Yamaha EX5R

Not sure about version

Ease of use is pretty straitfoward in some areas and in alot of areas you need that manual - so let's get to it...

Editing patches on the fly is nice... very cool for analogue sounds - I am suprised how much they have warmed up the sounds - Korg like in many respects...

The Poly is 128 and I have the rack version - Basically it is the direct competitor to the Korg Trinity and maybe Even the Triton -
How does it far... Pretty good - Honest, the Motif is a great product but - the reviewer at sonic state was right - when he said if Yamaha had stuck in more effect inserts and better drum machine - which it could of - but anyway this thing is very close to a Motif - Motif owners might squawk - But it's true - Because the Motif is directly built on this technology...

Yes very good effects - looking to scsi expansion for it and other stuff... Brand new this thing was close to 2000.00 - which meant it probably sold between 1800.00 - 1900.00

Midi capabilites are strong - quite good...

The sequencer takes some time to get used to, but pretty good for the most part..

Expressiveness is good because of the knobs on the front - easy sound editing

SOUNDS - well they are suprisingly very warm - very Korg like per se... very good quality - It has only 2 good paino sounds on it... My JV-880 Still rocks the House when it comes to Piano sounds...

There is alot of Motif and Trinity/Triton type of sounds - Really I was not so impressed with the Motif - Sounded alot like a Trinity/ Triton - I think they all do now...

You have to remember - That's why I bought it - TO have a solid peice of Yamaha technology - in my little studio - very pleased - would never sell it...

Of course Mine is rock solid and expectional build quality - you get a solid piece of Yamaha engineering here...

Of course I would gig without a backup - great module...

None on customer support

Yeah I will try and upgrade via Ebay...

If it were lost - I would find on dirt cheap -

Trust me when I say it is very Motif - sounding - If Yamaha added a couple of other features - Honest - There would be no need for the Motif... Don't care what anyone says- Motif more modern sounds per se... But all in all - Motif like under the hood...

Personaly i threw myself in at the deep end with this when i was seventeen i'd recomend anyone to have an understanding of basic music production... other than that it's like no other synth each has a certain learning curve which gradually becomes second nature to you.

Polyphony wise it's stated at something like 128 so i've never reached that limit but what i can say is that the draw back maybe of this synth is that too many notes all at once can make the sequencer fairly slugish, that said it depends on what music your into if your doing slow groovy jazz you don't need snare rolls at 15 ticks per quater note.
Effects are good, they sounded better 6 years ago to me but their still very much useable today

Explore this synth... make your own sounds the presets are ok but are getting dated by today's standards, i've found that the AN-side has some seriously meaty bass when you fiddle around... i still use this as my main sampler and personally i think with the easy sequencer/sampler combo it's knocks sh*t out of any computer based one... yea it's 16 bit but it's just so fluid and musical. :)

i've never had any problems as such although constant button bashing has wore some buttons down but that's after 6 years other than that it's been used almost every single day with out a hitch :)

I love this synth it has the basics of everything you need... sampling, virtual analog/acoustic modelling, an on-board midi sequencer with groove templates, and some fairly decent effects thrown in, i just advise to upgrade the dram for sampling and get the scsi outboard expansion for external storage.

Bought an EX5R, sold it, and now miss it. I used it with other boards to add pads and textures that I didn't realize at the time would have a significant impact. Will definately purchase a used one again. Really like the sounds, but somewhat difficult to get around versus other keyboards out there. On the other hand, there's a lot of control features here...probably more than most.

Tried the EX5 (keyboard version) and didn't like the action...especially, the aftertouch.

Buy this board for the sounds alone. Unique, different, and realistic to my taste. Not a good stand alone keyboard or workstation, but great to use with others because of it's unique sounds.

Had no problems.

Think Yamaha still suppots in a limited way. Have heard negative comments from others about support.

Really miss the unit I had and sold.

I only give it a seven due to the amount of information the owner will need to digest. Personally I had no problems with navigating its interface nor did I have any issues during programming that a quick reference to the manual didn't solve. But then again i've been programming keyboards for over 10 years and FM isn't any big deal nor is my kawai k5000s so I don't expect others to have as easy of a time as I did.

