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Yamaha Reface DX FM Synthesizer

37-key Mobile Mini Keyboard with 4-operator FM Sound Engine, Onboard Effects, Sustain Pedal Input, Built-in Stereo Speakers, MIDI Connectivity, Aux Input, and Dual Line Outputs
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The Classic FM Synth Reincarnated

The DX7 defined the synth sound in the '80s. The Yamaha Reface DX mobile mini keyboard puts the iconic sound of a 4-operator FM synth right in your hands, along with a host of modern features like onboard multi-effects and straightforward editing. Manipulating parameters is a breeze, thanks to the Reface DX's multi-touch control surface, and storing your patches is just as easy. Whether you want classic electric pianos and bells or modern dubstep and EDM sounds, the Reface DX has got you covered. On top of that, you get an onboard phrase looper for capturing song ideas or creating "sound on sound" overdubs. The synth nuts at Sweetwater are really excited about the Yamaha Reface DX mobile mini keyboard!

Related Videos: Reface DX FM Synthesizer

Yamaha Reface DX Mobile Mini Keyboard Features at a Glance:
  • 4-operator FM Sound Engine offers dynamic and expressive additive synthesis
  • Onboard multi-effects for adding depth to your sound
  • 32 memory locations let you store and recall your patches
  • Phrase looper lets you capture song ideas or create "sound on sound" overdubs
  • HQ mini keyboard allows fast, natural performance with premium feel and response
  • Sustain pedal input allows the sustain function for all FM generated sounds
  • Stereo speaker system lets you take your sounds anywhere
  • Specially designed bass reflex port technology enhances bass response for full, rich sound
  • Can operate on 6 AA batteries for up to 5 hours for true portability
  • USB To Host port allows MIDI connectivity to your USB-equipped computer or iOS device
  • An aux line input lets you play along with mobile devices, tablets, and more
  • Dual line outputs provide connection to mixers, audio interfaces, DI boxes, and more
Take classic '80s synth sounds anywhere with the Yamaha Reface DX mobile mini keyboard!

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Tech Specs

  • Type: Keyboard Synthesizer
  • Sound Engine: FM tone generation
  • Number of Keys: 37
  • Type of Keys: Mini synth keys
  • Velocity Sensitive: Yes
  • Other Controllers: Pitchbend
  • Polyphony: 8 notes
  • Number of Presets: 32 voice memories
  • Effects Types: VCM Touch Wah, VCM Flanger, VCM Phaser, Chorus, Delay, Reverb, Distortion
  • Sampling: Phrase looper
  • Audio Inputs: 1 x 1/8" (aux in)
  • Audio Outputs: 2 x 1/4" (left, right)
  • Headphones: 1 x 1/4"
  • USB: 1 x USB Type B
  • MIDI I/O: 1 x MIDI jack with breakout cable
  • Pedal Inputs: 1 x 1/4" (sustain)
  • Power Source: 12V DC power supply / 6 x AA batteries (5 hour life span)
  • Height: 2.37"
  • Width: 20.87"
  • Depth: 6.87"
  • Weight: 4 lbs. 3 oz.
  • Manufacturer Part Number: REFACE DX

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Customer Reviews

4.4 out of 5

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It is now 1989 in my bedroom every night.

I have never loved an item like I do this synth.

I was a sample-based producer who recently got tired of dealing with DMCA and copyright battles, so I took the plunge into becoming a fully compositional, owned-license musician and wanted to get a few basics. After securing a digital practice piano and a USB-MIDI controller for production ease, I decided I wanted to get a proper synthesizer. Asking around and receiving input based on my musical taste, I was heavily advised to look into the Yamaha DX series, and was told about this amazing Reface that is compatible with modern setups and has a much beginner-friendly interface for FM synthesis.

This thing is powerful. Plug it in and get right to work on experimenting with FM synthesis with the beefy speakers that make the neighbors' dogs bark if you have any windows open. Beautiful sound, incredible 32 presets to start your synth sculpting sound journey on but with Voice Initiation you can easily create sounds from scratch (they even gave a few purposefully nonsensical presets like a Chopper so that you'd have slots in your banks that you actually want to overwrite! Thank you for that Yamaha). Octave slider, volume slider, pitch-bend (which is a sound I greatly wanted to play with), and as a beginner a tremendous amount of features I'm still learning all about. 4 operators with an impressive amount of control and command over. You wouldn't think such a simple digital touch interface (one that resembles turn of the century '00s style products) would be this effective but it very much is. I am relieved that this synth has such professional sound capability while still being amateur friendly.

