Yamaha DX7
More info
- Manufacturer
- Yamaha
- Released
- 1983
- Type
- Digital synthesizer (FM)
The first digital synth to sell in truly large numbers, and the sound of the 80s power ballad — the electric piano, the bass, the bells.
Yamaha built the DX7 on John Chowning's FM synthesis, licensed from Stanford. Six operators are wired together according to 32 fixed algorithms, with 16-voice polyphony and a price around $2,000 at a time when analogue polysynths cost several times that. It was also among the first instruments to ship with MIDI, launched the same year. Well over 100,000 units were sold.
Programming meant membrane buttons, a two-line display and a single data slider, and FM isn't intuitive even with a better interface. So most people stuck to the factory sounds. The E.PIANO 1 preset turns up on so much of the decade's chart music that it has become a period marker in its own right.