Track Deconstruction With The New Arturia DX7 Plugin

Earlier in January, Point Blank celebrated the release of Arturia’s new DX7 plugin, based on the classic Yahama FM synth of the same name (see our Arturia V Collection 6 feature).

It’s definitely the truest representation of the original unit available and, as we see in the video, it’s full of gloriously retro presets.

Ski Oakenfull is the man in the hotseat, and if you follow PB’s channels you will know that he is their lead course developer and resident deconstruction whizz.

If you fancy learning how to make music with a course developed by Oakenfull and a host of other expert instructors, then check out their production courses in London and online.

Yamaha’s famous frequency modulation synthesiser, the DX7, is the source of many classic sounds used in house music, foremost among them is the ‘lately bass’.

As such, Point Blank decided the best way to demonstrate Arturia’s new DX7 plugin would be to deconstruct a track that makes use of this sound, not mention many other seminal presents the unit came with.

The track is called ‘Twilight’ by Maze ft. Frankie Beverly.

Before he gets into the deconstruction, Oakenfull gives a brief theory lesson on FM synthesis and also pulls out his copy of ‘Textures’ by Brian Eno: an extremely rare sound-library CD (upwards of £500 on Discogs!) The album is indicative of a period in Eno’s career when he was using the DX7 frequently.

When he does get down to the deconstruction, Oakenfull recreates the track layer by layer.

Some of the sounds are just delightful, none more so than the woodblock sound that drives the wandering melody, and the cheeky guitar lick that tops everything off. A classic proto-house track that really shows off the DX7’s wonderful presets.

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