Yamaha DMP7

Introduced in 1987, the Yamaha DMP7 (Digital Mixing Processor) was Yamaha's first digital console and one of the first digital mixers ever sold. Originally conceived as an on-stage submixer for synthesizers and digital tone generators (such as the DX7), it was later broadened to studio and PA use through outboard mic inputs and the optional MLA7 head amp.

Technically it is an 8-channel mixer feeding a stereo bus, entirely digital: each socket has its own 16-bit / 44.1 kHz converter (CD quality), with internal processing at 24-bit (32-bit in the EQ section). Every channel offers a 3-band digital parametric EQ (±15 dB), and the unit carries three effects processors (reverb, delay, flange, gate reverb, symphonic...) plus a stereo compressor on the main bus.

Its landmark innovation was automation: ten motorized faders physically move to stored positions, and 30 scenes (expandable to 97 via a RAM cartridge) store every parameter, with crossfades of up to 10 seconds. Its 206 parameters are MIDI-controllable, delivering in 1987 a level of total dynamic automation that even SSL's Total Recall could not match at the time. Steinberg was commissioned to write an Atari ST editor. The DMP7 was followed by the digital-I/O DMP7D (1988) and the entry-level DMP11.