When I bought a Yamaha DX-7 keyboard in 1985, an added perk was a free music
computer. This was in the heyday of Commodore and Atari computers, and my
Yamaha CX-5M was a similar machine. It came with a program cartridge called
MIDI Recorder...I fired it up, plugged it into the keyboard and recorded the simple
chord progression that defines this piece. It was a very limited app, but I was
fascinated by MIDI and the potential it offered. Within the next year or so, I got
my hands on a Mac and the sequencing app Performer. Those were powerful
tools at the time, and changed my entire perception of what I could accomplish
musically. Then I got an RX-5 drum machine and I was off to the races! At some point,
a beat I programmed met the chord progression from the DX-7/CX-5M and Flyby
was born. I actually composed the entire drum track before mapping out the chords,
melody and embellishments. I recorded the final version at Frank Cutri's studio in
Brandon, FL and my friend Mike Conrad sold it to the Florida Hospital Association
as the soundtrack for a recruiting video. Flyby was the first piece of music I ever
sold, and was a real milestone in my musical journey.
Flyby© 2024 - Joey Arata