Yamaha QY-700

When I first got this machine, I had no experience of sequencers. I'd only programmed a drum machine. Anyway, I found it straightforward to get some basic stuff done and I found out more as I went along. Nine years on, I still don't use all of it but that's me not the QY. All the patterns were OK but I like to program every note myself The QY has been a pleasure to use.

There's enough polyphony for pretty much everything I use it for. The built in keydoard is a tiny rubbery thing, that is only good for step recording. You'll need an external keyboard for live playing.
It has floppy disc save/store for songs and patterns and midi output.
As a sequencer I highly rate the QY700 it is flexible and very comprehensive. It's note max memory limits it for live gigs. But you can quickly download from the floppy, with more songs. I have gigged with it. It worked brilliantly.

The QY has a vast range of sounds. Many sound very good straight off, some need modifying, which is very easy. OK there are better sounds around but with skillful programming, editing and effects, you can get some great sound productions.
I've used this for backing and for full compositions. I don't use the patterns and have had some fantastic results.

Nine years and not one thing has gone wrong. It's a marvel.

Not needed.

This sequencer sound box has been the best music buy I have ever made. Still gets regular use, nine years on. There does not seem to be anything else out there, like it. May buy a second one, just in case.
I'm a basssist/guitarist, who dabbles on keyboard. I've used it for electric folk, space/prog rock and soundtracks. It has been nothing but a boon to me. Love it.

This is dead simple to use, the ability to move the patterns to one channel would be nice but it is easy

Memory is a huge issue if you want to use this for a complete set. The only limitation is the number of notes this thing can store, after I have loaded a few songs, the memory just max out

Yamaha is Yamaha. Always tin like and some what weak, no warmth or sounds that jump out at you, but that was not the point of this really. It was about having a scratch pad to put your ideas on.

I had a QY20 for 9 years and it was as reliable as a German Car, and this one appears to be no different.

Where are the patterns that Yamaha should have provided for this?

This is the bargain of a lifetime. Only #99 simply because everyone has gone the software sequencer way, so it was sold to me, without a single scratch, mark or defect. It was criminal that I got it so cheap. I was sure that the music store that I bought it from didn't know its' true worth, but I was honest and they said it had been there a while but no one wanted it, so I could have it for #99. If only I could dump some of my patterns from my QY20 onto it. Oh the days when I was learning to create jingles and grooves!!!!!!

I HAVE BEEN USING QY SEQUENCERS FOR A WHILE NOW SO USING THE QY 700 IS NO PROBLEM. IT'S MUCH BETTER THAN THE QY 70 FOR LIVE WORK AS IT HAS A BACKLIT DISPLAY WHICH SAVES ME USING A TORCH BETWEEN SONGS!

IF YOU WANT TO DIG DEEP THERE ARE PLENTY OF FEATURES TO KEEP YOU NOSE - DEEP IN THE EXCELLENT MANUAL. WOULD HAVE LIKED TO SEE THE CHAIN PLAY FEATURE FROM THE QY 70 WHICH ALLOWS YOU TO RUN FILES ONE AFTER THE OTHER.

KEYBOARD NOT TOUCH-SENSITIVE SO FIDDLEY VELOCITY EDITING WOULD BE REQUIRED UNLESS YOU HAVE A PROPER KEYBOARD. SOUNDS ARE BETTER THAN OLD QY 70 ESPECIALLY THE XG SOUNDS BUT STILL A BIT " THICK AND MUDDY". I USE A ROLAND XV 5050 MODULE FOR SOUNDS LIVE BUT THE QY SOUNDS ARE OK FOR EDITING AND WRITING ETC. A COUPLE OF WHEELS CAN BE ASSIGNED FOR PITCH ETC WHICH IS A GOOD FEATURE.

I'VE HAD THIS UNIT FOR 4 YEARS AND IT BROKE DOWN ONCE ie IT WOULDN'T LOAD FILES AND KEPT TURNING ITSELF ON AND OFF. ONCE REPAIRED IT HAS BEEN FINE. *** IMPORTANT! *** REPLACE THE POWER ADAPTER WITH SOMETHING BIGGER ( I'VE GOT A 12V 1.25 A REPLACEMENT ) THE ORIGINAL IS NOT POWERFUL ENOUGH!!!

GOOD DOWNLOADS ON THE YAMAHA WEBSITE (STYLES, ORIGINAL DISK STUFF)

I WOULD GET ANOTHER PROBABLY BECAUSE I KNOW MY WAY AROUND IT PRETTY WELL, ALTHOUGH IF I FOUND SOMETHING WITH HARD-DISK STORAGE AND GREAT SOUNDS I MIGHT BE TEMPTED...

