Great Demo, I'm watching because I've got my DX apart rebuilding and upgrading it. I have the DX7 II-FD and paid $400 for it in 2013. It has real buttons, not membrane buttons, and many other things lacking in the basic DX7. I'll be keeping mine until I'm gone from this world. The funny thing is that I was trying to sell it for what I paid for it for a few years and got lucky that it just didn't sell. Since then I have used Dexed and the DX7 in Arturia's V-Collection. I've programmed my own sounds for my DX7 II-FD using Dexed a free VST and have realized nothing comes even close to having a real DX7. On a side note, I would recommend Arturia's Analog Lab, or V-Collection to anyone wanting to learn about vintage synths. It's a cheap way of testing out many very pricy vintage synths before buying the hardware. Peace.
In my city, there was an advertisement for the sale of the Yamaha DX7-2FD at a price of $429. I really like the unique sound of dx7, but I'm not sure if the 2FD version sounds like the first dx7 version, since 2fd used a stripped-down version of fm-synthesis. Tell me if they sound the same and if the 2fd justifies the $420 price tag? Thanks. (Sorry, I don't know English well, so I used google translator)
Great video. What can't be disputed about the DX7 is that its output signal was noisy (a very noticeable white/pink noise hiss) even at moderate volume levels. This is due to the multiplexing the single Operator chip over a million times a second and using a Digital to Analog converter that has a dynamic range scaler output that is changing at nearly the same rate. I have found a simple adjustment that takes only a few minutes to reduce the noise and not lose any high end from the output. I have a DX7 Noise Reduction video on it on my channel.
The sound cartridges (and the voices in memory out of the box - also from a sound cartridge) were designed for musicians as a starting point to make their own sounds. I heard that the Yamaha engineers were only given 10 days (back around 1983) when the DX7 first came out to develop the voices for 4 cartridges. 2 for Europe, 2 for the US. Each cartridge holds two banks of 32 voices (patches/programs). That is 256 patches total, or over 25 voices a day! For an 8 hour day, that is one voice less than every 20 minutes - from scratch. They simply didn't have time for many elegant patches, just enough for people to use it out of the box and not just put out a sine wave (a perfect flute with no overtones).
Great explanation of hacking existing presets to see how they work! I have been learning this programming since I acquiring two DC7’s this past year to use for creating sound packs for Akai MPC. I am just starting to release my soundpacks made from these and dozens of other synths.
I bought my DX7 new on 5-9-86 from Zapf’s Music in Philly. Price was $1583.50, which seemed like a fortune at the time. But it was THE synth to have. It was on everything.
I just bought a DX7 a few weeks ago. It is such a deep machine and has so much to give. Like you said, it is still relevant to this day (almost 40 years later). It's like the human brain. Mysterious but always full of cool secrets and all kinds of turns and doors to be opened. Amazing machine. I will never part with mine. It is my child hood dream synth. I was 11 when it came out.
If you have a dx7 try playing it from a controller keyboard. The experience can be quite a revelation. The built in keyboard doesn't generate the full range of MIDI note velocity so when played from a controller the sounds become more dynamic and you can push them to new places at higher note velocities.
Always loved the DX's. They're tons of fun to program and they sound HUGE live. I got one back when analog synths were starting to come back into fashion, and nobody wanted digital keyboards, so it was cheap!
I just bought an original DX7 on Ebay a few days ago. As a kid I had always wanted one. The DX7 is a legend. I can't wait to get it and start programming it. Closest I got to programming a DX7 is when I had my DX27 and TX81Z
The model in the video is of the 1983 variant, but it is a real legend of a synthesizer. Beautiful sounds can be produced with this unique FM hardware.
That's why the DX7 is still relevant today--as you dig deeper into the sound design, it just keeps going, with seemingly endless possibilities and sounds yet to be heard still lying dormant within the machine. Best of luck!
Great explanation, there are a lot of dx7 tutorials on YT but they really don't explain the system as clearly as u have done here. There's a real art to cutting through to the bare bones of something so complex and making it so easily comprehensible to a newbie like me. It's my 1st day with my dx7 🥳🥳🥳 Thanks for sharing 🙏🏾
agreed, most just repeat the same set of information. the lfo, mw, bias, and keyfollow etc are so key to making exciting and articulate sounds, I hope you are still enjoying the dx - they are amazing and misunderstood instruments. I recommend YT channels madfame and element433 for good patch building.
