We're in a bit of an FM place right now (the lab is cluttered with DXs of various shapes and sizes...) and the first instrument to make it out the gates is this loving homage to the sounds that warped / defined our youth – the DX7's electric pianos. In the 80s it sometimes felt like you couldn't switch on a radio without hearing Full Tines, which tbh has led to a kind of PTSD response in a lot of people. But the DX7 was a powerful and expressive synth and it had more tricks up its sleeve than just that one patch, as – we hope – this shows
DX Keys brings you all the onboard piano and EP sounds from the DX7 IID (which we used for its cleaner convertors), and presents them in a recreation of a full DX7 IID "Program" slot – basically, a performance memory which allows you to layer, mix, pan and detune two patches simultaneously for a thicker, richer sound than was possible with the original DX7. On top of that we've got onboard Chorus and a convolved period-authentic Lexicon reverb with nine spaces (3 Room, 3 Hall, 3 Plate), so you can get that 80s sheen to your sounds!
Whether you're looking to recreate the sounds of the past or do something more contemporary, DX Keys gives you the DX's awesome expressiveness and responsiveness: we've used 6 velocity layers and over 830Mb of compressed multisamples to ensure that this behaves and sounds just like the real deal. For DX-skeptics, it's interesting to note that some of the less-familiar EP sounds are surprisingly effective in a modern mix; also, layering a Piano and an EP can get a bit of grit into that familiar FM smoothness. Even folks who (like us, if we're honest) suffer Nam-like flashbacks to the awfulness of 80s pop may be pleasantly surprised by what you can dial up here
http://www.rhythmicrobot.com/downloads/ ... o_demo.mp3
The audio demo above should give you a bit of an idea, and of course there's tons more information on the website. We're running our usual introductory pricing, so while DX Keys usually retails for £8, you can get it until the end of the month for just £6.40! Everything you need to know is here:
http://www.rhythmicrobot.com/product/dx-keys
Expect more on this subject once we get our sleeves rolled up with the DX5, so watch this space...!
Happy music making,
The Professor (and Mongo)