Easy to couple with a larger controller if you don't want to bother with your octave slider. I recommend this synth to any and every lover of music. I now want the YC and CP for a chance to play with some more classic sounds; I trust Yamaha very much after this purchase. Thanks for a great time!
by Vito from Florida on
Music background: Record label owner and producer

BIG sound... portable package

I've never delved into FM synthesis before, but this little keyboard makes what I've heard is complex undertaking, a delightfully fun experience! The DX has incredible build quality! Even though it's tiny, this machine feels solid. There were a couple of things that this synth has going for it that were a must for me...polyphony-check- 8 notes is plenty. Presets and on-board patch memory-check- something that's lacking from the Reface CS.
There's really just one gripe I have with the Reface DX and that's the keys... not the size, the mini keys are fine, but the number of 'em. With the great electric piano sounds that you can get out of this thing, 37 keys is just too few. I know that it's a portability thing so I can live with it, but for this synth to really shine... plug in your own larger midi keyboard. Bottom line... get it now!
by G B from Hoover, AL on
Music background: Bass and Keys

Dx7 Yamaha reface a giant sound with mini keys

Played over a hundred concerts with my always totally Free Jamming Sonic Soul Band having had as many as 10 pieces can cut through all of it very easily and also create musical landscapes while others Jam. I midi it up to my JV 1080, nothing like hardware keeps it real for me, but there are a major draw backs, just keeping it real, if using batteries and they run out the keyboard goes back automatically to factory settings? Fk and getting your sounds back impossible no System Exclusive dump to computer it happened a few times inadvertently not seeing plugged into DC I saw factory pre set gone! So started writing down all the parameters etc but that was crazy because I might have started with a different sound before editing and lastly now some keys not responding with no sound when you hit them. So no doubt will probably buy another because it is a little monster.
Woodstocks N.Y. Sultan Of Sonic Soul ... Gus Mancini
by Sweetwater Customer on
Music background: Been perfroming for more tha 60 yeaars now at 81 still play with fir unjaded love of music and musicians had an amazing life perfroming on tours around the world !

The 80's Sound in a Small, Portable Box...

I own all 4 of the Yamaha Reface series. I like them all. This review is about the Reface DX - so let's get started...

The Reface DX is an 8-voice 4-Operator FM synth. It retains the small form factor as the rest of the Reface line and can be powered by batteries, if needed. It is lightweight and has built in speakers. The built-in speakers are for personal practice and will not work in a band situation, so keep that in mind. The keys are very small and there are 37 of them. I would recommend playing this unit via MIDI, from another keyboard. They keys are playable, but there are not enough of them to really be productive.

With regard to the FM sound on this unit, it is very good, even though it is the 4-Operator version. This differs from the 6-Operator FM of the original DX1/5/7/TX*16 and TX802 series, but it still sounds great. You will get more variety out of this than the original 4-Operator variants from the 80's (DX9/11/21/etc...) because of how Yamaha has arranged the way you can program this.

It is no secret that programming FM can be a VERY tedious task, and Yamaha has designed the Reface DX in such a way that it is a bit easier to do. It still takes a bit to program deep sounds, but you can achieve pretty good results. The dual EFX processors also help with this, so you really do have what you need 'in the box' to make things happen. If you are new to FM or do not want to program FM, youcan certainly go to SoundMondo and get sounds made by different owners in the Yamaha community. I am sure that you can find just about whatever you need (within the limitations of FM, of course).

The EPs sparkle, just like we remember. The lead sounds can be soft and go into screaming noise with just a few adjustments. The pads can be pretty good as well, and sound effects can also be achieved. Realistic instruments are a bit of a mixed bag, but it is safe to say that anything percussive (bells, mallets, etc...) are pretty easy to program with a great deal of believability.

The programming controls on this unit are really limited to swipes on a tactile pad. There is also a small backlit LCD screen and it provides all the information you need to get around the unit. There is an octave slider to help with playing across the entire keyboard range of a full-size keyboard with more keys. There is also a joystick which allows for pitch bends.

It comes with a wall-wart power supply, has 1/4" stereo outputs, has a sustain pedal input, has an 1/8" input, and also has MIDI. The problem I have with the MIDI jack is that it is a proprietary connector that comes from Yamaha that is basically a breakout cable on the rear of the unit. Each Reface unit comes with one (along with the power supply), but they are fiddly and can be easily lost. I would recommend getting a couple of these breakout cables as a backup, but make sure that they are compatible with the Yamaha Reface series. These can be found on online auction sites and other places. It is always good to have spares :)

There is very little I dislike about the unit, and look forward to getting much deeper into it as time goes on. I have a specific use for mine, and that is basically for the well-known EP sounds and some pad sounds. I may even use it for leads and will almost always use it with another MIDI keyboard. It will basically be a sound module. I like the look of the unit, as it seems to have the same original case color as the original DX7 from the early-80's. I find that attention to detail pretty nice.