Poly is 127..... unless you start using the dsp effects or the an engine or the fdsp synth or the vl engine. Then they go down depending on the complexity of your patch/effects. This is its biggest drawback, yamaha should have thrown in a dedicated dsp engine for the fdsp/an/vl side to avoid losing polyphony when using these synthesis methods. This was one of my biggest beefs with this unit. Another hasle is the fact that you have to re-sample anything that you need to use more than once synth engine wise in a multi. Buggy OS brings its score way down as well. This is one of the best samplers around but the drawbacks of using samples vs. realtime modulation of waveform parameters means you will be upset that they included all these neat extras but then said "use only one at a time" in their design. Back to the sampling, its one of the best samplers out there and can even generate its own waves. The sampling section has up to 64 megs and can be expanded with up to 16 megs of flash rom for always available samples. Midi timing sucks even with the new OS updates, don't let people try to fool you, its not extremely laggy anymore its now just sloppy as all hell. This is what people meant by Yamaha cramming too many features and not enough hardware to support the features. This unit is strictly a good sampler/rompler with an extra bell or whistle tacked on, it isn't the best 'synth' I own by a long shot. The crap midi lowers the score as well as having features you can't use with other features meaning in the end you don't really get what you should with this.

I was not as impessed with the presets as the other reviewers. Yamaha has always had really good string/brass presets in their gear but the ex5/r presets were below what my tg-33 or tg-55 has. The choir patches are better in this and the bass patches are almost there. Pianos are better in this than on any previous Yamaha product as are the drums. When using the sampling engine it has many good features. When using the other synthesis methods inside it is way below the par of other competing products, even those from yamaha. the VL engine is not as clean as the VL-1/VL-7. The AN engine is sickly compared to the AN1X/AN200 or Korg MS2000 or the Virus/Nova/Nord stuff. And the FDSP is a pale copy of Kurzweils V.A.S.T. . There are some good presets in there and sometimes it can sound good but the user patches on the internet sound better so I'd seriously recommend a download or 2. Expressiveness wasn't that bad or good. This unit was about average for sound changes due to expressive playing. If you like programming your own sounds this unit isn't too bad, as long as you sample the AN/VL engine and then apply your modulation/envelope/filtering later in the AWM engine you'll be okay. For me it got to be too much of a hassle to re-sample everything I wanted and then program it so I ended up selling mine to get a Supernova instead. Now at least when I program a sound I don't have to sample it just to get to do what i want like play more than 2 notes at a time.

Its built well. Good solid casing, and is quite hefty for a rack unit. Front panel knobs are plastic but very tuff and weighty. Good screen, backlit and bright, just a tad on the smaller side of large.

Yamaha has good support of new products they currently sell. They have medium support for the previous generation boards, which this is. So expect to pay for repairs/upgrades and shipping both ways to have mods/repairs done. Personally i'd just buy the mods you want and install them yourself the manual covers the installation of add ons very well.

No I would not get this again.
I own so much other gear that beat the EX5/R in all its various catagories that unless you own only one piece this thing doesn't make a lot of sense to spend $$ on. For example for the price of the EX5/R used you can get Ensoniq ESQ-M, Yamaha AN200, EM-U ESI-2000. and get more synth potential than the EX5/R offers. Or if you need bread and butter more substitute the ESQ-M and AN200 for a Roland JV-1010 or 1080. As a sampler its good, as a synth it lacks. So if your looking for a sampler and can find one cheap then yeah its okay provided the sloppy midi timing dioesn't irk you too much.

I'm using 1.0D OS - 1.13 TG (the last one). It seems that there is a 1.0E OS coming up, but with minor improvements. The 1.0D OS solves all the big drawbacks of the EX5 apart from low SCSI transfer. The presets are really good in a first overview; it's loaded with cool pianos-electric pianos and organs; you will also hear some of the best VL patches ever programmed. Pads are state-of-the-art, and pay special attention to the wild AN synthesis and the new FDSP processing -no other synth has it-. Anyway, amazingly, a lot of ROM waves are unused, so the full power of AWM synthesis remain hidden in this machine. Editing patches is very comfortable for me using the big screen, numeric keyboard and knobs. The manual is big & good. I rate it with a 8 because of the extreme depth of this machine; you could get lost looking for what you want. But believe me, it's there.

