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.

I bought (3) of these for 200 bucks each.....you know why? I'm going to tell you. Heard of the PLG150AN? It's a expansion card for the S-80 amongst others. Guess what? I'll bet you dollars for donuts that its the heart and soul of the AN200. Read the specs on the card. Now: Ease of use: the AN200 is deep as hell. Midi data format on the AN200 runs from pgs 118-139 in the owners' manual, a lot of it in small print. And you can really only effectively program it (other then in a superficial way) when you hook it up to a computer. It ain't no groove box.

5 notes that sound like something half-way between a softsyn and the real deal. Lot's of reasonably good EFX. A drum machine. And then for the clincher: You can program (4) parameters of the AN200 to change in a very complex and "personal" way over time. Morphing the sound from the benign to the obtuse, your choice. Insane.

For what I want it (and the 2 others) for, it's perfect. Singly: It's OK, not great. Stacked: It shines. I still can't believe that (3) of them brand new cost me 600 bucks, total. Thanks, Yamaha! *Please*, Yamaha: Build another weirdo device like the AN200, and totally mismarket it.

I'll gig with the (3), once I get them properly mounted in a equipment rack. It's going to take some modifications to their cases, but I am not afraid! If any of you that have done something similiar: Please drop me a line, and tell me how you did it!

No idea. I do know that I have a 15-year old RX-5, and (6) Tx-802's, which work great....never needed Yamaha. One of my best friends is a tech, so who cares, anyway?

Thanks, Yamaha!

The AN200's preset sounds cover a variety of styles, and many are
usable either as they are or with miminal editing. My AN200 came
with a decent software patch editor in the retail box.
For those without the editor who feel the itch to tweak, the AN200
has lots of knobs, laid out intuitively.

The polyphony can either be extensive or limiting, depending on how
the AN200 is used. As a straight-ahead MIDI sound module, the AN200
has 5 notes of polyphony in its analog-modeling synthesizer section
(monotimbral), and 32 notes of polyphony in its AWM2-based drum
machine section. The drum machine section can be spread over three
different MIDI channels, for filtering of individual parts.

Effects are rather extensive: delay, pan delay, flanger, phaser,
reverb, and variable distortion.

The AN200 is not expandable. I have read that it will accept AN1x
sounds over MIDI SysEx, but I have not yet tried it.

Since this is a "groovebox"-type unit, the "keyboard" is minimal
(one-octave, no velocity sensitivity).

MIDI capabilities are quite extensive. 1 MIDI channel for analog,
3 MIDI channels for drums. Sends and receives MIDI Start/Stop/Clock.
Almost all knobs send CC data over MIDI for recording into sequencers.

On-board sequencer is possibly the most limiting factor of the
unit. There are four pattern tracks (1 analog, 3 drum), but each track
is monophonic. That's right, no chords allowed. There is also a bit
of analog lag between patterns; during playback, a pattern change
may cause the first analog note not to play.

The AN200 is a dance/techno oriented machine. As such, it does the
dance/electronic genre quite well. The sounds are very electronic;
as such, acoustic instruments are not effectively represented.

The analog-modeling section has 2 oscillators, multi-mode resonant
filter (which can be set to self-oscillate), sync, ring mod, filter
and amplitude envelopes, portamento, FM depth, noise, pretty
much all you'd expect in an analog-modeling synth. The drums sounds
are decent, not as extensive as a Roland MC-505, but usable
nonetheless.

As a sound module, the unit responds nicely to my keyboard controller.
No aftertouch though, which isn't a showstopper for techno-oriented
music anyway.

It seems pretty dependable so far, but it takes a few seconds to
"boot". As I use mine only in my home studio, I can't comment on its
"gig"ability.

No contact yet made with Yamaha.

I think I'd get another one if it were lost or stolen. For what I
paid, it does a lot more than the similarly-priced Boss DR-202, and
with much less output noise--as I discovered when I demo'd the DR-202
before settling on the AN200.

The AN200 fits in well with the rest of my studio (Roland XP-10 as
a main controller/GS synth, Roland JV-880 synth module and Turtle
Beach Maui sampler soundcard, with Cakewalk as my sequencer) pretty
nicely. It finally gives me an analog-modeling synth without having
to pay out the wazoo. As I use it through Cakewalk as part of a
larger setup, I don't have to deal with the rather limiting onboard
pattern sequencer.

