Turning Point

YAMAHA WX7

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2025.11.11

In the Design Department, we held an activity called the 'Good Things Sharing Meeting.' Each participant selects one 'good thing' of their own based on a theme, shares its appeal, and exchanges opinions with other members. The first theme was 'Designs That Moved Us Emotionally.' I chose the 'Yamaha Wind MIDI Controller WX7.'

When I was in high school, I was hooked on the music of 'THE SQUARE' (now T-SQUARE), an instrumental band known for songs like 'TRUTH' (the theme song for the F1 Grand Prix), which you may have heard somewhere. I was captivated by the sound of the wind synthesizer played by the frontman, Takeshi Itoh. The sound felt as if it came from a futuristic new instrument, and the excitement I felt still remains with me.

At first, Mr. Itoh used the Lyricon, a wind synthesizer developed by Computone in the US. It looked like a metallic silver wind synthesizer, resembling a flute held vertically. However, one day, while watching a live video of THE SQUARE playing in a record store, I noticed Mr. Itoh playing a black, angular wind synthesizer. This was my first encounter with the 'YAMAHA WX7.' (At that time, Mr. Itoh was using a prototype without the 'YAMAHA WX7' logo, so it would be some time before I recognized this instrument as the YAMAHA WX7.)

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© Yamaha Corporation

The Lyricon is an electronic wind instrument developed in the US in the 1970s using analog synthesizer technology, designed to mimic wind instruments like the saxophone and clarinet. The name 'Lyricon' is a coined word combining 'Lyrical' (meaning 'emotional' or 'expressive') and 'Control.' The word 'synthesizer' comes from 'synthesize,' meaning 'to combine,' and refers to a machine (instrument) that produces various sounds using electronic circuits. Unfortunately, Computone went bankrupt in 1981 and production ceased, but Yamaha later purchased Computone's patents and developed the WX7, which supports the MIDI standard.

Acoustic saxophones and clarinets produce sound by vibrating a reed attached to the mouthpiece. In contrast, the WX7 uses a lip sensor that detects the strength with which the performer bites the mouthpiece instead of a reed, and a breath sensor that detects the strength and amount of breath blown in. The performer plays by operating electrically switched key buttons. The WX7 itself cannot produce sound, so it must be connected to a MIDI sound module, from which sound is output through an amp and speakers. Since MIDI sound modules and synthesizers contain many built-in sounds, the WX7 can be used to play piano, trumpet, violin, and more.

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© Yamaha Corporation

At the time, I was a high school student in a science and math class. Without any particular goal, I thought I might go on to an engineering university and become an engineer like my father. However, my encounter with the WX7 became a turning point in my life.

In the fall of my second year of high school, I stopped by the magazine section of a convenience store on my way home from school and noticed a red-covered issue of 'POPEYE.' It was a special design issue titled 'Good (Excellent) Things Have Good (Beautiful) Forms (Designs).'

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Finding the content interesting, I bought it and started reading at home. I discovered a page featuring the WX7 I had seen in the record store video. Five products were selected for the Design of the Year Gold Award by 'POPEYE,' and the WX7 was introduced as the only product to receive a perfect score. The moment I saw its detailed design for the first time, I was completely captivated by the WX7's design.

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Furthermore, in an article about 'Wanting to Become a Car or Audio Designer,' universities where you could study design to become a product designer (referred to as industrial designer in the article) were introduced. There were details about entrance exams and practical tests, along with successful alumni from leading departments such as the Product Design Department at Tama Art University, the Craft and Industrial Design Department at Musashino Art University, and the Industrial Design Department at Chiba University. It was then that I first learned about the profession of product designer and that even science students could become designers. This experience gave me the goal of becoming a product designer.

The development concept of the 'YAMAHA WX7' was said to be 'the fusion of a futuristic form and the perfection of a wind instrument.' It features the most rational fingering method for a wind instrument and, despite being digital, allows for delicate expressive performance using breath to convey emotion.

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© Yamaha Corporation

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© Yamaha Corporation

Its innovativeness is expressed through a minimal design: a straight tubular body and softly, organically finished key areas where the fingers touch. Composed of only these two contrasting elements, the minimal design is free of excess yet somehow feels warm. Personally, combined with its all-black coloring, I feel it evokes the design of BRAUN products.

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© Yamaha Corporation

The WX7 won the Gold Prize at the 1987 Good Design Awards and was also selected for the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. When I saw the actual WX7 for the first time at MoMA during my university days, I was very excited. From then on, I always wanted to own one. When I had just become a product designer, I happened to find a used WX7 at a music store in Ochanomizu and finally got my hands on it.

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© Yamaha Corporation

I believe the WX7 is a product that visualizes new technology through the power of design and embodies unprecedented instrument proportions at a high level. It is a design born from a spirit of challenge, unconstrained by conventional ideas, and I always aspire to create such designs myself.

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My encounter with the WX7 gave me the opportunity to seriously think about my future and what I wanted to do. Just as I was moved by the design of the WX7, I want to create watch designs that move users emotionally and touch their hearts. That is the kind of work I want to do. The 'YAMAHA WX7' is both the origin and the goal of my career as a designer.

CREDIT

https://ms.citizen.jp/assets/hideki-inoue

Writer

Hideki Inoue

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