Yamaha AN-200

Nowadays the AN200 is sort of of overlooked by people scrambling to get the latest Virus/Nord/whatev because whatshisfacesuperstarDJ uses one and while that's sort of a shame, it works in favor of those that have them because we sound original :)

Let's get this right out - the presets...umm...a little dated. Really though, if you are only using presets on a groovebox you might want to look into doing something besides making music. This thing is meant to be tweaked and for those people that read the EXCELLENT beginner's guide you will be rewarded with a serious sonic weapon.

Speaking of the beginner's guide...OK Yamaha calls it a "Owner's Manual" but it's not really. It's a collection of "Tips" which work out to be a thorough tour of all the features in the AN200 when you've read them all. This does make looking for a specific tidbit of information a bit tedious, but overall it's still a great book to have.

Right so the sequencer kind of blows when you chain patterns together. But if you are just making a single pattern, it doesn't get much easier than this. Make a pattern, sample into your sequencer, rinse and repeat and you've got yourself a track. FreeEG and scenes give you a lot of interesting options to take a single 16 step pattern and make it interesting enough to hear for several measures.

The drums...well they have a very Yamaha feel to them. There's the typical little tecchy kick and an unfortunate snare that's kind of ploppy sounding, but some of the other drums are sort of OK. Sadly, there's a large number of just bizarre things such as record scratches and horn stabs in the drum set too. Still though, some fun can be had by programming a drum loop in your sequencer and then transposing it to see what you get... go too high on the AN200 and it will most likely sound like someone beating a duck with a saxophone.

Obviously, there are no expansion capabilities. Max poly is 5 I think.

The effects would be filed under the "X-Treme" category. If you would like a subtle reverb, forget it. But if you want to try and shred people's eardrums with monstrous distortion, this might help get you there. Effects are applied to the entire pattern, so there's no chance of just getting that one snare wet - it's either all or nothing.

Well the AN200 is gaining notoriety in some circles for having a very dirty sound. This is really quite a charming effect after a while. I would not turn to the AN200 for, you know, something that needs a really clean, clinical sound. Go get a Triton if you want the world's mellowest vibraphone sound - somehow the AN200 seems to produce the most wonderful growls and shrieks.

I have become sidetracked a LOT on projects when the AN200 decides to take me into a journey into a grainy metal-edged world where things are just wrong but are beautiful in their own right.

So, it's quite obvious that if you're looking to make really pretty songs that get rave reviews for being tasteful, proper and restrained...the AN200 might not be for you. If you want digital anger in a box, this might be what you've been looking for!

I won't say it sounds very analog. But somehow that's OK. It's like the evil twin brother of analog. You may coax some sortof analog-ish stuff out of it now and then, though.

I'm giving it a 10 which says 'Pristine sound quality' although the sound isn't really Pristine per se. It's an acquired taste, but once you understand it you may very well love it like I do.

I've had a few problems with mine, but I have a fantabulously complicated midi setup where I tend to get stupid and create feedback loops which always crashes the AN200 with "Err" flashing on the screen. I've also crashed it when I sent too much data, so you may want to thin out some realtime messages.

Just be sensible and you should have no problems. Mine has developed a jumpy encoder as well, but I'm used to it now.

It was missing a knob when I bought it, but a call to Yamaha and $6 got a whole bag o' knobs delivered to my doorstep.

I've called Yamaha once and within 5 minutes someone had located the exact part I needed and had placed my order. Not too shabby.

If it were lost, I'd buy another without question.

I own and use a whole heap of other stuff which doesn't really warrant a mention here, but I've still got a lot of love for this weird little box <3

This thing is awesome. I didn't expect much when I read about it, but when I got, it blew my mind. It sounds so wonderful, especially for bass and synth sounds. This is your melody box. Haven't used the patch editor yet, but I've heard good things about it. Patches sound awesome themselves, you just got to tweak a little and next thing you know, you've been tweakin for hours. It's so fun to play with this, it kind of reminds me of Rebirth. Manual is great too.

Tons of features from the legendary An1x. Effects are fine, delay, reverb is all you need. You can get new patches for it from the internet and I think you can store up to 195 user patches if you want, which is plenty enough for any 1. Midi works great with my keyboard, but I use it by itself, only run the clock with it. Sequencer is very powerful for such a small box. They should have added this sequencer to my RS7000, it would have been the shiznat. Great all around.

Sounds, sounds, sounds. This has tons of em. Mostly trance, techno, dnb stuff, but I'm sure you could use this with a hiphop album if you dig deep enough. Effects are simple and very good, has all the effects that you need, if you need more, just buy an effects processor, that's it. This is very hands on, what you put in, is what you get out, and you get it with class, not some cheap mc505 presets, these presets are truly classic. Sounds very proffessional.