For those looking for an all-in-one standalone groovebox, perhaps one
of the Roland MC series may fit the bill. But as a groovebox addition
to a larger MIDI setup, the AN200 can be a better value.

Pretty easy to use. Synth is Awesome! One effect per track kinda sucks. Rumor has it there are some bugs. To set a bass-line, you nave to use either the left-two-octaves, which are an octave-each of two different bass-sounds, or you have to use the upper-two-octaves to set a patch-sound. What is really annoying, is setting the pitch of these notes -- you twist a knob, instead of hitting a note on your controller. I hate that. Adds tens-of minutes to setting a bass-line.

Awesome synth. Drum parts are okay, and you can set parameters for each of the 16-notes. Not enough for the drum parts.

Good sounds. Synth sounds awesome, almost like a real synth. This is a perfect intro-box, but get another one as well, electribe, roland, emu -- anything you can sync. The machine is not complex, but they could've added more firmware into the unit, and clean-up the interface, and add a few more effects functions. Noise generator is definately a plus. It's hard to get an "evil grinding" out of the synth, but I'm not up on my synth technology. Get one used, I took mine back.

Seems solid. Kept it in a canvas briefcase, and no damage after 29 days!

No idea. Mars were good, tho, got two free cables out of them when I returned it.

Annoying note-selection makes the thing useless. It takes me too long to throw a bassline in there, no way to gang them I don't think either.

AN-200.

Nice machine, but read on.

[Version 1.0-->Cool interface, and very easy to use out of the box. I have yet to get the software component runninng (there's a computer software component for inputting patterns and tweaking the synth sounds), and neither the PDF manual nor the paper manual are much help--this is to say, they are sorely lacking in specifics.

Design flaws--> Yamaha tech support admits that the first beat of each pattern, when patterns are chained or if you are doing this manually (i.e. switching patterns on the fly--so they come after each other)...the first beat is cut off. So it sound like an echo or a heavily EQ'd version of the beat. They have NO plans to fix this.

Also note that the Copy Sequence instruction in the manual is WRONG, and the real way to do this is somewhat complicated, i.e. it takes four steps!, and six movements (either turns of data wheel or pressing buttons).

What's good: the reverse, roll, gate, etc. of the patterns. That's cool. Also the synth engine is quite good, though I would recommend you have an eq to tweak it before recording (or of course you can do it via VST, etc on a computer).

I am going to return mine, if the music shop doesn't give me at least 20% off for he permanent design flaw that yamaha support admitted to me.

I've been making midi based music for 16 years, and currenty use Cubase and an upgraded g3 blue and white.

5 note polyphony, keyboard is just rubbery buttons but still ok.
See reviews for effects detail, unfortunatly there are only limited effects for the drums, of the effects are to tweak the synth engine.
cannot be expanded. in/out thru midi. non-pressure nor velocity sensitive, though you can tweak the volume for each key independently after you record a sequence (tedious but possible!).

Synth is good, nice sounds. It's the Yamaha AN1X basically, but with 5 note polyphony. Get an outboard filter and or eq and you've got a nice box. The tweakability of the filters and VCO's is cool. See reviews....

No problems outside of the software/design flaw mentioned above.

They got back to me in 48hrs. And they were honest, so I give them a 9

the interface is much easier to learn than the electribe,..but the electribe M has some PHAT sounds, so look at that box in comparison. Try one of the big music suppliers who will give you 30-45 days Return Policy...

It's a great machine. But I would not recommend it for live use. I will use it to add drum parts to my midi recordings, and in many cases use VST instruments or samples (in loopazoid or another sample playback software) for the actual sounds.

NOTE: the problem of the first note getting cut off for each pattern, when patterns are used in sequence, has been established. A keyboard mag review noted this. And when I spoke with Yamaha support they also admitted this. ALSO NOTE that Yamaha has NO plans to fix this problem. 714-522-9011 is Yamaha Support's number (other numbers and emails are online). You can confirm it for yourself.

Also I have yet to get the accompanying software to work on my MAC. Though I am going to try it on my windoz box next.

Also note that the manual has errros! Most significant is that the way the manual says you copy one pattern from one location to another is WRONG. Yamaha support walked me through the right way today, but it's a tad complicated. The Keyboard Mag report said that one just follows the reverse of the Yamaha Manual.

nice features, the 5 voice polyphony is good for this size of a machine though I recommend some outboard processing in addition to fatten up and tweak the digital modelling .

