Yamaha DX7 Fully Digital FM Synthesiser

The Yamaha DX7 Digital FM Synthesiser in my view change the synthesiser landscape.

The synthesisers that were created before this synthesiser relied on analogue oscillators to generate signals that were passed through analogue filters that shaped the sound until it was released through the synthesiser outputs to the public normally using vinyl as the medium.

These analogue synthesisers were temperamental, you had to dial in sounds as they weren't recalled at the touch of a button and the tones created changed as the instrument warmed up or environment that the instrument was being used in e.g. humidity.

But the digital revolution was coming!

The DX7 wasn't the first mainstream synthesiser to incorporate digital controls.  The Yamaha SK series before it worked on digitally controlled analogue sound creation.  The Yamaha GS1 which was also before the DX7 was the first truly digital FM synthesiser, but this instrument was not what you would classify as portable being the size of a small truck when assembled.

Other manufacturers were also playing in this space with the Roland JX-3P and Roland Juno-106 also being digitally controlled.

Why was the Yamaha DX7 considered the game changer?

It was the first affordable, portable, digital FM synthesiser.  Keyboard players, once they understood the FM synthesis method for creating tones could create the sounds they needed and store them to memory cartridge.  Put the DX7 in a flight case.  Travel to the gig or studio. Plug in.  Switch on and be ready to play.  The DX7 didn't suffer the same environmental issues that earlier synths had.  The musician could be assured that the tones they created somewhere else, days/weeks/years earlier would sound the same when recalled.

The DX7 made synthesisers available to touring bands that might not have made it big but wanted to embrace the modern keyboard as part of their sound.  It came to market in May1983 and was immediately incorporated into the music being made during the 1980's.

In America in 1986 it was estimated that 40% of the records in the Billboard 100 each week contained the sound of a DX7.

The first DX7 has since become known as the Mk1 with the Mk2 being launched in late 1986. In my opinion the Mk2 is the better instrument.  I own two of these DX7 Mk2's.  The first is a Yamaha DX7 Mk2 D (Dual) which I have owned for about 20 years and the second is a Yamaha Mk2 FD (Floppy Disk) which I have owned for 5 years.

I always wanted the FD version since acquiring the D many years before.  However, FD's do not apear on the market as often as the D's.  I have never been able to get any definitive numbers on how many of each model type were sold.  I am sure someone at Yamaha Head Quarters has them burried in a file some where.

What I have found out is that the various Mk1 models sold over 160,000 and the Mk2 significanlty less.  As I said above the Mk1 was sold into a market where digital synthesisers were new.  By the time the Mk2 (the better version of the synthesiser) was released it had instant competion from the Roland D-50 which was considered easier to programme.