Product: Yamaha CBX-T3
Price Paid: US $26 used
Submitted
11/06/2002
at
05:58pm
by
GD
Ease of Use
:
10
This is just a sound module and is so easy too use, that it's child's play!
Just plug it into your midi capable keyboard/sequencer/computer etc., turn it on and away you go.
It is very light and has a small footprint. The unit stands up vertically.
Features
:
9
* MIDI IN/OUT/THRU
* VOLUME DIAL
* AUDIO IN
* HOST SOCKET
* HOST SELECT - MIDI | PC 1&2 | Mac
* LINE OUT (L/Mono-R)
* 15V/500mA DC
Internal ROM voices:
192 instrument voices and 10 drum & percussion sets.
16 Megabytes of samples.
---------------------------------
Internal RAM voices:
64 internal voices locations
---------------------------------
Polyphony:
28-note DVA (Dynamic Voice Allocation)
---------------------------------
Multi-timbral:
16 voices simultaneous (voices assigned to 16 Parts)
---------------------------------
Sound sampling:
AWM (Advanced Wave Memory)
---------------------------------
Reverb effects:
Yamaha custom DSP (Digital Signal Processor)
---------------------------------
Sound module mode:
General MIDI Level 1
Disk Orchestra (Yamaha)
C/M (semi-compatibility with various desktop music systems)
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Expansion is not possible with this unit, as the sounds are all preset/fixed by Yamaha in ROM. For the price that a person is likely to purchase one for nowadays, I give this a 9 (as it's not expandable).
Expressiveness/Sounds
:
9
The sounds on this thing are pretty good considering it was made in 1992. Some sounds are synthetic, but it's a synth so that's ok... while other sounds are really life-like (eg. piano, bass, drums etc).
I have heard the sounds on albums, movie and television scores. I particularly like the funky pluck sound of the electric basses (Seinfield-ish). Drums can be either electric kits or life-like, depending on your interpretations.
A synth module is 'exactly' that - a synthetic version of a real instrument. With this in mind, I personally believe that the sounds on this module are usable.
Some (not all) of the sounds do have an audible wind like noise (9 rating), but you can find a similar sound without it so it's not a real problem, I guess.
Reliability
:
10
It's still working so that's why the rating is 10! Never needed to be taken into a shop.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Never needed them and they probably wouldn't even know what it was (hehe :))
Overall Rating
:
10
For the price I paid for this thing, I would purchase another as you don't have to carry your PC or Rack around for those that have just a MIDI keyboard (like me :)).
It's really good for simply writing drafts for songs too as you can have most sounds at your finger tips, in one cheap unit.
Considering most, if not all the sounds on this unit are usuable to some degree. Simple to use and no hassle nature make it versatile enough for both beginner and advanced users who don't want to lug around their entire rack!