Poliphony is 128; enough for any purpose. MIDI timing problems have been solved with the latest OS. You will only experience some timing issues with really hard sequencing, but there are workarounds to avoid them. Built it FX are really excellent; you can use 4 at a time in a performance with AWM synthesis or 1 at a time if you use AN-VL-FDSP parts. Now pay attention to the famous DSP power issue; some people will tell you that this is an underpowered machine (you'll get "DSP full" messages if you try to use, for example, several AN voices in a performance), but that's not true: simply, you have to learn the way it works and how to get the most of it. Is the Minimoog an underpowered machine because it's monophonic? See all the things that the EX5 can do for you as it is and not what it could do with a bigger DSP. What did you expect, 16 AN parts with 128 poliphony...? These are the real numbers: You get an amazing 128 voice AWM synthesis engine with 4 insert FX, arpeggiators, etc... and more: you can add the fine AN synthesis (up to 2 voices), VL synthesis (1 voice, well... VL is monophonic anyway) and the new and powerful FDSP processing (uo to 8 voices). Simply, you can't use more than 1 "DSP part" (AN-VL-FDSP types) at the same time in a performance. So, combine them with intelligence and remember that no other machine can do all this. Even using only the AWM synthesis, the EX5R beats all the JV-XV saga in terms of features, so consider the extra synthesis as it is: EXTRA synthesis.
Expansion capabilities are: SCSI port, Flash RAM, Individual outputs, Digital output and conventional RAM. Ok, there are not sound expansion cards, but who needs them? Get the Flash RAM and build your own "expansion cards". Up to 16 Mb can be loaded in this type of RAM, doubling the internal ROM capacity.
The EX5R is unusable as a sampler because of the obscene SCSI speed (more than 30 min. to load 65 Mb). So BUY the flash ram to get all the best of this unit. Consider this machine as a monster synth with sequencer and arpeggiators, not as a sampler.
The internal sequencer is nice: 16 tracks, up to 30.000 events, a lot of functions, including quantization in real time. Enough for a complete arrangement -ok, it can not load several songs at the same time, but it can read & play directly from a diskette or ZIP, so this "drawback" is not a problem-.

The only important thing on a music machine, the sounds... well, the EX5R is a high quality instrument that covers all the music styles, specially if you have the flash ram to load your favourite sounds. I can't express it with words, but it sounds amazing in all genres and in all types of instruments and sounds. Excellent top end, deep basses, clarity and quality.... Try it and hear by yourself.

Built as a tank, it has never give me problems.

Good suport, specially from Yamaha USA; also, Yamaha has an excellent manual database freely available on the net.

If it were lost I will replace it with another EX5R, for sure! The only question to remember: don't buy it as a sampler.
This is the best all-round synth ever built. Visit http://www.ex5tech.com to meet the EX5 community on the net.

lets start by saying that over the past 10 years ive used various synths etc, rolands( im not a big fan of post 1984-- rolands-- lost there way after JX10!!) oberhiem(i love-m- all)etc, etc.However using the yamaha ex5r module took me back to those golden days of classic synths. Wow, what a power house,and the presets alone leave most synths in the cold(including the very latest korg boxs).

128-poly(or is that 127)- ive never run out of poly.
The effects are also some of the best ive ever heard in a synth( none of the lack of true pro definition like the roland 1080 etc)
expansion possibilities are excellent, although yamaha are never the cheapest( better go 3rd party ).
onboard sequencer( top quality), front control knobs, large display etc, all features youd expect from a yamaha flagship.

In short (and i dont say this lightly) the EX5r can and does every sound in synthesiser book, and all in the big league!!.

Its in a studio setup so ive never gigged with it.
i wouldnt hesitate to gig with it though ( but for gigging id hunt down a EX5 keyboard!!)

Quite simply the most powerful and versatile synth i have ever come across (Tangerine dream, vangelis, kraftwerk,etc, in a box,---- WOW!!)
virtual analogue, virtual acustic, fully blown sampler, advanced synthesis, wonderful filters---- do i need to go on?
Ive used the excellent latest korg synths, roland , nord etc,but nothing gets close to this powerhouse, and like the old CS80, and the superb and rare SY99 ( all top end yamaha synths are very rare) you can sound like all the other boys if thats what you require but dig deeper( and you will!!) and youll leave them all behind,(the universe of sound).

