Yamaha DX7

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Yamaha DX7
Yamaha DX7 Digital Programmable Algorithm Synthesizer
Yamaha DX7 Digital Programmable Algorithm Synthesizer
Manufactured by Yamaha
Dates 1983–1986; 1987–1989
Price US$1,995
Technical specifications
Polyphony 16 voices
Timbrality Monotimbral
Oscillator 6 sine wave operators per voice, 32 Algorithms
Synthesis type Digital Linear Frequency Modulation
Filter none
Attenuator 1 pitch envelope & 6 amplitude generators per voice
Aftertouch Yes (Channel)
Velocity sensitive Yes
Memory 32 patches in RAM (battery backup); Front panel ROM/RAM cartridge port
Effects none

YM21280 (OPS) Operator chip

YM21290 (EGS) Envelope Generator
Keyboard 61-note with velocity
and aftertouch sensitivity
Left-hand control pitch-bend and modulation wheels
External control MIDI In/Out/Thru, Foot Controller x2, Foot Switch x2, Breath Controller

The Yamaha DX7 is a phase modulation based (marketed as frequency modulation) digital synthesizer manufactured by the Yamaha Corporation from 1983 to 1986. It was the first commercially successful digital synthesizer. Its distinctive sound can be heard on many recordings, especially pop music from the 1980s. The DX7 was the moderately priced model of the DX series of PM (FM) keyboard synthesisers that included the larger and more elaborate DX1 and DX5; the feature-reduced DX9; and the smaller and not directly compatible DX100, DX11, and DX21. Over 200,000 of the original DX7 were made,[1] and it remains one of the best-selling synthesizers of all time.[2]

Tone generation in the DX7 is based on linear phase modulation synthesis, officially euphemised as frequency modulation (FM), which was developed based upon research by/licensed from John Chowning at Stanford University.[3] This uses multiple sine wave oscillators, which can modulate each other in various configurations offered as 32 "algorithms", thus generating a wide variety of possible harmonic and inharmonic spectra. The DX7 was known for the precision and flexibility of its bright, digital sounds, which could be clearer and less linear than those of the subtractive analog synthesizers that preceded it. The DX7 is well known for its electric piano, bells, and other "struck" and "plucked" sounds which emphasize complex attack transients. Phase modulation as used in this and later synthesisers is capable of generating a wide range of both imitative and purely synthetic sounds.

The DX7 is capable of 16-note polyphony. It is monotimbral, but the sound of a single DX7 patch can change either subtly or wildly along the length of the keyboard or when played with different velocities, thus approximating multitimbrality.


Voices can be programmed by a user, and stored into a 32-voice RAM internal memory, or corresponding 32-voice DX7 RAM cartridge inserted into a front panel access door/port. Pre-programmed ROM cartridges could also be inserted here and the original DX7 shipped with two of these cartridges with two banks of 32 voices (sounds) each, for a total of 128 voices available. Several computer applications exist for various operating systems (Atari, Mac OS, and Windows) that can enable a user to load different presets into the keyboard from a computer via MIDI; most computer based midi recording software can also load to or save from the DX7.


The DX7 includes MIDI ports, but it was released shortly before the specification was completed, and indeed, MIDI was added very late in its development. Thus, its MIDI implementation is quite modest, It only transmits information on MIDI channel 1 and, although it can be set to receive information on any one of the sixteen MIDI channels, it lacks the Omni feature of the MIDI standard that enabled later MIDI-equipped instruments, including ones by Yamaha, to receive on any of the 16 MIDI channels simultaneously.

Additionally, the maximum MIDI velocity value that the DX7 will transmit is limited to approximately 100 (of the maximal 127 defined by the standard). The DX7 will, however, respond to the full range of velocity values when these sent from an outside MIDI source. This means that when using the DX7 as a MIDI controller to play external sound modules, the patches on these modules will have to be adjusted to be more sensitive to velocity. It also means that when playing the DX7's own sounds using an external MIDI controller or sequencer, the velocity values will have to be rescaled before input to the DX7, or the DX7 patches would have to be adjusted to be less sensitive to velocity.