It isn't that hard to work with, the interface could have been a bit more user friendly.

Has loads of feature, but no sampler, which would have made it a real killer bit of hardware

Like all have said before me, not really on par with Kurzweil is it, but it wasn't designed to be the best sounding box ever made? I like natural sounds (even for my RnB) and keyboard (piano, rhodes, tines, organs, clavs etc) are so important to me and this is where the QY fails.
Strings are OK, but either not rich enough or not sharp enough, Brass are not fat enough or edgy enough (for rifting or falling) and Basses just not smooth enough to create my grooves but usuable. Leads and pads are as my 11 year old QY20???????????

Effect are OK, but I didn't buy it for effects I wanted to write with it.

It seems to be OK, but it has the odd crash.

Yamaha are like all large corporations in the world, not interested in you or your problems, they just need you to buy their gear

I have had a QY20 for years and the display died, so I bought QY700 and I found that I wasn't as excited about the QY700 as I was about getting my QY20 all those years ago. Am I missing something here? A good bit of kit, that would have been a killer, with a sampler and a more user friendly interface

Really, you gotta be a cretin or something if you can't figure this one out. It's a piece of cake.

This is simply the best you can get in a hardware sequencer, still a few more advanced options would be nice.

It's an XG tone generator. *yawn* Think of this a sequencer, with a module tossed in for free. I never use the internal sounds

It's a rock. The "ergonomics" & OS are superb. If you write loop music, try an RM1x or something. For the rest, the QY excels.

Yamaha kick rolands ass so bad in this catagory it isn't funny.

Overall, yes, I'd replace it. It would be nice if it had a few other bells & whistles (moving CLP for example) but it is really a great design. Ergonomics are supeb.

I've worked (that's *worked* as in getting paid for it) in music for nearly 20 years, and have used just about every hardware sequencer. The QY, minor faults aside, is the tops. It is a bit pricey, though.

I've read through the reviews and there's a consistency in the poor responses. Those that found the unit difficult to use either seemed to want it to have the same interface as their old one or they hadn't read the manual. Once you have read the manual and practiced using the unit it becomes straight forward to use.

As a non-musician I rely heavily on the ability to record tracks in "step" mode rather than playing them. I also extensively use the patterns (the ones from Yamaha UK are much better than the ones that come with the unit) and the end result sounds professional enough to let others hear it.

I do find some sounds aren't as good as I would like but the patterns are able to create wonderful sounds so I think I need to learn how to use the voice filter better. Many sounds do sound fine right out of the box.

Absolutely

It's never broken down.

To be able to work on site with everything you need in one box is fantastic. So far I've seen nothing better for the job.

I wanna answer it this way...I was able to operate QY700 even without manual(coz my stuff is a second hand and the manual was not given to me). User friendly!!!(Its big screen have lots of things to say...)I curse small screens

Polyphony?...Yamaha is honest with what they have written in their manual...no more no less!!!
I was able to have and demo and end up with an album with Ivory Records(Philippines). There are ways to change the quality of all the instrument inside QY700...In a very short time of studying this product after my 1st album, my second album sounds great than the first.
Kb action? its so useful...but if you're not comfortable with it have some synth attached to it.
Effects are so easy to use! Its so damn easy!!!
it doesnt accept cards and memory. If you want more memory..remove the presets.
Its flexible ...yes, so easy to use than any other brands...
QY can do more tricks than any other sequencer in the universe.

Its not so realistic but you gona get all the way inside it to make it sound real. I am damn crazy and thankful to this product coz my career was boosted by this.

I tried using it a lot of times. They have lots of options to create what a synth programmer wants.

They're true to thier work...Friendly...I am using it for almost 4 years already...I dont have problem with it. I just hope they would feature more Drums, guitars, bass sounds...I wants more options for a sound of a close or open hats...there's a way to cure it but my mind is looking for such a real one(more options like in real stuff of instrument

If it will b lost I wud buy another one
95% over all... tnx...m getting lazy answering all of these

Found it incredibly UNintuitive to use at first. The internal sound mixer is really confusing, especially when you are combining internal and external midi tracks. The manual is good, although seemed to miss the stuff i was stuck on. The presets sound like a pc soundcard GM soundset, although they are very tweakable. Difficult to learn, but this is offset by how powerful it is overall.

Polyphony was never an issue, because 32 notes, means 32 different sounds unlike many modern synths. Timing is SUPERB, even over midi. I've never heard such rock solid timing from any pc based midi sequencer.

The squidgy keyboard is wonderful to play with. It really does have a nice feel and is very responsive. It's much better for drums than and keyboard is. It's not velocity sensitive, but that's not too important, as most people will tweak using the (excellent) event editor.

