Yamaha DX7 Product Manual - Page 4
Introduction - sounds
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INTRODUCTION The DX7 is the world's first fully user programmable and preset FM digital synthesizer. If you're used to conventional synthesizers, one look at the DX7 will tell you that something unique has happened. There are no knobs: just two linear controls, one of which is for volume, an LED digital display a small alphanumeric liquid crystal display (LCD), and a number of flat panel membrane switches. There are no voltage controlled oscillators, amplifiers or filters (VCOs, VCAs, or VCFs), nor are there any conventional envelope generators (EGs). Instead, the DX7 utilizes a totally unique method to create the richest, most naturally expressive sound available in any electronic keyboard. This special sound generation technology is called FM Digital Synthesis. FM Digital Synthesis enables the DX7 to create the overtones that would be present in an actual acoustic instrument, and to vary them over time in a precise, controllable manner to produce uncanny realism when you're playing an acoustic voice - or to produce incredible fantasy sounds - the possibilities are without limit. Because the DX7 creates sounds differently than conventional analog or purely digital synthesizers, you'll have to spend some time re-educating yourself with the aid of this manual. After you've become familiar with the panel, a few new terms, and the general concept of FM digital synthesis, you'll love the precision and tremendous versatility at your disposal. If you're already an experienced synthesist, you will soon be able to go right for a particular sound. Whether you're a beginner or a world class performer, you can enjoy the large library of preset sounds that come with the DX7. The DX7 is delivered ready to play, loaded with 32 beautifully voiced, useful, factory preset sounds. These sounds can be instantly changed, or can be replaced by additional factory-supplied sounds from a library of 128 that are supplied on special solid state cartridges. Liter- ally hundreds of exciting sounds can be at your finger- tips with just the press a few selector buttons. You don't have to program a single thing... unless you want to. Presets won't handle every job, and there's nothing that says you have to use ours. You can make your own voices. The compact size and relatively few controls of the DX7 can be deceiving. Almost every button and knob have multiple functions (depending on the selected operating mode) so that a total of some 168 parameters can be altered. In fact, the DX7 has more programmability than any synthesizers Yamaha has ever before offered to the public, providing greater control over the sound than large or modular systems. The DX7 keyboard is fully polyphonic with 16-note simultaneous capability, so the sustain of previous notes will not be cut short when you're playing with all 10 fingers. It is also highly responsive to player expression. The harder or faster a key is played, the louder the initial attack of the note - just like a piano. Unlike a piano, however, the degree of touch response is programmable... both in sensitivity to the speed (velocity) at which the key is pressed, and in sensitivity to how hard you press after the kit hits the stop (after touch). You can program voices from scratch (using a voice initialize function). If you like an existing voice, you can edit it to make subtle changes, or transform its character completely. Because the DX7 employs unique FM tone generation techniques and lets you program them with the precision and repeatability of digital control, you'll be able to create voices that are a giant step beyond the capability of former synthesizers. Pure sounds. Richly textured sounds. Outer space sounds. Bold, heavy sounds. Subtle, delicate sounds. Uncannily accurate acoustic sounds. All are possible with the high fidelity that FM digital tone generation can provide. Once you've edited a voice or created an entirely new one, you can store it in the internal memory and/or in special solid state cartridges. A battery prevents loss of memory - even after the instrument is unplugged from the AC receptacle. Up to 96 Voices Can Be "On Line" Ready for Instant Recall Voices (sounds or ''instruments") may be saved in 3 different ways with the DX7. As mentioned above, the synthesizer has 32 internal voice memories that can hold any combination of factory preset sounds or voices you create. In addition to the internal memories, one of two types of memory cartridges may be inserted in the instrument for additional "on line" memory. Pushbuttons enable you to select from the internal and cartridge voices. A total of 128 factory preset voices are provided. Obviously they all cannot fit in the 32 internal memories at once; these voices are actually supplied to you stored in 2 solid state ROM (Read Only Memory) cartridges that each hold 64 voices, arranged in two banks of 32. You move a slide switch on the cartridge to gain access to voices 1-32 in Bank A or 1-32 in Bank B - access for playing, editing, or loading into the synthesizers internal memories. Before the DX7 is shipped, 32 of the 128 voices called the "Master Group" are loaded from the bank A of the #3 ROM cartridge into the synthesizer's internal memories. This means that a cartridge does not have to be installed in order for you to open the carton, plug in headphones or an amplifier/speaker system, turn on power, and begin playing. You can edit the preset voices, or make voices from scratch, but you cannot permanently store your own voices on the ROM cartridges. For this purpose, a third storage method is provided: an EEPROM (Electrically Eraseable Programmable Read Only Memory) cartridge which, forsimplicity, wecall a RAM cartridge(Random Access Memory). The RAM cartridges go in the same slot as the ROM cartridges, and superficially they look the same. However, because of the added complexity of RAM memory, only 32 voices will fit in one of these cartridges. The slide switch on the RAM cartridge is actually an additional "write protect" feature that prevents acccidental erasure of voices you have stored; it is not a bank A-B selector. This arrangement lets you have a total of 96 voices at your fingertips since you can have any 32 voices you wish loaded in the internal memories, then install one of the 64-voice ROM cartridges. You switch between internal and cartridge voices with the press of a button, and between cartridge banks A & B with a slide switch. Of course, if you allow for changing cartridges, which takes just a second, your live performance voice library is really unlimited. NOTE Portions of the front panel are used to illustrate the text throughout this manual; it should be relatively easy to see where these "spot" illustrations fit in the context of the entire instrument if you are reading the manual with the DX7 in front of you. If the instrument is not handy we suggest opening this cover fully revealing an overall front panel illustration that will remain visible as you flip through the inside pages. Originally ROM cartridges were numbered #1 & 2. Later models were shipped with ROM cartridges #3 & 4 instead. Both sets have similar voices.