It reads:
It has two wheels, two sources of power and can go from 0 to 192 in just one shift. But instead of riding it, you strap it over your shoulder. Because this machine is so powerful, it can take you places just standing still.
The DX100 synthesizer.
Anything’s possible.
Yamaha
This advertisement happened to be on the back of a Swatch ad that I have kept for the last twenty years. I always thought it was an advert for a motorcycle, considering the helmet and all. I never read the copy on the ad until a couple of days ago.
What in the $#*@ were they talking about?
They are talking about a synthesizer that looks like this:
The DX-100 is a small and portable budget DX synthesizer from Yamaha. Like all DX’s it uses (FM) Frequency Modulation synthesis. It’s not the easiest form of synthesis to program but can result in some excellent sounds. The DX100 is not as flexible nor powerful as a DX7, but it does have some cool sounds. It is most renowned for its great analog bass sound (Patch #01) that is awesome for techno, house, jungle, and acid music styles; it’s very gritty, the bass tone with gristle! However, any other preset sounds that you’ll find in the DX-100 are pretty bad and require editing for anything else useable.
The DX-100 has mini-keys and only 49 of them. No filters, arpeggiators, effects or programmable controllers are available either. Small pitch and mod wheels in the upper left and guitar strap pegs make this synth usable for live use if you’re feeling whimsical. If you mess around with the settings on Parameter 13, even if you don’t know anything about FM, you can get some seriously twisted sounds out of it. If you’re willing to spend a little time with it, it has a lot more potential than just that one bass sound that people will eventually get sick of. And at its currently low street price, it just might be worth getting. It is used by Orbital, Scanner, Jean-Michel Jarre, Autechre, Laurent Garnier, and countless other house and dance artists.
All the talk about wheels and power and shifting are “funny” double-entendres comparing music gear with motorcycles. Considering that this ad was run in Seventeen magazine, it was a complete waste of money for Yamaha.
For fun, here’s a video of a guy jamming on a Yamaha DX100:
The Yamaha DX100 is one of the more beloved of the old synthesizers from the Eighties and you can find them selling on eBay anywhere from $400 to $150 for working models. Even a broken DX100 will earn the owner fifty bucks. In fact, this ad itself is something of a collector’s item, so feel free to click on over to Flickr and download the full size if you want to print it up and put it on your wall with the rest of your Yamaha memorabilia.
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