I can depend on it anywhers. I don't gig, but at my home studio this thing really kicks ass. I would use it in a gig if i had to, but first I need to explore its potentials. Always works and it remembers your last preset that you've used.

Yamaha is great. Used them once to fix my Rm1x and they did their job like they supposed to. I'm sure tech support is great, you also got their website.

If I got robbed, I would have to kill somebody to get this back. This is more than worth the price. I've used it for about 4 months now and it replaced my er-1, which I've owned for 1 month ( doesn't even compare to this ). I love every aspect of it, if only more grooveboxes would be built like this. Now I'm saving money to get Dx200 ( An's twin brother ), but I'm not going to sell this for a while I think. I'm not wishing for anything more out of this small box, cause if they packed some more in it, it would explode. This is very inspirational piece of gear, it gives you that melody, that you can't create with your average gravebox. RIP mc505, rm1x, sp808, er-1 and all the other garbage out there. Propably my most favorite gear to date. This should get 20 out of 10.

i generally only use this as a synth module, not to program beats or make whole songs. so i don't know about ease of use with the sequencer.

after getting into synthessis using software synths (mostly free VST instruments) i found this to be incredibly easy to use. all the knobs are clearly marked, most serve only one function and the layout is great.

the manual is pretty throrough and manages to be interesting and somewhat entertaining, with exercises that really help you get familiar with the product.

most of the preset patterns are not to my taste, as i don't make dance music. but the synth sounds are decent, for the most part.

haven't used the software editor, apparently it's not available for XP.

built in effects are decent. this is my first hardware synth, so all i can really compare it to is software, which can really spoil you. polyphony is sufficient for my needs, and i really like having 2 settings per patch.

i was surprised by some of the string sounds. not that they're absolutely realistic, but they're not as lame as i'd expected.

had some issues when i bought it, because the guy at the store gave me the wrong power supply. once i got the correct one, it's worked just fine. currently only use it in a bedroom studio/hobbyist setting, but i think i'd gig with it without a backup. mostly because i don't have a backup and my laptop has let me down too many times when running software synths/effects.

never dealt with them.

for a first synth, this has been great. programming sounds is relatively easy, and even though the preset patterns are all very dancey, sometimes it's fun to just sit and tweak one while it plays. if lost or stolen, i'd probably try to find another one.

This is a PLG150-AN Board (more or less a AN1x with half polyphony) built into a desktop-control-synth with a drummachine. It's got a quite intuitive desktop with knobs for the most important parameters and it's easy to edit patches if you are a bit familiar with subtractive analog-synthesis. To get full control you need a software editor. Yamaha gives you the AN200 editor for XGWorks, but you can also use any AN1x editor (but the AN200 will not cover all the features then). Good preset sounds if you're into electronic music. I use it to get pads and retro-synth-sounds for indie-rock, which might be a bit unusual. It always needs editing presets or generating new patches but it's easy and a lot of fun! The sounds i get cut through the mix and fit nicely into basslines and distortrd guitars.
The manual is originally setup and made for learning by doing. The bad thing about it is, that there isn't much specific information about the synth section (it's a groovebox, and thats what the manual is about). Yamaha doesn't have a manual for the even more complex software editor, which is quite disapointing! Maybe an AN1x manual could help explaining the details like FM, PWM, Oscillator Sync.(That'll get an 8, minus 2 for the manuals)

Five-note polyphony, not multy timbral. This might stop many people from getting such a synth. But they don't know what they are missing! Beside the typical analog-synth-features you get a number of FX (delay, reverb, flanger, phaser, amp simulator), Distortion two LFO's and the famous Yamaha scene Memory-Morphing (it really lets you create two totally different sounds based on the same waveforms and you can morph all the knob-controllable parameters. A very nice extra to the typical analog character of the sounds are Oscillator Sync, FM and pulse width modulation. This lets you create metallic sounds with a wide frequency-range yust like the digital FM-Synths do. My personal favourite is the Free-EG Function (as known form the AN1x). It allows realtime recording or drawing (with the editor software) of four different EG's from almost all parameters. What's even more: For live performance you can use a BPM-Tap-Function so you can adjust the speed of the EG's to the tempo of the band, just by rythmically tapping your finger on a button three times! I also may not forget mentioning the drummachine, allthough i almost don't use it: Three layers from a fat drumkit are possible. I maybe might start using it for some little drumloops, which can nicely be integrated into live performance by using the Tap-Function. (I give all this an 8, minus 2 for little polyphony and missing multy-timbrality)

Two oscillators with a sub-oscillator for the first one, a big variety of waveforms to choose from, analog-synth features plus FM, Effects and Free-EG, assignable realtime control for most parameters.... I'm not a synthesizer expert but i think this box is really capable of enhancing your sound!!