Good sounds, though not it's highpoint. The highpoint is controlling the pattern playback. But for the $$ it's a pretty good deal.

No problems yet.

Customer support was right back with me, and painfully honest! (see first entry).

If it was lost I may get it again. I've been playing for 15 years and using midi for as long as that. I really like the patten playback options, whereby you can go foward, reverse, roll, mess with the gate and the swing all in real-time. I'd compare it to the electribe-M, but this interface is much easier to use. It definitely helps with getting out the rhythm jams. I say try it out from one of the big shops with the 30day or 45 return policy, and see for yourself.

I've had AN200 for couple of months now and I HAVE NOT been very pleased by its performance.

There is a really big problem in AN200!!! When I change from patch/pattern to another the problem occurs. As we know the AN200 has a built-in sequencer with this normal 16 steps / pattern. If I fill all the 16 steps with notes and CHANGE PATCH the first step doesn't play or I hear just an echo of it depending what patch I'm using. If I build a pattern that does not have a note in 1st step there is no problem. Also if I play the same pattern/patch on and on there is no problem. BUT I WANT TO CHANGE PATCHES/PATTERNS AND LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE.

:(

NO I WOULD NOT USE IT ON A GIG BECAUSE OF PATCH/PATTERN CHANGE PROBLEM.

This thing is so easy to use, you would have to be idiot to not be able to figure it out. Everything is written on the chassis.

The little pads suck, but where it lacks it makes up for with all of its tweaking ability. So many sound so little time. The Midi capabilities are great especially when you use a cs1x or other yamaha control keyboard. You can't expand it but I don't know why you would need to.

The sound in this thing and the ones you can create are absolutely phenominal. The effects are really good too.

This thing has treated me really good. I have accidentally dropped it a couple of times, but still works like a charm. I don't think I could afford two of these for a backup.

I bought my an200 used and it came with only the unit itself. I called yamaha, and they sent me everything(the pc-software, owners manual) FREE of charge to my house and they paid shipping, they even called me back the same day within a few hours to let me know the stuff was in the mail. Thank You Yamaha!!!!! Roland would never do that.

This is by far the best synth I have ever owned. If it were stolen I would hunt down the fucker that stole it and kick his ass and take the an200 back. I would never loose this thing. If for some ungodly reason it was gone I would go into debt to get another one. I own a cs1x, su700, rm1x, su200, an200, and dx200, and will buy the rm7000 when it comes out. I love Yamaha dance gear. I also recommend it to all!!!!

An-200 is very,very easy to use. I got deep into it in 3 hours or something. Interface is great. Everything is in logical order. I haven't tried the sowtware editor but I heard it kicks some ass...
Manual was pretty easy to read and was perfectly simple for me =)

5 polyphony is enough for me. But the thing that it's only one part multi-timbral sucks. Well it isn't supposed to be a whole in one synth or whatever... I think that the sequencer is quite good. It's very easy to edit.

Sounds are what I expected them to be. Lead sounds are great!Rough and metallic. Just the way I like em. Great for harder techno like hard-house, progressive-house and trance. With this I mean the synth part. Drum sounds are quite bad. Not what I expected.
Effects are dull. You can only have one at same time. Well thats why plug-ins are for =)

Very reliable! Hasn't crashed.

It is worth every penny. Sure I wouldn't mind paying less for it, but everything nice is allways expencive.
Beats the electribe A easily! Drums shurely lose to R but hey this AN isn't a drumsynth.
Beats the rolands too. They are only sample playback machines!

This thing is incredibly easy to use. I really like the loop-playback recording capabilities. There are many dedicated knobs, and the envelope generator is self-explainitory. Saving patches and switching is just as easy as any of the Korg boxes. The built in effects are easy to use. What I liked was it's ability to grow with you... as you learn more, you will unlock more.

There is a 5 note polyphony on the AN modeling channel. There are three other channels, all preset rom sounds. The AN200 features several drum kits and bass sounds in the rythm tracks. What I really didn't like was the fact that the loops could only be 16 steps, or one measure. The Korg boxes allows up to 64 steps, or 4 measures. And the bass sounds are grouped in as drum sounds, each note being treated as a drum hits, and each bass sound only has one octave. The step keyboard is only one octave.

It's mixed...
If you want it just to loop the sounds of a Yamaha AN synth, then it rocks. The drums are good, but the bass sounds are very limiting.

