Yamaha DM7 | Quick First Look & Impressions (More to Come!)

I’m lucky enough to have a great relationships with avad3 Event Production who generously let me come into their shop and poke around on their brand spankin’ new Yamaha DM7.

I’ve done hundreds of shows on the Yamaha QL/CL/TF/RIVAGE series desks, so I’m very curious how this new desk would stack up.

This video is by no means a comprehensive overview of the features of the desk, but simply a gut check and first look at the look, feel, and layout of the desk, as well as a few key changes that have either been borrowed from other desks or fundamentally different altogether.

We’ll cover:

- The biggest workflow differences from a CL/QL series desk
- Does it feel pro?
- No gooseneck lamps needed!
- How sharp the screens are
- My favorite new cue bus feature

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[timverhoeven]

I recently (2023/09/09) did a complete gig with the DM7 Compact (running firmware 1.0.3). So I can maybe give some more feedback on the things said in the video and in the comments below.

- Screen responsiveness: most of the time the touch and the screen updates go fast and without any real wait. Only when switching to completely different screens there is a small wait. But the channel view and the different parts of it don't have this wait.
I haven't used a Avantis, so I cannot really compare screens. But the DM7 screen is really crisp and clear, definitely a big step up compared to the CL/QL series.

- Switching banks/layers: Michael showed one way to switch between banks and Input/Output/DCA/... A second way is using the "FADER BANK" buttons on the right side of the screen (see around the 3:30-3:40 mark in the video. When you pressed one of these buttons, you get a onscreen popup that allows you to select the bank you want. A third way is using the user defined keys. It includes (by default IIRC) a bank that shows all selectable fader banks (like the physical buttons on a CL).

- Linking channels: the default way is the pressing the "heart" button no the bottom left of the channel view (like on the PM Rivage) and you get a popup if you want to link with the channel to the left or right. As far as I know there isn't a way to collapse the linked channels into a true stereo channel (being stereo with just one fader).
You can also gang channels like on the CL/QL/PM series.

- There are a bunch of premium effects included. The rack view didn't get shown in Michael's video IIRC, but it contains all the plugins/modules that you know from the CL/QL/PM series. You can check the docs or play with the DM7 Editor if you want an idea of what is all included.
This is next to the different EQ and dynamics models that you can select in the channel view, which Michael did show.
Some of the included plugins/models that I can remember are: Bus compressor, dynamic EQ, 4 channel multiband compressor. Neve comp, EQ and PSE.

- There is indeed no dedicated channel strip knobs/buttons/encoders on the DM7. The dedicated channel encoders (gain, HPF, ...) on the CL/QL series are here on the DM7 reused as universal (context depended) encoders as Michael has shown. They can still be used as channel encoders and the LED's at the encoders is what tells you in which mode they are.
To be fair, there is an option to use the 4 encoders above the 4-channel bank on the right as a sort of simple channel strip. You can configure these four encoders to control some parameters of the selected channel (like gain, HPF freq, DYN1/2 threshold, ...).

This is for me personally the biggest downside/issue that I have with the DM7. The lack of a dedicated channel strip and its replacement by context depended encoders. So you always have to think and verify in what mode the encoders are before using them.

[alexandrebrochu]

Is it just me or the page changes in the screen feels slow? We can almost count a full second before we see a change after a screen press… I noticed this even on the yamaha release video

[joemarvelly]

How do you feel about the touchscreen responsiveness? I had a go at PLASA, for such a screen reliant desk I found it lagging and it looks that way in other videos too

[MakinSomeNoise]

You mentioned that you love the Rivage Faders. I do too, the tour in just got home from was on PM10, but my engineer had me replace 3 faders while we were out. If you’re doing outdoor shows, especially near saltwater or sand, the faders can get gummed up and all the silicone lube and cleaning could not get them 100%. Now that we have 3 new faders the rest don’t feel as nice, so he’s having me replace the rest on our production day before our Vegas residency, along with a 3.0 upgrade (hopefully 3.01 by the time we get there). Makes the faders on the 338 feel like toys.

