{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2022}} {{Short description|Synthesizer}} {{Infobox synthesizer | image = File:Yamaha DX7 synthesizer - combined image with diagonal and top views.jpg | image_caption = | synth_name = Yamaha DX7 | synth_manufacturer = Yamaha | lfo = | synthesis_type = Digital linear frequency modulation /<br/>Additive synthesis (alg. #32) | polyphony = 16-voice | timbrality = Monotimbral<br/>Bi-timbral (DX7 II) | oscillator = 6 digital sine wave operators per voice, 32 patching algorithms<ref name=PAMS> {{cite web | title = Chapter 2: FM Tone Generators and the Dawn of Home Music Production | url = http://usa.yamaha.com/products/music-production/synthesizers/synth_40th/history/chapter02/ | archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20141023140056/http://usa.yamaha.com/products/music-production/synthesizers/synth_40th/history/chapter02/ | archivedate=2014-10-23 | work = History, Yamaha Synth 40th Anniversary | year = 2014 | publisher = Yamaha Corporation | quote = At that time, a number of Yamaha departments were developing different instruments in parallel, ...<!-- and whereas the GS-1 was preceded by the TRX-100 prototype, --> the direct forerunner of the DX Series synths was a test model known as the '''Programmable Algorithm Music Synthesizer''' ('''PAMS'''). In recognition of this fact, the DX7 is identified as a ''Digital Programmable Algorithm Synthesizer'' on its top panel. / As its name suggests, the PAMS created sound based on various calculation algorithms&mdash;namely, phase modulation, amplitude modulation, additive synthesis, and frequency modulation (FM)&mdash;and from the very start, the prototype supported the storing of programs in memory. However, this high level of freedom in sound design came at the price of a huge increase in the number of parameters required, meaning that the PAMS was not yet suitable for commercialization as an instrument that the average user could program. / In order to resolve this issue, the Yamaha developers decided to simplify the synth's tone generator design by having the modulator and carrier envelope generators share common parameters. They also reduced the number of algorithms&mdash;or operator combination patterns&mdash;to 32. }} </ref> | filter = none | attenuator = 1 pitch envelope & 6 amplitude generators per voice | LFO = 1 (six waveforms) | keyboard = 61-note with velocity <br /> and aftertouch sensitivity | left_control = pitch-bend and modulation wheels | ext_control = MIDI in/out/thru, input for foot controller x2, input for foot switch x2, input for optional breath controller | sample = | memory = 32 patches in RAM (battery backup); front panel ROM/RAM cartridge port | fx = none | synth_hardware = YM2128 (OPS) operator chip<br />YM2129 (EGS) envelope generator | dates = 1983–1989 | price = $1,995 US <br /> £1,495 GBP <br /> ¥248,000 JPY | velocity = Yes | aftertouch = Yes (channel) }} The '''Yamaha DX7''' is a synthesizer introduced by Yamaha Corporation in 1983. It was the first successful digital synthesizer and is one of the best-selling synthesizers in history, selling more than 200,000 units.

In the early 1980s, the synthesizer market was dominated by analog synthesizers. Frequency modulation synthesis, a means of generating sounds via frequency modulation (FM), was developed by John Chowning at Stanford University, California. FM synthesis created brighter, glassier sounds, and could better imitate acoustic sounds such as brass and bells. Yamaha licensed the technology to create the DX7, combining it with very-large-scale integration chips to lower manufacturing costs.

With its complex menus and lack of conventional controls, few learned to program the DX7 in depth. However, its preset sounds became staples of 1980s pop music; in 1986, it was used in 40% of the number-one singles on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Its electric piano sound was particularly widely used, especially in power ballads. The English musician Brian Eno was proficient at programming his own sounds, and it was instrumental to his work in ambient music. Chips based on the DX7 sound chip, such as the YM2612, were used in technologies such as the Sega Genesis game console.

The DX7 was succeeded by FM synthesizers including the DX1, DX21, DX27 and DX100. In later years, its sounds came to be seen as dated or clichéd and its use declined. In 2015, Yamaha released a smaller FM synthesizer, the Reface DX.

