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Yamaha DX7 II FD 

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This has to be one of the coolest synths I have ever heard. FM synthesis and DX synths are truly awesome in their results, and those who spit out primitive judgments like "DX is useless" are most probably malicious haters taking their revenge on the synth's horrible interface (because it really is horrible...)

This is paradoxical, or ironic, but the DX7 which is the epitome of digital technology that ousted analogs back in the '80s is the most 'organic' synth soundwise. And I don't mean instability or little inaccuracies in sound; I mean that the patches you can create using this thing astonish people to the point that they're not sure if they're listening to an instrument or some natural phenonmena. Moreover, DX7 (FM) sounds are not as obvious and "customary" as analog sounds, so they enrich the music to a great degree and you no longer have any reason to say "oh, that's a synthesizer-song". And I guess this would be the ultimate reason for me to choose DX7 as the best synth ever - because it doesn't sound like a synth... at least a synth everybody has heard before. A real individuality still having potential despite being so overused and cliched. One of the greatest rides of my life was the discovery that underneath the official, glossy surface of the typical DX sound, DX7 can sound like some diseased, genetically modified living organism with complex technology incorporated as its interface. And this is what I decided to show to you in the demo (I'm sorry if you wanted to hear the Rhodes patch for the 1000'th time).

DX-7 2 has some fine add-ons, in terms of specifications (LFOs, Layering) as well as operation (programmable controls, easier navigation) but if I were to write some painful music and then perform it on stage, I'd definitely go with the Mark-1. It's the original soul, whereas DX7-2 feels like the second, more poppy album which a band releases to cash in on the fabulous original debut. But Mark 2 reads patches from Mark 1, so I guess all in all, the recording studio environment welcomes Mark-2 with open arms.

But yes, the interface is a real shame and there's now way of brushing it under the carpet. Remembering the horror I was going through during editing, I must drop the experience mark from superb to proper. Nevermore this kind of stupid horseplay.

*This version gets additional half-point in UI rating for the sliders and the lcd.

 


 

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