The FX are standard Yammy XG type. So good standard 3 reverb, delay and mod fx, which can be routed between each other. The fx are crisp and useful, but more importantly sit well in a complete mix (which Yamaha seem particulary good at generally).

Songs are saved to floppy disk, which isn't ideal, but then I haven't once had a corrupt file whcih I have with other devices (including Yamaha). There's no way to dump the memory over MIDI which I found very disappointing, but, then the floppy format is pc, so you can backup your work to a PC disk anyway if you don't trust floppies.

The backlit LCD screen is lovely. I think it's 320x240 pixels, so you get generous graphical layouts of all fx, mixer settings etc which really helps.

Job functions are numerous and are processed quickly, so your quantize, velocity range, controller stip and copy command are all speedy and easy to use.

The sounds are very generic, BUT you can edit them into much more interesting patches. The filter is suprisingly effective, so you can turn a cheesy pad into a sub-bass type bass. Also, you can easily assign the mod wheel to the filter or any other parameter and record it into your patterns.

It's built like a brick. I think you can trust it. The memory is non-volatile, so you can switch on and play from your last session without loading anything.

No experience as yet, because it hasn't gone wrong.

I would not buy it again, beacuse it is now obsolete in my setup. If you want a poweful liniar track based sequencer, then I'd highly reccommend it. But if you want a pattern based sequencer, I'd say go with something else, as it's too full of preset patterns etc whcih just get in the way. The sounds can be very good when tweaked because of the good filters and fx. You can hear example tracks I did using just the QY700 and a Korg Electribe ER1 drum synth here: http://www.mp3.com/neuroport listen to 'The Man In The Black Suit; and 'Brief Encounter'.

It really looks the business too which was some of the appeal, but the inbuilt pads give it the edge over it's rivals.

Don't be fooled, you could replace your computer based sequencer with this baby, I just think it won't suit pattern based composers as much as linear musos.

Presets sound as Yamaha GX sounds... A bit week! Really EZ to use, extraordinary ergonomics!

Good polyphony, good effects very programmable, 32 tracks MIDI sequencer. Lots of memory, big-big screen, 2 outs... Lacks sth to connect an external screen!

A bit weak sounds, not really programmable (filter is a shit...). Sounds can be good as long as you do not expect too much from them!

Very, very reliable!!! Never breaks down

Really good as a MIDI hardware sequencer, not good as a synthetizer

The presets are generally good, yet with some patient editign can be made very good to great. The manual is excellent. I read it for 2 months before I even powered the unit up. Well worth the effort!

The polyphony internally is less than I would like in that effects and decay rates tend to overcome the polyphony quickly if I'm not careful. I like to work within the limitations though as they tend to make me more creative as opposed to having a 128 note candy store to paralyze me with choices.
The effects are very easy to use especially the reverbs which can be very nice with sufficient editing. There are no expansion capabilities except the floppy drive which I use extensively and the midi outs which can drive 32 additional notes via other tone generators. The little keypad, though not touch sensitive is very helpful in that I can just put this thing in laptop case with some headphones and do high level work anywhere. The sequencing is absolutely marvelous! The folks at Yamaha have pretty much thought of everything in the song jobs menus. The virtual mixer with realtime automation is my best friend. The sequencer is very easy to use, very intuitive.

Some instruments are very good such as the brite piano if you take the time to learn to edit it. The drums are very good except the cymbals which can be made excellent with extensive editing. I'm glad that Yamaha provided such an extensive editing capability. I rarely "play" the machine as I use it as a virtual "band". I have found it best for pop and ballad. The velocity response issue is one I solve by editing at the edit tables.

I have used it on gigs for the past two years with no backup and no problems. I am presently trying to find a used one for that purpose.

I had some questions early in my learning curve period and Yamaha was very helpful. So far no repairs needed.

I think I would be heartbroken if it were lost to me in any way as I have truly mastered this machine. I have read other reviews here and the ones that talked negatively about its use and ergonomics and electronics were simply not willing to learn to exploit its potential. It does require some work. It is totally worth the effort and I would buy and recommend it without reservation for anyone searching for a standalone unit of its ilk. I wish Yamaha had forgone some of the pattern data base memory for more polyphony and effects usage however. It definitely helps me to make music and I never have had it walk out on a practice session as some tempermental musicians I have worked with have in the past. It is a powerful musical companion and I truly enjoy digging into that nice bright screen everytime I get the chance.

EZ 2 use! Big screen, big buttons, big scrollers, very accessible functions. It's a good sequencer for those who hate using a computer for sequencing (it's a question of opinion...)

