DX7 Analysis

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Yamaha’s DX7 was one of the first FM, synthesis-based digital synthesizers and electronic keyboard manufactured between 1983-1989. Stated by Robert Johnstone as “one of the first commercially successful digital synthesizers”, the DX7 was the ‘moderately priced’ model from the DX series keyboard synthesizers. Over 200,000 of the original DX7 were made, and it remains one of the best-selling synthesizers of all time. The DX7 held a lot of features that distinguished it from its predecessors and even those of its line, and is to this day one of the most influential pieces of music production technology to come to rise. Its distinctive sound can be found scattered on recordings across the genres from pop to dance music throughout the eighties …show more content…

Whilst the GS-1 required magnetic-recording voice cards, Yamaha perceived that cartridges containing digital memory would better suit the DX Series as they were unaffected by the powerful magnetic fields emitted by speakers and similar apparatus. While the DX7 can store 32 voices internally, plugging in a ROM to the cartridge slot enables the user access to 64 voices. Alternately, RAM cartridges can be implemented to write and recall up to 32 original voices. As stated by O’Reily, this ability to increase the quantity of voices is unique to the digital synthesizer, and the convenient cartridge-based approach made the sounds of contemporary professional musicians available to the wider public. Prior to the FM synth, in the analog era, it was next to impossible to reproduce the sounds used by professionals; the only option was to attempt to replicate the positions of every knob and slider, and even then, it was highly unlikely to get the exact same settings. However DX7 owners could effortlessly purchase cartridges enclosing the actual sounds of celebrated synth players. This was exceedingly appealing to amateur and prospective musicians, as this groundbreaking approach made it possible to own the exact same instrument as famous synth artists, and also to play the very same

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