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I'm looking for a VSTi/DXi/Soundfont of the Yamaha's DX7 all too overused electric piano. You all know the one I mean.Used on every record done in the 80's.I sold my DX7 a few years back. Dumb move.Willing to pay for an excellent one.
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Journeyman
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John: You could take a look at FM Piano by Sonivoxmi --$19 and they have a free 3-day demo http://www.sonivoxmi.com/ProductDetail.asp?Item=FMPiano&Fr=Demoslistcan run as vst or rtas host or standalone. They have a brief mp3 audio demo on the page above. John
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John You can try one of these soundfonts on Hammersound, there is Yamaha DX7 Electric Piano [3.6MB] on this page. SoundFonts of type PianoA source of DX7 sounds would be of course to obtain Native Instruments FM8 - you may find a used version for sale on EBay. Kevin 
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Hi john. There's a reasonable free VSTI emulation of an FM synth called GTG FM4. You can find it on this page. http://www.gtgsynths.com/plugins.htmBack in the 80s we used to play "Spot The Preset". As you say, nearly all the 80s tracks seemed to be made up of DX7 sounds. I sold my DX7 recently when it became a two-man lift! ROG.
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There is also a DX7 emulation present in most GM synths as well, although it likely is not named as such.
Cryptic terms, such as "EP" or "Electronic Piano" etc. may be the Patch Name descriptor, and you must be able to use your ears to compare whatever sound the thing delivers to the real thing and decide if the patch is usable for your particular target. However, the good news is that the sound is not all that difficult to sample and many samples come close enough IMO.
As a Keyboardist, however, I must comment that the DX piano is a sound that I had to live with back when the DX7, DX11, etc. series was king of the hill -- and what I really wanted was a real piano.
--Mac
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I went to a Beethoven 'concert' at the local university, where he rocked a Steinway on the Sonata Op 10 no 2, (der Grafin Anna Margariete von Brown etc.
Wow, but he was eccentric to a fault, and his head moved even at the amazing speed, and I had to close my eyes.
Awesome.
You need to hear someone really good on a great piano to 'get it'.
Last time there my friend Paul who teaches the Piano Tech course (a one year, learn it all piano tuning repair course), showed us his string winding gear and made a bass string for us.)
We get home, have a beer, (my buddy and I, our wives work), and my wife came home. She pulls a Beethoven book out of her library and plays the dang thing, sort of. But heck she almost hasn't played that kind of stuff for 30 years. Get on the horse eh? Then I notice pencil marks. She played it as part of the requirements of her course. Gee...
John Conley
Musica est vita
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Last night I typed a reply "Please don't use the DX7 piano sound" But I didn't submit it as I didn't want to sound rude. However, I meant it. Any keyboard player that was around in that era can likely relate. I remember being in one band where, to save time, I programmed the sounds on the synth so I could just hit ^ (up) to go to the next sound in a set. I ended up with way too many copies of that patch installed.
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome
Make your sound your own!
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How is it that the DX7 piano is considered to be naff (does "naff" translate ok?) but the Rhodes piano, which is just as ubiquitous, is still cool?
Just wondering ...
ROG.
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In a lot of synths I've had over the years there's 3 basic EP's the Rhodes, the Wurly and the Digital. Then they will have 2 or 3 variations of each in different soundbanks. Digital is the DX7. The two big name free VSTi's that should still be out there are Sampletank and Proteus. Both should have what you're looking for.
Bob
Biab/RB latest build, Win 11 Pro, Ryzen 5 5600 G, 512 Gig SSD, 16 Gigs Ram, Steinberg UR22 MkII, Roland Sonic Cell, Kurzweil PC3, Hammond SK1, Korg PA3XPro, Garritan JABB, Hypercanvas, Sampletank 3, more.
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Quote:
naff (does "naff" translate ok?)
Cliche? Commonplace? Done to death? Overused? Not cool? One of those?
That's just my guess, but the Brits I have known say I am barmy, so....
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ROG's question is legitimate and so far nobody has addressed it.
My opinion has a few different facets:
1. The DX7 classic electric piano sound is tied to the era of heavily gated snare drum sounds in the same songs in which the DX7 EP sound was featured, which also for whatever reason is not considered 'cool'. DX7=Paula Abdul tart-pop songs, Rhodes=long list of classic rock, soul, R&B, funk hits. Recall however, that during the Paula Abdul era, the Rhodes and Wurlys were NOT cool during those 5 years or so. Moog synths could be had for pennies on the dollar at the same time in the used market due to their instabilities, etc. All the big synth manufacturers seemed to abandon their analogishness for whatever they could muster up with digital and they all strove for that clangy digital EP sound. I recall a Korg DW-x000 (can't remember the x digit) series of keyboards that had a good knock-off of the DX7 sound.
2. Rhodes and Wurlys have much more tonal variety depending on the long list of factors; age, electromechanical weirdness, how well the tines are suspended, where the pickups are and in what condition, etc.
