Yamaha RM1x

It??s easy to use if you are convenient with Yamaha sequenzers as QY70 or QY700. The manual is fairly easy to read. There are a lot of preset styles and patterns and you can combine them in your own user styles as you like, tweak the voices, mute tracks, build up pattern chains and all this in a very easy way.

The best in this box is the great variety of voices and styles, each with 16 different patterns. I like the preset voices, they have unlike other Yamaha voices in other synth and keyboards a little dust, but therefor the Rm1x sounds like no other instrument and has it??s own character. If you don??t like the voices you can hook up another synth via midi. The small keys aren??t pressure sensitive and for recording longer phrases a controller keyboard is useful.

As I just said, I like the special dusty sound of this box. And you can edit all voices within the patterns as you like them. You can get cheap dance sounds out of it, but also you can get very exclusive and futuristic sounds. But it??s made for electronica and dance music.

It,s build like a tank, very solid and with a good feeling if you are working often with all the knobs.

I like it very much, because it??s so flexible and in addition to my other keyboards, a Nord Lead 3, a SonicCell, a Tenori-On and a PSR-S700 which I use as a masterkeyboard it brings in the rhythmic patterns which I need from time to time for my music, which is mostly electronica.

Preset sounds are pretty useless, but I don't think people actually use preset sounds, you're supposed to use this thing to do music not to use it like a jukebox. I think manual is not so difficult, but you must definitely read it to get an idea of how the RM-1x works. Pretty easy after that. Sequencer really is simple and intuitive.

Good poliphony, worst keyboard action ever! You get used after a while, keys are very tricky, but you should definitely get a controller. It has no expansion capabilities, but I think it's pretty powerful by itself.

Midi capabilities in this machine really are what makes this thing so interesting. It's one of the best hardware sequencers available (don't care about the price), it really can compete with more professional and expensive tools, it has full midi compatibility, including pitch bends, knobs event recording, midi events etc. You can edit sequences in replace, overdub, step and grid mode.

Be aware! If you buy this thing for is sounds, you'll be very desappointed. This machine is not intended to be played by itself, It's much better sequencing other synths. Despite of that, you can get some decent synths you could actually use. Bass, Leads, Pads and almost all synthetic sounds sounds pretty decent (never professional), but any other "realistic" type of sound are not usable. Drums in this thing are the worst drums I've ever heard. Effects are pretty mediocre, but a few of them are actually usable, like midi delay. The arpeggiator is pretty cool but it only has 4 presets, altough you can simulate many more using sequencer in step mode.

I would never breakdown, but I can assure you the knobs are very weak, so you should treat it with care. I would definitely use it in a gig without a backup.

Lucky me, this thing looks pretty robust and it still works like new.

This thing would only get lost over my dead body! It's the central piece of my equipment and I use it for sequencing EVERYTHING that I do. Sounds are not good, but I use them only to create the song and play the song later with other synths. I'm a Computer Engineer and despite of that I can assure you a software sequencer will never be a replacement for a hardware sequencer, they are very different things. If you're like me, and think that sitting in front of a computer really scares the inspiration, get a thing like this. Be careful tough, because it's hard to get one in good working conditions, but remember this is not really a synth but an excellent sequencer.

The presets are a joke not to mention the sounds are beyond weak. Even if you edit the hell out of them they are wayyy too thin. I have heard good tracks on this machine but if you are looking for an all in one machine look else where. The manual is decent but lacking in some major departments. Like explanation of the job menu. It lets you do things to your patterns like (data thin out). How am I supposed to know what that does to my pattern. it says what it does but not why you would want to do them. In the roland 307 manual for example it says data thin out is good for freeing up memory

The sequencer is where this unit really shines. As a master sequencer it is one of the best i have seen. I do not use the sounds at all. Just have it hooked up to my laptop

Instruments are HORRIBLE. especially the real instrument sounds. Very fake sounding. With another synth to go with it you are in business.

it never crapped out on me but the buttons are pretty bad. Used to work but started using it again after a few years of it sitting and the buttons are unresponsive. Shouldn't be a big deal though.

never had too.

If it were lost or something I probably wouldn't get another. The yamaha sounds are terrible. I really am getting tired of these grooveboxes. Please tell me why you would fill up more than half of the machines memory with CHEESY songs that you CANNOT erase? On my korg em1 you can erase all the presets if you want. If someone buys the machine they can initialize the machine to the factory presets if they want but yamaha and roland don't seem to care about that!

I think this machine is pretty easy to use and if you use it a lot you get hold of the extras it has to offer, and there is a lot to be explored imo...

