Suzuki Q-Chord

Just bought one and was just getting familiar with it when it went 'dead'. I've it ready for returning to Suzuki.

I have an Omnichord and the features of the Q Chord are much better.

More fuller sound than the Omnichord.

I've had the Omnichord since 1992, only problem was the connection from the power in socket needed soldering back onto the printed circuit board.Had to 'pack' in around the circuit board to stop too much movement when plugging in the power supply as this happened 3 times but not since I had it packed. After playing the Q Chord the Led's went on and off after about 10mins. Looked like the same problem I had years ago with the Omnichord. Have it ready for returning.

Waiting for Q Chord to be collected (Bought it over the Internet)
Friendly and co-operative just hoping they can solidify the connection area as it seems to be a weakness area with them.

Even though it only lasted about 10 mins, I'm sure that when the problem is resolved it will work fine. Would have prefered if
the 'beat'could have been controlled manually.

The Q Chord is very easy to set up and begin playing. By itself, the sounds are a bit "cheesy" when played through its on-board speaker. Hook it up to a decent amp, however, and it's much better.

There was a recent review in the magazine: Electronic Musician. The reviewer faulted the Q Chord for sending "weird" MIDI commands. Apparently, the reviewer doesn't understand MIDI. He stated that you can't turn off the drum channel. Well, of course you can. Not from the Q Chord itself, which, I admit, is a pain, however, any good GM device can be set to refuse the drum channel. I use my Q Chord with my Yamaha DGX 300 digital piano. With a little experimentation, I have discovered that I can trigger nearly all the yamaha functions from the Q Chord. Having a nearly perfect arpeggio with the Yamaha voices is really cool!

The "on-board" Q Chord sounds and such leave a lot to be desired, however, it can be used as a very unique MIDI controller. The Q chord and the receiving instrument must be carefully callibrated to achieve this. My Kawai workstation hated the Q Chord, but the Yamaha had no insurmountable problems.

Would I depend on this machine in a gig? No. Under the best environment; yes. If I had plenty of time to set up everything, then the Q Chord would be a welcome addition.

I have been playing the Q-Chord for quite a while now and found it invauluable as I am in a Music Ministry & if you need a band sound it more than fills the bill, I have been using the Omnichord OM300 for leading in Churches and it blends in very well with other instruments,I use the piano setting & combine it with a Alesis Drum Machine so I use both to great advantage with a full sound through a good stereo P.A system, I recommend them to anyone who wants to learn to play

The sustane chord sound is very effective and I use it all the time

The music I play goes from Rock to ballads which is fine and works very well & somtimes 3/4 which is not as good as I would like

Most reliable I use both instruments every week, in fact I travel all the time, and dond`t have any other muso`s

I can service both Q-Chord & Omnichord myself as the Chord buttons tend to not work so I was instructed by Pop`s Music in the U.S how to service them

I`d replace it,I`ve been playing Omnichords since 1982 and have updated them through all models, I started off with a 15 string autoharp then switched to Omnichords,I was playing drums and vocal in a 60/40 show band (60% rock 40% music)but had to leave group in 1982 and was not able to play drums in certain places so hence the Omnichords,and I have a friend who has written over 60 original songs & is still writing more so it makes arranging his songs easy as he doesn`t have the skills to arrange,we released an album in 1993 which I have been promoting and use the Q-Chord in this quest,I believe there is an untapped market for these instruments in Austraia.

Well I give it an 11 for ease of use or should that be a 1. Well I tried to use it with a midi set up and it's a pain. The midi channels are pre set. For some reason the strum plate is spread over channels 14,15,16. So I had it playing 3 soft synths all set the same. Every third note pops out of a channel? There is no way to turn off the drums all you can do is turn them down. there is always auto accopany feater running.

I bought this for the MIDI out but found it hard to use. When played alone it can be fun and very easy to use.

he effects are not that good. But what did surprise me were the sounds when use as a GM sound modual. They sounded much better than when played on a keyboard than played with the strumplate. So it's not a bad GM modual.

No problems, but is a made of plastic.
You would need to be brave to gig with this

Great to teach about music, anybody can play it.
not so good with the midi out

EZPlay feature gets beginners up and running instantly. Accessing the various functions
is complicated and not very intuitave. For instance to change voices you access buttons
in the chord control section no the voice control section. Manual is hepful and fairly
comprehensive.