Algorithm 32 would be 6 unmodulated layered sine waves. But Algorithm 21 could give you 3 modulated layers. The DX7 was considered to have a relatively "thin" sound because it was just too perfect, and CPU speed/memory at the time just could not support more than 6 operators else it would drive the cost through the roof. For a fatter sound, a stereo chorus helps. The DX1 had a "fatter" sound, it was simply two DX7s in one, with a fancier interface, that can be layered on top of each other. So with Algorithm 21, that is 6 layers... not too bad. What is amazing about the DX7 is that it has 6 Operators and can play 16 polyphonic notes at once. That is 96 Operators. But the DX7 has only ONE Operator in hardware!!! The CPU multiplexs that single OPS chip - that is, up to 1.92 million times a second the OPS switches over to calculate the next instantaneous signal level for the next Operator/Key when all Operators are on and 16 notes are played at once. For 1983, that is hot sheeot!
I have never heard any of those things- usually the opposites. But then the people I know who talk about DXs are synthheads. Quite a lot of those people make their own sounds and share them in the community.
I'm an old RTFM computer guy. that means that i look into the manual if i get stuck or nowaday with PDF manuals available i read them even before buy to find shortcomings in advance. is there a possibility that the myth of the DX7 being difficult comes from the predisposition of many folks NOT reading any instruction at any time? (i got me a Korg Opsix FM synth. Relatively DX7-compatible but many great departures from it.)
Yes not reading the manual-- that's a big part of it, but also because the learning curve for these machines is extremely steep. When the DX7 was launched in the mid 80s, the general public --and music pros too--were not prepared to become the programmers that they needed to be. The math-centric manuals and programming regimen also scared a lot of people I think.
@@SynthsandGuitars Yeah, FM was a huge move from subtractive synthesis. But also, the DX1 and DX5 either more displays or a larger display to show more information, making it a bit easier to see the settings of a patch all at once. The DX7 introduced menu diving. So while many fuctions were there, they just weren't so apparant. I loved my DX7, I meant to sell it and get a DX7-II FD, but didn't get the price I was asking for, sad story.
I knew what the last myth was going to be right away. I hear the "impossible to program" myth not just with the DX7, but extending to FM synthesis in general. Even with very simple interfaces like the DX-Reface and MegaFM or softsynths like FM8 or DEXED, FM synthesis still can't shake the image of being difficult. If you hear someone these day say FM synthesis is difficult, 90% of the time it's an armchair expert who's never actually tried it.
I found it pretty easy to learn, more difficult to be truly good at - but aren't most things like that? I think it's that its not instantly gratifying - but a few patch building tutorials and you're on your way.
I've used it loads, and I love it, but it definitely is much harder to program FM sounds than it is using standard analog-style subtractive synthesis. It's much harder to get an intuitive sense of how the parameters will interact with each other than it is with a conventional signal path involving a waveform going through a filter and an envelope. The origin of the idea that the DX7 is hard to program is all the people who bought them in the 80s because of the presets and then tried actually making their own sounds and found that it was a lot harder than it was on their other synths.
I think what a lot of people would like to know is, do you still need a DX7 if you have a Montage or MODX? How about a video on that? I had a TX-7 (DX-7 table top) and don't miss it in the least with the MODX. I was able to load in all the DX-7 patches I previously used into the MODX. They sound the same to me. But a couple people say no. What is your opinion?
The newer Yamaha synths you mentioned are backward compatible. They load the old patches, but the output hardware is different - the digital to analog (sound) output is now higher resolution/fidelity. Sometimes, the older DACs add some wanted dirt to bass notes, but mostly…. I like the newer cleaner sound better. It’s subjective.
I like the old sound, and use a TX7 and TX81z edited with edisyn. But I guess it depends on what music you make and how you make it. Mine is very minimal and not very processed.
This is great! I am struggling to save my presets at the moment, could you show us how you save your preset in your internal memory once you've designed a preset you like? Thanks!
Don't fall for Ebay or Reverb prices, what people ask is far different than reality. I regularly see these for $400 and under. I paid $260 for mine and it's in really good condition. Craigslist is your friend.
From actual recent $500 DX7 for sale: "... will need a little work to be perfect. Missing a slider and has some dead keys. But otherwise is in working order. I don't have time to tinker with it so may be a quick fix for someone who does."