Good polyphony, good MIDI implementation. "In the average" effects. The floppy helps a lot to save songs, whereas the internal memory is a bit slow. The main point is the sequencer: if U're looking for a very reliable 32 tracks sequencer, try this. Ergonomics is fantastic!

"In the average" sounds - GM sounds. Well... good for hobbyists. I'm an hobbyist. Sometimes, sounds are not punchy enough.

OK

Never used.

As a sequencer, it's fantastic, really. As a sound generator, I prefer my D50, my CRUMAR BIT 01, my SIX-TRAK. But one can not have all in one, isnt'it?

I think the QY700 is very easy to use due to its big screen. The menus are organized very logically, every operation is just a few buttons away. The manual is nit very intuitive but it describes everyting You need.

The polyphony is ok if You have other synths or make minimalistic music (like most dance styles). The keyboard pads are not really good, I would recommend at least a little midi keyboard to play it. The on-board effects are very good, easy to use. The sequencer does real-time, step/grid recording and list editing. There are also special features like groove temlates for realtime quantising in different musical styles, one of my favourite features.

Some sounds are very good (basses, synths) but most imitates of nature instruments are quite bad. The sound editing possibilities are rather rudimentary. The onboard effects can help a lot. With an external midi keyboard the expressiveness through velocity is a lot better than with the onboard key-pads.

This thing is stable like a rock! The song data is stored in non-volatile ROM, that means You can shut it down without losing the data!

I never needed support, the device worked without any problems!

I would definitely buy it again. This is the best hardware sequencer on the market. I only use it to sequence other synths and samplers because the internal sounds are a little weak, but in sequencing it beats every other machine! This is the ideal machine for everyone who does not like to use computers. I especially like the scrolling track-bars (like in cubase!).

In my case, very easy to use since i've had the small version, the QY70, for a few months before i got the big one. The preset sounds are basically the same, good GM sounds, great editing features as well. The manual is just fine. The only trouble i had was to sync it to my Roland VS1680, but thanks to a previous rater named Philippe and the guys at Yamaha tech support, it's all good, and it works great. So far, i like my setup so much better than when i used to work with cubase on computer. Cubase is great, but i just have trouble with computers it seems...

Polyphony seems ok, not that i'm worried about it cause i dont use too many sounds here, i use the QY more as a master sequencer. However, when i do, i find the effects really good, easy to use. The only expansion thing i can think of is the floppy drive that allows you to save, store, as song, midi file, then go to your computer if you want to, etc. The built-in keyboard isnt velocity sensitive, and, unlike the QY70, you cant set it to different values. So, i have a small control keyboard to take care of that. Midiwise, this is how i have it all setup: The Evolution MK125 keyboard goes in the Midi in A of the QY700, Midi B in and out goes to the Roland VS1680 synced as master or slave (either way) thru MTC, the midi out of the QY700 goes to the EMU XL1, its Midi Thru (of the XL1) goes to the Boss SP303 sampler, and all the audio to the VS1680 mixer. It works perfectly. The QY700 has a great, i mean great sequencer: 32 tracks that you can assign to whatever midi chanel you want, and/or internal sounds, great editing capacities. I mean this sequencer is just great for what i'm doing.
However, i confirm that the loop function isnt perfect, there is a little delay in song mode when you loop a sequence. But thats it.

It works with the music i'm working on, even though i havent found a description for it yet... But, yes the GM sounds are pretty cool, the drum are very limited though.

It seems very dependable so far.

Customer support's very helpful at yamaha. Plus they call you back so you dont pay long distance. They are really helpful.

I love this sequencer, i'd buy it again if i lost it (and could afford it...). I wanted something without a separate midi interface, small enough to carry around, with a built-in drive to save and store songs, and a midi sync capacity, and its all in there. I dont care too much about the sounds, cause i have the EMU XL1 and the sampler. If they could make the same sequencer with a digital multitrack recorder and sampler built in, that would be it. As a matter of fact Yamaha's just releasing one (in fact it has sampler but no digital multitrack...) but its screen is way too small, so the QY700 is just great for me now. For a standalone sequencer i think its the best i've seen. And as for creativity goes, i agree with a previous review that it works much better than a computer sequencer, but that might be personal after all. Anyway, this was the piece i was looking for to be productive.

The QY 700 is a complicated system that needs the patience of a brain surgeon to master. This is due in part to it's poor layour of buttons and windows. It took me months to feel comforatbel with it and i still can't use it for more than a few mins.

The bright screen is a bonus if you are hard of seeing - i find it way too bright and have to place a dark pice of plastic over it. Great MIDI specs, strong contruction. All features too hard to access.