MIDI in/out. Headphone out. AC capability. Strumbar is very sensitive and responds well to all sorts of touch techniques.
Expansion rhythm card available and almost necessary because the few built in rhythms wear thin soon. Song cards and books
are available.

Wonderful sound! This is where the Q really shines. The sound is remarkable for such a compact device.
Sounds even better when played through a good PA or amp. I use it to accompany gospel/contemporary christian
singers and it blends well with these styles of music.

Seems fairly solid but I wouldn't want to drop it and find out what might happen to it.
Moulded case is a must.

Brand new, no reason to call CS.

I bought my Q instead of a new autoharp. I am not able to pick and strum as on an autoharp but the sound is so much more
dynamic that I don't mind losing the thumbpick. I found it at Mars Music on closeout for $125. Would I pay $199 for one?
Probably not. I'd go for a nicer autoharp with pickup. If the Q's functions made more sense and were more easily accessed
I might consider it though. For $125 though it's a great sounding machine and as I get better and more comfortable with it
I'm sure to get more requests to accompany folks.

I have had 2 Omnichords & had a lot of fun with them. This is certaily the best version. Every time I bring it out , I 'wow' almost every one there. big or small groups just for fun.
The only thing is if the keyboard could be played with the rest. but heck! If thats what you want --get a key board instead. but itwon't be the 'go-anywhere instrument' like the Q-Chord.

The Q-chord is a fun instrument. It's marketed to non-musicians, and newbies can play it if they are willing to shell out $29 each for the optional song cartridges... but to really "play" the Q-chord, some chord theory is needed. A little experience with electronic keyboards also helps. But all in all, the Q-chord lives up to it's promise to make music easily. As a pro musician, I found the instrument is be very easy to use. The "neck" is unfortunately not able to be used like a real guitar (I can't get my hand into the space provided), but if you play it "Spock-style", that is, leaning against your left shoulder, it's plays easily. The manual is also easy to read.

If you compare the Q-chord to most electronic instruments, even those in it's own price range, it is a very limited device in many ways: it has 10 internal rhythms (30 more if you buy the optional rhythm card), only has one demo song and only plays other pre-programmed songs via the plug-in card port (pricey at $30 each for 8-12 songs), can't use it's MIDI in and out ports at the same time (what the heck ?), can't be played or "strummed" while an external midi device is playing it's internal sounds (this ticked me off). No sequencer. The so-called "melody keyboard" turn the neck chord buttons into piano notes and is all but useless since it's hard to play these buttons and the auto-accompanyment turns off when doing this. The Q-chord has 100 of the 128 GM-specified sounds. If all this sounds bad, remember that the Q-chord is a unique instrument with it's own merits. It has to be played and heard to be appreciated.

Amazingly good sound quality... not pro quality, but very cool. Internal speaker is quite good sounding, but headphones or a good home stereo really makes this instrument shine. The 100 instrument sounds are all good and useful and the internal rhythms sound great. What makes this little device cool is that it is really fun to play around with, and it sounds darn good for what it is. It will find much use wherever you would use an autoharp (gospel, holiday music, children's songs, etc.) or simply for personal entertainment. Great little hobby instrument.

Don't know how reliable the Q-chord is, but I would recommend the custom-made plastic case that Suzuki makes for it for $28. Omnichords were very popular and reliable so I assume the Q-chord will be too.

Suzuki has a dedicated website for this instrument:
http://www.qchord.com?

and there are other websites for it:
http://www.qchord.net/
http://www.qchord.org/

Well, I'm a veteran pro keyboardist and I bought a Q-chord for my wife mostly. But I find myself liking it and spending more time with it than I expected. For our "music toy", it's great. It sounds surprisingly good and is addictive to fool with. It also looks fantastic. For entertainment value, appearance, and "gee whiz factor", it gets a solid 10. It has significant limitations when it comes to MIDI though, some of which I think are unnecessary. I'd like to be able to have an external sequencer play the internal MIDI sound while allowing me to "strum". I also wish I could get my hand around the neck like a guitar. There should be more than one optional rhythm card available, but there isn't (yet hopefully). I could gripe all day about what all the Q-chord lacks in comparison to many instruments under $300, but I bought this because of what it is and does. It's really a lot of fun.