The EX5R is a loaded machine. I like to think of it as a 747. It can take you far, but there sure are a lot of dials and switches on the dash.

This is not a beginner's synth. I say that because I am a beginner when it comes to actually using a board/module that has extensive sound design capabilities, much less sampling and sequencing. That said, I have been able to do quite a bit with this machine in a relatively short amount of time.

I am currently running OS Version 1.03, but was able to request the latest OS version (1.13) by contacting Yamaha on their website. The chips are supposed to arrive any day. They are free courtesy of Yamaha.

This synth is EXTREMELY deep. Therefore, editing the Patches (Voices in Yamaha's vocabulary) is as easy or as complex as you want it to be. Each Voice has up to Four layers of Waves which have their own Filters, Zones, Velocity settings, Effects settings, Envelopes, LFO settings, etc. Obviously, this leaves you with a mind numbing set of possibilities for sound design. On the other hand, you could create a simpler Voice with just one wave out of over 1000 in the built in ROM, or with a Sampled wave form. Fortunately, the six knobs plus the data dial make moving through the parameters and pages a cinch. Also, the screen size is unusually large for a rack module which makes edting easier as far as having visual readouts of the envelopes, filters, zones, and loop points in Sample mode.

As far as manuals go, I suppose the Yamaha manual isn't going to make the NY Times best seller's list, but I could understand most of it and I'm not an expert at this stuff. The problem with this manual (and most other manuals for that matter) is that they are organized by feature rather than by what you want to do with it. In order to use the manual to help you, you have to know which part of the machine will help you accomplish your goal. If you don't know that, you're stuck flipping pages. Fortunately, this synth has a large contigent of loyal users all over the web and there are folks at Yamaha that have put out tutorials that help tremendously. I was able to download 'The Joy of EX', 'EX Power Users Guide', and 'tEXtures' tutorials off of the net at http://www.samplelibrary.net. These are much more fun to read and they tell you how to use the EX using examples. Also, the EX5 Tech website is a great place to pose questions to other users who usually provide an ingenius answer within a few hours. Here's the link http://www.wbmedia.com/ex5/. Check it out.

Here are the standout features:

4 differnt synthesis methods (AWM, AN, VL, FDSP)
126 note polyphony in AWM
79 high quality, very cool effects
8 track pattern sequencer
16 track song sequencer
Sampling

The total list of features is long, so rather than duplicate it, here's the link to Yamaha's site which lists them out:

http://yamaha.com/ycaservice/group010/fgrop010.htm

If you've researched this synth at all, you've probably heard a ton of disgruntled comments about the DSP limitations in Performance mode as well as the slow SCSI interface. If you haven't, then I'll fill you in. First off, here's the deal on DSP limitations in performance mode:

In addition to traditional PCM (Yamaha calls it AWM) synthesis, Yamaha provides 3 additional very cool and very unique synth engines--AN (analog modeling), VL (accoustic modeling made famous on the VL1), and FDSP (a per note effect modeling algorithm). Voices using these synth methods are not playing back waves from ROM, they're complex algorithms calculated in real time using the DSP in the EX. This is the same DSP that the EX uses for the Insert Effects. This isn't a issue in Voice mode, but when you want to creat a Multi-Timbral Performance you can only use one of these DSP Voices, and your use of effects is limited. Because of this, as you're scrolling through the Voices in your banks while setting up a Performance, you will run into a message that says 'DSP Resources Full. A differenct Voice has been selected.' This message can be headache, but it doesn't have to be. The simple workaround to avoiding this message popping up all the time is to separate the AWM voices from the 'Hot' DSP voices by using one Internal user bank for AWM and the other for the DSP Voices. That way you can freely select from your AWM bank without seeing the message. Then you can go to the other Internal bank to get a DSP Voice. Also, the EX has a built in Sampler. So you can Re-Sample DSP Voices or AWM Voices that use tons of effects and then use the resampled voice in the performance to cut down on your DSP usage.

The problem with Sampling is that you need to back up your Samples to external storage devices (either the built in floppy, or SCSI) since the RAM (expandable up to 72MB is volatile and clears out when you power down. Also, the SCSI is slow. This is not a "bug" as others have called it. It is just plain slow. It is due to a design in the motherboard and won't change with new OS releases. This could create severe inconveniences for players who use samples live since they would have to account for the slow SCSI time before their gigs.

