The Yamaha AN1x Synthesizer mailing list

Hey, to my mind, the next generation of computer music will be a  general 
purpose computer, probably PC style, with a sound card that does digital to 
analog and analog to digital converting.  The time for this -- from a user 
standpoint -- is long past.

BUT from the standpoint of Yamaha, etc., what is in it for them?  Yeh, they 
could build something that is really similar to the above, and put it in a 
rack mount box, and keep hitting you up for the upgrades.

However, they make more money selling hardware and dedicated 
boxes.  Software gets stolen, and a lot of people don't think twice about 
using a bootleg copy of a program or giving a copy to their friends.  That 
makes it really hard for the company selling the programs to make money, so 
instead you wind up with hardware.  I really don't believe that the 
processing power in an AN1X or VL70 or MU128 is no more than a moderately 
hot Pentium.  So Yamaha could build a general purpose box (that you could 
upgrade from time to time with more memory, faster processor etc) and you 
buy the programs on disk or ROM card.  But it doesn't make sense from a 
marketing point of view.

So what about your problem?

To my mind, if you are performing live, get a decent rack mount 
sampler.  It is easier to set up something like that in a hurry than to 
play around with a PC.  It is probably a little more rugged also.  I would 
suggest that you not buy the newest and hottest thing out.  Whenever I do 
that, I realize a month or two later that I still owe more on the credit 
card than I would have to pay at the music store, because the price went 
down so fast.  Plus, the year or two old samplers are really good.  You can 
get a K2000 for a few hundred bucks on ebay ($600 to 900, depending).  The 
Akai's are cheaper, and really very easy to use.  I had an older Yamaha 
TX16W, which had some really neat features, but it was I think a 12 bit 
sampler, and a bear to use -- but they are around in the 100 to $200 
range.  You can get an Akai S950 for the same type of price, but it is also 
a 12 bit sampler.  Great for drums and sampling stacked synths, but it 
lacks on wind instruments.  Strangely, Violin and other strings come out ok 
on 12 bit samplers.  Trumpet blows.

Have you looked into the EX5R -- it has a VL module and a GX module and a 
sampler/sequencer.  I don't have one, but the first time I see one at $700 
buck, it's mine.

Also, if you have dreams of doing your own samples, try before you buy.  I 
really thought I would do all this fantastic stuff making the *best* 
samples.  And then I realized that doing a really good sample of an 
instrument could take 20 or 30 hours of work.  So I buy or download patches.

Depending on what music and where you are playing -- often the fidelity in 
a live performance is not as important as in recording, because the amps 
and speakers in live performances tend to be fairly low fidelity.  Not 
always, but really often.  So you might be able to live with an older 
sampler you pick up on EBAY for $250.

Bob G

You wrote:

Thinking of a esi 4000 or 2000, something along those lines. Or if I should 
just build a computer dedicated to audio. And use some sampling programs 
and also use it to sequence. I will most likely and hopefully be using this 
set up live and it will have the An1x, a akai ax73 and in time a drum pad 
system running in/out of it. I think a computer would be a more useful way 
to go but I really do like hardware better...easier to use, less 
crashes....more buttons... but also more money which I don't have.