MMTA Spring SYNTHFEST 2013: Dave Bristow & The History of Yamaha FM Synthesis

[@matrixsynth]

You are welcome Suit & Tie Guy. Definitely the highlight of the event for me. Amazing bit of synth history.

[@2JohJoh2]

So glad I found this video ! I saw Dave Bristow in at least three different Yamaha demo seasons (I managed my parents to take me there often more than once ...) : the very first time he was demoing the CS80, you can imagine my absolute astonishment to see 1) a polyphonic synth 2) that really was a musical instrument (from my probably coloured memory I still think it has the most expression of any synth I have played on since). To this day, I still have the original CS80 brochure from those days ! Following seasons included the even-more-rare GS1 - again a unique, musical synth that could produce sounds never heard before, and later on the less famous CS70m. Still a great analog synth, with memories, but wit less expression than the others. One thing I remember very well : every time again, Bristow always managed to make the demos both deep (no question was to difficult) and very funny & entertaining - even "on repeat" :) Only a couple of years after getting my first serious synth (yes, a DX7) , I read he had created a lot of presets for them. Knowing how difficult that was (to me anyhow), my respect has only grown for the man !!! more then some-awe

[@borisandfef]

That sneeze at the end scared the shit out of me! Great video, thanks!

[@DivKid]

Amazing video, very good watch. Hard with the audio but well worth it.

[@aschemkes]

I actually saw him doing a demo of the DX-7. That made me buy one!

[@suitandtieguy]

thank you very much for posting this.

[@yizhaqdesirebey5138]

Great video and history. Thanks for uploading!

[@matrixsynth]

Trip!

[@monsterjazzlicks]

What a wonderful video, lovely guy and so very interesting (and no foul langauge whatsoever which sadly seems to be so common here on You Tube !!). i shall be directing some of the guys from a DX7 forum i have joined to this excellent video.

[@powerdx7383]

An amazing story behind the famous DX7. I think Yamaha should have had more time developing factory presets. It will be amazing to be involved in making factory presets for a great synth. That;s another one of my dreams......... Long Iive the DX7!

[@YotamPiano]

you should have been there with Bristow doing more presets... I seen your programming skills

[@javiceres]

On the other hand they released the FM synths soon enough to take the world by surprise !!

[@jjohnson3030]

can i view the shepard tone example online somewhere?

[@bashwhack]

track down the album "store it in a cool place" GS1 amazing sounds ...

[@dvamateur]

I see, so the secret is to lock yourself up in a room with two operators with feedback, and learn what all the ratios sound like. After that, you can approach the DX7 as a true synthesizer producing all those timbral changes with different velocities. That's why the DX7 is such an expressive instrument, even though most of us (even J.M.Jarre) always thought of it as a preset organ. What an ignorance and misunderstanding of things, and so embarrassing at that...

[@dvamateur]

***** Why? I love my SY77. I had it disassembled five times because I couldn't get the LCD backlight settled right, now it's like brand new. I think SY77 is a wonderful instrument. When I saw it first time back in 1989 or so, my jaw totally dropped. It was so fantastic back then. And I think it's quite good as a keyboard instrument today, and when in good condition, it's quite beautiful. I am not planning on selling mine. SY77 is one of my favorite instruments.

[@dvamateur]

+Chipmunk Jones To me, the thicker the user's manual, the better the synthesizer. Still though, if I spend more than 10% of my time editing sounds and less than 90% of my time actually playing the keyboard, I know I am on a wrong track. SY77 is an instantly playable keyboard instrument, with great keyboard feel, very expressive instrument, and it looks fantastic. I would never replace it with an "easy to edit" 3-octave unplayable thing.

[@boptillyouflop]

I started on that on the cheap Soundblaster soundcards on PC... that thing only ever had 2 operators no matter what you did... once I got a DX7 it was already a piece of cake. ;)

[@dxhighendamplifiers]

Audio awfull..i give up to watch it because hard to listen...and i am using an excellent amplifier connected to my computer...sound is awfull..full of environment reflections..undefined.