The DX7 did not sound like anything that came before. It was the sound of a generation.
The Yamaha DX7 was released in 1983 as the first affordable digital synthesizer to use frequency modulation (FM) synthesis as its core sound generation method. FM synthesis had been theorized since the 1960s and was pioneered by John Chowning at Stanford University. The DX7 was the first affordable hardware synthesizer to implement the technology.
FM synthesis produces sounds by using one oscillator (called the modulator) to modulate the frequency of another oscillator (called the carrier). When the modulator’s frequency is low, the effect sounds like a slow wavering. When it is high and close to the carrier frequency, it produces metallic, bell-like tones that analogue synthesis could not easily create.
The DX7’s most famous preset was the electric piano sound. The patch combined FM operators in a ratio that produced a bright, punchy electric piano tone. It was not meant to replicate a Fender Rhodes. It was its own thing, a digital electric piano sound. The sound appeared on album after album throughout the 1980s and 1990s.
The DX7 sold approximately 200,000 units between its 1983 release and discontinuation in 1989. For comparison, the Minimoog sold approximately 13,000 units over 14 years. The DX7 was not the most common synthesizer because it was the best. It was the most common because it was affordable, sounded good, and the factory presets were excellent starting points for people who did not understand FM synthesis deeply.
The FM synthesis revival began in earnest with the release of the Yamaha Reface DX in 2015, a miniature FM synthesizer that brought the DX7’s engine to a portable, affordable format. Software FM synthesizers had been available since the 1990s, but the Reface DX was the signal that the hardware market was ready for FM again. In 2018, Yamaha released the Montage, a flagship synthesizer with a fully updated FM engine. The 1980s sound had become aesthetically desirable again.
Stay in the Loop
New writing on DJ culture, electronic music, and the Seoul underground — delivered when it matters.