== Development == By the mid-20th century, frequency modulation (FM), a means of carrying sound, had been understood for decades and was widely used to broadcast radio transmissions.<ref name="Reid-2004">{{Cite web |last=Reid |first=Gordon |date=December 2004 |title=The History Of Roland: Part 2 |url=https://www.soundonsound.com/people/history-roland-part-2 |access-date=February 5, 2020 |website=Sound on Sound}}</ref> In the 1960s, at Stanford University, California, John Chowning developed FM synthesis, a means of using FM to generate sounds that differed from subtractive synthesis. In 1971, to demonstrate its commercial potential, Chowning used FM to emulate acoustic sounds such as organs and brass. Stanford patented the technology and hoped to license it, but was turned down by American companies including Hammond and Wurlitzer.<ref name="Reid-2015" /> Chowning felt their engineers did not understand FM.<ref name="Darter">{{Cite web|url=https://ccrma.stanford.edu/~aj/archives/docs/all/800.pdf|title=John Chowning|last=Darter|first=Tom|website=Stanford University}}</ref>

At the time, the Japanese company Yamaha was the world's largest manufacturer of musical instruments but had little market share in the United States.<ref name="Darter" /> One of their chief engineers visited Stanford to view the technology. According to Chowning, "In ten minutes he understood ... I guess Yamaha had already been working in the digital domain, so he knew exactly what I was saying."<ref name="Darter" /> Yamaha licensed the technology for one year to determine its commercial viability, and in 1973 its organ division began developing a prototype FM monophonic synthesizer, assisted by Chowning.<ref name="Reid-2015" /><ref name="Monroe-2024">{{Cite news |last=Monroe |first=Jazz |date=2024-10-09 |title=John Chowning, godfather of digital pop: 'My wife told me: I didn’t think I’d have to compete with a computer' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/oct/09/john-chowning-godfather-of-digital-pop-my-wife-told-me-i-didnt-think-id-have-to-compete-with-a-computer |access-date=2025-07-25 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> In 1975, Yamaha negotiated exclusive rights for the technology.<ref name="Reid-2015">{{Cite web |last=Reid |first=Gordon |date=September 2015 |title=John Chowning |url=https://www.soundonsound.com/people/john-chowning |access-date=October 19, 2018 |website=Sound on Sound |language=en-gb}}</ref>

Ikutaro Kakehashi, the founder of the Japanese company Roland, was also interested, but met Chowning six months after Yamaha had agreed to the deal. Kakehashi later said Yamaha were the natural partners in the venture, as they had the resources to make FM synthesis commercially viable.<ref name="Reid-2004" /> [[File:Chowning.jpg|thumb|229x229px|John Chowning, who developed the frequency modulation technology used in the DX7]]Yamaha created the first hardware implementation of FM synthesis.<ref name="Darter" /> The first commercial FM synthesizer was the Yamaha GS1, released in 1980,<ref name="roads2">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nZ-TetwzVcIC&pg=PA226|title=The computer music tutorial|author=Curtis Roads|publisher=MIT Press|year=1996|isbn=0-262-68082-3|page=226|access-date=June 5, 2011}}</ref> which was expensive to manufacture due to its integrated circuit chips.<ref name="Darter" /> At the same time, Yamaha was developing the means to manufacture very-large-scale integration chips. These allowed the DX7 to use only two chips, compared to the GS1's 50.<ref name="Darter" /> Yamaha also altered the implementation of the FM algorithms in the DX7 for efficiency and speed, producing a sampling rate higher than Stanford's synthesizers. Chowning felt this produced a noticeable "brilliant" sound.<ref name="Darter" />

Yamaha displayed a prototype of the DX7 in 1982, branded the CSDX in reference to the Yamaha CS range of analog synthesizers.<ref name="SoS80s" /> In late 1982, Dave Bristow and Gary Leuenberger, experts on the Yamaha CS-80, flew to Japan to develop the DX7's voices. They had less than four days to create the DX7's 128 preset patches.<ref name="Vail">{{Cite book|title=The Synthesizer|last=Vail|first=Mark|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2014|isbn=978-0195394894|pages=59}}</ref> The DX7 was released in 1983.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Rogerson |first=Ben |date=2024-06-17 |title='So many people hate this thing': musician explains why he thinks the DX7 gets a bad rap, then names the 10 greatest song intros it was used on |url=https://www.musicradar.com/news/yamaha-dx7-electric-piano-song-intros |access-date=2025-07-24 |website=MusicRadar |language=en}}</ref>

