FM isn't just for your radio. Yamaha take it to digital keyboards. Prof. Dave Crombie expounds (his case comes up next week).

In depth.

The new FM synthesis

Yamaha DX7 Digital Synthesizer

E&MM's resident FM expert, Jay Chapman, takes a critical flick through the pages of a new book intended to ease the programming on Yamaha's DX7 poly.

Accessorycheck

More preset voices for FM fans. Curtis Schwartz takes his ROMs home

Synthcheck

Yamaha DX7, Casio CZ5000, Juno 106, Korg DW6000, 30 to 1 the field. Commentator, Tony Mills

for the DX7, Version 2.0

The debate over whether to upgrade to a DX7II takes on a new dimension with the possibilities that this expansion board brings to the original. Jim Burgess is impressed.

Yamaha DX Keyboards

Dave Bristow, Yamaha’s keyboard consultant, explains how to play and programme these new FM synthesisers

Sky's keyboardist was one of the first musicians to take the Yamaha DX7 on the road for the band's last tour, here he explains how it stood up to the rigours of the road.

Readers send in their own favourite synth sounds and how to generate them. Plenty of monosynths this month, including the Moog Prodigy, Transcendent 2000 and Roland SH-101.

DX7-owner Jason Chapman and the first of a new series on how to find your way round these revolutionary Yamaha synthesisers. Part 2 next month.

Readers send in their own favourite synth sounds and details of how to generate them. This month sees, among other things, our first patch for a guitar synth, the Roland GR300.

The second part of Jay Chapman's guided tour through the Yamaha DX labyrinth, with an in-depth analysis of one of the factory-programmed voices.

Part three, and a second took at a Yamaha factory preset. Jay Chapman takes you through it step by step.

The fourth part of Jay Chapman's guide to Yamaha FM. This month, he broaches the delicate subject of programming sounds from scratch.

Readers send in their own synth sounds and details of how to programme them. Among the instruments featured this month are the Moog Source, the Roland SH101 and the same manufacturer's Juno 106.

Readers' favourite synth sounds and the means to reproduce them. Instruments featured this month include the Roland JX3P and Korg Poly 800.

Software listings that enable owners of our BBC Micro MIDI interface board to view the internal workings of the Yamaha DX7 on screen, with a cassette available from E&MM for the finger-sore.

The first of our Systems features focusses on making music with the DX7, Jupiter 6, Drumtraks and MSQ700.

The end of our quest to make Yamaha's revolutionary DX synths easier to comprehend and program. Jay Chapman performs the closing ceremony.

Our monthly bring-and-buy sale for readers' synth sounds. January's models include the OSCar, the Moog Prodigy and Yamaha's ubiquitous DX7.

The readers' synth sound page. Almost a Yamaha takeover this month, with CS01, CS60 and DX7 models all featured, plus a token Roland.

A Yamaha DX7, a Simmons SDS8, a Fender Squier bass plus, plus, plus. Our biggest best competition ever!