Wow, I got lucky. Just got mine for £100 but needed the bend wheel mechanism totally rebuilding and the sounds all rebooted. Also needed a clean. Luckily it came with manuals and two cartridges!
Yes it is confusing but here's the story--The US Market for the Yamaha DX7 came with cartridges number 3 & 4! The European and Japanese markets -- designated International Version -- got cartridges numbered 1 & 2. Further, 1/2 and 3/4 DO NOT MATCH. Some sounds from the 1/2 did not make it onto the 3/4 carts--the 1/2 carts had more Brass, Strings, Guitar Sounds. US got a Flute, Int'l got a Koto!
I think the owners manual probably caused a lot of the “it’s impossible to program” myth. I have the mk ll and as a retired graphic designer l was really thinking of re-releasing my own version but not something l want to do now.
I got my mk1 dx7 in the 200 euro era and that is the best money ever spend, they are masively under rated and under priced to this day. They are build like tank and nearly 40 years old people stil get totaly new sounds out of them.
Wasn't there something with the Watergarden patch only working as intended on the original DX7 because later models killed off the randomness of the patch due to better quality of the electronic parts?
After a while, you get faster at programing the DX7 but, the best way to program a DX7, especially back in the day, was to use the MidiQuest Editor/Librarian. MidiQuest is still being sold and is good for just about any synth you own. It's well worth using if you have a bunch of different keyboards. No matter how well you know a keyboard and how fast you are at navigating menus, you'll never compete with a visual representation of all the parameters laid out in front of you with the ability to use a mouse for a keyboard that has limited data sliders or only has 1 like the DX7 does. Today, you have a free option If you don't have a bunch of keyboards and only need something to program the DX7, use the free program Dexed. You can think of it like MIDIQuest but with an audio engine as a bonus. It's like having a 2nd DX7.
Anyone here ever heard of Kurzweil & V.A.S.T. ? DX7 is great & all but it can't hold a candle to them pair FM with those things (plus KDFX) and u really got something truly infinite folks.
What about the myth that the DX7 uses true frequency modulation? (It uses quadrature modulation, although the result is the same if the waveforms are sine waves.
DX7 (and all the rest of FM synths) uses in reality a phase modulation. It gives the same spectrum as the "real" frequency modulation but it is much easier to compute (you don't need to rescale anything when the frequecy changes) and this was even more important in 1983
Anyone who says this is impossible to program has never done an honest day's work of programming a digital synth. Jokes aside, lots of people don't get along with digital synth programming, but impossible? Nah.
DX7's are dirt cheap dumpster dives compared to analog icons like the Minimoog Model D, Juno-106, Jupiter 8 and Prophet 5 which usually start around $5,000. I got my DX7 in 2008 for $300. I just bought a Hypersynth Hcard-701 (equal to 400 memory cards) for $199, almost the value of the synth itself.
Juno-106 was $500 in 2008. They were fetching $800 in 2014. It's only recent boom that's inflated them. I know people who bought them for $300 and one guy only paid a few grand for a Jupiter 8.
I had 2 of those ! no more ! one i gave to a friend s kid and the other one i laft behind in Edmonton AB but it s ok i just bought my friend s Korg BX3 1979 ! best Analog clone wheel organ that came after Hammond B3 quit production in 1975 ! 🤓
The DX7 SUCKS 1-It’s digital cold and brittle 2-It’s old outdated technology 3-Can’t compare to new synths 4-It’s an ugly old brown keyboard 5-It doesn’t do analog 6-It’s too heavy 7-It has no real pianos 8-Sounds like a cheesy 80’s Casio 9-It’s too limited 10-Only 32 sounds 11-No sequencer 12-No arpeggiator 13-Not a real Rhodes like the Fender 14-It’s overused 80’s crap 15-The Roland D-50 killed it 16-The Korg M1 killed it So they say....... But I will NEVER EVER TRADE OR SELL MY YAMAHA DX7 as there’s nothing else like it
I agree with all of the arguments...but anyone who came up with the #8 argument must've had a really bad pair of ears... But kudos to you for never selling your DX7. I've never had one personally but an idea of having one is a dream.