Yamaha released an updated ROM titled the Special Edition ROM (SER) that added oft-missed features such as the ability to choose the output MIDI channel, the ability to store function data (settings for pitch bend, portamento modulation, etc.) per-voice rather than just globally as in the original, and other frequently desired enhancements.

Moreover, third-party upgrades for the DX7 flourished in the 1980s, most based upon upgrading the firmware albeit with a wider range of feature's than Yamaha's official SER. These included SuperMax and the most famous, Grey Matter Response's E! expansion board, which added increased patch memory and a vastly improved MIDI implementation to the original DX7.


The TX7 and the TF1 are keyboardless versions of the original DX7, both of which are exactly compatible with original DX7 patches and produce sound in exactly the same way as the DX7. The TX7 is in a desktop case with a slanted front, which was not designed to be rack mounted. The TF1 is in a small vertical form factor, designed to be inserted into a special chassis, called the Yamaha MIDI Rack Frame (MFR) which could accommodate up to 8 TF1s. This chassis was sold fully populated with 8 TF1s as the TX816. A reduced version with just 2 TF1s was sold as the TX216, and additional TF1s could be purchased separately and added as required, up to the full 8 making it a TX816. The modules changed function memory (for pitch bend settings, aftertouch, and so on) to be per-voice rather than global.

Mark II[edit]

Three improved models classed as the DX7 II family were released between 1987 and 1989, all of which featured updated internal circuitry and a restyled case. These were, in ascending order of number of features:

  • the DX7s (single), which increased the internal patch memory, considerably improved the implementation of MIDI, and improved output sound fidelity from the mark I's 12-bit floating point DAC + 2 bits of analogue companding (equivalent to 14 bits of dynamic range but not signal-to-noise ratio) to a full linear 15 bits (a 16-bit DAC with the least significant bit tied off, nonfunctional)
  • the DX7 II D (Dual timbres/outputs), which was equivalent to a DX7s + stereo outputs, bi-timbrality, and a larger screen, and
  • the DX7 II FD (Floppy Drive), which was identical to the DX7 II D except that it also added a floppy disk drive.

Yamaha designed the DX7 II series so that voices produced on the original DX7 were 100% compatible with the new "II" models, which allowed users to immediately access a huge library of existing voices as well as the new programming possibilities and improved DAC resolution of the II models. Grey Matter Response released an E! for the DX7 II family, which, among other features, added 8-part multitimbrality and sequencing functions to these synthesisers.

In 1988, in celebration of the company's 100-year anniversary, Yamaha released the DX7 II Centennial. This was a DX7 II FD with 32 notes instead of 16, a silver case, gold painted buttons and sliders, and an expanded 76-key keybed whose white keys also glow in the dark. Only 100 were made, and they were priced at US $3995.

The Yamaha TX802 was the rack-mounted equivalent of the DX7 II models, sharing their improved 15-bit outputs, patch memory, and additional voice features. This 2-unit high synthesiser expanded upon the DX7 II D by adding the ability to play up to 8 multi-timbral parts, each of which has its own individual output on the rear. Each of the 8 parts can be assigned to its own MIDI channel and to the stereo mixed outputs, or the TX802 retains the ability to function as a single 16-note synth on a single channel if desired; intermediate combinations are equally possible.

Notable sounds (patches)[edit]

Electric piano emulation[edit]

The DX7 Rhodes, also known as DX Rhodes, FM Rhodes, FM E. Piano, or Digital Rhodes, is a Fender Rhodes emulation originally produced by the "E. Piano 1" patch on the Yamaha DX7 (and TX-series rackmount) line of synthesizers.

This distinctive, fresh sound, while by no means an exact duplicate of the ever-popular Fender Rhodes electric piano, was nevertheless very reminiscent of it and has become, arguably, the single sound with which the DX7 is most identified. This sound was subsequently edited and expanded upon to produce the now-famous DX7 Rhodes sound.

DX7 II (and DX7S) released in 1987 made a distinctive, bright, overtone-rich version of the "E. Piano 1" sound available as a preset. On the DX7 II this sound became known as "Fulltines."[4]

Variations of the DX7 Rhodes sound were produced by individual artists and programmers, as well as manufacturers of other synthesizers. Though not always produced on Yamaha DX/TX equipment or using FM synthesis, the family of sounds based on Yamaha's "Fulltines" became ubiquitous in popular music from 1984 through the early 1990s. Most synthesizers and home keyboards included an "electric piano" patch that imitated the DX7 Rhodes sound. In the 1990s, improvements in sampling technology, decreased emphasis on synthesized sound in popular music, and a resurgence of interest in vintage keyboard instruments led to the sound falling out of favor.

