. ..Yamaha RM1x..
.
Got the trusty RM1x out a few days ago, I only pulled it out to take a look at the sequencer an 4 hours later im still there ^_^Yep gotta love the RM1x ...My first drum machine/synth, although I bought it to use as a sound module, the whole sequencer side was a bonus. Wow! I only just realised I've had it nearly 10years.
Anyways... Here is what I have to say on the RM1x:
The RM1x as far as I'm concerned (today) has only 1 flaw it cannot apply its arpeggator to saved files/midi ...as in it is a realtime arpeggiator only, if you want an arpeggio in a track you must record it first. ...and thats it.
...OK, well if I was pushed id mention that when quantising you must select qantising level by its musical character (in OS)...and that for me gets confusing because I dont read music so the symbols look very similar to me ..in destinguishable at times (I could learn but im lazy).
Its kits a pretty good, it has a few sounds that are dated but thats to be expected and also a matter of taste.
The time-based effects can be a little bit if a handfull as you can enter seperate delay-times for left/right/center which is create where control of sound is concerned but a bit of a head-phuk when your trying to manually do bpm sync echo (which also means recalculating if you want to switch bpm).
I have to say I never made use of RM1x's key feature at all, I used it as either a midi sound module, something to sample OR as a drum machine as part of a larger live setup.
The RM1x key feature is the ability to remix midi in real time ..it allows you to alter note lengh, note key, shift an notes position and change notes velocity all individually ..and without altering the midi, so the same patch (loop/patern) can be loaded elsewhere un effected. It doesnt sound like much but it is.
RM1x Specifics:
Sequencer Section:
- All the modes you'd expect 'Grid', 'Step', 'Overdub', 'Replace'.
Grid mode is your standard mode for recording rigid beats etc, each note recorded on a keyrange basis (as in select the not the sound is on, then select when the note is triggered).
Step mode is the traditional method of entering notes, by selecting the order the notes are played
, manualy keying them in via built-in or external midi keyboard.
Overdub mode records over any previous midi data.
Replace mode overwrites your patern as it plays through the sequence.
The sequencer is rock solid, never lags, never crashed.
Rotary Controls:
- The rotary sontrols towards the top right are for real-time tweaking and are used to shape the sound, driving things like pitch, velocity, resonance, attack etc.
These rotary controls double up and it is possible to see what layer your on via the status of the indicator light ...if the red light is off your on layer 2.
Unlike the most recent grooveboxes that have hit the market since its release the machine does not have any kind of dial-memory position-indicator, which comes in handy when using 6 dials to control 12 effects over 16 individual channels (all with their own position :s). But what it does have is some sturdy rotaries that work well.
Operating System:
- The operating system is good, absolutely no cases of a crash or anything like that in the entire time I have owned it. The sequencer is nice ..quite quick to correct any mistakes (1 level of undo only from what i remember). ..recording a sequence takes a second or two, no delays while data is saved.
And best of all the memory is stable so long power offs will not effect your saved data, not to mention the fact that you can back up to disc if you need.
The RM1x's ability to shift notes around and manually re-groove in real-time is not to be suffed at.. in a live situation this is potentially lifesaving. If your just programming beats its great for gettting the groove EXACTLY the way you want it.
Sound Pallet:
If you've ever used a Yamaha AN1x you might get a sense of de ja vu as its pretty much the same sound bank, to be honest some sounds are a bit sketchy at best.. for instance telephone sound is just a waste of memory, but some of the bass sounds are excellent especially if you apply a lil cutoff and resonance. There are some sounds in here that are of particular interest to creators of Happy HardCore, Gabba and Trance. With some tweeks in the right places its fairly simple to get those slow evolving sequenced b-lines that were oh' so popular when Goa Trance was the buzz word of the day.
Again ...the drum kits are excellent, a very nice selection but I tend to always veer towards the 909-esq sounds.
With any piece of gear your pretty much stuck with whatever sounds they decide to ship with, thankfully alot of these sounds are still really useful and the sequencer makes up for the sounds that are not.
Midi Capabilities:
Its been a while since I've hooked it up to cubase but when I did I had alot of control, in a DAW enviroment you can control all its sysEX and trigger start stops if you wish, or you can use it as part of a live set up (MTC/MIDIClock).
It can be used to trigger sounds from other machines or as a stand alone all in one box for creating rhythms etc.
1x MIDI input - 1x MIDI output; giving you 16 MIDI chanels to multitrack, each track can be muted easily via a couple of button clicks or via midi message (or via the OS).
Ins & Outs:
In addition to the MIDI in/out there is Audio output in the form of two 1 1/4" jacks for stereo out and a headphone kjack (also 1/4" jack).
Data can be saved/loaded from floppy disk and there is a port to plug your footswitch if needs be.
((more from me here http://beatscientistblog.blogspot.co.uk/ ))
