Reviews of the classic Yamaha DX7 FM synth agree on one thing: programming it can be a real pain. The synth has one small LCD display and a single control for adjusting the value of a parameter. Every few months I decide to get serious about programming it, spend a day or two re-learning what I learned last time, and then move on to actually making music. Don’t get me wrong- I love this synth, and use it on most of my recordings. I just rely on other people’s patches because I’m never all that excited about my own.

Recently I decided to give it another go, and this time I’m much happier with the results. I landed on a metallic guitar-like sound that made me think of a bunch of robots battling out in a dystopian future. Here’s a brief sample.

I think that sounds really neat. But the fun really started when I ran it through my MoogerFooger low pass filter and added some reverb.

This patch is definitely going to be featured on my next track. If you’re interested, you can download it from my sample library