Number 5 4 and 3 is all programming tricks. If you take these as actual features of the instruments, no it's not possible. The "feature" to split or layer the keyboard like how you define these functions is not in the machine, or add effects as there isn't a built in effect processor. I would call these "Myth's" busted of yours a cheat sheat how to make it seam it is actual possible. I'ts not the same to use one or more of the carriers to make different sounds and put a keyscaling on them to create the effect of splitting or layering sounds, as you don't have the full amount of the operators available to each sound to make each sound as "big" as possible. The FM synthese is ground breaking for the time it was released, and if we have had the power of a 2021 computer chip back then you could have made computer models to imitate real instruments quite well for a synthesizer, if people had the money to buy a TX816 and a computer of the size of a warehouse back then would be crunching numbers for weeks just to make 1 realistic sounding sound like the 8 part Piano sound of the TX816. FM is kind of the mother of all Physical modelling. As for a general synth of the 1984, I still find the DX7 "interesting" with some really nice sounds, but generally "thin" sounding ootb without a chorus/Flanger box and reverb unit. There were really many other analog and hybrid Digital/analog filter synths that sounds way bigger then a single DX7 even you add a chorus pedal to it. That doesn't change that it still is one of the most iconic synths ever tho. One synth especiall that got totally missed by most people, cause the DX7 stole all the hype was the Korg DW8000 wich really is a gem as it as one of the first synths had build in delay/chorus and its analog filtering make it a perfect synth that could produce bell like voices almost as good as the DX7 but had a much bigger "sound" and was able to go toe to toe with both Oberheim and the mighty Jupiter 8 in those phat analog strings and brass sounds
Va voir un psychologue on n est pas pas la pour faire ya psychanalise.Tu napporte rien et tu nous fais perdre notre temps. Si tu t ennuis parle avec ton poisson rouge. INSIPIDE.
@@SynthsandGuitars En effet. Se prendre pour quelqu un qu on est pas relevé de la psychose. Je ne me prend pas pour Freud ni pour Lacan. Je peux pardonner que la démo que vous faite n est pas fondamentale dans le sens où on ne sort pas des sentiers battus. Mais ce que je n accepte pas c est les longs discours. Je vous rassure vous n êtes pas le seul. Je vous dit que si vous avez que si vous avez fait preuve de courage pour me tenir tête. Donnez vous les moyens de faire un truc hors norme passionnant capable de succube toute mon attention. HA! Pour information les pères de la synthèse FM sont français ils viennent de l IRCAM et du CEMAMU.
@@flapachat8051 Le père de la synthèse FM est largement connu sous le nom de John Chowning, qui est un Américain. Mais vous êtes également pardonné. J'essaierai de faire mieux sur ma prochaine vidéo.
Great Demo, I'm watching because I've got my DX apart rebuilding and upgrading it. I have the DX7 II-FD and paid $400 for it in 2013. It has real buttons, not membrane buttons, and many other things lacking in the basic DX7. I'll be keeping mine until I'm gone from this world. The funny thing is that I was trying to sell it for what I paid for it for a few years and got lucky that it just didn't sell. Since then I have used Dexed and the DX7 in Arturia's V-Collection. I've programmed my own sounds for my DX7 II-FD using Dexed a free VST and have realized nothing comes even close to having a real DX7. On a side note, I would recommend Arturia's Analog Lab, or V-Collection to anyone wanting to learn about vintage synths. It's a cheap way of testing out many very pricy vintage synths before buying the hardware. Peace.
You’re a hero to us all
You are an amazing individual. Let's collaborate!!
Czech out the new Yamaha Reface DX... It's similar to the DX-21 or DX-100... 4 operators, easy to program, sounds great, and easy to carry!
In my city, there was an advertisement for the sale of the Yamaha DX7-2FD at a price of $429. I really like the unique sound of dx7, but I'm not sure if the 2FD version sounds like the first dx7 version, since 2fd used a stripped-down version of fm-synthesis. Tell me if they sound the same and if the 2fd justifies the $420 price tag? Thanks. (Sorry, I don't know English well, so I used google translator)
@@Maxat_Ospanov DX7-IIFD used the same standard of FM synthesis, but improved.
Great video. What can't be disputed about the DX7 is that its output signal was noisy (a very noticeable white/pink noise hiss) even at moderate volume levels. This is due to the multiplexing the single Operator chip over a million times a second and using a Digital to Analog converter that has a dynamic range scaler output that is changing at nearly the same rate. I have found a simple adjustment that takes only a few minutes to reduce the noise and not lose any high end from the output. I have a DX7 Noise Reduction video on it on my channel.
