Yamaha DX9 from 1983 - The crippled twin brother of the DX7

video upload by Espen Kraft

"The DX9 is in many ways a crippled DX7. Some say it's the worst DX ever made. Some say it's a very charming and good sounding DX synthesizer. Use its strengths to the full potential and you'll soon have some very nice sounds on your hands.

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I use a Rockman stereo chorus from 1989 in this video. This is an analog chorus and it sounds very flattering on the DX9. I use a foot switch connected to the chorus to turn the chorus on and off when needed.
Reverb is from the Valhalla plugin.

Be aware that the 4-operator DX9 isn't compatible with the later DX models from Yamaha in terms of patches- The DX9 shares its save-format with the DX7 as it uses the same envelope stages and scaling, where the later DX models do not. Later patches can be converted, but they will not sound the same on the DX9.
The DX7 and DX9 uses the same DAC and as such have the same crunchy 12-bit output stage.

The DX9 has no slot for any cartridge, there's only 20 preset memory slots and the keyboard has neither velocity nor after touch capabilities.

Another interesting fact is the function key#6, which is "empty" on the chassis front plate typing. That's were the MIDI functions are hidden, so the fact that this is nowhere written on the front just shows how late Yamaha was to implement MIDI onto the DX9. Admittedly MIDI had just been born and no one knew how it would go and so many manufacturers were reluctant to put it into their synths in 1983-1984."