3. Rhodes and Wurlys sound cool when overdriven by various amounts, DX7 does not. That is my opinion.
4. The DX-7 sound is to the 80's what the Farfisa organ and other electronic organ sounds were to the 60's and early 70's. Yes there are emulations, but they are more novelties do their generally unpleasant 'stasis' sound - what I mean by that is that there almost too 'pure', with very little of the sonic surprises that happen with instruments that have a bit of a mind of their own.
So, I guess all of that could be summed up into saying that the sound is in fact 'naff' - which I understood to mean 'kitschy' or 'not serious', but I only know the word through forum participation.
Last edited by rockstar_not; 09/29/12 10:29 AM.
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As a somewhat tangential discussion:
The youth pastor at my church when I was a senior in high school had a DX7, a Yamaha drum machine of the same vintage, and a rack of 2 or 3 of those TX modules, as well as an Arp Odyssey.
He would play barefoot - toes keeping an unbelievably decent rhythm on the drum machine (guess it was too hard to program patterns) and then had the DX controlling the TX modules. All presets of course, because there was almost nobody who could actually program the FM synthesis capability of the DX series.
I had a little fun on the Arp. At least it made sense to me.
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Must admit, while I still have the DX and TX, I use the DX to drive romplers and an ol Matrix analog rack these days. Still, I find the nostalgic touch and feel of the DX to be inspiring even though I avoid any programming on it like the plague!
Win11, Intel i7 7700K 4.2Ghz, 32Gb RAM, 2x1Tb HD, 500Gb NVMe, BIAB/RB 2025, MOTU 828MK3 audio, MOTU Midi Express, Yamaha Montage 7, DX7II, TX802, Motif XS Rack, Roland Fantom XR Rack, Oberheim Matrix 1000, VoiceLive3 Extreme, Kontakt 6, SampleTank 4.3
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Scott.
Yeah, good answer. I hadn't realized it until now, but in my mind the sound of the DX7 is inextricably linked to a Phil Collins snare drum and gratuitous amounts of digital reverb.
I remember reading, back in the 80s, that out of all the DX7s which were returned for service during the first two years of manufacture, not one had any user-created sounds stored. Like you said, not the easiest beast to program.
ROG.
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Quote:
Cliche? Commonplace? Done to death? Overused? Not cool? One of those?
Not ONE of those, but ALL of those.
One of these days I'll get you speaking proper English, Eddie!
ROG.
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Maybe someday I'll go on 'oliday, rent a nice 2nd level flat, that requires me to take a lift!!
And Bob's yer uncle!!
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Quote:
I sold my DX7 recently when it became a two-man lift!
ROG.
Hi ROG,
Did that thing get heavier?  Ducking and running!
Later,
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Quote:
How is it that the DX7 piano is considered to be naff (does "naff" translate ok?) but the Rhodes piano, which is just as ubiquitous, is still cool?
Just wondering ...
ROG.
I guess that's kinda the point. Rhodes was one of very few choices in its day, and yet people figured out how to get it to sound different. DX7 was used when many other options were available and it usually sounded the same all the time.
When music gets to where everyone is using the same sounds it is usually not a very inventive period. Many artists used Rhodes (out of necessity) but tried to make it their own.
Many artists used the DX7 piano (not out of necessity) and tried to sound like everybody else.
I am not someone who's opinion matters anyway, but thought I'd explain my mock turtle.
...Drawling, Stretching, and Fainting in Coils.
Last edited by rharv; 09/29/12 03:26 PM.
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome
Make your sound your own!
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Quote:
In a lot of synths I've had over the years there's 3 basic EP's the Rhodes, the Wurly and the Digital. Then they will have 2 or 3 variations of each in different soundbanks. Digital is the DX7. The two big name free VSTi's that should still be out there are Sampletank and Proteus. Both should have what you're looking for.
Bob
I have Sampletank.
I agree with all that was said about the DX as it relates to the pop stuff.I play Country and it was a very big part of that 80's country sound and didn't come off as cheesy as it does on the pop/rock stuff.How do I play "Lost in the 50"s" without it?
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Thanks Kevin for the soundfont download link. I converted it to a sfz file and loaded it into ARIA. John,if you can convert sf2 files, the following link may be of use. It's to the DX7 Bank 1 patches in sf2 format. I'm in the process of converting them all with the sfZed editor. http://soundfonts.homemusician.net/collections_soundfonts/dx7.html Alos here is the link to the sfZed in case anyone is interested. http://audio.clockbeat.com/sfZed.html I don't get into the editing side as it's rather new to me,(read don't know what I'm doing!) I just do a straight conversion to sfz format. You could load them into any sfz player and they should work. I still like the old gear even though I work "in the box" these days. My DX7 is under the bed waiting repairs. I'll never sell it or the D-50 Mac's suggestion to look into the GM Electric Piano was a good one. I like the EP's especially the Legend and the FM pianos in the GS format of VSC Dxi as well. I don't think anything can match the real thing but at least it's something.
yjoh
[i]Music...a joy for life.
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