A lot of features, could use more effects, has quite a number of jobs

The sounds are OK, they are not fat or up to date but ok, meaning you should not use them without tweaking offcourse.

no problems here

I would buy it again if it was lost
I've been using it for a long time already, six or seven years
i like it because it's fun to use, got me into electronic music production
I bought many synths, samplers and other gear but the rm1x is the only good 'all in one' box for me ;)

This is easy to use for people who can take a couple days to master it. Once mastered, it's wonderful.

The only thing I don't like about my baby, the RM1X - is her memory. I wish she had more memory and floppy disks are not the most reliable. Can you buy them still? Floppies can demagnetize over time. I wish someone could open my RM1X and add a DVD burner to it because I use it a LOT. The keyboard action is not great.. but I hook it up to my Nord Electro via MIDI and control the sounds there.

Overall, the features are great. Wish you could apply more effects to one sound.. but that's okay. She's an old lady.

Forget all these wankers slamming the RM1X sounds. They obviously either love the overdone virtual synths and want to sound like everyone else, or they haven't yet explored the awesome capabilities of the RM1X when you get down and dirty with it. You can manipulate any sound in there to create a fresh new sound that's.... YOURS! Don't be an imitator... create your own sounds. Why make music if you are living by someone else's sound?

I only wish there were more snares to chose from - but that is it. This thing is great.

She's always dependable. She never has problems. The only problems I've had with her in all the 9 years I've owned her, is that I busted some of the keypads and lost some knobs. This is my fault for being irresponsible and taking her everywhere and not using a case.

Never used em

The Yamaha RM1X rocks. I'm going to buy another one.. and then maybe another one.

RM1X takes a little getting used to but it's worth the effort. Once you understand it it's a breeze. Could use a few tweaks for grid mode, but it's overall a nice feature if you're familiar with drum patterns. Built in arp is silly, but it makes up for it with midi play fx that are useful.

One of the best sequencers out there. Once you get your variations in, you can easily play around with muting channels and switching between patterns to create your songs (and actually in a creative way). If you're sick of looking at a computer screen during the writing phase, pick one of these up and really put the effort into learning how to use it. No more mouse until you're ready to record audio. It's a brilliant piece of gear. Don't forget that it's really a SEQUENCER and not a synth.

Although the sounds suck, I've gotten alot of good use out them. I've brought this along on vacation with me before, and then routed the sequences into real synths when I got home (with good results). The sounds are handy for on the fly writing, but that's about it. Giving it a 5, because the sounds are horrible, but also useful. I've actually used some drum sounds before when recording (because I wanted horribly compressed and mushy drums), but that's about it...

100%

n/a

This is a handy piece of gear that I wouldn't give up. I use it as a sequencer on a sampler for some of my drum tracks. The difference between this and the built in sequencer (in my sampler) is night and day. I've gone to no computer while writing, and the RM1x is indispensable. Just don't expect to use it regularly as anything but a sequencer. I never have, but it's definitely sturdy enough to gig with, and is phenomenal for piecing together patterns on the fly. Just don't forget it's name "sequence remixer". That's exactly what it is. Nothing more, nothing less. Everyone should be happy for its price that Yamaha even put a synth in it. Better to have a crappy one built in than none at all. $200 right now on ebay is a steal. If a few more hundred $'s isn't an issue, the RS-7000 has basically the same sequencer, but with sampling and a cleaner synth and fx.

took a while to learn how to use. the presets are silly (well except for the four-to-the-floor kick drum seq's, those are useful) and i've unfortunately heard people actually using them. the manual can be confusing at times and doesn't always tell you how to do things, rather it just tells you what the RM1x CAN do. patch editing is very simple, but that's as deep as it gets unfortunately.

this thing definately takes some time to get used to. it's not intuitive and it takes a while to your head around the whole RM1x concept. after that though, you're golden.

the keyboard sucks. i've had my RM1x for 7 years and several of the keys are no longer working. seeing as these keys are used for track selection/sections/mute/data it can be a pain to use when they don't respond.

as a midi sequencer it's great. rock solid. if you want to compose in a software editor then use this thing as a sequencer the thing will never flake out. i've used mine live numerous times and never have been nervous about it.

programming the sequencer blows. the whole phrase based construction, chaining etc is archaic. it's ok for sketching out song ideas, but little else. what takes a few mouse clicks in a sequencing application can take many minutes digging through menus and navigating the UI to enter data on the RM1x.

