I’m going to Yamaha’s “Innovation Road” museum!

Whoo-hoo! We managed to get a reservation to visit Yamaha’s Innovation Road museum in Hamamatsu, Japan!

Innovation Road is Yamaha’s interactive museum, packed with instruments that the legendary company has made over the past 130+ years. And yes, you’re allowed to play them, because the museum is meant to be a hands-on experience.

I hoping to at least see, if not play, the Yamaha DX1 (pictured above), a synth of which only 140 were ever made, and one that I’ve never seen in real life. For any synth players out there, it’s basically two DX7s in a single keyboard, and with much better displays. In 1983, it retailed for $13,000 (alomst $44,000 in today’s money):

Here are a few tunes you’ve probably heard that feature the DX1…

I happen to be the owner of a couple of vintage Yamaha keyboards — and they’re hard-to-find ones, too! One of them is the DJX, released in 1998, and the other is the DJX 2, released in 2000. The ones pictured below are mine…

Here’s a little bit of noodling I did on the DJX:

…and here’s a quick thing I put together on the DJX 2:

In addition to their famous synths, it’s also home to a lot of pianos…

…guitars…

…and all sorts of instruments because in the music world, Yamaha seems to make everything:

Here’s a tour from 6 years ago:

…and here’s a short video from a month ago:

And oddly enough, admission to Innovation Road is free! You just have to reserve one of the 150 spots they make available every day from Tuesday to Saturday.

I’m looking forward to this one!