1985 (Dec.)
Initially sold for ¥65,000
Released in late 1985 together with the DX27, the Yamaha DX100 is a full 4-op FM synthesizer in a small, portable form factor. It retains all the editing capabilities of its parents at an extremely affordable price for the consumer market — 349£ — being at the time the cheapest way to get into Yamaha's sounds.
With its miniature keys, battery power, strap buttons on the side and mod/pitch wheels conveniently located at the top edge it's perfect to be used standing with a shoulder strap.
Internal memory was also surprisingly bigger than the DX27 or the DX21 given the smaller size. 192 factory voices and a volatile Edit bank that can be filled with voices from the internal memory or from a tape through the cassette port.
Praised by the critic for its convenience and MIDI response, at the time of this review the DX100 remains curiously hard to find online, selling sometimes at prices higher that the DX7.
Features
- 24-voice internal RAM memory.
- 192 voices programmed into internal ROM.
- Bank Play mode permits direct access to 96 voices, programmable in any order.
- Shift mode permits access to another 96 voices.
- Built-in cassette interface for voice data storage.
- The DX100 keyboard itself does not have key velocity, but its tone generators accept key velocity data from an external MIDI keyboard or sequencer.
- Sustain/portamento footswitch and breath controller inputs.
- MIDI IN, OUT and THRU terminals.