The sound cartridges (and the voices in memory out of the box - also from a sound cartridge) were designed for musicians as a starting point to make their own sounds. I heard that the Yamaha engineers were only given 10 days (back around 1983) when the DX7 first came out to develop the voices for 4 cartridges. 2 for Europe, 2 for the US. Each cartridge holds two banks of 32 voices (patches/programs). That is 256 patches total, or over 25 voices a day! For an 8 hour day, that is one voice less than every 20 minutes - from scratch. They simply didn't have time for many elegant patches, just enough for people to use it out of the box and not just put out a sine wave (a perfect flute with no overtones).
Great explanation of hacking existing presets to see how they work! I have been learning this programming since I acquiring two DC7’s this past year to use for creating sound packs for Akai MPC. I am just starting to release my soundpacks made from these and dozens of other synths.
I bought my DX7 new on 5-9-86 from Zapf’s Music in Philly. Price was $1583.50, which seemed like a fortune at the time. But it was THE synth to have. It was on everything.
I just bought a DX7 a few weeks ago. It is such a deep machine and has so much to give. Like you said, it is still relevant to this day (almost 40 years later). It's like the human brain. Mysterious but always full of cool secrets and all kinds of turns and doors to be opened. Amazing machine. I will never part with mine. It is my child hood dream synth. I was 11 when it came out.
If you have a dx7 try playing it from a controller keyboard. The experience can be quite a revelation. The built in keyboard doesn't generate the full range of MIDI note velocity so when played from a controller the sounds become more dynamic and you can push them to new places at higher note velocities.
I will definitely be giving this a try!
Great tip. I think that's the benefit of the rackmount version tx81z
@@ET2carbon I just bought one of these. I've spent the weekend playing with it - really good fun and full of nostalgia for me.
Always loved the DX's. They're tons of fun to program and they sound HUGE live. I got one back when analog synths were starting to come back into fashion, and nobody wanted digital keyboards, so it was cheap!
I just bought an original DX7 on Ebay a few days ago. As a kid I had always wanted one. The DX7 is a legend. I can't wait to get it and start programming it. Closest I got to programming a DX7 is when I had my DX27 and TX81Z
The model in the video is of the 1983 variant, but it is a real legend of a synthesizer. Beautiful sounds can be produced with this unique FM hardware.
yup, the sound is superior to vsts - especially when programming
Cool sounds! I need to dig a bit deeper into my DX7
That's why the DX7 is still relevant today--as you dig deeper into the sound design, it just keeps going, with seemingly endless possibilities and sounds yet to be heard still lying dormant within the machine. Best of luck!
Great explanation, there are a lot of dx7 tutorials on YT but they really don't explain the system as clearly as u have done here. There's a real art to cutting through to the bare bones of something so complex and making it so easily comprehensible to a newbie like me. It's my 1st day with my dx7 🥳🥳🥳 Thanks for sharing 🙏🏾
Hey that's awesome, glad the video is helping you with your DX!!!! Best of luck with it!!!
agreed, most just repeat the same set of information. the lfo, mw, bias, and keyfollow etc are so key to making exciting and articulate sounds, I hope you are still enjoying the dx - they are amazing and misunderstood instruments. I recommend YT channels madfame and element433 for good patch building.
Lovely synth. I have one and will never sell it!. And I have a Montage also, but the DX7 is the real thing
Jose, I agree completely. I have a DX-7 mk1 and a DX-7iiFD and I too will never part with them!
It sure is. The DX7 is what started it all. I own one too and I love it. I will never part with it.
Not sure if one can call a sound build from a branched algorithm a Layer sound...
I'd call it layered sine waves. ;)
It's debatable. If a DX7 was your only synth in the 80s you'd be telling everyone it was a layered sound.
Algorithm 32 would be 6 unmodulated layered sine waves. But Algorithm 21 could give you 3 modulated layers. The DX7 was considered to have a relatively "thin" sound because it was just too perfect, and CPU speed/memory at the time just could not support more than 6 operators else it would drive the cost through the roof. For a fatter sound, a stereo chorus helps. The DX1 had a "fatter" sound, it was simply two DX7s in one, with a fancier interface, that can be layered on top of each other. So with Algorithm 21, that is 6 layers... not too bad.