It's a small, light box, easy to transport. Got it second-hand and never had problems up to now. I do depend on it, because i use it for gigs (in combination with a CS6x) and I'm busy using the thing for our new songs and also replaced some old CS6x patches with sounds from the AN200.

Didn't have to deal with the guys from Yamaha up to now, except for mailing them in request for a manual for the software editor. They replied quickly. (The fact that no manual exists was taken into account under "ease of use")

I sure would get a new one if it got stolen. Seeing I still have two free Plug-in-slots in my CS6x, I might even get another PLG150-AN board (maybee even two of them) to increase polyphony and mutli-timbrality. That would rock...

I've had my little AN for some time now and in that period have attempted to use it as a groovebox only twice.I get the feeling that it's actually a powerful synth disguised as a groovebox to appeal to the market to which it's sounds are best suited, ie dance.
So as a groovebox, it is rather lacking in flexibility and isn't as intuitive as say the MC-303.
As a synth, however, every knob you could need for live use and "on the fly" tweaking is arranged logically in in just the right place.

This machine is actually the PLG-150AN expansion card placed in its own box with a few knobs bolted on the front of it.
Added to that is an AWM2 rhythm section and an analogue style sequencer for both the synth and drum parts.
There is a basic set of effects that includes several delay types, a reverb, chorus/flanger, 2 phasers, and an overdrive function.
These are quite simple to get working well and do add some extra flexibility to the sounds.Though they aren't as high quality or as editable as a stand alone effects unit.
There is pretty much everything you could need here in one box. It works well on it's own as a groovebox or as part of a midi set-up. In my opinion, this is where it really shines as an instrument.
I have mine hooked up to the computer and use it expressly as a sound module.
To some, the 5 note polyphony might cause a problem, but unless you are planning on some extreme six fingered chords, it shouldn't pose too much of a problem.
It's best to think of this as a monosynth that can also be used as a somewhat simple groovebox.
One feature that is quite easy to take for granted is that each tweak of a knob displays the relevant value on the led display. It makes it a lot easier to remember the knob position of the best sound should you overdo the tweak!
I have found that the rhythm section, of which there are three, is rather ordinary and not much use. It is rather dance orientated and doesn't reach the high standards of the main synth engine.
However for the serious programmer, the included cd contains the editor which is a far more comprehensive set of editing tools including features that aren't available on the front panel.

During the time i have been using the AN200, i have found it too easy to find a sound and play with it using a controller keyboard and to lose the point of what i was trying to do in the first place!
It can create some deep lush pads one minute, rumbling analogue basses the next and with one twist of a knob can bend into a vibrating, screaming monster that shreds speakers.
The FM depth knob adds a crazy modulated effect to the sound that at the right moment during a synth solo can screech the thing into a frenzy.
At this point, i must mention the filters.
It has several modes including three types of low pass filter, a high pass, a band pass and a band notch. The editor also allows access to a simple EQ section.
The filter is as good as you could want from a virtual analogue and i'm yet to find a situation requiring more than 3/4 resonance. Any more would be plain scary!!
I have read that this machine is basically a yamaha AN1x but with only the one voice and actually a few features that the original synth it's based on doesn't have.
So it basically comes down to how you would want to use it.
As a monosynth, for the price, it's in a league of it's own.
But as a groovebox, you could do better and get more features but for probably more money.
So if it's a source of almost unlimited analogue style sounds you are after, then this is definitely the machine to buy.

The thought of using it at a gig as a groovebox gives me nightmares, but hook a decent controller synth to it and use it as a monosynth, it would allow you to play every type of synth sound you could hope to play.Except possibly "real" or "acoustic" sounds.But then, why would you buy a virtual analogue synth if that's what you wanted to play?
There has been mention of it skipping a note during patch changes when playing patterns. As i don't use it as a groovebox and don't bother with the sequences, it hasn't been a problem.
When used as a sound module, it has never shown any kind of problem bar the long wait for it to boot up.

My machine has developed a slight problem with the data knob.
Sometimes during a fine adjustment of a parameter, it exits back to patch select and i end up changing patch and therefore resetting my tweaks. I think this is due to the knob getting damaged from the countless times i've chucked it into my bag prior to heading off somewhere to play it.
I have considered getting it repaired but don't think i could be without it for the time it would take to sort it out!
As far as i'm aware, no one has had a problem with yamaha support but i guess it depends on your location and specific problem.

