The internet premier resource for keyboardists and tech-heads: synthesizers, soft synths, samplers, organs, pianos, keyboards, drum machines, sample CDs, effects, tutorials, reviews, and a lot more.
Classic digital multi-effect processor from the mid-1980s. Great Yamaha effects including many types of reverbs, delays, chorus, flanger, pitch-shifting, and the “Symphonic” ensemble effect.
Yamaha SPX90 audio demos
A Roland Juno-60 was used to play these demos – first dry, then wet.
Its electric piano became a standard sound in ballads and “smooth jazz” genres. Its bass was the standard bass sound, typically played in bouncy octaves. Its crystalline timbres were such a departure from the world of analog, that this synth was a super-hit for Yamaha in 1983, and spanned a long family of FM-based products.
The DX7 came out in 1983, sporting the new MIDI interface. The high quality of its digital sounds, velocity + aftertouch, the expandability, the thoroughly professional look, and the complicated programming interface, made the DX7 and FM synthesis take off in a way the was unknown before for synthesizers. Thousands of units were sold, and thousands of records have that distinct DX7 sound (especially for the electric piano, the bass, marimba and glassy, crystal-type sounds).
The DX7 was also the first synth that originated a huge “patch creation” business. Since it was cumbersome to edit, many programming houses were established, ready to feed the hunger for new sounds that players all over the world craved. Today, there are literally thousands of sounds available for the DX7.
Bottom line: together with D-50 and M1, the synthesizer of the ’80s
Yamaha DX7 audio demos
Factory internal presets (ROM-1 A MASTER GROUP)
ROM 1-B KEYBOARD AND PLUCKED SOUNDS GROUP
ROM 2-A ORCHESTRAL & PERCUSSIVE SOUNDS GROUP
ROM 2-B SYNTH, COMPLEX & EFFECTS SOUNDS GROUP
ROM 3-A MASTER GROUP
ROM 3-B KEYBOARD & PLUCKED SOUNDS GROUP
ROM 4-A ORCHESTRAL & PERCUSSIVE SOUNDS GROUP
ROM 4-B COMPLEX SOUND & EFFECTS GROUP
Yamaha DX7 photos
Yamaha DX7 patches
Don’t forget to press FUNCTION (SPACE) and then Nr. 8 to switch from UNAVAIL to AVAIL when loading patches from your sequencer, or the DX7 won’t receive the MIDI sysex.
The successor to the A3000. The A4000 (and its bigger brother, the A5000) is an exquisite-sounding sampler. It’s truly a powerhouse and comes with a very large library of sounds on CD-ROMs. This line of samplers came out in 1999, just before the soft synth and soft sampler craze started. The on-board effects in particular, make this machine very unique, and its “sonic character” is warm, imparting some sort of “analogness” to sounds sampled into it.
This sampler was embraced by the dance community – especially because features like loop divide, and the numerous great-sounding effects make it especially adept to House, Dance, Techno and Trance.
Yamaha A4000 audio demos
The Yamaha A4000 comes with four demo floppy disks, and several CD-ROMs full of sounds:
Demonstration floppy disk 1 ”A4000-A5000”Demonstration floppy disk 2 ”Rainkiss”Demonstration floppy disk 3 ”A-Dream”Demonstration floppy disk 4 ”CheckMe!”
Piano / Keyboards (from the included Factory CD-ROM PSLCD-101)
Guitar / Bass (from the included Factory CD-ROM PSLCD-102)
Brass / Wind Instruments (from the included Factory CD-ROM PSLCD-103)
Strings / Choir (from the included Factory CD-ROM PSLCD-104)
Real Drums (from the included Factory CD-ROM PSLCD-105)
World / Latin Instruments (from the included Factory CD-ROM PSLCD-106)
Syntraxx / Loops (from the included Factory CD-ROM PSLCD-201)
DJ / Producer Tool Kit (from the included Factory CD-ROM PSLCD-202)
Standards – Yamaha Professional Studio Library
The A4000 also comes with a CD containing software and the rest of the tracks are high-quality samples taken from popular sample CDs, from noted sample manufacturer AMG.
The GM sounds are pretty much the same as all the other GM sets in the world, so I’m not recording examples of this bank.
Initialize the Yamaha DJX
Data Initialization All data can be initialized and restored to the factory preset condition by turning on the power while holding the highest (rightmost) white key on the keyboard. “CLr Backup” will appear briefly on the display.
Desktop Control Synthesizer with Analog Physical Modeling (groove box)
Awesome synth desktop module/ groovebox. Compared to the Roland D2, which I’ll call “the good groovebox”, this is “the evil groovebox”. The patterns are very aggressive, stylish and actual. The 5-note polyphonic VA engine is very powerful and full. The drum sounds are also very good. Edgy and “underground”, this machine is perfect for Industrial, Techno, Electro and many other genres.
Yamaha AN200 audio demos
These are the three factory demo-songs in the AN200 – they do a good job at capturing the huge variety of styles achievable on this machine:
