The Yamaha DX1 & Its Successors [Retrozone]
Sounds Of The '80s: Part 2
In the second instalment of this two‑part retro, Gordon Reid recalls FM's finest hour, and describes the heyday of what was perhaps the most successful family of synthesizers ever developed.
In the first part of this history of FM synthesis, last issue, I mentioned that 1982 saw Yamaha demonstrating a prototype keyboard with "six‑operator equation generators" that you could edit. Appearing a year before the launch of the first DX7 (covered last month), the prototype I mention was nonetheless a true 'DX', with all the functions and attributes we now associate with this famous family of synthesizers.