Yamaha DX7

Image: Neil Vance

Vince Clarke with his Yamaha DX7 in 1984.

via the Synthtopia Flickr Group

Big City Music reports via their blog that the Korg MicroKorg is now the most popular music synthesizer in history:

We were talking to our Korg sales rep. the other day and he mentioned that the 100,000th Korg MicroKorg keyboard just came off the assembly line. Unofficially that makes the MicroKorg the best selling synthesizer of all time. Amazing.

There’s no official ranking that I’m aware of for top-selling synths. If you’ve got more information on this, leave a comment.

And if you’ve got a Korg MicroKorg, leave a comment with your thoughts! Read more…

DX7 Librarian is a free Macintosh program for managing voice data for the Yamaha DX7 synthesizer.

Features

Any voice parameter can be changed on Editor window having direct connection with DX7 over MIDI.

If your Macintosh have a connection with the Internet, you can access to “DX7 Librarian Official Database”. Double clicking on a file in Database window, you can get the voice file on your Mac! As you can see in the voice list here, the total number of registered voices is 14566 as of today.

You can submit your original voice file via e-mail just by choosing Submit item in File menu. Then the file will be appended into the Database within a few days. Read more…

Here’s a bizarre synth sighting….

Movie goers who take in DreamWorks Animation’s Monsters vs. Aliens are treated to cameo by the vintage Yamaha DX7 synthesizer.

In an attempt to make peace with the aliens aboard a UFO that has landed in the United States, an animated President (Stephen Colbert) performs the familiar alien melody from Close Encounter of the Third Kind. When that doesn’t seem to be working, he breaks into Axel F from Beverly Hills Cop.

The Yamaha DX7 was one of the most popular digital synthesizers ever created, manufactured from 1983 to 1986. The DX7 family has been used by Stevie Wonder, Depeche Mode, Babyface, U2, The Cure, Elton John, Toto, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Beastie Boys, Herbie Hancock, Queen, Talking Heads, and now, the President.

via Daddat

In this vintage video demo, Francis Monkman (Sky, Curved Air) demonstrates Yamaha DX7.

via Artmuzz