The Sounds are awful, flat, pointless and well, they are just there. Effects are good, and all editable. I find it better to use it's great MIDI spec to just use external sounds.

i would depend on this unit in a live situation.

Would never buy it again.

Initially, I found this machine very difficult to figure out. The terminology confused me, phrases, patterns, patches. After playing with it, I started grasping some of basics.

On the plus side, I like the numeric keyboard, and the large display.

I found very little this machine couldn't do. I take it to work, and tap out ideas on the little mini-keyboard. All you need is a set of headphones, and you can create music. This machine would be right at home in a big studio with tons of midi equipment, but it's also able to shine alone.

I have an older drum machine, and a fair number of synthesizers and midi devices, along with effects processors and mixers. i have a PC with Cakewalk to sequence everything together. But this little box can do everything the other stuff does, and it's portable.

The sounds are good, and you can make them better with the built in effects. Some of the sounds have a digital quality, but for the most part, they are high quality. And there are tons of them.

The built in phrases are good.

No problems so far. Lools rugged

I'd probably buy it again. It's the only true "everything" box I've seen.

I love the way it can be used as a stand alone, as well as the heart of a sophistcated studio. So much in such a small little box.

I just received my QY700 this afternoon and after a couple of hours, I can already record and edit (notes, mix, sounds...) a sequence. And I can even play some descent lines with the build in mini keyboard. I still have to look at the pattern-arranger section and the groove edit.

The effects are pretty decent, and it's great to use the Amp simulator on a Hammond preset!
32 MIDI In and Out is great and I'll make good use of this.
The mixing section is fine and I will use it for mixing in MOTU Digital Performer. It's much easier to use a wheel that a mouse for smooth fader move.
I was surprise to found the mini keyboard usable. So much better that the Goovebox MC303 keys.
20 songs in memory means that I'll be able to load entire set for live playing and just choose the right song. The lighted screen will help on stage too.
The QY700 looks logically setup, design for musicians, not for technicians.
I use to have a Roland MV30 some years ago, but I never used it for sequencing because I never could figure an easy way to use it.
The user friendliness of the QY700 comes a lot from its nice lighted screen and a the good number of dedicated knobs.

The sounds must have sound great when it came out, but Yamaha has really improved in this area since. I also have a MU100R and it sounds much, much better that the QT700.
But for building up sequence tracks, the preset are good enough IMO. It will be easy to hooked the MU100R for the mix, since they both use the XG protocol for filter and ADSR.

I just got it.
It's a demo unit from a music shop. I thought that the QY700 was bigger that it actually is, wich came as a nice surprise.

To be honnest, in 20 years as a pro musician, I only had to change the power supply for my KORG WSEX, but then it was 10 years old... If only car were a reliable as synths :-)
I've never dealt with Ymaha support but it can be worth that Apple (over 2 month to get a dead under warranty power supply...)

It's definitely worth what I paid for (I was looking for a used one, but they(re very difficult to get in France.).
I bought it because I realized that by working on the computer from the start of a project lead me to deal much to soon - in the creative process - with editing and sounds.
I'm working on a new project and will work away from my studio (actually I'm thinking of leaving home and be by myself for a couple of weeks, away from telephone and email) on arranging with the QY700, an AN1X as a keyboard and special sounds, my guitars and my trusty Roland VS-880.
When things will be ready, I'll probably dump everything in MOTU Digital Performer, edit and mix using the other synths in my studio.
I'll probably find things that I hate about this box (I already hate the inverse - IMO - up and down key for advancing in a sequence in edit mode...) but usually, good first impressions are a good sign, and the promise of a lasting relationship :-) as it is the case, for example for the KORG WSEX, the VS-880 and a old VX90 AKAI analog synth...
I also would like to thanks all of you who took the time to review the QY700. It really helped me to make my mind and decide to buy one. Thanks

Very poor in comparison to the mpc. The ergonomics are monumentally bad and the OS is incredible illogical IMO. I`m sure with use, you could fly around this machine in no time but it doesn`t stop this from this machine having an incredibly poorly thought out interface. Its not hard to understand, but illogical in its layout - I would`ve thougt labelling the undo/redo function as errr......"undo/redo" would`ve made alot of sense, but Yamaha decided "00" would be better. I also thought pressing down on the cursor keys would be good to make the cursor go umm........down? But no, its shhots of to the righthand corner of the screen instead. Terrible.

Very well featured, I must admit and thats totally ignoring the flaky internal sound engine. Again, what use are the features when they`re locked away in some stupid menu?

