and aftertouch functions, I can't save patches so I have to maintain a database that I update every time I come up with something I like (tried using Dexed, but no matter which tutorial I follow I can't get it to transfer sysex data. I think the issue is that I'm going through an external USB sound card), basically setup takes a while.
It's still my prized possession, though, and I was almost in tears when I turned it on and it kept making weird noises. I was relieved when I found out it was as simple as removing the botched battery replacement.
You're a man after my own heart, sir! I have that Model 100 that you present in the intro as well! Unfortunately I can't get mine to work anymore but still... I have great memories of going to Service Merchandise as a little kid and playing with the keyboards on display - nothing as fabulous as the DX7 here of course, but a lot of Casios. Even still - I totally resonate with your sense of nostalgia and I'm returning to these retro sounds. Like breakdancing music, for example - I could have cared less for it in my early teens when it was popular, but now it's dope! You should check out the Korg Volca series if you haven't already. The Volca FM pretty much is a DX7 - especially with a nice MIDI controller for the right tactile feel.
finally another dx-7 user to learn from
I love your enthusiasm for a classic keyboard!
FM synthesis was brilliant and yamaha got the recipe to make a classic. It came out the same time as the Roland D50. They were such good times. I just wish I brought a TR 808 and TR 909 back then because they were dirt cheap.
I still hope my dream comes true one day ... a Dx7
Thanks for the handy info here. I've been thinking about perhaps purchasing an old DX7... I love all those great '80s sounds! I didn't realize the DX7 was such a heavy keyboard. I have a serious spine condition...maybe I should opt for a Yamaha TX-7 instead (?).
You could consider a Yamaha Reface DX, it is small and light. But it has mini-keys and not as powerful as the DX7 6 operators. But it does have built in effects.
I got it on my Yamaha montage
@@garyleaver3714 It's debatable that it's less powerful. It has fewer operators but there is feedback for all of them. Plus the effects.
@@lumer2b Yeah I have one, It can do some very complex sounds. People keep complaining that it only has 4 Operators, however I think your right It might be just as powerful as a 6 Operator FM synth.
I did buy a couple of the DX7 products when they were first out back in those days. Had the Orig DX7 and the DX&-II Synths. Yes they were both around the 2000 dollar price range. At the time they were awesome products and fun to play, then came along the Roland-D50 products as a competitor. I dont have the DX7's anymore, but do still have a bigger brother which is the Yamaha SY99 Synth. All were FM synthesis type Synths
I do notice now the difference between sampled synths and the FM synths. Where the sounds are better in just a certain key range of the DX7 or SY99. Outside of that small range on the keys, the sounds begin to sound weak. Sampled keyboards make up for the entire keyboard by having true samples across entire range of the keyboard.
I was a Yamaha user and supporter of allot of their products back in those original days of FM synthesis.
Great video, at some point I had the 802 module which actually had an excellent display, the TX81 had an killer chase function and 4 operators
Yeh 4 operators was easier to program, the TX802 was not but it had all sorts of output possibilities, tnx for the presentation, brings back memories
When you are of a certain age (i was 20 at the time) when it came out only one synth will do, the dx7.
I have got a mk1 too, and i love it,
Update: My DX7 arrived yesterday. Absolutely love it. It was on my bucket list too
For $160, it makes sense to buy one. But for practical purposes, Dexed (for free) or the new Arturia DX7V are really more practical and easier to program. The Arturia one has a lot of added features also.
I have the Dexed and have been playing with it. I am a tactile player. Also a collector, of sorts any way. (as long as my wife and kids will allow)
As for the tactile bit, of course you can map any VST to your MIDI controller and get as many physical controls as you want. In fact, many MIDI controllers are much more "tactile" than the DX7, which was notoriously short on controls. For the collecting part, I completely sympathize, having at least 20 instruments or more myself. The thing is, when I collect, I try to get instruments that are unique and have capabilities that can't easily be duplicated. For example, my FM instruments are the (Yamaha) TG77, SY99, FS1R and Montage8. Those are the four most powerful FM instruments that Yamaha ever made and none of them can be replaced easily by a VST. So I have a good reason for wanting to have the physical units. The DX7 is historically important, but musically, it is easily replaceable.
It's not the same.
@@klaassiersma4892 There are a few possible areas of difference, notably in the 12-bit DACs which give the original a slightly gritty sound (the DX7-II made them 16-bit). But many VSTs such as Arturia will emulate this and even let you specify the bit depth. As for the basic architecture, a 6-op, sine-wave FM synth is pretty standard now and easy to emulate in software. Unlike an analog synth, digital synth emulations are usually very close to the original, since the original was just running software on a (dedicated) computer also.
@geoffk777 you are largely right, 12 bit makes it a bit fuzzyer than 16 bit, but the diverance lies in the analog part of the dac.
That's why i prefer the mk1 dx7 over the 2's they just sound much warmer.
The DX7 is one of the most versatile synthesizers ever made. I bought one last year as well (2017) for $300. I opted for the original DX7 over the more advanced and cleaner-sounding DX7 II. The original DX7 from 1983 sounds much more raw and dirty and has a subtle warmth the later DX/TX models lacked. I personally love programming sounds on it, and there are a bunch of software editors that make it very easy. I grew up using Yamaha FM synthesis: the first Synth I used when I was a teenager when I started making electronic music back in 1993 was a Yamaha DX100, so I am totally used to programming these things. I get that they are intimidating/off-putting for young kids used to analog synths with knobs, everything on the DX7 is done via buttons and the little calculator display. It's surprisingly not as complicated as it seems. It's all basic math. Granted, I mostly produce noisy sounds which are easy to make- Great for Industrial/EBM musik, but anyone can create cool sounds on the DX7. It's one of the best synths for the money, both when it came out and today as well (they sell regularly for $150-$300). There are tons and tons of free sounds available on the net. At stated in the video, the patches are TINY files, and you can literally find bundles (rar or zip files) with thousands of sounds that are a only few megabytes in size.
