Archive of the former Yahoo!Groups mailing list: The Yamaha AN1x Synthesizer mailing list

previous by date index next by date
previous in topic topic list next in topic

Subject: Re: [AN1x] matrix 12

From: "Mike Metlay" <metlay@...>
Date: 2003-05-01

xpander said:
>
> On Wednesday, April 30, 2003, at 11:18 PM, Mike Metlay ++ Atomic City
> wrote:
>>> I've had my Xpander for a little over a decade (if we're keeping
>>> count).
>> Hah! Youngster. :)
>
> That made my day ;-)

Glad to be of service. ;)

> The models may sound closer to the real thing (and they DO have good
> mod routings)-
> But I must say I like DCOs- the 3 DCO synths I've owned (Juno 60,
> Matrix 1000, and Bit one) were wonderful.

I have owned a Juno 60 and a Juno 106 and a Bit One and a Polysix; none of
them sounded good enough against my Xpander to be worth keeping at the time,
and the Bit One's ludicrous MIDI implementation made me want to slam my head
in a car door.

> - and I've always been a fan of the PPG and Prophet VS (Digital OSC
> into VCF).

I've owned four VSes and two Waldorfs, and have done albums with everything
from the Wave 2.2 to the MicroWave XT. I know precisely what you mean and miss
the sounds terribly... but I've been stymied by lousy UI in the case of the
Waldorfs and lousy build quality in the case of the VSes. They were a
particularly sad story; I'd buy one, use it a lot, love it, run into a problem
with the construction that made it hard to use, sell it, miss it, run out, buy
another... at the end of four buy/sell cycles I figured out that I'd come out
about even, and I quit while I was almost ahead. Celine Dion's live band
leader on her pre-Vegas tours has one of my VS racks; he took me to the
cleaners on that deal. :\

>> I don't think it will happen, I'm afraid. The AN1x, the PL card, and
>> the AN200 did okay up to a point, but I don't think they generated
>> enough sales to warrant a lot more work on Yamaha's part. Analog
>> modeling seems to be more the province of the small eggsnatching
>> companies than the big hulking behemoths. All the more reasons to
>> treasure the AN1x as the watershed machine it is.
>
> Welcome to wishful thinking (Population : just me).
> Synth history says you're probably correct.
> How many great instruments were never taken to the next level because
> of poor market performance ? ( rhetorical ).

Aw shucky darns, I could have answered that one with a really long list...

> Love those classifications- (what's the third one?)
>
> 1. Hulking behemoths : Roland, Korg, Yamaha
> 2. Eggsnatching companies: Clavia, Waldorf, Access, Novation,
> Quasimidi & Redsound
> 3. Other: Emu, Akai, Kurzweil, Kawai
>
> I suppose Alesis is now an "eggsnatcher" since they have released a
> modeling synth.

No, Alesis is a post-buyout company. That's happened to a lot of keyboard
makers, with or without bankruptcy. It makes for a distinct grouping, and
includes Alesis, Kurzweil, Emu, Oberheim, and what's left of Ensoniq's corpse.

Akai qualifies as a behemoth now, thanks to the ongoing success of their
samplers and the MPC boxes. Kawai is tricky; they get in and out of the synth
business pretty regularly, but they're a huge keyboard company in general,
second only to Yamaha in piano manufacture in Japan. So they're a behemoth,
definitely not an eggsnatcher. And there you have your three groups! :)

>> Kind of funny how it all works out; on the cover of the November 1997
>> RECORDING Magazine, we had a shot of the Korg Z1, the Kawai K5000S,
>> the Roland JP-8000, and the Yamaha AN1x floating in space (a real
>> photo, not Photoshop, and an amazing setup job it was too!).
>
> Just took a peek at that cover ("Return of the Knob"- I like the title).
> The AN1X just doesn't LOOK like much- The Nord and JP8000 look great.
> I think this is one reason the AN1X was kind of an underdog (and
> overlooked at first).

Well, and the fact that in comparison to the other machines it was perceived
as being cheap (it retailed for almost $1000 less than any of the others) and
it looked too much like the CS1x, which everyone KNEW was cheap. I wish they'd
put a serial port on it, though!

mike

--
As a generalisation, the technology has NOTHING to do with the music.
For each specific artist, it has EVERYTHING to do with the music. (cassiel)
> < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > <
metlay / atomic city / metlay@... / http://www.atomiccity.com