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GEAR: Yamaha DX1 & CS15

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  • GEAR: Yamaha DX1 & CS15

    2 totally different beasts in this post - the flimsy but desireable CS-15 (and cousin) get a rare press ad.. The YAMAHA range were quite popular in ireland, with many early Electronic keyboardists owning massive examples - Jim Lockheart & Trevor Knight both had polyphonic Yamahas - this was probably down to availability more then anything else, since Yamaha have always treated Ireland with respect and always had a decent dealership/service network here.

    The DX1 is a unique beast, in that it was the 2nd most expensive non-sequencer computer music device ever produced, it being a refined version of Yamaha's early WMD, and most stupid thing ever made - the GS-1.. It shat all over the current Yamaha 6-op king - the DX7, making it appear cheap with it's awesome multi displays and massive control surface.. It also suffered from early FM synth Idle noise, like the DX7, but with the vastness of it, and the unreal sounds it was capable of with more operators and more ways of arranging them, it was the very definition of a bottomless pit for tweaking, so bottomless, it rarely was actually used for anything!

    The pet shop boys had one near the end of life of the product, and to my knowledge they were the only people to take one home besides stevie wonder and herbie hancock, who owned 2 of them each. Again, the machine, like previous Yamaha monsters was let down by its bulk - the fuc*er weighed as much as a baby elephant in it's custom coffin case!

    UNTRUE FACT: the rock supergroup ASIA bought one to take on tour, and abandoned it in frankfurt airport, where it was used as landfill during the construction of the multi-story carpark!

    Find one now and expect to pay a grand to ship it, and to rebuild the power supply to reveal the most awesome FM synth ever made.. I would personally murder dem all to own one, it being easily the most tragic bloat in Yamaha's history, and only slightly more usefull then a DX7.
    Attached Files
    jUst plAythAtbEAt

  • #2
    I suppose in the 80's the frenzy surrounding FM synths made for some interest in the DX1, since every fuc*er in tight jeans had to have a DX7 when they did top of the pops, the logical thing to assume was the DX1 was AT LEAST double the awesome..

    So, there was plenty of reviews at the time, all timidly trying not to seem shocked at the bloat, yet delighted to be even allowed NEAR such a beast. 25+ Years on, we now know the DX1 was up there with the Fairlight, the Synclavier, the Prophet 10, the MemoryMoog, the PPG wave and the Matrix 12 for complete batshit insane stupid bloat - it should have been clear at the time that NOBODY (except stevie wonder and herbie hancock) could afford one, and they would find their place in history as 'seed' devices. From these 'seed' machines came the many ripoffs and cheapo approximations..

    DX-1 - DX7, DX9, DX27, DX100, Soundblaster etc.
    Farilight/Synclavier - Emulator, Mirage, Greengate, Roland S-xxx, Akai S-xxxx & MPC etc.
    Prophet 10/MemoryMoog - Prophet 5, 600, 610, Roland Junos (in fact any CEM based poly with memorys)
    Matrix 12 - Expander, Matrix 6/1000, Virus (in fact any 'matrix modulation' based synth)
    PPG Wave - Prophet VS, Roland AlphaJuno, Korg M1, Roland D50 (in fact any S&S based synth)

    Yes, the DX-1 is the full phat, un watered down ACTUAL FM experience, the way Godzilla intended it - play one, and forever realize what the fu*k they actually WERE thinking..
    Attached Files
    Last edited by playthatbeat; Sat 17-04-2010, 4:11 PM.
    jUst plAythAtbEAt

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    • #3
      Damn, just missed one on fleabay.. heh..
      Attached Files
      jUst plAythAtbEAt

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