just for the audience, the DX7 used a newly invented type of synthesis (FM but that doesn't tell you or anybody else anything) and it was alone among synths at the time to produce metallic, brass, bell, etc. sounds. Performers flocked to it to get away from the same old analog synth sound everybody else had. FM synths are programmable, but not easily, and the menu diving was not practical while playing.

Analog (subtractive) synths are very much back in popularity right now and they offer lots of knobs to give bwahgrrrssshhhhwow type transformations