If I could change anything on it, I would add more polyphony. 8 notes of poly is just not really enough when doing keyboard runs and of course, you will run out of notes when doing do. Maybe it is a limitation of 4-operator FM, but I would think that at least 16 notes of poly should be available.

One other thing that I dislike about the Reface series is how to get these on a keyboard stand for a live show. They are small and do not natively fit on a regular keyboard stand. Since I have all 4 in the series, I have had to fashion a custom setup that will fit on a single columnar stand (Apex, Stay, or Spider type stand). I bought a couple pieces of 1/4" polycarbonate plastic 'shelves' that are 36"w X 12"d in order to fit on the stand. Then I bought a couple pair of two tier desktop 3-D printed stands and put rubber bumpers on the top 'tier' so that the two Reface keyboards I would use as a module (DX and CP) could be stationary. The bottom tier has the other two Reface units (CS and YC) to help hold the stands in place on the shelf that I had made. I believe that it will work well and I will have a 'Reface Shelf' of sound taking up one tier in my live rig. Refer to the picture I included to see how they are arranged on the custom 'stands' I bought online that sit on the 'shelf' on the keyboard stand. The total price of this custom configuration, with the polycarbonate shelves and 3-D printed stands was about $150, so keep that in mind. I had to go to a plastics company online for the 'shelves' and to eBay for the 3-D printed stands.

Another thing to consider when using these is that if you are running in stereo (why would you not...) is that you can 'daisy-chain' these units together via the Aux inputs. You could go from the output of one unit (regular 1/4" outputs, into the AUX input of the other, and so-on). You will need a stereo 'Y-cable' consisting of two 1/4" connections on one side and an 1/8" connection on the other side. You could chain all of these together, but keep in mind that the master volume control of the main unit that all are plugged into will control the overall volume of ALL of them. You can control them individually, but the master volume for ALL are dependent upon the volume level of the last unit in the chain (the Reface unit that goes into your mixer). This is loosely called 'submixing' and can be problematic if not done correctly.

Again, there is little to argue about or dislike about the Reface series, including the Reface DX.

I was not really thinking of getting all of the units in the Reface series, but ended up doing so. I am glad that I did. There are other options out there for FM, including the original DX/TX/FB series from Yamaha from the 80's. You can also look at Korg's OPSix as an option. The problem with the original FM synths from Yamaha from the 80's are obviously the age of the units now. They are old and not nearly as portable as the Reface DX. They are also expensive and may require a lot of maintenance in order to get working again. The Korg OPSix is a solid offering, offers 6-operators of FM, but is more expensive and much deeper than the Reface DX.

For a quick entry into FM, the Reface DX is a great choice, and one that you will not regret making.
by Harry Ebbeson III from Anamosa, IA on
Music background: Professional Musician and Studio Owner/Recording Engineer

Reface DX

I bought this to be used as a controller for the Dreadbox Nymphes, as well as learning about FM synthesis. This is a very well built synth! It includes a wide range of present patches, and the ability to adjust or build from scratch is not too difficult either. Could the keybed be bigger? Sure, I got massive hands. Does it need to be? Definitely not! I brought it to a recent rehearsal and had both of my keys players really intrigued by it. The built in speakers can get loud. Which is silly with how small they are. It also succeeds at being a midi controller, ha! Give it a shot.
by Micah Rodriguez on

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What Do Our In-house Gear Experts Think?

Carson McClain

The Reface DX absolutley satisfies the FM nerd lurking in the dark corridors of my geeky synth pleasure zone. And guess what! This DX isn't coming from eBay, doesn't need to be repaired, and doesn't stink like moldy basement! It's also easier to program!

Rob Parker

The Reface DX has a much greater sense of immediacy to its programming interface than the DX7 mk1 and DX21 that I own. Something as simple as being able to control the amplitude of all four operators really helps with programming. Also, unlike any other DX series synth before the Reface, all operators are capable of feedback as opposed to just one... almost eliminating the need for six operators and allowing me to get gritty, buzzy, and dirty sounds.
See also: Key Synths, Yamaha, Yamaha Synthesizers
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