[jsaurman]

The thing that bugs me is we are moving more and more away from buttons and knobs, and more towards everything being on the touchscreen. Back in the day, I could survey everything on an analog desk, and know exactly what was happening at all times. Now, if something goes crazy in the middle of the show, it takes multiple button presses and screen presses to isolate the problem and deal with it. I'm talking about a sudden short circuit of a mic cable or something like that causing random static or noise. Rare but it happens. So the more complex things get, the harder and harder it becomes to deal with emergencies quickly, other than just killing the entire system, which is an awful way to deal with emergencies. And let's hope that the touchscreen doesn't fail during a show, either by glitching out so you can't see what's going on, or the digitizer fails so your finger presses don't do anything. Luckily, I haven't had to deal with that, but as these boards age, I could totally see something like that eventually happening.

[radialsound]

Very cool Michael, been wanting to see a quick take of this console. Thanks for sharing!

[ImOzify]

Do you know if you can route your cue bus to a matrix similar to Cue b to matrix 7/8 on the QL/CL? It would be so I can hear talkback mics while also cueing a channel

[bruceusven]

Hi Curtis. i would like to hear your opinion on the new dynamics.. and how you would use them. thank You!

[revelationevents]

What are the specific points to look at when defending the dm7 compact for example comparing it to the avantis solo? I’m still
trying to decide. Thanks

[JoeJohnson]

My church swapped all of our consoles at the main campus for DM7-EX, FOH, Monitors, and Broadcast. We have waves going at both FOH and Broadcast. I'l say this, it's a significant step up from the CL5's we were running before hand. We were out of channels, and this has opened us up for a lot of things. I like that on a stereo channel you get dual meters on the channel but missing having a true single fader stereo channel like on most other brand consoles. The screen and graphics are great! So much better than the CL5, and even a step up from the GUI on the Rivage. I also feel like it sounds better, more open than the CL5. However, understanding it's brand new, there are still some weird things and things I don't love yet, but talking to Yamaha, most of them are coming. Things like on encoder mode, you don't have access to the same things on all 5 layers, the first two have everything then the next layers down get more limited. I was expecting more insertable premium effects, it's missing things as simple as pre-amp emulation or saturators. When you have a stereo set of channels, the pan defaults to balance instead of pan which is annoying more than anything lol. Also on the app, you don't have access to pan or trim which is hard. I played guitar for easter but was also mixing monitors from the app for the rehearsals making it difficult not having access to those items. The other thing is there is no Waves card for it. So for now we had to do a MADI card with an interface for Waves which isn't my favorite. I'm sure much of this will be improved upon in coming months and updates, either way, still a massive update from the CLs.

We got our first one last fall at monitors but have had all 3 in place for about 3 months now and I've got about a half dozen services/rehearsals down on it, so if you have any questions feel free to reach out!

[xchad]

I've been looking forward to the release of this mixer. Can't wait for some deep dives.

[matthewpiatt]

Great video! I’m noticing some screen lag and missed touch events… your thoughts on this? and are you able to do parallel bus processing (i.e. for drums) without a bunch of awful comb filtering that happens on CL? also, how does the offline/online editor software look? there are a number of settings that are so much easier to change in CL Editor than on the CL desk… is this also true with DM?

[DallasSoundGuys]

This might be simple but I couldn’t get it to work: There is a user defined button to play a song from the USB, from a playlist. Parameter 2 doesn’t show any choices to link to. I hope that makes sense. Thanks!

[lidj]

I’m not a fan of the newer consoles removing dedicated channel strip controls. Everything feels like an iPad now. I’ve been working on an Avantis recently and you do get used to it over time, but I still would prefer at least dedicated gain, Q and frequency knobs. Looking forward to getting hands on this console in the near future, maybe I’ll enjoy the touchscreen control after trying it!

[youcan]

I find myself deliberating between the DM7 with the control panel and DiGiCo's Quantum 225. My primary focus is on live outdoor performances. Can someone help me make a wiser decision

[davidiliyn]

I have always wondered why Yamaha can't make a touchscreen like a iPad touchscreen? I absolutely hate how hard you have to touch on the CL consoles. Sadly looks like the same for the DM! I have a Dm7 coming and am excited to play with it however.

[isaacsitiakalaabwenje]

I love the Yamaya DM7 Board After your presentation Michael Curtis

[WilliamOgden]

I would be curious to see a comparison of the DM7 and DLive Series. I guess an s5000 would be closest. They have similar channel capabilities and similar price points.

[jasonkuzman]

Interested to see any workflow around scenes and users.

CL QL scene management is not great IMO.

[collintoh]

Hi Michael,
CL and QL always have phasing issues when we do parallel compression esp on drum buss. Do you encounter similar issues with DM7? Thanks