What is amazing about the DX7 is that it has 6 Operators and can play 16 polyphonic notes at once. That is 96 Operators. But the DX7 has only ONE Operator in hardware!!! The CPU multiplexs that single OPS chip - that is, up to 1.92 million times a second the OPS switches over to calculate the next instantaneous signal level for the next Operator/Key when all Operators are on and 16 notes are played at once. For 1983, that is hot sheeot!
I have never heard any of those things- usually the opposites. But then the people I know who talk about DXs are synthheads. Quite a lot of those people make their own sounds and share them in the community.
I'm an old RTFM computer guy. that means that i look into the manual if i get stuck or nowaday with PDF manuals available i read them even before buy to find shortcomings in advance.
is there a possibility that the myth of the DX7 being difficult comes from the predisposition of many folks NOT reading any instruction at any time?
(i got me a Korg Opsix FM synth. Relatively DX7-compatible but many great departures from it.)
Yes not reading the manual-- that's a big part of it, but also because the learning curve for these machines is extremely steep. When the DX7 was launched in the mid 80s, the general public --and music pros too--were not prepared to become the programmers that they needed to be. The math-centric manuals and programming regimen also scared a lot of people I think.
@@SynthsandGuitars Yeah, FM was a huge move from subtractive synthesis. But also, the DX1 and DX5 either more displays or a larger display to show more information, making it a bit easier to see the settings of a patch all at once. The DX7 introduced menu diving. So while many fuctions were there, they just weren't so apparant. I loved my DX7, I meant to sell it and get a DX7-II FD, but didn't get the price I was asking for, sad story.
I knew what the last myth was going to be right away.
I hear the "impossible to program" myth not just with the DX7, but extending to FM synthesis in general. Even with very simple interfaces like the DX-Reface and MegaFM or softsynths like FM8 or DEXED, FM synthesis still can't shake the image of being difficult.
If you hear someone these day say FM synthesis is difficult, 90% of the time it's an armchair expert who's never actually tried it.
I found it pretty easy to learn, more difficult to be truly good at - but aren't most things like that? I think it's that its not instantly gratifying - but a few patch building tutorials and you're on your way.
I've used it loads, and I love it, but it definitely is much harder to program FM sounds than it is using standard analog-style subtractive synthesis. It's much harder to get an intuitive sense of how the parameters will interact with each other than it is with a conventional signal path involving a waveform going through a filter and an envelope.
The origin of the idea that the DX7 is hard to program is all the people who bought them in the 80s because of the presets and then tried actually making their own sounds and found that it was a lot harder than it was on their other synths.
I got mine last winter. I love that thing. I have a TX7 module that I pair with it. You can get a pseudo chorus effect when you program them right.
I think what a lot of people would like to know is, do you still need a DX7 if you have a Montage or MODX? How about a video on that?
I had a TX-7 (DX-7 table top) and don't miss it in the least with the MODX. I was able to load in all the DX-7 patches I previously used into the MODX. They sound the same to me. But a couple people say no. What is your opinion?
The newer Yamaha synths you mentioned are backward compatible. They load the old patches, but the output hardware is different - the digital to analog (sound) output is now higher resolution/fidelity.
Sometimes, the older DACs add some wanted dirt to bass notes, but mostly…. I like the newer cleaner sound better. It’s subjective.
I like the old sound, and use a TX7 and TX81z edited with edisyn. But I guess it depends on what music you make and how you make it. Mine is very minimal and not very processed.
This is great! I am struggling to save my presets at the moment, could you show us how you save your preset in your internal memory once you've designed a preset you like? Thanks!
Don't fall for Ebay or Reverb prices, what people ask is far different than reality. I regularly see these for $400 and under. I paid $260 for mine and it's in really good condition. Craigslist is your friend.
From actual recent $500 DX7 for sale: "... will need a little work to be perfect. Missing a slider and has some dead keys. But otherwise is in working order. I don't have time to tinker with it so may be a quick fix for someone who does."
Damn wish I saw this!
Wow, I got lucky. Just got mine for £100 but needed the bend wheel mechanism totally rebuilding and the sounds all rebooted. Also needed a clean. Luckily it came with manuals and two cartridges!
Just before the pandemic, I bought a DX7 FDII and Roland D-50 from a guy locally for £500 in total.