== Features ==

[[File:Yamaha DX7 settings.jpg|thumb|right|200px|The settings buttons include controls for effects such as portamento.]] Compared to the "warm" and "fuzzy" sounds of analog synthesizers, the DX7 sounds "harsh", "glassy" and "chilly",<ref name="FACT Magazine: Music News, New Music.-2016">{{Cite news |date=September 15, 2016 |title=The 14 most important synths in electronic music history – and the musicians who use them |url=http://www.factmag.com/2016/09/15/14-most-important-synths/ |access-date=October 19, 2018 |work=Fact |language=en-US}}</ref> with a richer, brighter sound.<ref name="Brøvig-Hanssen-2016">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L2SkCwAAQBAJ&q=%22bon+iver%22+dx7&pg=PA188|title=Digital Signatures: The Impact of Digitization on Popular Music Sound|last1=Brøvig-Hanssen|first1=Ragnhild|last2=Danielsen|first2=Anne|date=February 19, 2016|publisher=MIT Press|isbn=9780262034142|language=en}}</ref> Its presets constitute "struck" and "plucked" sounds with complex transients.<ref name="Brøvig-Hanssen-2016" /> Its keyboard has five octaves,<ref name="Vail" /> and the keyboard expression allows for velocity sensitivity and aftertouch.<ref name="Vail" /> The DX7 has 16-note polyphony, meaning 16 notes can sound simultaneously. It has 32 sound-generating algorithms,<ref name=PAMS/> each a different arrangement of its six sine wave operators.<ref name="Brøvig-Hanssen-2016" /> The DX7 was the first synthesizer with a liquid-crystal display and the first to allow users to name patches.<ref name="Vail" /> Its cartridge slot allows users to share patches.<ref name="Monroe-2024" />

== Sales == The DX7 was the first commercially successful digital synthesizer.<ref name="edmondson2013"> {{cite book|title=Music in American Life: An Encyclopedia of the Songs, Styles, Stars, and Stories that Shaped our Culture [4 volumes]|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=9780313393488|editor-last=Edmondson|editor-first=Jacqueline|date=2013|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=TQPXAQAAQBAJ&dq=DX7++first+commercially+successful+digital+synthesizer&pg=PA398 398]|quote=In 1967, John Chowning, at Stanford University, accidentally discovered frequency modulation (FM) synthesis when experimenting with extreme vibrato effects in MUSIC-V. ... By 1971 he was able to use FM synthesis to synthesizer musical instrument sounds, and this technique was later used to create the Yamaha DX synthesizer, the first commercially successful digital synthesizer, in the early 1980s.}} </ref><ref name="shepard2013"> {{cite book|title=Refining Sound: A Practical Guide to Synthesis and Synthesizers|last=Shepard|first=Brian K.|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780199376681|date=2013|quote=The first digital synthesizer to make it into the studios of everyone else, the Yamaha DX7, became one of the most commercially successful synthesizers of all time.}} </ref><ref name="Pinch2003"> {{cite journal|last1=Pinch|first1=T. J.|last2=Bijsterveld|first2=Karin|author-link2=Karin Bijsterveld|title="Should One Applaud?" Breaches and Boundaries in the Reception of New Technology in Music|url=http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/tech/summary/v044/44.3pinch.html|journal=Technology and Culture|date=July 2003|volume=44|issue=3|pages=536–559|doi=10.1353/tech.2003.0126|s2cid=132403480|quote=By the time the first commercially successful digital instrument, the Yamaha DX7 (lifetime sales of two hundred thousand), appeared in 1983 ...|url-access=subscription}} (Note: the above sales number seems about whole DX series) </ref> According to Bristow, Yamaha had hoped to sell more than 20,000 units. Within a year, orders exceeded 150,000 units,<ref name="Vail" /> and Yamaha sold 200,000 in three years.<ref name="Weiner-2017" /> It remains one of the bestselling synthesizers.<ref name="shepard2013" /><ref name="holmes_257">{{cite book |last=Holmes |first=Thom |title=Electronic and experimental music: technology, music, and culture |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2008 |isbn=978-0415957816 |edition=3rd |page=257 |chapter=Early Computer Music |access-date=June 4, 2011 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hCthQ-bec-QC&pg=PA257}}