The solution is in Flash RAM. You can get it in 16, 32 and 64 MB pieces. The 16 Meg is around $250.00 and you should really build that into the cost of the EX. Flash RAM is non-volatile memory so your Samples stay loaded even when you power off. So if you're using a lot of samples, just load them in at home and get everything the way you want. When you turn on the EX at your gig the samples will be ready and waiting for you--well worth the cost.

With the Flash Ram, the EX goes from a machine with tons of potential and some unfortunate shortcomings to a sound design/music production monster. There are some great EX format samples out there too, so having the Flash RAM in effect gives you a new bank of sounds with unlimited resources since you can constantly change the waves you are using.

The sequencer functions are great for laying down ideas. Sure, PC based sequencers are way better than hardware based ones, but this one still holds it's own and you can use it live. You can record patterns in the 8 track pattern sequencer, and then map them to a key and play them back in real time. You can also insert a pattern into a song sequence. It also has groove templates that will tweak your beats to fit a groove and make them sound more organic. Another cool thing about the sequencer is that you can overdub

The sounds are the real star of this machine. If you are buying this as a workstation, you will be moderately pleased with it and very pleased if you get the Flash RAM. But if you are buying this because you want to have unique sounds that you won't hear in every Pop song on the radio, then the EX will be thrilling you for a very long time.

The pads are constantly evolving. The organs are full of grit. The vintage keys like Rhodes, Wurli, Clav are great.

Sure, it can hold its own with Korg's Siver Beasts when it comes to generating the pristine sample based sounds that you find on quite a few of today's records, but it really shines when it comes to delivering sounds at the cutting edge. And heck, if there's a sound on the Trinity/Triton that you just have to have, find a friend with one and sample it. :-)

The guitar presets are pretty amazing for a synth. Especially using the FDSP guitar pickup algorithm and the Amp Modeling algorithm. With some clever playing techniques and appropriate mixing in a performance, you can fool your guitar player buddies into thinking you recorded someone playing a Telecastor running through a Fender Amp and somehow got that into your sequence.

The VL sounds are unbelievable in their realism, especially when you pick up a BC3 breath controller and plug it right into the front of the rack. You can edit parameters like embouchure, pressure, growl, scream, and other physical attributes of instruments and then control them in real time with BC, aftertouch, mod wheels, or the 6 Knobs on the rack itself.

I'm not a analog freak, but the AN section of the EX is turning me into one in a hurry. There are some pretty freaky sounds that can come out of this section. If you don't know where to start in programming them, just go to samplelibrary.com and download some. You'll learn what others have done and then take the sounds in other directions.

With so much control of the sounds, you can program in a great deal of randomness that makes your sounds come alive as opposed to just looping over and over again. They really do help spur your creativity.

I haven't used it live yet, but with the new OS, I wouldn't hesitate. The early OS versions had some hitches in them apparently, but the new ones are free and easy to install. I've heard others report that as soon as they upgraded the OS, the bugs went away, so I'm not worried.

Yamaha works on a call back system. You call and give them your problem and they call you back within 12-24 hours with an answer. I had a problem getting the arpegiattor to work and they called me back within 4 hours with an answer. I'm sure that people's experiences will vary depending on who they get on the other end of the line.

Also, you can contact them at their service website and submit questions that way. They will respond via email with your answer within a day. That's how I ordered my OS chips.

My only wish is that it had additional DSP to handle the 'Hot' Voices, but at the price they are going at, I could buy another one just to give me the extra DSP and still come out under 2 Grand!

There are always new pieces of gear coming out that look so tempting. The Triton is very powerful and comes with Korg's patented touch screen and very intuitive user interface. It also happens to come with a heftier price tag. I just keep thinking about all of the potential in this box that I haven't even tapped into yet. It will keep me busy creating music for a long time. For the price I paid ($800.00 used, near mint from the Harmony Central classifieds) I got 4 synth engines, a sequencer, arpegiattor, studio effects unit, and a halfway decent sampler all in one box. You could have a better set up if you went out a bought each of these things separate, but you'd also be out about 3-4 Grand more. If you can afford that, more power to ya, but you'll still be hard pressed to find a more powerful, usable harware based synthesis tool anywhere.

