Allright... I did it.... bought something digital.

[Razmo]

Yes... well... I have no excuse A Yamaha EX5

I've been trying to find a Yamaha VL70m for quite some time now, and they just seem to be rather rare, unless you want to order them from EBAY in china or japan... which I don't...

At the same time I'm getting fed up with my keyboard controller, a Cakewalk A-800PRO... keybed is fine, but it's aftertouch leaves your fingers crippled if you keep using it, as you have to press incredibly hard to start the aftertouch, so I was also on the lookout for a nice master controller.

In addition to that, I once took that fatal decision, to get rid of all my digital hardware synths... it was that analog frenzy period I had (god forbid it), and thus I want some differernt types of digital synthesis back in the studio.

Then this comes around:



AWM2 synthesis (sampling):
Build in sampler (64MB RAM) with 126 voices and SCSI SMDI sample dump capability
Built in 16MB of sample ROM with about 2000 samples.

AN virtual analog synthesis:
2 voices, 100% match from the Yamaha AN1x SYNTH

VL Physical Modelling from the VL70m:
Just what I neededd, and the keyboard has BC3 breath controller input.
I used a VL70m on one of my C64 remixes once... Action Biker Remix.

FDSP synthesis:
In combi with the AWM2 sampling synthesis, this is a 16voice polyphonic FX engine, and the only one of it's kind that I've seen ever. Many cool algorithms for producing pickup emulation, water FX, Earthquake, Self FM etc.

So all in all... I've found a machine that solves many of my needs at once here... the only digital synth I'm thinking about getting now would be the KORG Z1, but maybe not... I'll just have to wait and see if I can do with this one

And then it even has two modulation wheels... nice ... and the keybed is said to be rather good. Biggest problem will be getting it home from the train station where I'm to pick it up from some guy... it weighs about 40 pounds, and is build like a tank

[Chris Abbott]

Had my eye on one of these but ended up buying a combination of a Z1, a Supernova and a JV2080, later augmented by a JP8080 (which Sonic Wanderer now has), and the Karma... (and an A3000 sampler). I wouldn't say no to one of these babies, certainly.

[Razmo]

well... I got the machine today, and I have no regrets... I was on the lookout for a new controller keyboard and the keybed on this thing is probably the best I've ever played... but god damned it's heavy! ... built like a tank for sure!... 20kg ... it feeled more like 30 or something ... really really really sturdy machine.

And the sound is amazing... possibilities are huge, and the responsiveness of those VL synthesis instruments are really something special... guess I had forgotten about how good this thing sounds since I had my EX5R some years back.

And the aftertouch is supperb too... the breath controller input a real bonus (still have a BC3 controller somewhere), and the velocity dynamics is really expressive.

It's a keeper.... though it takes up en enormous amount of space with it's 76 keys in length .

[Commie_User]

Looks worth it though. And I do recommend dipping your toe in the water with a newer Kontakt pack or two, so a good keyboard interface is essential. The more you feel you're working with[/] it rather than just on it makes all the difference.

[Razmo]

Unfortunately the EX5 did not have a SCSI option built in, which leaves you with a 1.44MB floppy drive to load and save from the 64MB RAM it has ... that in itself is hhillarious, but the EX5 originaly comes with only 1MB of internal RAM... I just happened to have some 32MB 72pin modules lying around (in fact I've got a whole bucket full of odd RAM modules saved over the years... you never know when...) so I maxed it out to 64MB RAM.

The option for SCSI is really a rather rare find, and usualy cost a smaller fortune if you manage to find one, so I started to search for alternatives, and found that Yamaha's A3000 samplers actualy is born with the exact same option, and they go for rather cheap these days.

I managed to find one here in Denmark where I live that came with a 2GB lacie Hardrive for SCSI as well, so I got the SCSI option now (phew!)... this will allow me to connect all sorts of SCSI devices to the EX5, and also connect it directly to my Win7 PC... that will allow me to dump samples fast from Soundforge.

Guess the only option I'd like now is the FLASH RAM modules that the EX5 also support... 16MB of FLASH RAM can be inserted into the EX5, but these are impossible to find anymore, so I guess I'll just have to forget about that.

[Commie_User]

Unfortunately the EX5 did not have a SCSI option built in, which leaves you with a 1.44MB floppy drive to load and save from the 64MB RAM it has

Reminds me of my dear old Fostex D-90 hard disk tracker. It only had the optical out, so had to backup tracks to CD in realtime stereo pairs. The Philips CDR 870, another early affordable unit, honoured reception duties.




A complete revelation in its day, for an ordinary bloke like me, but just seems so archaic today. Still, wouldn't hesitate using for a safety copy if still tracking friends now.

[Razmo]

Anyways, SCSI on the EX5 is rather flawed... it's extremely slow compared to other SCSI transfer rates... 80MB of data (I read somewhere) takes about 4-5 minutes to load...

But for me that's not a problem since I want to utilize the EX5 as a ROMpler when it comes to samples... I'll simply make my own 64MB bank of samples over time, and use only those 64MB of samples for everything I create... therefore the sample bank can be loaded into memory just once when the machine is turned on... I guess I can spare 4-5min. every morning

Point is, that much of the fun with the EX5 is the FDSP synthesis that actualy use the sample engine, so it'll be nice to be able to play around with your own samples through this FDSP... guess it will be mostly organic looped sound effects I'll load up in the RAM... looped running water, sand, fire burning etc.... think it'll allow for some interresting pad sounds which is what I'll be using this machine for A LOT! (it really shines with pad sounds).

[Commie_User]

Is it a very transparent sampler? By that I mean maybe there's pleasing harmonic distortion if not. I wouldn't expect plain low quality from this baby.

[Razmo]

No, it's quite good soundquality for sure... very clean and crisp, and the lows are clear, tight and strong.

[Razmo]

Here's a little snip of the EX5 in action that I made today... Waldorf Pulse on bass... everything else EX5.

The Waldorf may be a bit brutal... but it's one hell of a bass-monster, and it won't listen when I tell it to

I'm sure you know the tune...

[Analog-X64]

Here's a little snip of the EX5 in action that I made today... Waldorf Pulse on bass... everything else EX5.

The Waldorf may be a bit brutal... but it's one hell of a bass-monster, and it won't listen when I tell it to

http://razmo.ziphoid.com/EX5andPulse.mp3

I'm sure you know the tune...

Holy Crap!!! I hope you plan on doing something with this and finishing it. I love it.

[Razmo]

Well... I've been messing around with an intro for it ANX64... link has been updated... guess I'll call it "White goes to Heaven Remix" .... then there's an opening for a "Black goes to Hell" remix later hehe...

[Commie_User]

Now that sounds good.

[Analog-X64]

Hey Razmo... Did you ever go back finish this track?

[Razmo]

Hey Razmo... Did you ever go back finish this track?

Nah... I did not work on it further, but maybe I'll finish it someday ... I'm still finishing my setup, so I'm not doing much at the moment to be honest.