Usable for some people I suppose. Poor but useful KB. So so efx. Definately not worth buying the machine for even tho on paper it looks respectable.

Didn`t really have it long enough to tell.

I only rang once and they were helpful.

I absolutely hated this machine, thankfully I was able to send it back to the shop and I was canny enought to hold off from selling my beloved MPC untill I`d check this out first. It *does* have some great features, but the OS and ergonomics like I said before are worse than I could ever have possible feared. I only wanted to trade this for the MPC to free up some extra cash, I`d rather go poor than use this truly awfull machine.

This unit is very easy to use (that's why I bought it.
The preset sounds are a little weak but you can get good sounds out of it
if you dont mind editing it. The beat patches suck but what do you expect.
Most demos suck in general. Manual=good stuff (very informative)

The effects are pretty good. It would be nice if you could hold more sequences
but load time from the drive is really quick. MIDI is where its at when it comes
to this machine (two midi outs, two midi ins) 32 channels come on, you
couldnt ask for anything more. This sequencer is the best stand-alone sequencer
on the market I have come in contact with. (you can create your own groove templates).
AS FOR THIS HANGER FACTOR (its not a loop machine, it has a loop option for editing
reasons). Buy a sampler if you want to loop something. Oh yeah, all you have to do to
to solve the hanger problem is copy out the phrase and repeat it for the desired amount of
beats.

Ok, the sounds are not the strong point of this unit. The effects are pretty good
though. Pitch wheel and mod wheel control other units quite well. Dont buy this unit
for sounds. Buy this unit for the master control power it has.

RELIABILITY=BEST STUFF
NO BACK-UP

N/A

If it were lost or stolen (I would pitty dafool who stole it, I would
get Mr. T all over their ass!!! I might even get Murdock

ALL A-TEAM aside I have been in the electro-field for about 10 years or so
and I have had this machine for about three years and watched people buy and
sell mc303 and mc505 I would not trade this in for any groove machine
(other machines I use= ms2000r, tr-rack, akaiS-2000, sp808ex, dr660, sp202,
vs1680, pro tools, soon to come in contact with an xv-88

all in all if you want a great master unit for your midi setup, you could
not go wrong with the QY-700

The preset sounds are good byt they get even better in a complete orchestration.The editing is very easy(thanks to the graphics),it made me understand the basic things about editing.....The manual is simple,well-written and if you like using MIDI it'l make you love it!

For this price you get more than what you expect:32 poly,several effects,pattern player,great midi,cool graphics

Awfull strings,good piano ,basses,brass,synths,districtive pads,cool and easy to edit drums.Some specific sounds have nothing to do with their names......I use a roland keyboard to play the sounds and the response is ok.I think it can be used for all kinds of music:i made(in the pattern section) loads of different songs and genres(PINK FLOYD,ARETHA FRAKLIN next to TSIFTETELI and RUMBA.....)

YES YES YES!I use it live 4 years now.I never had a problem and believe me i'm very careless.Indoors,outdoors,studio,radio stations i use it like mad.It's ideal for live,TRUSTY and women love it.....

I never had a problem so.....

It helped me make music,radio jingles it get me 10 times the money i paid back.It's the best hardware sequencer money can buy.I found everything i imagined.And even though i use software sequencer i still love it......

Sounds are XG sound so not really mindblasting but cool enough
to cover all types of music.
The manual is complete and clear but needs sometimes some digging
(like all manuals).
The internal rythmes suck a lot but i have been able to replace them
by some USB rythmes (www.usb.claranet.fr) and now things are getting
better.

Polyphony is enough, effects are cool but not as cool as some Korg
devices but for the price you can't ask more.
The expansion capabilities are limited to the disk drive importation
it is a pity that yamaha has not planned to release an internal hard
drive for the QY700. Now I am happy i can had foreign brand styles/
patterns via floppy disk with the USB QY700 CDROM which is full of
new patterns (nearly 4000 ot them !!!)

Sounds are realistic, but i admit that it lacks some synthesis editing
features not only XG parameters should be modified but more filtering
parameters, but because it is a XG device you are limited to XG sound
parameters modifications.
Controlled by external keyboard the velocity and aftertouch work less
than with Korg sound modules. The effect section is classic but i find
it better than the Sound Canvas series.

Never had a problem with it.
Reliable, clear screen that you can be turned off by software
if you don't use the qy for some hours and want to preserve the screen. I would use it on a gig without backup, it would be cool
to have batteries inside to avoid the external power supply from being
used.

Never called yamaha for it.
I never had to open it even for checking what was inside : ;-))

This is a brilliant piece of hardware there is inside :
1 sound module
1 powerfull sequencer with a big screen
1 arranger (harmonization upon input chords)

for a really bargain price.

