Yamaha DX7 SuperMAX Redux

Something else I’m working on…

SuperMAX plus LCD screen

SuperMAX+ LCD welcome greeting

The new circuit boards just arrived and the testing so far is good. The boards are a slight improvement over the original: I’ve increased the size to allow for a screw to hold the board down and I’ve added a battery holder (not installed) for folks that might want to make a better setup for the CR2032 RAM backup battery.

Yamaha DX7 SuperMAX+ PCB

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16 Responses to Yamaha DX7 SuperMAX Redux

  1. grantb4 says:

    While playing with the DX7 I also started toying around with the idea of burning ROMs for user ROM cartridges or perhaps for allowing people to customize the patches in the EPROMs supplied with SuperMAX or E!.

    So far I’ve captured the ROM binary data for:
    – the 256 presets in the Grey Matter E!
    – the 64 presets in the SuperMAX
    – the 64 presets in the Yamaha Factory DX7 ROM3 cartridge

    The patch (voice list) appears below. I really hate that there are so many terms for “patch”, “preset”, “voice”.

  2. grantb4 says:

    The presets in the Grey Matter E!:

    01. REAL THING
    02. GOOD PIANO
    03. 1985 PIANO
    04. ELEC GRAND
    05. PIANO-CP
    06. THE PIANO
    07. STEINWAY 7
    08. CHINAPIANO
    09. FSTERHODES
    10. DEBBIE RDS
    11. RHODES A1
    12. DynoEPiano
    13. JANICE RHD
    14. O.D.RHODES
    15. WURLITZ A
    16. WURLITZER
    17. Modd Piano
    18. FM PIANO A
    19. FUZZ PIANO
    20. W.PNO 11.4
    21. SYNPIANO
    22. E.PIANO 4
    23. E.PIANO 2
    24. CLAV 9
    25. CLAV 10
    26. CLAV B
    27. CLAV 7
    28. CLAV 1.4
    29. REVINETTE
    30. DAVE CLAV
    31. MEDL XPRS3
    32. MIAMI VICE
    33. 0RGEL JH
    34. CLIC-ORG
    35. E.ORGAN 10
    36. 60-S ORGAN
    37. B-3 FULL
    38. E.ORGAN 5
    39. E.ORGAN 2A
    40. E.ORGAN 3
    41. HAMMOND 4
    42. B3 VAR2 LL
    43. E.ORGAN 7
    44. E.ORGAN A
    45. HMND ORGAN
    46. ORGAN
    47. E.ORG 13.3
    48. Rock Organ
    49. ORGAN 1
    50. ClassicOrg
    51. HAMMOND 1
    52. HAMN CHEEZ
    53. ORGAN 10A
    54. N-ORGAN006
    55. B3——-
    56. E.ORGAN 9
    57. HAMMOND 4
    58. CHORSORG1
    59. HAMMOND-DR
    60. PIPES B
    61. PIPES A
    62. SMALL1PIPE
    63. GlasPipes1
    64. PIPES 3
    65. Nylon Pick
    66. SPANISHGTR
    67. AC GUITAR1
    68. AC GUITAR3
    69. GuitarDbl\
    70. HAWAII JH
    71. J Guitar 5
    72. DYNOGUITAR
    73. 12 STRG 1
    74. KalimGitar
    75. GUITAR 7
    76. Guitars-Jw
    77. E.GUITAR B
    78. JIMI H.
    79. MARSHALL-1
    80. E.GUITAR 1
    81. Guitar Swp
    82. FRETLESS 2
    83. ABES BASS
    84. E.BASS A
    85. 360S-BASS3
    86. TECH-BASS2
    87. TECHNOBASS
    88. E.BASS 19
    89. BASS-PRES
    90. SITAR
    91. SOFTSITAR
    92. ZITAR
    93. LUTE
    94. AUTOHARP6b
    95. PEDALSTEEL
    96. PED. STEEL
    97. FLUTE JL
    98. SFLUTE 1
    99. DIRTYFLUTE
    100. PennyFlute
    101. PICCOLO 2
    102. RECORDER 1
    103. Clp Brs *
    104. CLARINET
    105. OBOE 1
    106. WIND ENS.2
    107. BASSOON 2
    108. WARM BRASS
    109. WIND ENS.1
    110. FRENCHHORN
    111. SYNBRASS 2
    112. TROMBONE 2
    113. TROMBONE 3
    114. JAZZ-TRUMP
    115. BRASS 1
    116. TRUMPET 1
    117. SAXOPHONE4
    118. SAX-1
    119. SAXOPHONE1
    120. TenrReed1\
    121. SPLAT BRS5
    122. E.BRASS 2
    123. SAMPLE BRS
    124. VIENNA
    125. ACCORDION
    126. ACCORDION1
    127. HARMONICA1
    128. HRMNCA2BBC
    129. PAUL STRGS
    130. GRUNGE BOW
    131. STRINGS 3
    132. STRINGS 1
    133. VIOLINS B
    134. VIOLIN 3
    135. JEAN LUC
    136. CELLOS1 M1
    137. CELLOS A
    138. JX3P STRGS
    139. OB8 STRING
    140. E H STRING
    141. OberheimBS
    142. FAIRLIGHT
    143. Marlboro
    144. ANALOG
    145. MODULAR!
    146. ANTHR SYN2
    147. St Pad 3v
    148. ANOTH STRG
    149. BRASS-STRG
    150. Digi Pad
    151. ORCHESTRA
    152. ORCHESTRA2
    153. *Orchester
    154. Orchestra^
    155. Cosmique
    156. SYN-ORCH
    157. METHENY 1
    158. HUMN VC 1
    159. HUMN VC 8
    160. SOLO VOICE
    161. A.MALLET A
    162. Kamimba
    163. KARIMBA A
    164. karimba
    165. DBL.HARP B
    166. DBL.HARP A
    167. FM HARP
    168. PianoMrmba
    169. BLCK-FLUTE
    170. Fuller 919
    171. REAL STEEL
    172. STEELY DAN
    173. CELESTE
    174. HARPSICH 2
    175. SYN.GLOC.3
    176. KOTO-CHORD
    177. PERCSYN M
    178. GRUSIN SND
    179. TACKVIBE1*
    180. TORIM PLUK
    181. EXPRESSION
    182. SLVR DBLF3
    183. XYLO-JL-1
    184. ENV-KOTO
    185. TUBERISE B
    186. BELLS 13
    187. BELLS 11
    188. BELL 2
    189. THBL 16.7
    190. BELLS 14
    191. Vel.Tubul
    192. SCORE 1–
    193. GAMBA E
    194. SYNCLAVIER
    195. JUPITER 8
    196. Os Prc/Trp
    197. FATSYNTH C
    198. SURVIVOR
    199. FATSYNTH B
    200. PPG 9
    201. CARLOS 1
    202. PROPHET5.2
    203. SILK
    204. JACO 1
    205. SPECTRUM 2
    206. TOTOISH
    207. POLY BLIND
    208. ESSO TAV
    209. SYN. VOX 3
    210. RED VETTE
    211. PERC SAW 1
    212. *Fat Funk*
    213. 214. Power Funk
    215. BOUNCE 4
    216. MINI MOOG1
    217. SYN-LD-ECO
    218. SYNTHING 1
    219. Chariots..
    220. ANALOG BRT
    221. CLOSER
    222. KEETARO
    223. AMBIENCE..
    224. Attaca Ens
    225. PIANO-CHIM
    226. SLAP1-SAW5
    227. Pad*TBar 2
    228. Jers Dream
    229. ORCHESTRAL
    230. Textures 7
    231. DARKSHADOW
    232. Clar+Brass
    233. Layer #4
    234. ORCH-CHIME
    235. B/DrtyAna\
    236. SmoothSq2\
    237. PedSweep1\
    238. RodeBell \
    239. HIBEL 16.8
    240. StrngGtr3\
    241. LORBER- 1
    242. PLAN.ICE A
    243. BELL-FLUTE
    244. BPOP-SITAR
    245. ATLANTA.65
    246. DX9.13
    247. ICY STRAD
    248. CHAGALL
    249. CHRISTMAS
    250. HARP-0LUTE
    251. E.PN/BRS B
    252. [FBS/GTR ]
    253. [FBS3/FLT]
    254. [FBS2/ORG]
    255. STRG-MARIM
    256. LAS PEQUE