This is a reply on my own review (next to this review) to clarify my comments. In terms of ease of use, DO GET Sounddiver or an equivalent tool. Patch editing is so simple and intuitive with it.

Nothing to add to the features.

After looking through the factory presets to test the new ROMs, I still think they are but examples. There is a different set of preset voices in the user banks for the US and European market. The European banks are loaded with pad and lead sounds. Many spheric sounds too. The US banks are more traditional. Get both and share.

Going from 2 to 10. Why? I got the most recent set of ROMs installed and tested now. Shop for OS 1.11 and TG 1.0C. No observable bugs now (knock on wood).

Getting the new ROMs took me a week and costs nothing.

Now I am a happy camper.

What do you expect from a rackmount version of the probably most complicated workstation around? Four different synth in one box! Considering this, the EX5R is very easy to use. Clear display structure, not too overloaded buttons. If it comes to sound editing, you HAVE to read the manual and that sucks! A big book of features and no 'how to use the features' section. There is a good starters guide on the net 'though. Consider buying Sounddiver for comfort patch editing. The biggest gripe: SCSI is slooooooowww. Loading a 16MB wave patch from CD can take a few minutes! Nothing you want to do on stage.

Features? Big pile! 128 note polyphony (126 AWM, 1 VL or 1 FDSP or 2 AN voices). The non-AWM voices depend on available DSP resources and that is a common cause of confusion. DSP resources are just too limited. If you use VL voices, you loose additional insert effects in performance mode but not in (single) voice mode. Very confusing and some times hard to predict when doing sequencing.

Good effects (chorus and reverb always available. insert effects depending on the use of other DSP resources like VL, FDSP or AN). Internal sequencer including pattern and arpegiator. Internal floppy. SCSI optional. Additional output optional. Flash and normal RAM options.
The MIDI implementation is complete but has bugs. Actually lots of bugs. Make sure your device has ROM version 1.10B at least. MIDI can get slow in complex performance situations. Gets a 5 because of the bugs, otherwise 9.

AWM (A3000 compatible sampling), VL (virtual wind instruments), AN (AN1x analog synthesis) and FDSP (everything a DSP can deliver. From FM to weird). Its the best synthesizer from Yamaha. Period. BUT the factory patches are not very versatile (more like show patches not for everyday work), many ROM samples are average (short loop, noise etc.) AND (my biggest gripe) the loudness of the factory patches varies very much! In short: its not a preset sound player but a full synthesizer. Take the preset samples and patches as examples and do your own. You have 256 memory places for own voice patches, up to 16MB of flash ram and up to 90MB of volatile ram (1MB built in) for samples.

Looks very sturdy. Nothing cracks or wobbles.

Every ROM version before 1.10B is buggy as hell. My version 1.05 lost patch parameters in MIDI transmission (to Sounddiver) in AWM and VL voices for example. Some parameters did not work at all. Ask for the newest ROM before buying it!

No problem getting the new ROMS. You just have to point out one of the bugs. Mention the VL MIDI sysex bug.
Otherwise I do not expect to call customer support again until the device crumbles to dust.

I wanted a most flexible, single-box companion for my Yamaha P200 (which is the best buy of my whole life, btw). I got it. It is connected to Sounddiver and Logic Gold on a PC notebook. If it breaks or is stolen and there is no successor, I'll buy it again. The alternative would be to get a stack of devices.

I wish Yamaha would fire the deaf nerd who programmed the factory patches.

Lots of features = complication. I didn't find the interface very intuitive. So many buttons ... so little time. I really had to get into the manual to even figure out how to navigate through the sounds.

Has everything you need plus a coffee maker. 128 polyphony, sequencer, floppy drive, sampler, scsi ready, multiple tone generators, physical modeling, AD inputs, a heap of fx.

Has sounds for every type of music but I found them to lack the expressiveness and realism of the Roland JV/ XP synths. Very crisp sounding though.

The thing is so huge and packed with features, I wouldn't trust it but I haven't been able to prove this yet.

Yamaha's web site (North America at least) blows. The UK one is MUCH better and much more informative (but still lacking). No email address ... nothing. Something tells me (and I've heard similar stories on the newsgroups) that dealing with Yamaha is a pain in the ass. I can believe it.

I rented this unit while considering to buy it. It's interface totally turned me off. It didn't have the sounds I was looking for either.