In 1983, the Yamaha DX7 changed everything. It had a sleek new look and a whole new sound. The DX7 was everywhere for much of the 80s, and it was a big part of countless hit songs.

But a DX7 isn’t that inspiring by itself: it’s mono and has no built-in effects. Yet 40 years later, it remains extremely expressive and capable of incredible sounds.

But the real magic happens when you layer multiple DX7s together, which was the concept behind the TX rack: it had 8 DX7 modules that could create truly massive sounds when layered together. DX Dreams captures that magic to create a whole new experience for today’s players and sound designers.

Unlike every other virtual DX7 on the market - all of which model a single DX7 - DX Dreams is based on the TX rack paradigm. Up to ELEVEN DX7s were captured playing simultaneously, for some of the biggest, most iconic sounds possible.

And unlike a single DX7, these sounds are fully produced, radio-ready versions of 80s icons. All were recorded through classic 80s hardware: British preamps, analog tape, Dimension D chorus, and AMS reverb. 

For the first time since the 80s, you can now play the sounds that defined a generation, as we heard them.

• Over 31 GB of meticulously deep-sampled content sourced from an original DX7, TX816, and a custom-modified DX5. That’s up to ELEVEN DX7 “engines” captured at once!

• Stunning production-ready sounds captured through the hit-making hardware of the DX era: British preamps, various analog tape models, Dimension D chorus, and AMS RMX16 reverb

• Built from the ground up for uncompromising performance without the CPU/RAM penalties, authorization issues, and other hassles of 3rd party plugins

• Built-in EQ, chorus, compression, and custom AMS “Nonlin” reverb samples for shaping your sounds right at the source - including that classic nonlinear reverb of the 80s

• Famous “Iconic” Patches meticulously programmed to emulate those used by major artists of the DX era: Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel, Genesis, Tears For Fears, Howard Jones, Kenny Loggins, Prince, A-ha, Mr. Mister, Van Halen, Simple Minds, David Foster, Toto, Duran Duran, Michael W. Smith, and others

• BONUS: Includes the Blair Masters Legacy Grand Piano - for signature David Foster/Chicago-style piano-DX layered sounds; normally sells separately

• Native Instruments Kontakt 6.4.2 or later (full version, not the free “Player” version), Mac or Windows

• 32 GB free space on an SSD (solid state drive) for sample streaming

DX Dreams for Kontakt is $149 ($49 crossgrade for existing users) and includes all the samples and core patches from the original MainStage/Logic version, but rebuilt from scratch for Kontakt:

• Over 130 original source sounds (31 GB WAV data), deep-sampled from various combinations of up to 11 DX synths at once

• 60+ “Iconic” patches meticulously programmed to emulate some of the most famous sounds in pop music history - in addition to 80+ other patches

• Blair Masters Legacy Grand Piano from BackStage Pass (normally a separate purchase), for the signature piano/DX layers made famous by David Foster, Chicago, and others

• Custom “Nonlin” reverb impulse sample from the AMS RMX16 reverb - part of an upcoming separate expansion, for adding that crucial ingredient to 80s synth sounds

For a video answer to this question, click HERE

The MainStage versions were designed and built specifically for live performance, and as such, they have an elaborate interface with corresponding iPad controls using TouchOSC. They also come with a fully loaded MainStage “Concert” file where all sounds are loaded and ready to play, with onscreen controls that let you dial in effects and other settings as you play.

The Kontakt versions are much simpler: they give you the core sounds themselves, but since they are designed to use within a DAW, they have more basic controls for built-in EQ, chorus, compression, and the AMS “Nonlin” reverb. They are meant to be used as part of a larger production, where you add your own effects as needed from your DAW or other plugins.

It’s important to understand that there’s no way to exactly match some of the sounds between the MainStage/Logic and Kontakt versions; you can only approximate certain aspects since they use different filters, envelopes, and effects. I spent hundreds of hours obsessively tweaking the Kontakt versions to get as close as possible, but there will always be some differences on certain types of sounds.

However, this does NOT mean the sounds are compromised in any way: the Kontakt versions still maintain the world-class sound of any BackStage Pass instrument, and you simply won’t find any other way to get these iconic, massive sounds that DX Dreams delivers.

For a video answer to this question, click HERE

All modeled DX7 plugins give you just a single DX7 at a time. And like the hardware, those sounds are, frankly, pretty boring!

That’s where DX Dreams has a huge advantage: you would need 8 or more instances of a DX7 plugin to equal just ONE instance of DX Dreams - and even then, it wouldn’t sound nearly as good. DX Dreams was obsessively captured using stacks of DX hardware through top-notch processing.

For accuracy, DX Dreams was also deep-sampled to capture the full expressive range of each sound. DX7 “Rhodes” sounds, for example, are notoriously difficult to capture with sampling. In those cases, enough velocity layers were captured chromatically to make a truly accurate model that’s indistinguishable from the hardware - except DX Dreams sounds much better than the raw hardware!

Absolutely, when done right! See this video for more on this topic!

Absolutely! There is a $39 crossgrade for those who purchased a license for the MainStage version. The crossgrade requires an existing DX Dreams installation & samples; get your crossgrade HERE.

See the videos below! Those were made with the MainStage version, but all the keyboard sounds are included in the Kontakt version too (except for the Hammond B3 where noted). What you hear is what you get!

Yes! Simply send a message at www.multitracks.com and they will get you set up!