Welcome to the Power DX7 Channel, showcasing the very best of the Yamaha DX7, transforming it into truly powerful and amazing ‘pure’ synthesizer of all time.
My aim of the Power DX7 Channel is to de-mystify this amazing FM synthesizer.You may be aware that it is very famous for overused and typical Yamaha DX7 sounds includes e. piano and other cheesy sounds that have defined the DX7 in the 1980’s.
My Yamaha DX7 demos will show you that the DX7 is capable of producing breathtaking sounds with unparalleled sonic quality, realism and expression. I have been creating many and truly amazing original DX7 patches that directly compete with hybrid synths such as Roland D-50, Korg M1 as well as samplers and modern synths (from the 1990’s and up).
About Me: I'm a proud owner of the Yamaha DX7 Mk I since 1986, making my original patches ever since.
I will be posting more videos, brining you awesome DX7 patches that you won‘t find anywhere else, but from the Power DX7 Channel.
Hating on the sounds of the DX7 is like hating on the original IBM PC because it only ran DOS. Yes, by modern standards, they are both primitive. But we wouldn't be where we are today without those machines breaking barriers.
Over the years I've only found beginner FM tutorials. Thanks for creating this series it's so wonderful to fully understand and comprehend how my DX7s works
When I click function 8, I don’t see the option to select a midi channel, I see everything else but no option to select a midi channel. What does that mean?
These are great sounds, and I love the tutorials. No offense intended, but how fo we know if these sounds are all really from a Yamaha DX7? I find the strings part quite difficult to imagine can from a DX7. Sure, it's sawtooth waves, but there's something about the quality of them that doesn't seem like it could come from a DX7. Of course Mr. PowerDX7 owes us nothing, in fact he has given his excellent FM synthesis tutorials for free, which I'm grateful for. However there's some doubt in me about the validity of all the patches, are we being pranked here?!
Believe it or not, I made a great sounding, very realistic Jazz Guitar patch using this tutorial. I was following the instructions for using ALG 2 to create saw and square waves. By fiddling with the ENV rate and levels for each operator, I found this lovely tone. Thank you Mr. PowerDX7!
The thing that keeps bringing me back to FM synthesis are: patches that respond like acoustic instruments. They don't always sound completely realistic, but they sound good and you can often get fresh sounding results from it. How much more can we get out of analog? It's all been done IMO. FM is unique in having that feeling that some amazing sounding patch that nobody has ever heard before is just a few adjustments away!
Most knob twiddlers hate the DX7 because they can't just turn on the arpeggiator and wiggle the cutoff knob. If you can actually play keyboards and have a chorus pedal sitting around somewhere, you can get some incredible sounds from it. The sounds were so much more expressive than anything else from that era, too. Per-operator velocity, aftertouch, tremolo, and vibrato response was unheard of in the 80s, and every time I hear a good keyboardist playing one I'm still blown away.
If anyone knew that all these sounds can be reproduced in the Yamaha DX 7 this dream synth would cost 10 K $/E or to place it better not so much money would have been spent in analog gear. DX 7 is a dream and of course you as well a top sound designer
at 3:34 it's not actually the original DX7 E.piano. the original sound is much warmer it's really fantastic. I'm sorry but this sound isn't really yours.
The sounds/voices this keyboard can make are amazing. But none of these new ones can't compare the The King of Keys concert set. With that huge MOOG and the amazing manual patches with physical cables can't be surpassed.
Thank you for these videos. I just got my hands on a DX7 MKI for the first time and I'm loving it. Are you sharing your patches by any chance? I learn best by reverse engineering, taking a known thing and taking it apart, see what makes it work.
Alright, I saw your other comment. No cheating. I'd like some help. Take the "ice" patch in Broken Wings. I saw your demo. Where I get stuck is, as a beginner, understanding what the raw sound is. Surely there are effects applied that obfuscate the original. So, if I knew exactly which characteristics are post-effects and which are part of the raw sound, I could set that stack up. Take that same ice patch in Broken Wings: is the decay on that from the DX or is that just heavy post-reverb and the underlying patch is really a "pluck"/bell sound? Not sure if I'm making any sense 🤪
The marimba preset was used in the Axel F Theme. The E Piano 1 preset was used in Whitney Houston’s ballads, and also on Chicago’s “Hard Habit To Break”. Say what you want, but the Yamaha DX7 was one of the best selling digital synths, with more than 200,000 units sold. They can be had on the used markets for $500.
Imagine having one of these and a basic 4 track recorder in the 80’s. You literally have an entire band! Idk if some of the instruments require stereo, then you’d only have 2-3 instruments.
Hola,enhorabuena por tu gran trabajo y dar a conocer a uno de los mejores sintes de la historia,el Yamaha dx7. Mi pregunta es ¿donde puedo encontrar los presets,bancos y sonidos míticos de sintetizador del grupo van halen ,tales como: Jump,1984,Dreams,when is this love,etc. en que ROM original se pueden conseguir? Muchas gracias.
Hey there! I’m aiming to utilize your guides to tweak the Tub Bell sound to sound as close as possible to Band Aid’s “Do They Know It’s Christmas”. Any tips?
I found a simple low cost way to reduce the white noise hiss from the DX7. Inside, VR3 can be adjusted fully counter clockwise from its factory set middle position. This potentiometer adjusts the frequency cut-off point of the final stage Op Amp Output Driver/Filter. It even reduces the noise in the headphones. It takes only a couple of minutes to open up the DX7 and adjust VR3. The white noise dropped about 6 dB (1/4 the noise power level). This is a significant improvement and I didn't notice any roll-off on the high frequencies from any of the voices. I get almost no hum from my DX7, but I think I might add and XLR jack and low noise differential amp in case I ever want to reduce hum from external equipment. I use a very high quality guitar cable between my DX7 and my Amp and that suits me fine.
Nice video. Balanced Output (also called Differental or XLR) is always lower noise than Single Ended. In Balaced (like you said) there are 3 conductors not 2. Gnd (shield/reference), true (un-inverted), and complement (inverted). When noise is injected into the wires, both the true and complement wires get pretty much the same noise injected onto each, but because the true and complement signals are analog subtracted (at the next stage input) from each other: 1V minus -1V = 2V (the desired signal is still present), but the noise, say 0.001V minus 0.001V = 0V (thus the noise is cancelled out). This would reduce 50/60Hz hum in the cables and will reduce "some noise" but most of the hiss (white noise) from the DX7 is from noisy amplifier circuits inside the DX7. There are 7 amplifer/filter stages in the output section and an 8th stage in the headphone section of a DX7 (first model, like we both have). This white noise hiss is a wide gaussian spectrum across our entire hearing range (it is a random mix of all audiable frequencies). Each amplifer/filter in the DX7 adds noise along the way. No amplier is totally noise free, they always have some noise figure. But the relatively inexpensive Op Amps used in the DX7 all add noise. There are very Low Noise Amplifers (LNAs) that would cost about $200 total to replace the 7-8 Op Amp stages in the DX7. I am going to find some that will work in the 0V - 15V analog range required by the DX7. The best way to eliminate this white noise is to remove it at the source inside the DX7, not by masking it using effects. But your solution sounds good for those that dont want to modify their DX7 and are not electrical engineers. Also, the Canadian model has a ground wire on the power plug and that ties to the chassis, I am going to upgrade my DX7 the same way as electrical standards in the USA have improved since the 1980's and if the DX7 was sold today in the USA, it would have that AC ground wire.