Because the "E. Piano 1" DX7 preset only faintly resembled a real Rhodes Piano, and the subsequent "Fulltines" even less so, devotees of real vintage electric pianos often express their distaste for the DX7 Rhodes sound. Its strong presence in synthesizer-heavy popular music, especially pop ballads, during the 1980s has led to the sound being labeled a cliché.[5]

Notable pop songs that use the preset are: "After All" by Al Jarreau, "Here and Now" by Luther Vandross, and Chicago's "Hard Habit to Break" among others.[citation needed]

Marimba emulation[edit]

The DX7 Marimba preset was also used extensively in 1980s electronic and commercial music. In a similar fashion to the E. Piano 1 preset, percussionists typically react negatively to this "hard mallet" version of a Marimba sound, instead preferring the more mellow, round and warm "yarn-wound" mallet sound used by concert Marimbists. The DX7 is easily capable of producing such a sound, but the difficulty of FM synthesis programming combined with the immediacy of the stock DX7 sounds usually meant that players performed and recorded with the sounds they had at their fingertips; thus the stock DX7 sounds flourished in recorded music in the 1980s.

Electric bass[edit]

Patch INT15 of the official ROM 1A was used widely throughout genres including pop and new wave in the 1980s, with examples of its usage including "Take On Me" by a-ha and "What Is Love" by Howard Jones.[6]

Software emulation[edit]

Propellerhead has a Rack Extension (PX7) emulating the DX7 in the Reason environment. Original DX7 patches can be converted to the PX7 format.

Hexter is a DSSI plugin for Linux that emulates the DX7. It can load and edit DX7 patches directly.

Native Instruments has developed a popular software synthesizer, the FM8 (2006) (previously the FM7 (2001–2006)), that includes the ability to load original DX7 patches. It also improves on its predecessor in that it can also load patches from Yamaha's 4-operator FM synths, including the TX81z, which was the first FM synth to allow non-sine wave operators.

CSound also has opcodes for producing DX7 sounds.

Korg Kronos:- The MOD‐7 EXi of the Korg Kronos and Kronos X can load sounds created for the vintage DX7. Once loaded, you can bring these vintage sounds up to date using all of the MOD‐7’s unique features, layer them with other EXi, and process them with KARMA and KRONOS' effects. The conversion works by reading DX7/DX9 .SYX format System Exclusive files. N.B. In order to load a file, the file must contain a complete bank of 32 DX7 sounds. Files with only a single sound cannot be loaded. [7]

Program piracy[edit]

Since the DX7 allows users to program different tones, it is possible to copy someone else's synthetic sound for use in your own piece. Skilled programmers would go to great lengths to protect their sounds from copying.

"Various DX7 programmers have told a person that they "bury" "useless" data in their sounds so that I can prove ownership later. Sometimes the data is obvious, like weird keyboard scalings on inaudible operators, and sometimes it's not, like nonsense characters in a program name."—[8]


  1. ^ The sound of one chip clapping: Yamaha and FM synthesis, Robert Johnstone
  2. ^ Holmes, Thom (2008). "Early Computer Music". Electronic and experimental music: technology, music, and culture (3rd ed.). Taylor & Francis. p. 257. ISBN 0415957818. Retrieved 2011-06-04. 
  3. ^ "Three Yamaha products that reshaped the industry mark 20th anniversary". Music Trades. February 1, 2004. 
  4. ^ ESSENTIAL DX7 Patches
  5. ^ O'Reilly - Fee, Fi, Fo, FM: Explore the World of FM Synthesis
  6. ^ [1]
  7. ^ Korg Kronos Parameter Guide Page 339 : http://www.korg.co.uk/downloads/kronos/support/KRONOS_Param_Guide_E4.pdf
  8. ^ Cox, C and D Warner. (2006). Audio Culture: Readings in Modern Music. New York: The Continuum Publishing Group Inc. ISBN 0-8264-1615-2

External links[edit]