</ref>

The DX7 was the first synthesizer to sell more than 100,000 units.<ref name="Vail" /> Yamaha manufactured units on a scale American competitors could not match; by comparison, the American company Moog sold 12,000 Minimoog synthesizers in 11 years, and could not meet demand.<ref name="Weiner-2017">{{Cite web |last=Weiner |first=Sophie |date=2017-10-20 |title=Minimoog: The First Truly Portable Synthesizer |url=https://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2017/10/instrumental-instruments-minimoog |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231019004349/https://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2017/10/instrumental-instruments-minimoog/ |archive-date=2023-10-19 |access-date=2023-10-19 |website=Red Bull Music Academy Daily |language=en}}</ref> The FM patent was for years one of Stanford's highest earning.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Analog Days: The invention and impact of the Moog synthesizer|last1=Pinch|first1=Trevor|last2=Trocco|first2=Frank|publisher=Harvard University Press|year=2002|isbn=0674008898 |page=6 |url=https://archive.org/details/analogdaysinvent00trev/page/6/mode/1up |url-access=registration}}</ref> Chowning received royalties for all of Yamaha's FM synthesizers.<ref name="Reid-2015" />

According to Dave Smith, the founder of the American synthesizer company Sequential, the synthesizer industry was "tiny" in the 1970s, which changed with the DX7.<ref name="KeyboardMag">{{Cite news|url=https://www.keyboardmag.com/gear/dave-smith-the-synth-design-icon-talks-analog-midi-and-more|title=Dave Smith|work=KeyboardMag|access-date=October 20, 2018|language=en-us}}</ref> Smith said it sold well as it was reasonably priced, had keyboard expression and 16 voices, and was better at emulating acoustic sounds than competing products.<ref name="KeyboardMag" /> Chowning credited the success to the combination of his FM patent with Yamaha's chip technology.<ref name="Darter" />

== Impact == At the time of release, the DX7 was the first digital synthesizer most musicians had used.<ref name="FACT Magazine: Music News, New Music.-2016" /> It differed from the analog synthesizers that had dominated the market; according to ''MusicRadar'', its "spiky" and "crystalline" sounds made it "the perfect antidote to a decade of analog waveforms".<ref name="MusicRadar">{{Cite news |last=Solida |first=Scot |date=26 June 2024 |title=The top 10 classic synth presets (and where you can hear them) |url=https://www.musicradar.com/news/tech/the-top-10-classic-synth-presets-and-where-you-can-hear-them-637677 |access-date=October 19, 2018 |work=MusicRadar |language=EN-GB}}</ref> It was praised for its accuracy in reproducing tubular bells, metallophones and the harpsichord, and took over the electric piano market.<ref>{{cite book |last=Russ |first=Martin |date=2012 |title=Sound Synthesis and Sampling |publisher=CRC Press |page=356 |isbn=9781136115103}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4QIAAAAAMBAJ&pg=PP84 |last=Biedny |first=David |date=February 2007 |title=Native Instruments FM8 – Get Your Synth On |magazine=MacLife |page=84 |access-date=December 13, 2023}}</ref>

[[File:Kenny Loggins - Danger Zone (opening).ogg|right|thumb|"Danger Zone", a 1986 single by Kenny Loggins, uses the DX7 "BASS 1" preset.]] With complex submenus displayed on an LCD and no knobs and sliders to adjust the sound, many found the DX7 difficult to program.<ref name="FACT Magazine: Music News, New Music.-2017">{{Cite news|url=http://www.factmag.com/2017/05/12/brian-eno-yamaha-dx7-synth-patches/|title=Sound like Brian Eno with his Yamaha DX7 synth patches from 1987|date=May 12, 2017|work=FACT Magazine: Music News, New Music.|access-date=October 19, 2018|language=en-US}}</ref> ''MusicRadar'' described its interface as "nearly impenetrable", with "operators, algorithms and unusual envelopes ... accessed through tedious menus and a diminutive display".<ref name="MusicRadar" /> Rather than create their own sounds, most users used the presets.<ref name="FACT Magazine: Music News, New Music.-2016" />

