I like the EX5 so much I
have two (one blue and one silver). It's still my main bottom tier
keyboard when I gig, so I have one as a spare. Especially since I
had a PSU failure in one and Yamaha don't repair them anymore
(helpful hint: the A3000 PSU is the same!)
You're quite right: the EX5 concept was flawed, especially in performance mode: DSP limitations in performance mode limited your use of the "special (non AWM voices), a buggy MIDI spec that can corrupt your data (and not supporting all data types) and the really stupid one of only allowing two layers in performance mode to be set on the keyboard (16 via external MIDI though!).
Despite that, it still takes some beating sound wise. The AWM engine is more complex than the Motif one (at least compared to the one in my Motif Rack ES), so you can do a lot of subtle editing
Cheers
Derek
You're quite right: the EX5 concept was flawed, especially in performance mode: DSP limitations in performance mode limited your use of the "special (non AWM voices), a buggy MIDI spec that can corrupt your data (and not supporting all data types) and the really stupid one of only allowing two layers in performance mode to be set on the keyboard (16 via external MIDI though!).
Despite that, it still takes some beating sound wise. The AWM engine is more complex than the Motif one (at least compared to the one in my Motif Rack ES), so you can do a lot of subtle editing
Cheers
Derek
On 02/01/2016 16:51, Peter Korsten
peter@... [AN1x-list] wrote:
The AN1x is nearly 20 years old, but was probably in development 20 years ago, along with my EX5, and I still think those two synths along with the FS1r (and I'll sneak in my TG77/SY99 as well) represent Yamaha's high water mark in terms of innovation. Since the noughties all they have done is endless rehashes of the Motif which does not appeal to me.
The EX5 (I've got a silver one) is nice, but it has some serious issues. Beautiful, but flawed.
- Peter