Yamaha DX7 Synthesizer from 1985–some favorite Custom Presets

video upload by Tom Loncaric

"Earlier this year, a friend gifted me this beat up Yamaha DX7 MKI. A sticker on the back indicates it was manufactured in 1985. A technician replaced the felts and rebuilt the keyboard. Apparently someone had spilled some sort of beverage inside! I also installed a new OLED display and the Special Edition ROM chip, which adds some useful features.

Since then, I’ve dragged the DX7 all over the United States, from Nashville to New York. It actually performs very well at concerts. This video showcases some of my favorite presets. The presets are gathered from various sources, including ones on the HyperSynth Hcard-101 cartridge, Bo Tomlyn cartridges, and believe it or not, DX7 patch books from the 1980s. I made a couple presets from scratch, however it took many hours—one must be extremely patient! Only one preset is from the factory Yamaha collection, and that is the infamous “E. Piano 1” sound.

Everything played live straight into an iPad.

Effects used:
Meris MercuryX reverb
Strymon Volante delay
Strymon Lex rotary speaker simulator"