Only the styles sucked but now there is the availability of a pattern
cdrom from USB (available here) :

www.usb.claranet.fr

then now i can run on it all the best styles
from all the others brands/models of arrangers !

For US$200 it is a real good investment for your QY700 Future !

With this product i have discovered things beyond the QY limits !

Check their website www.usb.claranet.fr

Mumbly.

The preset sounds are crap and boring
easy
The manual is far behind. It's made for XG junkies.
usage in a professional way is not possible. (Ask the Yamaha support
line about the Hanger in song mode)

1.)polyphony is not fully usable; processing problems
2.)effects would be good:but in use: the timing is not stable anymore
3.)no
4.)Midi-implentation o.k., Timing is not working
5.)sequencer would be fine,but at 40% is already too much for him
There are good features, but unsusable at all

1.)The sounds are old and crap. (not the same)
2.)I guess for kids between 3-6
3.)The effects are not usable at all. (Try to switch patterns while playing.)
4.) good

1.)no
2.)no please not again. The Yamaha support told me to give it back.

It took me half a year to get the answer:"Sorry, the QY700 was not
made proper, so it has got this hanger at the beginning of the loop.
We can't help you. Give this crap back to us."
Very honest support. (Ihaven't been a lazy customer)

1.)No
2.)I tried one year. (I use these kind of machines daily)
3.)The hardware is the best on the market.The graphics are well done.
I hate:There is a "hanger" at the 1st loop point in song mode if you
really want to use this machine what it is actually made for.
4.)MC50, MC80,MMT8,Q80,MAQ,...........................
5.) A stable timing
6.) It messes up the whole liveset-timing
7.)If anybody knows this problem please let me know....
My QY700 is not working proper. I wrote this letter to the support:
I'm very satisfied with the hardware and the graphics.But I've got
some problems also:
In song mode after the last bar(looppoint2) it jumps to the first bar
again(looppoint1), but it hangs there for some time. I turned off chasing,I turned off the effects.... Nothing helps.(If these functions like effects,templates,chasing...are provided, I think they're made for using them.I can't use this superb sequencer when it doesn't stay in time. I rang several times Yamaha in Germany but they couldn't solve the problem. I don't think that it is the Yamaha marketing-philosophie to bring out a product on the market which is not possible to use at atleast 80 %. The Qy700 gets already this timing problem,between last and first bar of the loop,when I run it at arround 50%. When I switch from one pattern to the other I have to
stop even in between, otherwise it makes an incredible noise. I play liveset for some years already arround the globe (sonic research, pilottanzt)and I love the hardware and graphics so much,but why does such a good concept end like this. Does Yamaha think of an update?
Like that the machineis unusable at all.
Please help me I'm desperated about that problem.
The answer from the phone support: I'm very sorry. We know the problem
but we can do nothing anymore. This machine was not built for 100%
usage! (very honest...)

I'd give it a 10 but nothing's perfect. It's sooo simple and the jobs (like macros on a computer) make everything even easier. It can put in SySex messages for you but you don't have to know the hex yourself (I can't really explain it but it's really great). There are SOOOO many buttons to navigate through stuff; the buttons on the bottom an side of the wonderfully huge LCD are a nice help. You can take it out of the box, hook it up, and write a nice sequence quickly. There are 3 realtime recording modes (Replace, Overdub, Punch) and great Step recording so everything is pretty much covered. The manual is cool but if it is your first hardware sequencer (which it was for me, and that was a good choice I made) it doesn't have much in depth explanation on certain things.

This baby is a sequencer and a great one at that. It's got lots of stuff that will let you use it w/o a controller synth if you really want to (i.e. a 2.5 octave mini-keyboard and pitch and assignable wheels). I use the assignable wheel a lot for realtime recording of big volume or pan or filter changes and it works out great. I don't use the patterns much--hardly ever for auto-accomp.--and when I do it's usually in songs with repetetive phrases. The jobs in the sequencer block can really beef up your songs--I use the crescendo feature a lot--or just make putting sequences together more simple. There's an event list so you can dig pretty deep. There is a nice XG tone generator that I use with almost all my songs simply because it's easier than sending out PC messages to my Korg X5. The effects are allright, I just wish you could use more at one time. There is a disk drive so you can save stuff, and it's got a memory of something like 100k notes but I wish it had even more because I often can't load downloaded SMF's because I am out of memory. It's got 2 MIDI Ins and Outs so that's cool. It only has a foot switch input though (no volume pedal or anything like that).

