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They don't make them like that any more: the Yamaha DX7 keyboard

kevinboone.me

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Re: They don't make them like that any more: the Yamaha DX7 keyboard

#151

Post by bfmalky »

TheOtherHobbes wrote: post #108

>These instruments were mostly of academic interest – I can’t think of any band that used one on stage (but I could be wrong). Very wrong. The Prophet 5, Oberheim 4/8 voice, Roland Jupiter 8, MemoryMoog, and especially the Yamaha CS80 were all available before the DX7, and very widely used on stage and in the studio. But they really were stupendously expensive - far too expensive for mere mortals. (There were also fu…

I'd also like to quibble with this assertion the author makes at the end of the article:

> but almost all digital music production these days is based on sampling

This is very much not true. Subtractive and FM synthesis are still very widely used.

Re: They don't make them like that any more: the Yamaha DX7 keyboard

#152

Post by coldtea »

alterom wrote: post #129
coldtea wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the speakers are not loud Well, let's be clear: the speakers are just for noodling. Nobody who performs would use the built-in speakers of such a keyboard, not even street performers. - the only exception is the big-ass speakers in digital home pianos, and still those are only for home use.

>Well, let's be clear: the speakers are just for noodling. Just for noodling. And trying it in a store. And playing with friends (you don't need much to play along an acoustic guitar). Or playing and singing in a room, or next to a campfire. All of these applications don't require big cabinets; beefing up the speakers to 5W (and adding a bit more bass response) would do a lot for the reface DX. >Nobody who performs w…

>Just for noodling. And trying it in a store. And playing with friends (you don't need much to play along an acoustic guitar). Or playing and singing in a room, or next to a campfire.

Who plays an FM synth on a campfire? Not even Kraftwerk! And I don't think it's for jamming with friends with acoustic guitars either. It's more for electronic musicians and keyboardists wanting something portable to noodle at home, or indie musicians for when playing live.

Re: They don't make them like that any more: the Yamaha DX7 keyboard

#153

Post by micahscopes »

I worked on the sound effects and music for the game Wilderplace and used WebDX7 for all of the sound (everything but some sculpted white noise for rain as DX7 doesn't offer pure noise or filters). All the sequencing/synthesis happens real-time in the game. DX7 was crazy fun to work with, like working with clay or something...

DX7 patches have this way of layering with each other that feels both clear and warm at the same time. They don't accumulate mud in the same way that sample-based instruments do. They do have this challenge of accumulating digital-sounding cruft, but I think this is part of their gritty, organic beauty.

Okay but that said I'd love to experience a stereo GPU-based FM synth with high dynamic range and a fully configurable operator graph.

Re: They don't make them like that any more: the Yamaha DX7 keyboard

#154

Post by skyyler »

ecocentrik wrote: post #51
Suppafly wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>And of course even vintage DX7s go for a quite high price in second+ hand market... Everytime I read about some cool old synth, I check how much they cost and they are always hundreds or thousands of dollars, I think DX7s are like $500+.

The DX7 might be the best selling synth of all time. There's a lot of them out there.

Trent Reznor famously destroyed dozens, if not hundreds of them while on tour.

They were so commonplace people were donating theirs to NIN so he could smash them during the show. It was a whole thing.

I don’t think it really moved the needle on the number out there, but it does show how ubiquitous they were.

Re: They don't make them like that any more: the Yamaha DX7 keyboard

#155

Post by thrtythreeforty »

gausswho wrote: post #47
thrtythreeforty wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would be extremely interested in a video or article describing that kind of patch (one with a physical analogue/interpretation). Are you referring to something specific?

You might be interested in physical modeling synthesis. It's got a long history. Here's a good run down: https://www.perfectcircuit.com/signal/what-is-physical-model...

Yes, I have a hobby of implementing physical modeling synths. I am off the deep end in digital waveguide synthesis, and I was curious about the FM equivalent.

Re: They don't make them like that any more: the Yamaha DX7 keyboard

#156

Post by larrywright »

Mountain_Skies wrote: post #44
fsckboy wrote: post #35

> They don't make them like that any more: the Yamaha DX7 keyboard Greg Kihn Band Breakup Song with the unforgettable lyric, "they don't write 'em like that any more" did not use the DX7 at least because it was not available in 1981, but the keyboardist Gary Philips was known to use Minimoog, Prophet-5, Wurlitzer, Rhodes and Yamaha pianos with the band. In 1983 Gary Philips was an early adopter of the DX7. They don't…

I didn't know how to play the keyboard but the DX7 was seen in so many music videos in the 80s that it became an object of desire for me. If I were going to learn how to play the keyboard, it was going to be on the DX7! To me it was the Lamborghini of keyboards. I had zero understanding of synths or even basic music theory. I just knew all the cool bands had a DX7 and I wanted to be like the cool guys on saw on MTV.…

Same, but in my case it was the Roland D-50.

Re: They don't make them like that any more: the Yamaha DX7 keyboard

#158

Post by teilo »

coldtea wrote: post #18

> With hindsight, the DX7 and its ilk look like a weird diversion in the path of musical progress. Operator synthesis makes no logical sense. It became popular because we had the capability to do digital sound generation, but lacked the technology to do it in a comprehensible, systematic way. So the DX7 enjoyed huge popularity for a few years, before fading into obscurity. That's a weird take. I mean "Operator synthe…

DX7s don't go for a high price. The market is flooded with them. If you pay more than $600, you paid too much. You can easily find one in the $400 range.

Re: They don't make them like that any more: the Yamaha DX7 keyboard

#159

Post by consf »

coldtea wrote: post #18

> With hindsight, the DX7 and its ilk look like a weird diversion in the path of musical progress. Operator synthesis makes no logical sense. It became popular because we had the capability to do digital sound generation, but lacked the technology to do it in a comprehensible, systematic way. So the DX7 enjoyed huge popularity for a few years, before fading into obscurity. That's a weird take. I mean "Operator synthe…

[dead]

Re: They don't make them like that any more: the Yamaha DX7 keyboard

#160

Post by masto »

I can appreciate these instruments now, especially in their historical context, legacy in music, and from a technical perspective. But I still carry a 30 year old dislike of "that FM sound", for the dumbest of reasons:

I was in college in the 90s. My roommate had a PC with a Soundblaster card, and he played this Star Wars game incessantly. It has a terrible, insipid, repetitive, infuriatingly annoying soundtrack that I grew to despise with every molecule of my being, mostly because I was subjected to it as an eternal everlasting torment, but also because I had an Amiga and my computer was clearly superior in every way especially when it came to sound.

Anyway, hearing this - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TexOZwatuLg - constantly caused me to associate all FM sounds, even in good music, with this cheap "wah wah wah ee ee wah wah wah" noise, which I've only partly shaken decades after the trauma. Also, when he wasn't playing that one, he was playing this Dune game (https://youtu.be/gOscXf0Fpmk?si=hUZ8g0GZ48CKfKzh&t=7394) with a more varied but equally cheap sound, and on top of that playing the game triggers the most repetitive samples ever devised by man. Reporting, acknowledged, reporting, acknowledged... oh, the torture.

Where was I? Ah, that's why I'm not a fan of FM synthesizers.

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