Without doubt, probably the most complicated synthesiser ever to program! The presets were fantastic at the time, creating anything else yourself was virtually out of the question unless you were a computer programmer and mathematician with an understanding of FM modulation theory in a time variant way! Needless to say most who played it used the presets, hence why its so easily distinguishable. By modern standards the original DX is noisy, it has a hard touch sensitivity which does need some banging and those membrane switches on the control panel wear out with time. It also weighs a ton, has limited midi support and is only 16 note polyphonic and is not multitimbral. There's no built in effects, or filters as such, so you get a very digital cold and clanny sound in my opinion, but its unique. There are later models including the DX7 II which offer improved multitimbral and effects, also the TX rack etc. Of course there were also many 4 operator variants, such as the DX100, DX9, DX21, DX27 and then the cheesiest naffest sounding 2 operator early FM PC soundcards and early yamaha arranger keyboards. I owned a CX5M at the time which was essentially an 8 note multitimbral polyphonic DX9 built into an MSX computer. THe advantage was it came with a voice editing cartridge which made sound editing possible, though attempting to recreate acoustic instruments was beyond me! Best sounds famous for are basses, electric pianos, bell and clanging sounds and anything bright, sharp and metallic! A nice retro piece of kit but now adays you can also get a VST plug in that emulates the DX7 on your PC - and includes the original DX sounds!

Regards
Simon Williams

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