It is basically my main workhorse.
I use it as a monosynth and trawl the net for patches and have joined the Yahoo AN1X users group to get maximum benefit from this machine.
My main reason for promoting this machine is that for the money, you would be hard pressed to find such an inspiring synth with so many features and fantastic sound quality.
It does everything i could want it to do.
Sure it could have greater polyphony, better effects, an editable rhythm section and more knobs but what would the price be then?
In most reviews of the AN200, it mentions that this is not a toy.
They would be right.
There's not a lot it can't do and it has a few features that some more expensive machines could learn from.
Basically, if you want an analogue style synth with great flexibility and sound, buy one!

I think this unit is very easy to use. I previously owned a darkstar 2 and I felt much more at ease using the an200. I really thought the manual was done well. I didn't have any experience with analog/psuedo analog synths and the manual for the darkstar didn't do anything for me. The yamaha manual takes into account that some people do not know everything about editing these types of synths.

Many people have mentioned the problem with the sequencer. I saw the complaints before I bought the an200, but didn't realize what a drawback it is. I bought the an200 to control with other devices but found myself having fun messing with the step sequencing and realtime pattern recording. Then I tried combining patterns and ran into that first note choke nonsense. At times I wish they would have skipped the sequencing and possibly made the unit smaller, but the sequencing is usable to edit sounds while it plays back notes. It is pretty much unusable for creating sequenced songs. If they wouldn't have messed that up I would recommend this as the best "groovebox" out there. Insatead I have to recommend it as a nice analog modelling sound module. For a sound module I'd give it a 9. For a groove box I'd give it a 2. Since I intend to use it as a sound module I give an overall 7.

I really like the sounds I've created with the an200. They can be warm and thick or really harsh (in a good way). I get the results I wanted from an analog modeller.

I bought it used. I know I'm at least the 3rd owner and I have no problems at all. Unlike the darkstar I bought new that would sometimes not produce any sounds.

I wish Roland had as much info as Yamaha provides online. I also wish they'd fix the damn sequencing problem and make this unit twice as usefull.

Don't buy this in hopes to have a have any kind of a "groovebox". I could have been great, but it's just a really good sound module for analog type sounds. I'm going to try out one of the e-mu command stations with a 16 track sequencer and rom expansions, but I don't intend on unloading the an200. For the price I paid it was a great deal on a unit that can provide me with good sounds and a nice interface to work with them.

pretty easy to use for the most part, but there's the hidden variables that can get frustrating - there should be separate knobs for reverb / delay 1, 2, etc.., not all just roped under one knob.

The sequencing I've been using XGWorks for which it comes bundled with. posters have been saying you can only do 16 step sequences- THIS IS NOT TRUE! Use the Free EG to program up to 8 bar sequences - modifying the VCO 2 pitch to make bass lines progressions - you can then use another Free EG to modulate VCO 1 pitch to make two line, 8 bar patterns. to change the rythym of each oscillator, you'll again use the Free EG to modify the either VCO 1 or 2's level. I'll have an example of this soon on a page i'm working on (more below)

The analogue synth is beautiful. I'm doing electroclash and minimalism, so the AN200 has it all for me right now. basic waveforms, with really nice old school sounds. the drums aren't bad, but i wish there was a noise based set, kind of like old 8 bit nintendo.

i'm looking to get a DX200 possibly to add to it and expand the synth sounds that i'm working with. very happy with it, once i learned the power of the Free EG features. The only major thing that I think must improve is the Free EG editor with XGWorks, AN200 plugin - It needs to be more graphical based - i.e. copy and paste, reduce patterns by 50% (double time, i guess) and be more precise. Drawn square waveforms aren't really square in the end - they have sloping vertical lines.

Incredibly easy to use. Having only ever used an mc-303 prior to purchasing the AN200, I didn't have a broad range of experience. But i got the hang of it quickly. The manual is excellent. Very simple, and takes you through things in a non-technical, easy to comprehend, logical way. Some of the presets are pretty cool. And patch editing, as well as voice editing, is very intuitive.

First, I'll get the specs out of the way...
4 voice polyphony on the synth track, 32 voice (combined) on the rythms.
Keys are the nice, soft, gummy sort. Not hard 303 style keys, which is nice.

Stacks of features. But I'll start with the limitations. Firstly, its only a 16-step sequencer. So you can forget being able to put in overly complex beats. Secondly, its only got one synth and 3 rythm tracks. But, read on. Because for what you're paying and what you're paying FOR, the goods outweigh the bads.