  3. grantb4 says:

    The presets in the SuperMAX+:

    01. Roundabout
    02. BottleBell
    03. 5th Synth.
    04. JazRokArpg
    05. T. Riley
    06. P. Glass
    07. Murder
    08. *maracas
    09. JP8-PWM
    10. Fripp
    11. K.Crimson
    12. Drummy
    13. Debussy
    14. G.Mahler
    15. Beethoven
    16. StarTrek–
    17. Wah-Choir
    18. DancinFlut
    19. SnareDrum
    20. SpookChord
    21. Zol.Kodaly
    22. Dark Age
    23. Mohamed
    24. Echo
    25. PercuRotat
    26. SpaceyEcho
    27. Bel.Bartok
    28. Rimsky-Kor
    29. Hindemith
    30. B. Martinu
    31. New York
    32. Chromosome
    33. Caligula
    34. Prokofiev
    35. StackSynth
    36. BrassFatty
    37. Univers 0
    38. H. Berlioz
    39. Mussorgsky
    40. T.Rundgren
    41. Orchid
    42. Beverley
    43. Balian
    44. 12StrGuit.
    45. 12 Stg Gtr
    46. GothicBell
    47. Gregorian-
    48. RadioChoir
    49. AfriTumbaW
    50. Runny-Pno
    51. Arpg Piano
    52. ErikSatie
    53. PianoChord
    54. Chorus-Pno
    55. HiStackPno
    56. RuneChopNo
    57. Falk
    58. Peking
    59. Berlin
    60. B52s Organ
    61. Buxtehude
    62. Necromance
    63. Tub. Space
    64. Burning…