The Japanese musician Ryuichi Sakamoto was an early user, on Mari Iijima's 1983 album ''Rosé'' and his 1984 solo album ''Ongaku Zukan''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Sakamoto and Yamaha Synthesizers |url=https://usa.yamaha.com/products/contents/music_production/synth_50th/anecdotes/011.html |access-date=28 February 2025 |website=Yamaha}}</ref> The DX7 was widely used in 1980s pop music, in hits such as "When Doves Cry" by Prince, "The Best" by Tina Turner, "Smooth Operator" by Sade and "Smooth Criminal" by Michael Jackson.<ref name="Monroe-2024" /> The "Bass 1" preset was used in songs such as "Take On Me" by A-ha, "Danger Zone" by Kenny Loggins, and "Fresh" by Kool & the Gang.<ref name="FACT Magazine: Music News, New Music.-2016" /> The "E Piano 1" preset became particularly famous,<ref name="FACT Magazine: Music News, New Music.-2016" /><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.musicradar.com/news/tech/the-top-10-classic-synth-presets-and-where-you-can-hear-them-637677|title=The top 10 classic synth presets (and where you can hear them)|work=MusicRadar|access-date=October 19, 2018|language=EN-GB}}</ref> especially for power ballads;<ref name="Simpson-2018">{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/aug/14/the-greatest-preset-sounds-in-pop-music|title=More synthetic bamboo! The greatest preset sounds in pop music|last=Simpson|first=Dave|date=August 14, 2018|website=The Guardian|access-date=October 19, 2018}}</ref> it was used by artists including Whitney Houston, Chicago,<ref name="Simpson-2018" /> Phil Collins, Luther Vandross, Billy Ocean,<ref name="FACT Magazine: Music News, New Music.-2016" /> Celine Dion<ref>{{cite web |last1=Saxelby |first1=Ruth |title=Borne into the 90s [pt.1] |url=https://dmy.co/news/borne-into-the-90s-pt1|website=DMY |access-date=June 14, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230128094320/https://dmy.co/news/borne-into-the-90s-pt1 |archive-date=January 28, 2023}}</ref> and George Michael,<ref name="Monroe-2024" /> and in the theme tune of the television series ''Twin Peaks''.<ref name="Monroe-2024" /> In 1986, the preset was used in 40% of the number-one singles on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100, 40% of country number ones, and 60% of R&B number ones.<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.economist.com/prospero/2020/12/31/yamahas-dx7-synthesiser-changed-modern-music |title= Yamaha's DX7 synthesiser changed modern music |newspaper= The Economist |date= December 31, 2020}}</ref> The preset imitates a Rhodes piano, prompting some to abandon the Rhodes in favor of the DX7.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Techno Primer: The Essential Reference for Loop-based Music Styles|last=Verderosa|first=Tony|publisher=Hal Leonard Corporation|year=2002|isbn=978-0-634-01788-9|page=120}}</ref>

A few musicians skilled at programming the DX7 found employment creating sounds for other acts.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3XtPAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT81|title=The Oxford Handbook of Computer Music|date=September 16, 2009|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780199887132|editor=Roger T. Dean|page=81}}</ref> The English musician Brian Eno learned to program the DX7 in depth and used it to create ambient music on his 1983 album ''Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks''.<ref name="FACT Magazine: Music News, New Music.-2016" /> He shared instructions for recreating his patches in a 1987 issue of ''Keyboard''.<ref name="FACT Magazine: Music News, New Music.-2017" /> Eno used the DX7 on records he produced by U2 and Coldplay.<ref name="FACT Magazine: Music News, New Music.-2016" /> In later years, the DX7 sounds came to be seen as dated or clichéd, and interest in FM synthesis declined, with second-hand digital synthesizers selling for less than analog.<ref name="FACT Magazine: Music News, New Music.-2016" /> The development of software synthesizers such as Native Instruments FM8 led to a resurgence in the popularity of FM synthesis.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Stevens |first=Blake |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ywo1EAAAQBAJ&dq=%22The+sound+of+FM+synthesis+was+mostly+extinct+by+the+early+2000s%2C+and+we+can+attribute+its+resurgence%22&pg=PT80 |title=Teaching Electronic Music: Cultural, Creative, and Analytical Perspectives |date=2021-08-16 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-000-41727-2}}</ref>

