The Yamaha AN1x Synthesizer mailing list

Obviously the AN1x was NOT designed for emulating mere organ sounds. 
There were plenty of units marketed at the time for that purpose.

The AN1x is a Virtual Analog synth --- meant to sound like synthesizers 
made from about 1968 through 1988. It is an inexpensive alternative to 
having to buy a lot of different units made during that time to get 
similar sounds.

If you are a new user and you haven't read the introduction part of the 
manual, then you might not understand what this synth was designed for.

I am posting this to help newbies understand what they own and stop 
asking silly questions.

This is an EXCELLENT virtual analog synth. Play it with enthusiasm, 
program it with ingenuity, post useful ideas and questions to this 
list.... You have come to the Right Place. We are here to help and get 
useful ideas. Thanks for subscribing.

(The following section is from the introduction section of the manual.)
(After you read this, you shouldn't have a major reason for complaining 
to the list about why it doesn't sound exactly like a trumpet or a piano 
or an organ. You shouldn't want to try to make it store samples. Enjoy 
it's uniqueness - understand its purpose.)


*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!**!*!*

The Making Of A Modern Classic

The classic analog synth sound is back with a vengeance and more popular 
than ever. Vintage analog synthesizers are hot items, recirculating and 
finding their way into the arsenals of the world’s most innovative music 
makers, many of whom weren’t even born when the voltage controlled 
synthesizer was coming of age more than a quarter of a century ago. 
Enter the Yamaha AN1x Control Synthesizer—a modern classic in its own 
right—complete with the VCO, VCF, and VCA blocks, or "modules" that give 
retro synths that famously fat, rich, warm sound, plus multiple knobs 
for controlling every nuance of the sound, and even an on-board 
Arpeggiator and Step Sequencer for generating pattern loops at the press 
of a key. What’s much more, however, is that the AN1x incorporates 
features that vintage synths could only dream about—like three onboard 
programmable digital multi-effects units and a 3-band stereo EQ, a 
multiple controller-to-parameter assignment architecture, a 4-track Free 
EG for “hand drawing” real-time knob position movements of up to four 
different tone generator parameters, plus real-time morphing between two 
different sounds, and more—all of which can be customized for each of 
the 128 voices and stored as individual voice data.


The History…

Why is the “analog sound” so popular in a digital age? What long and 
winding road had to be
traveled—just to end up right back where we started from? Let’s take a 
quick look at how we got from there
to here, and where here really is, anyway. Electronic music synthesis 
has been around in one form
or another since the beginning of the 20th Century. But it wasn’t until 
the early 1970s that developments in
voltage controlled synthesis technology made the concept practical—and 
affordable.
As such, the voltage controlled synthesizer became less and less an 
experimental curiosity in the world’s great
universities and sound labs and more and more a valid—and 
revolutionary—musical instrument in its own
right. It quickly became a staple in professional recording studios, and 
its myriad sounds started
gracing the ears of millions through popular recordings in literally all 
genres of music.
Then came the 1980s, and the introduction of wildly popular, 
affordable-for-the-masses, great-sounding and
easy-to-use digital synths like the famous Yamaha DX7. What followed was 
the MIDI revolution, which drove
the rapid development of ever-more-sophisticated multitimbral digital 
synthesizers and tone generators, along
with the overwhelming acceptance of digital sampling which has literally 
changed the way we create and
listen to music. And all of which have gone hand-inhand with the desktop 
music revolution.
Most recently there has been the introduction of breakthrough physical 
modeling synthesis technology,
which has been successfully applied to the accurate reproduction of 
acoustic instrument sounds through
purely electronic means, as well as the creation of new “hybrid-type” 
acoustic-oriented sounds.


Enter Analog Physical Modeling…

The classic analog synth never fell out of favor with the world's most 
innovative musicians. That's because it
has a special punch, power, plus important elements of interactivity 
that digital synths and samplers have
tended to lack by comparison. And now, with the demand for that "classic 
analog sound" due to the global popularity of techno, trance, and other 
modern forms of dance music, it's hardly surprising that Yamaha—a 
company consistently at the very pinnacle of electronic musical 
instrument technology—would react to that demand and create a completely 
new performance-oriented "control synthesizer" that takes the company's 
original breakthroughs in physical modeling synthesis and uses it to 
digitally "model" the analog sound-generating components which gives 
voltage controlled synthesis its unique character and virtually 
unlimited range of sound. And package it with a host of digital extras 
to bring the technology full circle with a completeness and utility 
never before possible. In short, the AN1x is a logical—and timely— 
development in the evolution of electronic musical instrument history, 
based on the modern needs and
demands of the world’s cutting-edge musicians. And once again, as is 
often the case with creations from Yamaha, music history will never be 
the same. All the tools are in the box. The rest is up to you….

(end quote from manual)

I hope this helps resolve questions about the major purpose of this 
keyboard.

*Ed Edwards*

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