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I first became aware of, and interested in the DX7, and synths in general in 1987. I was on holiday in Minorca with my parents. Every evening in our resort was some kind of tacky Mediterranean entertainment. But one night, a guy turned up with three big boxes and various other items. The patio door to our apartment was no more than 15 metres from where this guy set up his 3-piece keyboard set, comprising of a Yamaha PSR6300, a Roland JX8P, and….the first DX7 I ever remember seeing. Even while he was setting them up, I wasn’t that bothered - they were just keyboards to me, and in those days, I only had a vague, slightly above average interest in synths. The keyboard guy finished setting up, and then walked off to the bar to get a quick beer in before he started his set. I remember my dad coming back from the bar saying to me “he’s got a Yamaha DX7 !”, like it was supposed to mean something to me! It seems as though at that time, even my dad knew more about electronic music than I did... The keyboard guy (who called himself ‘Adolfo’) came back from the bar, switched a number of boxes and things on, and began to play. I was amazed. The sound quality and the music itself made me feel ashamed of my measly set up back home – a Casio CZ230s, a Casio MT-45 and a VL-Tone. That night I was hooked. I knew I wanted to have equipment that would sound as good as Adolfo’s – Even though I couldn’t actually play very well then!! Adolfo was selling tapes of his work for £5. I bought one and spent weeks after the holiday trying to re-create his work on my CZ’s sequencer! Of course, mine sounded terrible in comparison, but this early stage taught me a lot about music and arranging. Why was it the DX7 that caught my attention, and not the JX8P, or the PSR6300?? Well, In 1987, just about every top-40 single was plastered with it’s sounds; And with nearly every band having a DX7 on stage, I became insanely jealous of the lucky individuals standing behind them. I started reading ‘Music Technology’ and ‘Sound-on-Sound’ magazines and almost every article in them mentioned something about the DX7, too. I have to admit, I just wanted one because everyone else seemed to have one! But sadly, there was no way I could afford one in. Second-hand they were at least £900 and the new DX7II was nearly £2000. In 1987, I was 15, and had a job delivering newspapers. I was earning £9 per week. With this, my pocket money and some of my savings, I decided to buy a DX100. For now, anyway, this would be the closest to a DX7 I would get. So it was August 1987 when I got my first DX keyboard, and started to learn about MIDI, hooking it up to the CZ230s. Later that year, I bought a Roland TR-505 drum machine. In ‘88 I started to buy ‘proper’ synths - an Ensoniq ESQ1. During the last two years of the eighties, I also bought myself effects units, a Kawai K1m and a Yamaha TQ5. By 1990, the price of second hand DX7’s had come right down. I could finally get my hands on the synth I had dreamed of owning for 3 years!! I got hold of an immaculate DX7S for £300. Not a bad price in 1990. I felt warmly chuffed ;) Throughout my student days in the early 90’s, I was broke and really couldn’t afford anything new. But in 1996, I got my first proper job, and for three years spent much of my wages buying studio equipment, past and present. I now have four DX7’s:- the ‘S’ I bought in 1990. I bought a mk1 (which is the version I really wanted in the first place) in 1996. It wasn’t in very good condition, but I spent about £100 renovating it with a new outer case and all new externals (except keyboard). It is now immaculate, like a brand new DX7 straight from the factory. The problem is, I am afraid of playing it and scratching it now (!) so in ‘99 I bought a third DX7 - another mk 1 which is a bit tatty, and is the one I use. I now also have a DX7IIFD. I prefer the mk1 with its flat green membrane buttons to the proper ‘clicky’ buttons of the DX7S (and IID / IIFD). These later versions can suffer from intermittently working buttons, because the dust has got underneath to the contacts. This doesn’t happen with the flat buttons of the good old mk1 ! Introduced in 1983, this is an old, but legendary synthesizer. At under £200, you probably should get one sooner than later, before Trent Reznor wrecks them all!! (mind you, the more NIN destroy in their Live Performances, the less there are left, so by rights the price should go up!!)
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