I returned mine.

The manual sucks. I didn't have it long enough to have problems.

Whenever I restarted patterns that were playing, it was kind of crackly. I still prefer the Korg Electribes. While the AN200 had more polyphony, it had limited sequencing... and that thing that Yamaha does in all their gear... you know... have twice as many preset, unerasable patters as it does user patterns. If you want a one measure synth sequencer and drum machine in one, go for it. I traded mine in for a RM1x... and paid a bit more money. In my humble opinion, Yamaha slipped up, and what was an excellent idea was unfortunately executed poorly. If it had more steps in the loop sequencer, I wouldn't hace traded it back.

I bought this today, and plan to use it in conjunction with my K5000s to get all the bass and certain lead sounds I could need. This is pretty easy to learn to use in a shorter time frame. I've spent about half a night working with the AN200 and already, I can see what I'll be able to do with it and what I won't(which isn't too much). Presets are solid, but tweeking them to get the right sound is the key to this machine. Knobs galore, couldn't be easier to edit patches. The manual is pretty solid, though there are a couple parts like the voice copy, that the manual has totally ass backwards, but oh well, live and learn.

Polyphony is only five, which could be better, but for a step recorder and a live recording function that splits up 16 steps with tons of analog and knobs to spare, can't complain much. The effects are very solid, probably on or a bit below par with the CS6x's (my last keyboard). No expansion capabilities, and only 128 user sets, but I've got a sampler for that, and I'm sure that I'll end up using them in about 5 or 6 months, but just have to clear them and start over. Midi in and out, played the first time as soon as I plugged it into my nord, and hopefully, it will take my K5000s' arpegiators nicely as well, we shall see, cuz with these analogs and it's capabilities, it should be rather fat to arp the sounds you create. The sequencer is pretty basic, it loops a 4/4 pattern, but after you have recorded, it's a piece of cake to edit what you did on each of the 16 steps(allows you to change the pitch, velocity(volume), and gate time(basically the decay). Pretty nice feature. Turning on and off each of the sixteen steps is just a push of a button, single step to do that which is nice.

Sounds have to be fattened up with some tweaking, but you can get some very solid leads and basses out of this beauty from yamaha. No realistic, I'd say 90%analog and 10%pads... Tweakable to sound different from everything else, and the EG envelopes are recordable as you edit the loop with the knobs (4 recordable passes and each pass can be played instantly with the press of one of the 4 dedicated FREE EG buttons near the top right of the AN) Works well for techno, experimental, electronic in general. There are 120 drum sounds that can get you by, but I haven't gotten into them totally...there's like 12 bass drums, 12 snares, only like 12 selections of cymbols and hats, and there are alot of deep bass sounds that are counted as drum parts? not sure why. but it'll work as my drum machin for now, more than nicely.

It did flip out on me tonight,but maybe that's just me hitting a button and didn't realize that I had gotten myself stuck in a corner with the menus or something? Its built very solid. Gig without a back up,hmmm, probably, its pretty solidly made. It's made of sturdy plastic, but feels heavier than any other small drum machine I've had or any module I've used. Looks like a champ too!

Did email yamaha about my cs6x a while back and they emailed back in a couple of days, which I'd say was impressive. But they didn't really answer any questions that I needed. But overall, they provide quality equipment at a good price, so I'd say the support is there for us, even if I haven't used it much.

Lost or stolen, I'd get it again, if nothing else had come along that captured the analog sound that I needed and had a sequencer and solid construction like this one. 16 bars for a loop isn't the best, but you can work around it,,, don't get this and decide after an hour that it's not for you, try it out and see if your mind can work around any limitations you see... Try it first in the stores and have someone show you the ropes. That's my best suggestion about any instrument you plan to buy. And never buy it for what it says it's selling for, any music shop will bargain with you. I got 70 bux off by spotting that online shops charged no tax and I could get it cheaper there. Price dropped, I dropped my credit card, and here I am, a happy camper. Wish it had more drum sounds, but it's not a definite kill on this synth. I've had roland synths, yamaha cs6x, a nord lead 2, and soon to have a Kawai K5000s, and this is replacing my zoom 234 (drum machine), and I would choose this over the korg boxes any day. Sounds aren't as bland as the red and blue boxes. Prices will probably drop in year just like those two from korg, but as of now, it surpasses those boxes and is in a decent price range for all it can do.