13 effect types incl delays, phaser, flanger and overdrive. Way easy to use, apply and edit, even on the fly.

The roll button and part mutes, and all the pretty little knobs which can effect so much of the voice and sounds make this the perfect little groovebox for realtime messing around.

Not velocity sensitive. Not expandable at all.

Midi in/out.

I'll give it an 8. I'd give it 10, but the fact that its only 16 step and 4 track are really the biggest limitations. except for one more which I'll get to...

As far as the synth goes, I am a little disappointed. Because there aren't any 'natural' sounds like strings or pianos etc. But, you can squeeze the FATTEST old school analog sounds. And you can mess with the sound SO much and SO easily. Synth is better than ea-1, as far as I'm concerned.

Drums are pretty fat. Way better than, say, a 303 or er-1.

Given that its only 4 track and especially because its only a 16 step sequencer, suited to simpler music. ie- hard dance, trance. And the fat synth sounds suit that as well.

BIGGEST PROBLEM- the first notes on the synth engine get cut when you change patches (ie- when you change from one pattern looping over to the next one). This sometimes doesn't matter depending on the voice you are using. But usually does. Coupled with the fact that its only a 16 step sequencer, this is a BIG problem. Becuase you have to find new ways to develop an ongoing synth loop longer than 1 bar. That TOTALLY SUCKS. If that wasn't the case. I'd give this little sucker 20 out of 10 for everything. but it is the case. and it sucks.

yamaha- what were you thinking? surely this could have been fixed. If you had fixed it, this machine would be the best thing since sliced bread.

Its cool. Never EVER stalled or crashed on me, and I've probably used it for about 300 hours or so now. All the buttons and knobs are just as tight as they were when I got it. Can't believe it! One thing- it takes about 15 seconds to load up. Not a problem, just a bit of a pain when you're dying to get that idea out of your head and into the an200.

very good (yamaha australia). Friendly dude told me which adaptor I had to get to use my unit (got it off ebay america) in australian power sockets (where I live.

I would ABSOLUTELY buy again if stolen. Worth way more than what I paid. I've had it for about 5 months. Can't get enough of it. I love the way EVERYTHING is just so easy to edit, and so very editable. No stupid menus. Everything is right there, all you have to do is twist a knob/ push a button.

I hate: the 16 step sequencer; the way the first notes get cut off when changing patterns.

But I love my little an200 so much. If you are thinking of getting a groovebox style module, DEFINATELY give serious thought to the an200. I'd say definately get it, but you know, horses for courses.

If you like fat analog sounds, and want a groovebox, then this is what you have to get.

This thing is a breeze to learn and use. After about 2 hours, I was moving thru all the menus and creating sounds and songs.

Everyone else has done a good job of going over the features. I'm in a live-action band, so we use it mostly as a synth.. More on that under sounds. The sequencer sucks, of course, but it works OK as an occasional lite drum machine.

This thing, for what we do with it, it's god's gift. However, I'm not a dance music kinda guy. We use it mostly for spacey intros and freakish, nasty leads and fills. Typically, we sample parts from it into an SP303, so the bassist can trigger samples and rock out. I don't think it's actually all that useful to dance-oriented types, since it has a tendancy to freak out and start spewing distorted nasties all over the place. Of course.. I rate that as a positive. :D

So far so good. It's a little flakey, but the manual talks about what to do if it locks up on you. No biggie.

None thus far.

I would definately buy another one. We call it the party in a box, and it's already quickly become an integral part of my band's sound. I love the range and freakyness of the noises.

To edit the "deeper" features, it's much more difficult than the uber-easy od for tweaking the synth.

We're forced to use moronic and horribly dance oriented pseudo drum and quasi bass tracks. We are forced to use an inane one-bar pattern system. We are forced to make songs out of these patterns. The sequencer and loop based nature of the included sequencer makes it seem more like an afterthought than an actual sequencer.

No complaint here. This thing is worth every penny you waste on its added sequencer just for the synthesizer. 21 LFO Waveforms, 2 VCOs, pitch sync, a wow-worthy VCF, 5 decent effects, portamento, noise, whatnot, this thing is highly expressive.

Don't expect it to play guitars though.

Neveeeer dropped it.

Never had a problem.

This thing is extremely nice as long as you know what you're getting it for. Hopefully that's as a module for your other synth equipment. This thing falls on its face big time in the sequencing/drum machine/keyboard department. However, it has big versatility for the synthesizer, an awesome interface and it's expressive, to say the least.