Could you do a tutorial on how to do the split keyboard myth? Not using the cartidges with the already set patches, but like actually programming it?
Great video! I love the DX7 so much!
Can you explain why the cartridges are numbered the way they are?
Yes it is confusing but here's the story--The US Market for the Yamaha DX7 came with cartridges number 3 & 4! The European and Japanese markets -- designated International Version -- got cartridges numbered 1 & 2. Further, 1/2 and 3/4 DO NOT MATCH. Some sounds from the 1/2 did not make it onto the 3/4 carts--the 1/2 carts had more Brass, Strings, Guitar Sounds. US got a Flute, Int'l got a Koto!
Love the DX7 ❤️
Cool video! Whats the name of the classical piece you play at 3.30?
At that timestamp I'm playing a little riff on Bach's Prelude 1 from Well Tempered Clavier. Thanks for listening!
Bells and whistles.Cannot imagine what genre of song youd use that
I think the owners manual probably caused a lot of the “it’s impossible to program” myth. I have the mk ll and as a retired graphic designer l was really thinking of re-releasing my own version but not something l want to do now.
I got my mk1 dx7 in the 200 euro era and that is the best money ever spend, they are masively under rated and under priced to this day.
They are build like tank and nearly 40 years old people stil get totaly new sounds out of them.
Wasn't there something with the Watergarden patch only working as intended on the original DX7 because later models killed off the randomness of the patch due to better quality of the electronic parts?
After a while, you get faster at programing the DX7 but, the best way to program a DX7, especially back in the day, was to use the MidiQuest Editor/Librarian. MidiQuest is still being sold and is good for just about any synth you own. It's well worth using if you have a bunch of different keyboards. No matter how well you know a keyboard and how fast you are at navigating menus, you'll never compete with a visual representation of all the parameters laid out in front of you with the ability to use a mouse for a keyboard that has limited data sliders or only has 1 like the DX7 does. Today, you have a free option If you don't have a bunch of keyboards and only need something to program the DX7, use the free program Dexed. You can think of it like MIDIQuest but with an audio engine as a bonus. It's like having a 2nd DX7.
I have a stock DX7 II FD.
Anyone here ever heard of Kurzweil & V.A.S.T. ? DX7 is great & all but it can't hold a candle to them pair FM with those things (plus KDFX) and u really got something truly infinite folks.
What about the myth that the DX7 uses true frequency modulation? (It uses quadrature modulation, although the result is the same if the waveforms are sine waves.
DX7 (and all the rest of FM synths) uses in reality a phase modulation. It gives the same spectrum as the "real" frequency modulation but it is much easier to compute (you don't need to rescale anything when the frequecy changes) and this was even more important in 1983
Anyone saying the DX7 is impossible to program is like 30 years late to do that claim
Anyone who says this is impossible to program has never done an honest day's work of programming a digital synth.
Jokes aside, lots of people don't get along with digital synth programming, but impossible? Nah.
It's fun for me to program. Is it a challenge? sometimes but challenge accepted!
That's because subtractive is easy. People think the dx7 sounds cold, and the Oberhiem obx is warm.
Muito bom o vídeo! Sou programador de DX7 e gostei de seu video.
DX7's are dirt cheap dumpster dives compared to analog icons like the Minimoog Model D, Juno-106, Jupiter 8 and Prophet 5 which usually start around $5,000. I got my DX7 in 2008 for $300. I just bought a Hypersynth Hcard-701 (equal to 400 memory cards) for $199, almost the value of the synth itself.
Juno-106 was $500 in 2008. They were fetching $800 in 2014. It's only recent boom that's inflated them. I know people who bought them for $300 and one guy only paid a few grand for a Jupiter 8.
Nothing it's better or worst.... everything depends on the song and the arrangement you are looking for....😅
The DX7 was actually released in 1983
❤
I had 2 of those ! no more ! one i gave to a friend s kid and the other one i laft behind in Edmonton AB but it s ok i just bought my friend s Korg BX3 1979 ! best Analog clone wheel organ that came after Hammond B3 quit production in 1975 ! 🤓
The Yamaha DX7 got made in 1983 and released in 1983-1990.
Discontinued in 1989, actually, but kept alive via the SY77.