Things have changed quite a bit since then. I didn't get into synths until the mid to late 80s back in college, but from what I understand, if you had $2000 back in 1982, you simply couldn't get a synth which could: change between 2 dozen patches at the push of a button; (most likely) play multiple notes at the same time; change timbre depending on how hard/fast you played the keys; make pleasant bell-like sounds (ring modulation sounds grungy compared to FM); chain together with another synth as master/slave for layering. Then the DX7 came out, with all these features.
Anybody know of another synth before the DX7 in its price range that had even half of those features?
Of course, sampling and other digital synthesis techniques exploded by the late 80s, but nobody had seen anything like these when they came out.
Price not with standing, I think the Fairlight was the closest in the way it could sound. However for the cost, I think the DX7 was the first in the affordable market for digital synths. At least as far as I have been able to find. It would not suprise me if there was a home made synth that someone made that was before the DX. However to market... I think the DX has the title.
This is my first DX, so I am still learning the techniques. It has been fun trying to get what I want from it.
Have a great day. :)
Challenge accepted. The cheaper 49 key non-MIDI Yamaha CE-25 preset synth preceded the DX7, and had 20 typical 4-op FM sounds including bells. Velocity and aftertouch response were adjustable via sliders, and it had symphonic chorus, unlike the effectless DX/TX series.
@xp50player - OK, then.
Never heard of it before, but found some more details: synthmuseum.com/yamaha/yamce2001.html
No MIDI for chaining, but did in fact nail the other features, for about 2/3 the $2K price guess I threw in. Thanks for the info :-)
i could have bought a dx 7 ,,,,,,,i bought a casio cz5000 instead cause it had a sequencer
@@jacobbrown1690 - Nice synth. How much was the CZ-5000?
I'm glad you love your DX7. I believe Dave Bristow who programmed the presets just wanted to demonstrate what's possible with FM rather than make all the presets usable. Get yourself a TX816 rack to go with it and you'll never leave home.
Bought a FM synth to replace a stolen Juno-60 and an Alpha Juno around 1988 ish Just couldn't get on with the "clean, sterile" sound. They really need FX. I've revisited FM some 40 years later with my SY-77, and I'm really starting to appreciate it. Also, recently had a 4 op synth (V-50) with custom patches, and I was very impressed.
I saw just now your video. As you, I biught DX7(s) at low price. I found it very good. I also using Dexed vst, which can ease the way of programming DX7, and it can send patch to DX7 and from it. there are TONS of patched in the internet so discovering whole patches is a kind of a long trip
Thank you for your informative video. It was very educational 👍
I love this synth!
It was a good synth in it's day. I believe that the Digital Rhodes was the selling point for the keyboard. Some of the pads were pretty good also. Now having said that, the DX system was probably best when two or more were connected midi and each engine production part of the final sound. I had a DX7 with the TX7 module. I then sold that set up and got a deal on a DX5. I once heard the rack mount with the 8 DX7 with the 8 DX equivalent modules. fantast sound.
Never seen somebody getting out of breath playing a synth, but fair play to you fella..
Its Rico from Napolian Dynamite, trying to relive your youth
4:56 'Sounds more like an EDM thing" yup, because FM made a big comeback a few years back and is in all kinds of DubStep type tunes it's crazy. Is cool to see people exploring FM, and what can be done with that style of synthesis given a more user friendly interface. Unfortunately IMO Yamaha still has a hard time with that. Congrats on getting your dream synth as a child! Very cool! Ps, according to an inflation calculator 2k USD would have been over 5K in today's dollars. Insane!!
Love the legendary DX7 ❤️
I had it's baby cousin, the DX100 (but I can't solder very well...).
Anyway, the 4-ops weren't beautiful sounding, they were kinda nasty. But that's how we liked it :-)
Yeah, having an effects box for these REALLY helped. I had a little Alesis reverb box to downstream, and it really filled out the sound.
there are mods out for the 4op machines now.
Back in 2017 my audio class professor gifted me a yahama fb01 and I just had it modded with a batery holder for the sram batery. I was considering getting the dac mod done but Im cool with how it sounds, great for vaporwave, sega genesis-type, lofi and new jack swing r&b styles and funky punchy basses!
I like the rubbery sounding basses out of all fm synths! I even have a 2op one from 88 that I got off of craigslist it is the pss480 and I have another 4op machine called the yamaha ys200 that I got free on freecycle.
@@coolelectronics1759 yeah, I replaced the battery with a clip to hold the coin-cell. Something on the main board needs to be resoldered, as it goes on and off if the board is flexed just a bit.
Only sine waves didn't help the early 4ops. The DX11 and TX81z were way better as more waves
That unit is in desperate need of new upstop felt. The felt in that thing is probably original, and it’s definitely brittle and smashed. If you replace the upstop felt, that annoying thunk would go away when you let go of a key. It’s not a quick job, but it’s totally worth it. A re-felted DX7 is a joy to play.