Mark Ayres

Radiophonic Workshop

"I’ve owned many Yamaha FM variations down the years and I am delighted I can reproduce them all and even load my original patches. It sounds great."

Paul Frazier

Arrested Development, St. Vincent, Chaka Khan

"The DX-7 was never an easy keyboard to program and I never loved it. Arturia has made me a fan! "

Paul Godfrey

Morcheeba

"I like playing The Doogie Howser theme with the new DX7 V. "

Metrik

DJ / Producer

"Love the Arturia DX7 V. It has that vintage FM sound yet can be programmed like a modern soft-synth. "

Dense & Pika

DJ / Producer

"Can’t believe how close the DX7 V is to the real thing... it is mind blowing, next level!"

Beacon

"The DX7 V retains so much of the character that made the original instrument unique and the presets are top-notch. Definitely a new regular in our toolkit."

Eren Cannata

Writer / Producer

"Arturia's DX 7 V makes me feel at home. It's amazing having the familiar sounds of the DX 7 at my finger tips, but finally easy to navigate; sounding not just as good as the original, way better."

Krikor

Producer

"Arturia’s DX7 emulation has become my go to synth, I don’t think I made a track without it in the last year. I can load my programs to it, its vintage DAC mode is great and it just sounds like the real deal."

Richard Henshall

Haken

"I've always been a sucker for the synthwave sounds of the 80s. I was blown away by the quality of the tones it has to offer and the intuitive user interface made creating my own patches a walk an absolute breeze!"

Nori Ubukata

"The DX7 V offers huge improvements on the original"

Nori Ubukata

"From my experience with the original, FM synthesis is a familiar tool for creating sounds. The DX7 V offers two huge improvements on the original, firstly that it's so much easier to operate, letting you set specific values, and secondly that it sounds much, much cleaner. There is less aliasing and noise compared to the original."

Nori Ubukata

"I suppose I'm in a unique position when it comes to creating sounds for the DX7 V. I like to think that I'm just trying to make my original sounds even better than they were by using the additional features. Like transforming sketches into full, finished paintings."

Victor Morello

"The smallest change can have a huge impact on the timbre."

Victor Morello

"I think the main part of the commercial success of the original instrument was that it was able to quicky dial up a large range of sounds, without the hassles brought by analog synthesis which was promeninent before this. But the way the sound was generated was actually pretty unique ! The main strength of the DX7V for me are the added modulation sources as well as the MSEG envelopes that allow to quicky try out very precise shapes which is primordial for this kind of synthesis, as the smallest difference of level or rate can have a very important impact on the timbre that is created."

Victor Morello

"Working on this project was a perfect opportunity to get deeper into FM synthesis, which is something that I wanted to do for a long time. It was a bit hard to start at first but Klaus (Summa) gave me some very useful tips that helped. One of them especially helped : start with only a Carrier and a modulator. Experiment only with the modulator level, then try different ratios, and only then, start tweaking the envelopes. After that, perseverance and curiosity is the key ! It took a fair amount of hours of experimenting but I discovered along the way that it was possible to make very realistic and organic sounds, more expressive than what substractive synthesis can offer. Another tip for the road : if you keep getting harsh and metallic tones, keep your modulator level between 50 and 75, this is usually the most musical range."

Allert Aalders

"There is so much creative potential"

Allert Aalders

"I have to admit, when I first heard the DX7 in the 80s I hated it. I though it was cold and it couldn’t do what a Prophet or a Jupiter could. Then I started studying music technology at Utrecht School of Arts, and Ernst Bonis introduced me to FM synthesis. The DX7 suddenly became incredibly inspirational, it had so much creative potential once you got your head around it! It’s a world of it’s own, there’s almost no way you could do these sounds with a subtractive synth. I love the fact that the DX7 V expands on that with a great modulation matrix, excellent new envelope generators, and great added FX."

Allert Aalders

"First and foremost, I wanted to do a balance of “Typical FM” sounds and more organic sounding stuff. If you set modulator levels beyond a certain point you start hearing the “bessel functions” in the sound; a sort of harsh movement that’s typical of many abrasive FM sounds. Although this sound is in itself an important feature, taming them leads to a more natural quality. While programming I was looking for usability, expressiveness through the use of the velocity parameters and the macro sliders, and of course a bit of experimentation."

Mark Gijsman

"There is so much creative potential"

Mark Gijsman

"What made the original DX7 special in my opinion is that it sounded like nothing else out there, it was ahead of it's time, it is a very dynamic synthesizer. The DX7 V expands on the original, not only the new waveforms but also the inclusion of the modulation matrix, in which this instrument is in a league of it's own. The coolest thing is that the YM3812 sound chip waveforms are included, a brilliant move!"

Mark Gijsman

"Because the DX7 V can be programmed in the same way as the original, I could approach it exactly like I was programming my old DX7 Mark 1. I like to give the user a wide palette of sounds, so that no matter what genre you favor, you can always find something to use in your production. Pads and emulations of acoustic instruments are my favorites."

Clément Bastiat

"Simple things done well are often the best"

Clément Bastiat

"I feel that the original DX7 is thought to have democratized FM synthesis, even though technically it uses a type of synthesis called phase modulation. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the DX7 V also utilizes this rare form of synthesis! I would say the main strengths of the DX7 V are its new features: the additional waveforms which greatly enhance its versatility; better envelopes than the original hard-to-predict ones; great new filters; and the Mod Matrix. All those things make it possible to do old school DX7 sounds, as well as modern PM-subtractive hybrid synthesis."

Clément Bastiat

"As the factory sounds of the original DX7 are already inside the DX7 V factory bank, and thousand of DX7 Sysex presets can be found online, I decided to experiment with the more modern tones available in the emulation. Most of the time I had specific sounds in mind, but I also let myself float and explore."

Clément Bastiat

"The first thing I do is find a great operator sound, without using the envelopes or anything else. Just tweaking the ratios and making sure your first ingredient is great. From there, you can start to 'freestyle'."