== Successors {{anchor|Mark_II}} == In the mid-1980s, Yamaha released numerous cheaper FM synthesizers.<ref name="SoS80s">{{cite web |author=Reid |first=Gordon |date=September 2001 |title=Sounds of the '80s Part 2: The Yamaha DX1 & Its Successors (Retro) |url=http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/sep01/articles/retrofmpt2.asp |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110917223333/http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/sep01/articles/retrofmpt2.asp |archive-date=September 17, 2011 |access-date=June 29, 2011 |work=Sound on Sound}}</ref> A desktop module version, the TX7, was released in 1985.<ref name="SoS80s" /> In 1987, Yamaha released the DX7II, which did not match the success of the DX7.<ref name="Vail" /> Further successors included the TX81Z, DX1, DX11, and DX21.<ref name="SoS80s" /> Yamaha manufactured reduced versions of the DX7 sound chip, such as the YM2612, for use in technologies such as the Sega Genesis game console.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Stuart|first=Keith|url=https://www.theguardian.com/games/2020/feb/13/super-sonic-creating-the-new-sound-of-sega-hedgehog-hit-sonic-the-hedgehog-masato-nakamura-tom-holkenborg|title=Super Sonic: creating the new sound of Sega's hedgehog hit|date=February 13, 2020|work=The Guardian|access-date=February 14, 2020|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}</ref> In 2015, Yamaha released a smaller FM synthesizer, the Reface DX.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Goldman |first=Dan 'JD73' |date=October 13, 2015 |title=Yamaha Reface DX review |url=https://www.musicradar.com/reviews/tech/yamaha-reface-dx-629156 |access-date=February 2, 2020 |website=MusicRadar |language=en}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist|30em}}

==Further reading== * {{cite magazine|title=Yamaha DX7IID/FD Synthesizers|page=30|magazine=Music Technology|date=March 1987|issn=0957-6606|oclc=24835173}}

==External links== {{wikiquote}} * {{cite web |url=https://yamahablackboxes.com/collection/yamaha-dx7-synthesizer/ |work=Yamaha Black Boxes |title=Yamaha DX7 Digital programmable algorithm synthesizer}} * {{cite web |first=Megan L. |last=Lavengood |title=The Yamaha DX7 in Synthesizer History |date=2021 |url=https://meganlavengood.com/the-yamaha-dx7-in-synthesizer-history/}} * {{cite journal |first=Megan L. |last=Lavengood |title="What makes it sound '80s?": The Yamaha DX7 Electric Piano Sound |journal=Journal of Popular Music Studies |volume=31 |issue=3 |pages=73–94 |date=2019 |doi=10.1525/jpms.2019.313009 |s2cid=203055819 |url=https://meganlavengood.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Lavengood-2019-%E2%80%9CWhat-Makes-It-Sound-%E2%80%9980s%E2%80%9D-The-Yamaha-DX7-Electr.pdf}} * {{cite web |first=Ken |last=Shirriff |title=Reverse-engineering the Yamaha DX7 synthesizer's sound chip from die photos |date=November 2021 |publisher= |url=http://www.righto.com/2021/11/reverse-engineering-yamaha-dx7.html}} ** {{cite web |author-mask=1 |first=Ken |last=Shirriff |title=The Yamaha DX7 synthesizer's clever exponential circuit, reverse-engineered |date=November 2021 |url=http://www.righto.com/2021/11/reverse-engineering-yamaha-dx7_28.html}} ** {{cite web |author-mask=1 |first=Ken |last=Shirriff |title=Part III: Inside the log-sine ROM |date=December 2021 |url=http://www.righto.com/2021/12/yamaha-dx7-reverse-engineering-part-iii.html}} ** {{cite web |author-mask=1 |first=Ken |last=Shirriff |title=Part IV: how algorithms are implemented |date=December 2021 |url=http://www.righto.com/2021/12/yamaha-dx7-chip-reverse-engineering.html }} ** {{cite web |author-mask=1 |first=Ken |last=Shirriff |title=Part V: the output circuitry |date=February 2022 |url=http://www.righto.com/2022/02/yamaha-dx7-chip-reverse-engineering.html }} ** {{cite web |author-mask=1 |first=Ken |last=Shirriff |title=Part VI: the control registers |date=February 2022 |url=http://www.righto.com/2022/02/yamaha-dx7-chip-reverse-engineering_7.html }} * {{cite patent |country=US |number=4554857A |status=Expired |title=Electronic musical instrument capable of varying a tone synthesis operation algorithm |gdate =1985-11-26 |inventor=Tetsuo Nishimoto |assign1=Yamaha |url=https://patents.google.com/patent/US4554857A }}

{{Yamaha}} {{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yamaha Dx7}} DX7 Category:Polyphonic synthesizers Category:Digital synthesizers Category:Musical instruments invented in the 1980s Category:Synthesizers with preset storage Category:Synthesizers