The DX7 is a synth of near unmatched significance to music history as it essentially defined the sound of music in the 1980s. Being the first affordable digital FM (frequency modulation) synthesizer, it quickly found its way into the arsenals of everyone from hobbyists to superstars alike. The immense potential of FM synthesis stems from its complex algorithms defining how different oscillators can interact, while being very light on computing resources. These made it possible to recreate lots of different acoustic instruments somewhat convincingly but also to create sonic tapestries and sound effects that had been unheard of at the time. Pair this with velocity sensitivity and 16 voice polyphony and you can see that the DX7 made for one seriously capable performance synth.

Throughout its life, the DX7 had several VOICE ROM cartridges released for it which gave users access to new sounds both from Yamaha and third-party sources. For this library, I sampled the VOICE ROM 3 cartridge which contains 64 recreations of band and orchestral instruments. As always, these samples have been sampled meticulously using high-end converters, several samples per octave, and multiple velocity layers where appropriate.

Pack contents

• 64 multi-sampled patches in multiple formats (see below)
• 2,261 individual samples (24 bit / 44.1 kHz, 1.3GB)
  • 1 to 4 velocity layers depending on patch complexity

Included formats

• .exs for Logic Pro Sampler (10.5+), Alchemy, exs24 (legacy), and DecentSampler (via import)
• .nki for Kontakt (not compatible with free Kontakt Player)
• MPC 2 Expansion with Keygroup instruments, pre-programmed inserts, and patch previews.
• .sfz SoundFonts for Ableton Sampler (Live 10 & earlier), UVI Falcon, Kontakt 5 & older, Sforzando, NN-XT, NN-19, Halion Sonic & others
• .adv for Ableton Sampler (Live 10 Suite or newer)
• Reason ReFill with NN-XT sampler patches
• .multisample for Bitwig Studio
• .korgmultisample for KORG WaveState and ModWave

Sound index