When I was in high school(85-89),my classmates were dreaming about their first car.i was dreaming about my first synth.

@crazyspeedyjoe

3 жыл бұрын

and when did u get it¿

@adamsmashups4839

3 жыл бұрын

@@crazyspeedyjoe Well if we can call the Casio SK1 a synth,than it was,if I remember correctly,early 1988.

You are SO REAL! Your love of this instrument is apparent. Thank you, Buddy!

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.

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.

@xp50player

6 жыл бұрын

Yeah! Take my money!

@liammay7756

6 жыл бұрын

where is a good place to start learning FM?

@SpiderInStockings

6 жыл бұрын

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.

@StefanoPapaleo-TS

6 жыл бұрын

Power DX7's tutorials. Extremely detailed and made by a guy who loves his instrument.

@user-sq5xv6dr1v

6 жыл бұрын

Lucky you. I've been writing programming code whole my life long. Finally, want to program something really interesting like DX7.

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.

Next up.. Jupiter 8 for 50.00... sold by a church who's pianist hated all the knobs and synth sounds...

@bobthesalesclerk

4 жыл бұрын

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.

@bobthesalesclerk

4 жыл бұрын

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

@synthartist69

3 жыл бұрын

@@bobthesalesclerk More than likely just needed the battery.. yes.. ugh

@rachelar

Жыл бұрын

Sounds like one of my anecdotes

@rachelar

Жыл бұрын

​@@bobthesalesclerkthen why

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.

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 !

So happy your childhood dream came true...you deserve it!!!

Short answer... CAUSE ITS A FREAKING DX7!!!!

@rainbowrotcod

5 жыл бұрын

yes of course

@vjun007

4 жыл бұрын

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. ☺😌💓

@someguystudios23

4 жыл бұрын

Hell yeah!

@doutorpacheco

4 жыл бұрын

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 demonstration and breakdown of the functionality and tips when for online purchasing. Thanks man!

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!

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.

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.

@citizennerd3976

6 жыл бұрын

Loving it. I have been using it with mainstage (mixed). Using the e-piano (DX7) and pads (mainstage) together. Love it....

@powerdx7383

6 жыл бұрын

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.

@coolelectronics1759

2 жыл бұрын

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

@chinossynthesizer705

2 жыл бұрын

@@coolelectronics1759 can the dx7 do darksynthwave or heavy sounds?

@coolelectronics1759

2 жыл бұрын

@@chinossynthesizer705 yeah man this machine is a beast.

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!

Glad to hear you were finally able to grab one for yourself!

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 KZread 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.

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.

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

I love your enthusiasm for a classic keyboard!

Great to listen to a good ol DX7

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.

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.

Thanks for the video, I’m gonna try out a DX7 soon looks mint in the pictures.

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

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.

@rachelar

Жыл бұрын

Ironically as its 16 voice poly

great video!! Amazing synth. I remember when it came out, it was amazing.

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!

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.

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

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.

I had a Kawai K1 back in the day. Used to play with the DX7 in keyboard shops too ;)

@Trekeyus

5 жыл бұрын

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.

@2000stephenellis

4 жыл бұрын

Kawai k1 rocks ...still got my k4 ....love em'

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 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: kzread.info/dash/bejne/k32FrcusitnepbQ.html

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.

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.

Congratulations Man!!! Never is too late to meke your dreams true.

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!

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.

@randallcunninghamjr.9270

3 жыл бұрын

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

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...

@ryderl3988

4 жыл бұрын

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

@briangomez8716

3 жыл бұрын

Ryder you still available to do a lesson?

DX7 on my bucket list / even more now after seeing your great video! thnx

I bought a VolcaFM for almost the identical reason. I always wanted to play around with FM synthesis. Shortly after I got it I found a book of 100 DX7 programs...

@TooSlowTube

6 жыл бұрын

If you google for it, you will find literally thousands of DX7 patches, a lot of them in huge collections. You could start by downloading Dexed, and use the patch collection that comes with that - it's all free.

