David J-95
Rating: 10/10
« A uniquely programmable DX synthesiser with an excellent keyboard and midi spec »
Published on 09/15/26 at 08:21
Best value:
Excellent
Audience:
Advanced Users
I used DX7s professionally in the studio with 80s bands including Pet Shop Boys and they had great sounds but were almost impossible to program, so most people were using presets (factory or 3rd party, generated by software which wasn't generally available). The DX11 came along a bit later, it was inexpensive and has a uniquely easy version of FM to program, with controls that vary multiple parameters at once and the possibility of different algorithms and starting waveforms, which you can use as broad-brush attempts to get near the sound you want, before more targeted tweaking. As usual for FM the best sounds I get from it are bells, harps, electric pianos - bright, often percussive, but detailed enough to be featured in the mix if you work on them.
The DX11 is really odd and unique, and not a bit like its elder brethren, because apart from the difference in the sound generation it is a quite capable MIDI master keyboard (it lacks polyphonic aftertouch) combined with a MIDI sound module with 8 voices and 2 assignable outputs (not stereo as one might think). This, though limited, I have found particularly convenient for routing through different mixer channels and is really a professional studio feature rather than something for the consumer market. The 8 voices are each statically assigned to one freely-selectable patch (i.e. 'sound') within a 'performance' - each of up to 8 sounds can have a keyboard range, a midi channel (only sounds with the same midi channel as the DX11 is set to transmit on will respond to the local keyboard, but will play from incoming midi from e.g. a sequencer), and can be sent to output I, output II, or both. In addition each sound can have a transpose interval and a volume set. So we have a really quite powerful (particularly for 1987) FM sound module which is largely independent of the internal keyboard if you want it to be.
I doubt many people used the DX11 quite as intensively as I did but it's capable of really remarkable things as well as being an incredibly well-made instrument which also constitutes just about the smallest, lightest master keyboard with full-size keys that you can imagine. Eventually the 2032 battery in it fails and needs to be replaced (it's soldered in IIRC) but otherwise it just doesn't go wrong.
If you see one at a decent price and you use 'traditional' MIDI, pick it up, is my advice!
The DX11 is really odd and unique, and not a bit like its elder brethren, because apart from the difference in the sound generation it is a quite capable MIDI master keyboard (it lacks polyphonic aftertouch) combined with a MIDI sound module with 8 voices and 2 assignable outputs (not stereo as one might think). This, though limited, I have found particularly convenient for routing through different mixer channels and is really a professional studio feature rather than something for the consumer market. The 8 voices are each statically assigned to one freely-selectable patch (i.e. 'sound') within a 'performance' - each of up to 8 sounds can have a keyboard range, a midi channel (only sounds with the same midi channel as the DX11 is set to transmit on will respond to the local keyboard, but will play from incoming midi from e.g. a sequencer), and can be sent to output I, output II, or both. In addition each sound can have a transpose interval and a volume set. So we have a really quite powerful (particularly for 1987) FM sound module which is largely independent of the internal keyboard if you want it to be.
I doubt many people used the DX11 quite as intensively as I did but it's capable of really remarkable things as well as being an incredibly well-made instrument which also constitutes just about the smallest, lightest master keyboard with full-size keys that you can imagine. Eventually the 2032 battery in it fails and needs to be replaced (it's soldered in IIRC) but otherwise it just doesn't go wrong.
If you see one at a decent price and you use 'traditional' MIDI, pick it up, is my advice!