Emu XL-7 & MP-7 User's Group

Hey everyone - upon doing a lot of reveiws and reading a lot of other 
people's posts - there has been a lot of referrence to the Rm1x, I am 
wondering what are everyones personal or particular consensus about 
the positives and negatives the Rm1x might have over the emu command 
stations (if this is deemed so) and or vise versa ....

Yamaha Rm1x : http://www.markarber.freeserve.co.uk/rmormc.htm

As a realtime sequencer, the RM1X has a couple of advantages over a 
command station:
- first and foremost, "groove grid" editing (individually shift 
time/gate/velocity for any of 16 beats, in realtime);
- easy switching between variations withing a pattern (in yamaha-
speak, that would be "patterns within a style");
- can have phrases of different lengths and time signatures playing 
simultaneously;
- can replace a phrase on a given track while playing (this is what X-
Mix does on command stations, but it's even easier on Rm1x)
- Undo! ('nuff said)
What I don't like about RM1X's sequencer is that it must be stopped 
to start/stop recording, and even to turn the metronome on/off.

Now the second part of this mini-review: sound. Command stations are 
very well-specified synthesizers, Rm1X - anything but. As a synth, 
Rm1X a is a complete toy, and doesn't stand a bit of competition with 
a command station (I can elaborate, if anyone's interested). This is 
a cold fact, you don't even need to hear either machine - just 
compare the specs. Subjectively speaking, I think the Command 
Stations sound awesome, and Rm1x sounds like shit.

That came out a bit harsh, but you get the drift :-)
Hope this helps,
Boris.
--- In xl7@yahoogroups.com, "lifeistheformofenergy" 
<lifeistheformofenergy@y...> wrote:
> 
> Hey everyone - upon doing a lot of reveiws and reading a lot of 
other 
> people's posts - there has been a lot of referrence to the Rm1x, I 
am 
> wondering what are everyones personal or particular consensus about 
> the positives and negatives the Rm1x might have over the emu 
command 

> stations (if this is deemed so) and or vise versa ....
> 
> Yamaha Rm1x : http://www.markarber.freeserve.co.uk/rmormc.htm

! thank you for your elaborate review i really appreciate it !

--- In xl7@yahoogroups.com, "gutman75" <bgutman@c...> wrote:
> - easy switching between variations withing a pattern (in yamaha-
> speak, that would be "patterns within a style");

The main difference I can see is that the XL switches patterns at the
end of the loop, the RM1x at the next measure. I prefer the first
method, though the second occasionally has uses.

> - can replace a phrase on a given track while playing (this is what X-
> Mix does on command stations, but it's even easier on Rm1x)

Doesn't this have to be done via the menus? How is it easier?

Also, drum grid edit mode is just plain broken on the RM1x.

I wouldn't mind having some of the MIDI "play fx", realtime sequence
tweaking, better groove and editing features, but if the choice is
between one or the other, for me it was no contest.

!thanks for the feedback! 
--- In xl7@yahoogroups.com, "robotchas" <robotchas@y...> wrote:
> 
> --- In xl7@yahoogroups.com, "gutman75" <bgutman@c...> wrote:
> > - easy switching between variations withing a pattern (in yamaha-
> > speak, that would be "patterns within a style");
> 
> The main difference I can see is that the XL switches patterns at 
the
> end of the loop, the RM1x at the next measure. I prefer the first
> method, though the second occasionally has uses.
> 
> > - can replace a phrase on a given track while playing (this is 
what X-

> > Mix does on command stations, but it's even easier on Rm1x)
> 
> Doesn't this have to be done via the menus? How is it easier?
> 
> Also, drum grid edit mode is just plain broken on the RM1x.
> 
> I wouldn't mind having some of the MIDI "play fx", realtime sequence
> tweaking, better groove and editing features, but if the choice is
> between one or the other, for me it was no contest.