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!

Proudly own a DX7 II FD. Also purchased a plain DX7, waiting for delivery from Europe.

@NeuronalAxon

5 жыл бұрын

Did you get them?

@harcor1975

4 жыл бұрын

pics please did younget it?

Wow, virtually every single sound you played I recognize from Depeche Mode songs! Some of those just give me chills.

Never seen somebody getting out of breath playing a synth, but fair play to you fella..

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.

@citizennerd3976

6 жыл бұрын

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. :)

@xp50player

6 жыл бұрын

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.

@Roboprogs

6 жыл бұрын

@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 :-)

@jacobbrown1690

6 жыл бұрын

i could have bought a dx 7 ,,,,,,,i bought a casio cz5000 instead cause it had a sequencer

@NeuronalAxon

5 жыл бұрын

@@jacobbrown1690 - Nice synth. How much was the CZ-5000?

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.

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.

@22bioshock

4 жыл бұрын

The fuck you gonna do about it

Thank you for your informative video. It was very educational 👍

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

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 😊

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 (?).

@garyleaver3714

5 жыл бұрын

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.

@oholm09

4 жыл бұрын

I got it on my Yamaha montage

@lumer2b

4 жыл бұрын

@@garyleaver3714 It's debatable that it's less powerful. It has fewer operators but there is feedback for all of them. Plus the effects.

@garyleaver3714

4 жыл бұрын

@@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.

Great video. Great synth. I love the hair cut and green shirt!

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...

can you post a video doing a dx7 manual adjustment on the voices, like tweaking the sounds by adding effects that are available within the keyboard itself?

@citizennerd3976

6 жыл бұрын

Working on a video with the DX7 and a few others looking at the methodology. Coming soon.

❤ 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 😊

I bought a DX7 from Japan in perfect conditon but just needed a battery, I love it and had always wanted one!

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.

@NeuronalAxon

5 жыл бұрын

Which version of it do you prefer?

I still have one. I had an 1983, Got talked into selling it and buying a IIFD years ago for more organ presets. Still have it. Sounds great and not as heavy as the original. I also have a M1 and Juno 106. All of mine are vintage.

IT guy. That explains why you referred to the firmware as the BIOS ,Ha. Much respect for you and thanks for sharing.

THE 80'S MUSIC WAS MADE FROM THE DX7. THANK YOU FOR THIS GREAT VIDEO, ONE OF MY DREAMS TO HAVE ONE 🙏. SOME DAY 😃

Great info and even greater tainment. Anything from Yamaha is great, when they come out and whenever we can get our hands on them even if it is 20 years later. Starting 1990 and ending last year, I have bought only 4 Yamaha ever, and have hung on to all 4 - SH-10, Motif ES7, Montage, and Genos. I had also been considering a smaller board, like MX49 or the DX7 in the Reface version, but after watching your video, I am considering real DX7 instead of the Reface. What do you suggest? (as for sound palette, beside the above Yamaha sounds, I also have been hanging on to a Roland Fantom X6, a Korg M50 despite having added an Integra and a Kronos). Thanks!

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).

@ramencurry6672

Жыл бұрын

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 love this synth!

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.

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

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.

A fantastic synth sir

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.

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.

Hey Nathan I enjoyed your vid a lot! I have a DX-7II FD with e! and I love it, too bad it doesn't have on board efx so I have to use it with a ZOOM MS-70 CDR (I can't recommend it enough lookit up) but still it's a great keyboard. I wish it had more polyphony or more octave range but that's wishful thinking unless I find a DX-5. My keys are noisy, are yours too?

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!

Good video. You have almost convinced me to keep mine. I got mine for $30 but the "L" shaped board under the #'s was cracked and I had to replace for $80 more. So, $110 in all. Flea market find. Cheers!

@NeuronalAxon

5 жыл бұрын

Wow - where was that?