I like the sounds; it's got an XG bank of like 480 sounds and there are some editing capabilities for them. I like putting the assign wheel to filter cutoff and my controller's wheel to filter res. and then fooling with both, you can get real cool sounds that way. Lots of cool pads and synths. A lot of organs but none that are too great. The accoustic instruments are not that bad and neither are the pianos. It's got a whole bunch of non-GM sound effects and they are fun and some are actually usable. Responds well to sustain pedal, better than my Korg X5.

I've used it solo to back me up (I play piano/keyboard) and it's been great at that (although now that I think about it I've only actually performed with it once). I've never dropped it or anything so I can't say anything about that. I can't rely on it to stay the same all the time though: when I first got it the cursor in the event list followed each note as it played and now it doesn't; when I first got it my Korg X5 responded great to PC's for the A (user) bank and now I can't figure out how to do that at all (except with SySex); I have this song where there are 4 pad tracks doing the same back up and another 4 doing melody, except the melody is only audible with 2 melody tracks muted (it's not a polyphony problem). Some other settings might change unexpectedly which is annoying.

I've never had a problem with it that I needed to call for.

I'd certainly buy again it if it was stolen (if I had the money; i'm only 14 I don't make much). I would not buy it's smaller relative (QY-70) even though it's much cheaper because it's so small and I can't work like that. I wish it had more memory. It's real great otherwise and I'm very very happy that I bought it.

Fairly easy to use-manual is 332 pages of programming fun, but everything's laid out clearly. Lotsa dedicated buttons, and the patches are all from Yamahas MU series. Display is about the size of a Korg Trinity's without the touchscreen feature. Disk drive is on the right side, and connectors on the back of the unit are also labeled on the top front edge, so you don't have to go prospecting a lot.

This is a great practice unit!! Don't buy it exclusively for its sounds, because while not cheesy, they're not going to cause Korg or Kurzweil to lose any sleep. Like all synths, the sounds tend to shine in some areas, suck in others. I happen to like the drum sounds, and the extensions provided by the XG protocol. This is a tabletop sequencer/built in tone generator/embedded mini-keyboard/real-time accompanist/pattern arranger box that I use all the time as a saxophonist. It's great to woodshed with, because the pattern mode enables you to roll your own, up to 250 bars in length, and since it's using static RAM, your sequences will be there when you next power up. You get 32 notes polyphony off of the tone generator, with another 32 allowed via the 2 pairs of MIDI in/out for a total of 32 part multimbral trax. FX are OK, but not on the order of say an Ensoniq DP or Lexicon. The sequencer has about 100K note memory, and at 480 PPQ, you can get some expressivenes not available at 96.Plus, you get 3,876 onboard phrases and 512 user styles. It'll play off-the-shelf SMF and GM sequences and the event editing features rival those found in a software-based sequencer.

One gripe I have - In song mode, if you loop a sequence of say 64 bars, when you make the complete cycle, the unit sort of "hiccups" as it starts back again at bar 1. By Yamaha's own admission, there is no workaround for this. It's not very noticeable at faster tempi, but if you really want a seamless turnaround, you have to do all that in "Pattern" mode; and while 250 bars is pretty generous, the fact is that if you ever want to loop play a 251 bar sequence, the timing error is here to stay. The expressiveness, is do-able via MIDI as well as the pitch and mod wheels on the unit. One can play general MIDI sequences off of 3rd party disks, so this is cool especially is you insist on playing the aformentioned 251 bar sequence over and over again and do it first via Cakewalk or whatever, and then save it to disk. Overall, the expressiveness if adequate, but don't look for Morpheus-like dynamic patches.

This has been a very reliable unit for me. I like it especially if I'm on the road, and want to practice. It's also been a lifesaver when our band has a clutch gig, and we have to learn a bunch of unfamiliar material. Plus, it's nice to know that if your drummer is AWOL, you can still sort of do the gig. I like the fact that I don't have to save stuff every time I turn it off. Plus, the 2 pairs of MIDI jacks mean if one pair fails, ya still got the other. (This hasn't ever happened to me, but like the rest of the electronic musician world, it's nice to prepare for the unexpected).

Customer service is OK, and all my tech support questions have been answered. I've never had to get anything repaired, so I don't know.

Overall, this is a fine machine for doing what it was designed to do. It's a far better sequencer, than say, the Ensoniq ASR models, but not as good as Ensoniq sound-wise.(Can you say single rack tone module?) The little 2-octave keyboard means you don't have to rig up a bunch of stuff just to write tunes. And, the pitchbend/mod wheels mean that you can use these on keyboards (such as the Generalmusic PRO2) that don't have them. Plus, the XG extension is well supported by 3rd party vendors. Verdict: It's a good'un.