    • Albert says:

      1 question:
      when i send patches from Dexed to my Dx7, i have to edit every single patch in every single bank to have the original patch sound…
      it s like every single patch have natively with supermax upgrade the stack voices function active and so the delay…

      it is normal behavior?
      there s a trick to avoid this tedious editing process for every bank

      thankssss

      • grantb4 says:

        Hi,

        It is normal behavior if you do certain things (incorrectly?). As mentioned in the manual, the active special SuperMAX+ effects will get copied to all memories when loading new patches. So, to prevent that, simply have a vanilla voice active at the time of load. Usually I just select the New York patch, but any stock patch free of SuperMAX+ effects will do. Probably INIT VOICE would too.

  4. grantb4 says:

    The presets in the Yamaha DX7 ROM3 cartridge:

    01. PIANO 2
    02. E.GRAND 1
    03. E.GRAND 2
    04. HONKY TONK
    05. E.PIANO 2
    06. E.PIANO 3
    07. E.PIANO 4
    08. CELESTE
    09. FUNK CLAV
    10. CLAV ENS 2
    11. PERC CLAV
    12. HARPSICH 2
    13. E.ORGAN 2
    14. E.ORGAN 3
    15. 60-S ORGAN
    16. PIPES 2
    17. PIPES 3
    18. CALIOPE
    19. ACCORDION
    20. TOY PIANO
    21. SITAR
    22. KOTO
    23. JAZZ GUIT2
    24. SPANISHGTR
    25. FOLK GUIT
    26. LUTE
    27. BANJO
    28. CLAS.GUIT
    29. HARP 2
    30. E.BASS 2
    31. FRETLESS 2
    32. PLUCK BASS
    33. FLUTE 1
    34. HARPSICH 1
    35. STRG ENS 1
    36. BRIGHT BOW
    37. BRASSHORNS
    38. BR TRUMPET
    39. MARIMBA
    40. E.PIANO 1
    41. PIANO 1
    42. PIPES 1
    43. E.ORGAN 1
    44. E.BASS 1
    45. CLAV 1
    46. HARMONICA1
    47. JAZZ GUIT1
    48. PRC SYNTH1
    49. SAX BC
    50. FRETLESS 1
    51. HARP 1
    52. TIMPANI
    53. HEAVYMETAL
    54. STEEL DRUM
    55. SYN-LEAD 1
    56. VOICES BC
    57. CLAV ENS
    58. LASERSWEEP
    59. TUB ERUPT
    60. GRAND PRIX
    61. REFS WHISL
    62. TRAIN
    63. BRASS S H
    64. TAKE OFF

    Note that this is taken literally from the EPROM in the cartridge. I believe that in the EPROM the B bank appears before the A bank.

  5. J. P. says:

    Any way to expand the TX7’s memory?

  6. grantb4 says:

    I have never heard of one myself. Maybe there are some solder-on RAM expansions though. I think the problem is lack of space in the TX7 and that other than the EPROM, everything is soldered in. There are some good Yamaha Groups on Yahoo that may be able to answer this more definitively.

  7. grantb4 says:

    Hi, I just pulled the most recent listing off a day or do ago. I’m off to the CES 2016 show and will relist it when I get back. So around 2016-01-10 probably.

  8. Gustavo Fourcade says:

    Is it available for DX7II?
    TIA,
    G

  9. Karl Frick says:

    I have just installed a Supermax(A) in a DX-7. When I perform the version check (FUNCTION + 16 + 32), the display reads “CHANGE ROM !” Can you tell me what is going on, is something wrong?

    • grantb4 says:

      Hey Karl, as it turns out that is just a message from the old SuperMAX code telling you, that if you want to run the self-test program, you will need to install the factory EPROM (and probably remove the original SuperMAX).

  10. grantb4 says:

    This message is not part of the SuperMAX+. Sounds like an original SuperMAX or a clone perhaps.

  11. Brent says:

    Hi I have a dx7 11fd with grey matter E the battery had failed shortly after I got the synth so I lost everything including all presets for the grey matter E. I was hoping if you could send me the patches or files so I could load them on. When I press edit 16 and 32 together it does nothing for the synth, it does no reset it. Next. I am having a problem loading on bank 33 – 64 ; when I send it thru midi it only just erase the 1 – 32 patches and loads it there instead even though I selected load patches 33 – 64 in midi edit 32. So I’m really baffled with everything . Help please

  12. grantb4 says:

    Hi,
    It’s been a long time since I touched a Yamaha dx7 11fd or the E! for it. I recommend asking on one of the Yamaha forums or on one of the Yamaha DX7 groups on Yahoo. Good luck.

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