Hopefully this box of bits is all that’s needed for a DX7 clone.
Anybody else out there built it?
No But mega interested…
Have had a DX21,DX9 and have a DX27 presently. All in the last 9 months
Check out the link:
Holger is a friendly dude and has put a lot of work into this one.
I’m waiting on the pcb he designed for holding it all together and will post pics and sounds when its assembled.
I’ve grown fonder of the DX7 over the years - though it’s been years since I played the real thing - through FM8 (long gone since I went legit with plugins in about 2010 ), Volca FM (sold to the highest bidder on ebay), to Dexed.
Can’t wait to have a stand alone DX7 for the first time since 1993!
Absolutely despised the DX7 when it came out. Nobody used more than the presets ever. After a few months everything was so samey. Some embraced it, some producers banned it but no one could operate it regardless.
Years later I met another EWI player who was doing some amazing stuff in film scores … using a DX7 and some free edit software. They are incredible and so flexible i now adore them. Don’t get me wrong - many musical sins were committed in the 80’s with that chocolate slab of hyrogliphics and woo woo presets but all is forgiven now FM synthesis is easier to understand than some apps on my phone.
This looks interesting and i was planning an arduino type FM build. Anyone else interested?
I really hated them growing up in the 80s. That electric piano sound.
I borrowed one for a month in the early 90s and got nowhere with it - but hey it was the synth that Aphex Twin said he used lots.
When Dexed came along I was older and gentler on those preset pianos and bell tones (kinda like them now) but also discovered the monster bass it was capable of.
I wish I could help with the Arduino idea but I don’t have those skills yet. Hopefully someone else chips in.
That monster slap bass in the Jerry Seinfeld theme was an FM synth (no bass players were harmed during recording)
Still don’t like that sound. I suppose my formative years were when synthesisers actually sounded different, and they did this mostly through amplitude modulation of analogue signals. Here was a synth that was trying to sound like other instruments, but to my ears always sounded like slight variations on the same very annoying one.
the Yamaha’s are actually quite versatile , just a pain in the ass to tweak ,very steep learning curve so very few people really get the most from them.
Now thinking a Breakout controller like Sam’s Sega might make this an FM synth worth playing. Lot of knobs but there’s fun to be had there.
Meanwhile, my formative years were early 90’s and sonic the hedgehog, so I love the fuck out of it. I love that sounds are so subjective though, cause variety spices shit up.
@devicex, thats why i use dexed. Its a software vst of the DX7 that breaks everything out, and can output sysex midi presets to dx7. This even works for the korg volca FM if anyone was curious.
To be honest, that plugin makes owning any hardware for dx7 mostly arbitrary. Though, no knocking anyone that wants hardware versions of other FM synths etc, ovbiously.
Dexed is magic, I use it lots and it does make a hw unit obselete in many ways. It’s certainly one my fave plugins.
I use it that much that the MicroDexed will simply be more convenient in my current setup.