Just watched the whole thing.Very interesting and entertaining. My fourteen year old daughter is into synth wave, 80’s and new retro wave music and she’s been asking me to buy her a keyboard so she can learn. Which ones do you recommend? Thanks.

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.

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!

@goognamgoognw6637

5 жыл бұрын

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.

@rachelar

Жыл бұрын

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

@BillVincent

Жыл бұрын

@@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.

Great find. Enjoy it. Like a kid getting a present on xmas. I have a similar sorry. Parents could not afford the keys i wanted. So as an adult i purchased several roland 80 synth and vst because i didnt want to deal with hw repairs. Im a big house fan. Chicago House. Bad thing is getting them to work from 32 bit to 64 bit. You could bridge them $20 or use a software to convert $99. I used the demo to convert it and it worked. It uses you 32 bit and makes a new converted copy that is 64 bit.

at 11:15, absolute pure 80s bliss, those voice pads were used on almost every top 40 song back around 1985 1986. :) :)

@hittingnote75

3 жыл бұрын

What song is that?

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.

@coolelectronics1759

2 жыл бұрын

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.

@Roboprogs

2 жыл бұрын

@@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.

@rachelar

Жыл бұрын

Only sine waves didn't help the early 4ops. The DX11 and TX81z were way better as more waves

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.

Love my dx7 mk2, dx7 s are so verasatile. New subscriber pal 👊👊

I’ve had many of these & they are amazing....very heavy & sometimes a bit noisy but that sound when you here it is just sweet😎👍 Strange they didn’t add a chorus effect like Roland always did. I have a loads of patches some where.

Liked because of the XR-18, I use it as well and love it!

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

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.

I still hope my dream comes true one day ... a Dx7

I had a DX5! :-) Two DX7:s in one, a really beautiful instrument.

$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.

Thank you for the plug about the graphing calculator. :)

You can buy an iOS app called KQ Dixie which is a 6 operator FM synth and loads in original DX7 patches and is 16 part multitimbral (16 DX7 sounds playing at once). Add an iOS app AUM digital mixer and insert chorus, flanger, phaser, reverb, delay or other effects etc for around $40USD all on your iPhone or iPad.

I purchased one in 2018 the 2d model. It's fun to play on.

You CAN do filtering on it, it has to do with adjusting the envelope of two carriers so they trigger the sine waves to occur at a phase angle that is technically out of phase. You can do nearly anything with this if you venture beyond the presets, which in my opinion suck

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

Nice video! I really like this synth, I'm thinking of buying one. I've watched another video from ujiie katsunori reviewing the DX7-II. It had really good sounds, but I think it goes for much higher prices on ebay. Looks like there is a big difference between DX I and II

Great keyboard. I had the chance to regularly play the DX-1 back in the nineties.

@NeuronalAxon

5 жыл бұрын

They're very rare.

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

Жыл бұрын

You beat up two guys?

@MrTheBaron

Жыл бұрын

@@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

Modulator = "pseudo-filter"??? The output level works like a high pass filter cutoff (sort of), but the frequency (ratio) of the modulator determines the effective waveform of the carrier. Of course, those are hard to predict - moving the data entry slider on the modulator operator's frequency ratio takes you on a pretty wild ride.

@garyabbot4659

6 жыл бұрын

Roboprogs It's simular to a filter. As a level drops on a modulator you lose harmonic content on whatever operator its effecting. Depending on how you're using the modulator. The velocity can be used to open sounds like a filter, which is why the basses sounds as they do. Probably more interesting than a regular filter.

@Roboprogs

6 жыл бұрын

Using the sample and hold output from the LFO on modulator output levels gives you some interesting effects, as well - random timbre "hops" back and forth.

@garyabbot4659

6 жыл бұрын

Roboprogs Yeah I've always like that effect. Also you can use a slow lfo of a ramping down saw wave. It gives another envelope in a way, incase you need more volume modulation.