J aurais aimé avoir ça en français
The DX7 SUCKS
1-It’s digital cold and brittle
2-It’s old outdated technology
3-Can’t compare to new synths
4-It’s an ugly old brown keyboard
5-It doesn’t do analog
6-It’s too heavy
7-It has no real pianos
8-Sounds like a cheesy 80’s Casio
9-It’s too limited
10-Only 32 sounds
11-No sequencer
12-No arpeggiator
13-Not a real Rhodes like the Fender
14-It’s overused 80’s crap
15-The Roland D-50 killed it
16-The Korg M1 killed it
So they say.......
But I will NEVER EVER TRADE OR SELL MY YAMAHA DX7 as there’s nothing else like it
I agree with all of the arguments...but anyone who came up with the #8 argument must've had a really bad pair of ears...
But kudos to you for never selling your DX7. I've never had one personally but an idea of having one is a dream.
@@subwaygaragemusic
I’m on my 7th DX7 (currently have two)
I’m on EBay as we speak bidding on another one cuz it’s in near mind condition
Find one!
@@pennywiser9607 I'll sure do if one pops up with price that's a steal.
I love his brown color!
The brown is beautiful!!!
Number 5 4 and 3 is all programming tricks. If you take these as actual features of the instruments, no it's not possible. The "feature" to split or layer the keyboard like how you define these functions is not in the machine, or add effects as there isn't a built in effect processor. I would call these "Myth's" busted of yours a cheat sheat how to make it seam it is actual possible. I'ts not the same to use one or more of the carriers to make different sounds and put a keyscaling on them to create the effect of splitting or layering sounds, as you don't have the full amount of the operators available to each sound to make each sound as "big" as possible.
The FM synthese is ground breaking for the time it was released, and if we have had the power of a 2021 computer chip back then you could have made computer models to imitate real instruments quite well for a synthesizer, if people had the money to buy a TX816 and a computer of the size of a warehouse back then would be crunching numbers for weeks just to make 1 realistic sounding sound like the 8 part Piano sound of the TX816. FM is kind of the mother of all Physical modelling.
As for a general synth of the 1984, I still find the DX7 "interesting" with some really nice sounds, but generally "thin" sounding ootb without a chorus/Flanger box and reverb unit. There were really many other analog and hybrid Digital/analog filter synths that sounds way bigger then a single DX7 even you add a chorus pedal to it. That doesn't change that it still is one of the most iconic synths ever tho.
One synth especiall that got totally missed by most people, cause the DX7 stole all the hype was the Korg DW8000 wich really is a gem as it as one of the first synths had build in delay/chorus and its analog filtering make it a perfect synth that could produce bell like voices almost as good as the DX7 but had a much bigger "sound" and was able to go toe to toe with both Oberheim and the mighty Jupiter 8 in those phat analog strings and brass sounds
i am especially not subscribing because of that abomination of a "subscribe" clip at the beginning
Va voir un psychologue on n est pas pas la pour faire ya psychanalise.Tu napporte rien et tu nous fais perdre notre temps. Si tu t ennuis parle avec ton poisson rouge. INSIPIDE.
Vous êtes clairement Sigmund Freud avec un tel commentaire. Te sens-tu mieux maintenant??? Je dirais que vous avez des problèmes de colère.
@@SynthsandGuitars En effet. Se prendre pour quelqu un qu on est pas relevé de la psychose.
Je ne me prend pas pour Freud ni pour Lacan. Je peux pardonner que la démo que vous faite n est pas fondamentale dans le sens où on ne sort pas des sentiers battus.
Mais ce que je n accepte pas c est les longs discours. Je vous rassure vous n êtes pas le seul.
Je vous dit que si vous avez que si vous avez fait preuve de courage pour me tenir tête. Donnez vous les moyens de faire un truc hors norme passionnant capable de succube toute mon attention.
HA! Pour information les pères de la synthèse FM sont français ils viennent de l IRCAM et du CEMAMU.
J ai oublié le GRM. XENAKIS du CEMAMU me présentera Pierre Henry du GRM.
Voilà les fondateurs de la FM avec plein de autres don j ai oublié le nom.
@@flapachat8051 Le père de la synthèse FM est largement connu sous le nom de John Chowning, qui est un Américain. Mais vous êtes également pardonné. J'essaierai de faire mieux sur ma prochaine vidéo.
@@SynthsandGuitars Merci pour votre fairplay.
Are DX7 cartridgrs still available .???
Yeah 60-100 on eBay