Hi Peter and you all happy AN1x players !
What deserved our beloved keyboard ? It does not look "analog" (read =
full of knobs) and the package looked like any entry level keyboard to
keep a (relatively) low price tag. Most of the people don't go inside
the programs, just listen at some factory presets. Tweaking a lot in the
parameters can be time consuming (right, Ritchie ?)... So an old
fashionned look and some Moog or Prophet like presets and that's all the
average customer needs. Maybe a remain of the DX7 and other FM engines
where programming was awfully complex and quite impossible without
computer.
OK, the AN1x is not perfect, mostly because of the multi function knobs
and the cryptic programmation matrix, you have to take care of the
plastic case, but the keyboard is nice to play and it can sound awesome.
Cheers.
J.F.
Peter Korsten a écrit :
>
> Op 25-2-2012 9:37, derek192603 schreef:
>
> > I personally think that Yamaha have lost their innovative edge over
> the years, probably because innovation doesn't sell synths to the
> unwashed masses who don't edit and want instant sounds (i.e. the
> majority of people couldn't give a hoot about architecture and the
> depth of them).
>
> Presumably, Yamaha have to pay the bills as well. And I think the bigger
> problem is software synths. The niches, which probably didn't any profit
> at al for Yamaha to begin with, are now filled by software synths.
>
> The workstation concept is something that has worked well for the last
> 10, 15 years, so that's what they're selling.
>
> > I have the EX5, AN1x, SY77 and FS1R and I believe that they
> represent the pinnacle of Yamaha's innovation. Of course there is the
> DX7 (but the SY kicks its ass) and the CS/GX/GS series as well, but
> these four (EX5, AN1x, SY77 and FS1R ) are my personal picks. I am
> still dreaming of the day that Yamaha take all of the features of
> those four to make a dream uber synth, and I'm hoping that the Kronos
> is the competition that makes Yamaha wake up from the nice sounding
> but uninspiring Motif series.
>
> Don't forget the VL-1/VL-7/VL-1m and the VP-1, which is about as common
> as Bigfoot is. Some of that ended up in your EX5 as well.
>
> As for an über-synth... wasn't that what the EX5 was supposed to be?
> Although the EX5 never really knew what it wanted to be, or what the
> different departments within Yamaha wanted it to be. If you take a look
> at the schematics, you realise how utterly unsuited the thing is for the
> workstation role (one that involves samples and loading those from sort
> of media).
>
> I'd rather that Yamaha would come out with a relatively simple basic
> design, with a 4 or 5 octave keyboard of AN1x quality (yes, the EX5/EX7
> keyboard is much nicer, but also more expensive) and space for knobs
> and/or sliders. They could reuse the same case for the different synths,
> muck about a bit with the layout of the knobs, and have a distinct
> colour for each synth.
>
> And then, each synth would excel at one particular kind of synthesis:
> analogue modelling, physical modelling, FM, whatever. And it would be
> affordable, so definitely less than €1000.
>
> Would it sell? It's hard to say, and given that we haven't seen anything
> like it, that probably means that they did their research and concluded
> that they wouldn't make any money from it.
>
> But it would mean a fresh new wind through the hardware synth business.
> After all, how many reincarnations of the same Virus, Clavia, Elektron
> or miniature Korg can we stomach?
>
> - Peter
>
>