Love it or hate it, this keyboard was THE synth of the 1980's. And the sounds of this thing (especially the electric piano preset) were all over a bunch of hits songs.

The popularity of the DX7 ended by the time the Roland D-50 & the Korg M1 were release (and use by too many damn producers in their own right).

The legency of the Yamaha DX series lived on as a software synth FM7 which was created by Native Instruments.

Check out these sites for more info on this great synth:

http://www.vintagesynth.com/
http://www.thedx7.co.uk/

My dad's got one...I remember when he bought it, I thought it sounded so cool, and then recently I pulled it out and jammed on it and it sounds so cheesy nowadays. But it's got all the multicolored buttons and the cartridges with the patches on 'em. And you know, Prince is about the only one these days who can get away with using cheesy synth patches!

My music tech program had one of these. It sounds way cheesy to me!

guitarslinger44 said:

I'm not sure if Prince ever had a DX7. But I know that Rick James, Quincy Jones, & Lionel Richie had one.

And I think Michael McDonald use one for most of his greatest hits.

I have the DX7IIFD. I use it as a keyboard controller for my sound modules. I still love the touch. I have the Motif, Triton, Hammond C-2, and a Fender rhodes but I just can't seem to let that DX go. It feels like a piece of history.

csharp57 said:

The Yamaha Motif (with a DX7 soundcard) is a perfect replacement! I wish I have the extra money to buy one for myself.

My friend pointed out that this was one of the first synths to have programmable FM, which is not a feature I got to play with. I just thought some of the built-in patches were cheesy.