Why Synth Logos were Covered on TV

This the story of my DX7 that came from Rogue Music in New York City. I'm sure it was on TV.
Thanks to Jason Mysteria for the collection of TV footage, his collection can be found here:
• Yamaha DX7 - Shining M...
The Yamaha SY77 patches used in the background track can be found at: www.offthematrix.net/product-...

[@user-we2bk6qb3n]

It's because they didn't want to give free advertising to the company.

[@VincentPresley]

I usually cover my logos when I'm on tour because if I'm not getting paid by a company, I'm not plugging their gear.

[@FurtiveSkeptical]

Lol, I had a bandmate who did some curious editing on his keyboard's letter "R", and advertised the country of "Poland" every gig...

[@paulromsky9527]

I'm Nigel Webb, Lead Bassist and Keyboardist for the band Xyaxis - We were world famous in Stamford, Greenwich, and Stratford. I use the Yamaha DX series exclusively for keyboards, but I was told by my mentor Frank Zappa to never go "Commerical" so I am not sponsored by Yamaha. If I were asked to cover a logo on any of my equipment, I would just simply put a very thin strip of velcro around the logo and cover it with a piece of removeable black cloth. One of my favorite patches on the DX7 is the Xylophone. You can't play Zappa pieces without a Xylophone. The DX levels go to 99 and not simply 11 - which is a lot more than just 10 as most blokes have. It's gives me that little push over the cliff quite actually - which is key in Heavy Metal music. Yes, I am British, so I do get a commission on using the words "quite" and "actually".

[@entropybentwhistle]

I’m not in a band specifically because I can’t be arsed to go all the way around the back of my synths to put tape on the logos.

[@xp50player]

The Phil Collins DX7 video was from 1985, a totally different era than the 1991 Korg 01/W ad. Phil used the 01/W on his later solo record. I don’t know that Genesis ever did, rather the Wavestation.

[@FurtiveSkeptical]

I remember seeing Tony Banks being all tied up with praising and endorsing Ensoniq/E-mu keys in ads at one point back in the when.🤔 I'd assumed that's what he mostly used. ( aside from any analog stuff from the time)

[@amigalemming]

I wondered why in GDR the synthesizer logos were not covered in TV shows, because practically every synth the GDR bands played were from imperial manufacturers.

[@deetgeluid]

They could have made it “AHA”. That’s what I did with my Yamaha drumkit.

[@UDieppe]

They did when they were using DX7s on tour….The Yam was covered up so it just left the AHA portion,mags used to have two DX7s both with the AHA logo showing when I saw them on tour in the late 80s.

[@GNeuman]

The BBC had a strict policy about advertising, TOTPs was a BBC1 production so maybe that had something to do with it.

[@CreatingJason]

Cool video. Your DX7 was absolutely used by someone in the public as no private user would go through that much trouble to ruin a $2k synth in the 1980s. I'm curious to know who it belonged to.

[@billgrabbe9992]

I play in a Steely Dan tribute band. I proudly use a Yamaha S90-ES for all my sounds. However, Donald Fagen uses a Rhodes, which does not have a huge logo on the back like my Yamaha. I covered the logo with gaffer tape to avoid highlighting the fact that I don't play a Rhodes.

[@FurtiveSkeptical]

Lol, I did something similar. I used black gaff tape to cover the Casio logo on an 88 key weighted digital piano I was using as a controller, I had MIDI'd into my Korg (61 synth key) workstation while on tour. I wasn't worried about copyright issues, just didn't want to appear proud of, or have other musicians to see me playing a casio.😅 Heh, silly pride.

[@billgrabbe9992]

@@FurtiveSkeptical I totally get the Casio thing. Nowadays, it's kind of a point of pride to get great sound out of a Squier guitars, but that wasn't always the case.

[@FurtiveSkeptical]

@@billgrabbe9992 Agreed. I own a Squier 60's classic vibe Strat currently, I have no problem with other musicians knowing about. But there was a time I'd never admit to owning a Squier to a guitar player. They all make the same stinkface involuntarily when you say the brand out loud haha. My "Les Paul" is an Epiphone while we're on the subject.😅 In reality, I'm quite fine with the Casio, Squier and the Epi these days with no manufactured shame. Rock on Sir, ✌️🎶

[@markg5713]

Most of the synths on Tav weren’t even plugged in

[@avace917]

I've bought equipment from both Dr Sound and Rogue Music

[@offthematrix5310]

My DX7 had service information from Dr.Sound inside the keyboard. It was worked on in the early 90's. I wonder if it was rented to a group on TV.

[@avace917]

@@offthematrix5310 I wasn't familiar with Dr Sound back then. I bought a Soundtrak Mini Topaz and a pair of Alesis M1 Actives. Their first active studio monitors. I didn't even know they did rentals until this very post

[@UncleMilty]

Plausible deniability