loading chains from disk burned me once, BIG TIME. when you load a pattern chain from disk it wipes the patterns out too. very poor design there guys.

the sounds are lifeless, dull and cheap. there's a few good basses, and some decent "bread and butter" drum sounds, but overall you need to compliment it with a quality synth to do serious work. the filter is ok, would have been nice to have at least a high-pass in addition to the low pass (how hard would that have been to add?), i'd rather have more/better filters than half the sounds.

onboard effects are lackluster. nothing special here. you can only add "delay" to one track in variation insert mode (notice the quotes, it's not real delay). the reverbs are ok, but the rest of the effects are pretty much useless.

aside from the cheapo keyboard the thing is bullettproof. i've gigged with it tons and it's never failed me. the floppy drive likes to give me errors and tell me it can't read disks, do yourself a favor and back up religiously to a computer (you can copy/paste right from RM1x formatted disks).

upgrading proved to be futile. i tried to get the upgrade ROM and couldn't get a straight answer from yamaha or the dealer. they bot pissed me off so bad i gave up.

if i lost it i wouldn't be broken hearted. i plan on phasing it out completely soon as it could easily be replaced by something far more powerful for the same money.

i love the stability and reliability of the sequencer. i've sequenced racks full of gear with it and it's always performed.

i hate the sounds and the tiny sliver of memory they give you. doesn't take much to fill up the memory, and it's not exactly quick to load from floppy either.

i wish it had better sounds that had some life and didn't sound like a crappy 80's beat box. i wish it had individual track eq's and at the very least a HPF in addition to the LPF.

it helps me make music as a quick "general" sound bank, but little else.

The presets are cool. But I would have wanted to get rid of them to free space.
Editing patches is easy. Even easier than fruity loops. There are Two good interfaces plus two realtime recordingmodes that come really handy.
The manual sucked big arse.

The polyphony sucks as the yamaha synth runs out of breath even with more complex drumloops. Takes usually 8-10 tracks to make it start gasping for breath. However, using it to control other synths it makes up for it.
Built in effects are boring and ordinary. But hey the thing is 10 years old now...
No way of expanding it and no internal memories for own sounds...
The sequencer is great, and I haven't managed to break the damned thing yet after 10 years of use.

Sounds SUCK. This thingy is really made for mindless techno or trance. *Another thing that is good at is making comp-riffs through the use of midi-delay and octavesetting.

Onboard FX have bad quality and really don't add anything.

The plastic knobs are a pain to play on. But it was never intended to be used in that way.

It has never broke. Ive got vomit, beer, drinks, and coffee spilt on the bastard and it still works.

If it was lost or stolen I wouldn't buy a new one. Virtual synths rock. It was worth the money though.
I have been playing it for 10 years in hiphop-gigs and freestylesessions, a few times in a trance party and a couple of raves, then it was part of an art exhibition in order to have something look like we weren't just taking everything out of the computer...
I love that it never breaks, I hate the knobs and the synth.
I compared it to a Korg before I bought it. It just worked easier.
Id wish it had better knobs and better synth and a sampler would be nice...

Don't go buying it anymore, there are better, not so outdated things out there nowadays. Sequencers are losing to computersoftware.

This unit is great IF YOUR A DJ WHO WANTS TO PLAY PRESET SOUNDS OVER DANCE MUSIC IN YOUR BEDROOM. Like the old MC-303 creating a pattern is archaic and time consuming. Notes are placed on a giant multi octave imaginary grid and you have to scroll slowly to see what note is what. This takes forever and you get lost easy. Then when you preview the pattern you don't get to hear what it sounds like over music. But when you're creating mindless techno I guess you just don't need to. Even scrolling between "styles" or banks, you can't just fly down to number 1 from 45 oh no it goes really slowly. Try spinning faster and it does no good. Slow is the only way. Then after finally dropping to p1 you can't go down to u or user. It hits rock bottom so you have to go all the way to the top slow and sure. But I guess when your a technician at a music hardware company you just don't consider details like that.

The features are good if you don't die of old age trying to actually use them.

Typical Yamaha sound set.

Would never try to take this thing on a real gig.

All-in-all it's design suggests that it was constructed for children with no musical capabilities. It's another poorly thought out overcomplicated Japanese concept. It's almost as if the technicians never tested the device other than just on a mechanical level. What takes 10 minutes in fruity loops takes endless hours (if it's even possible) on this frustrating device. GOOD LUCK.

The RM1x is a very simple machine to use ... unless you want to make things complicated. I've found that it is easy to lay down a bassline and synth type arpeggios but very difficult to deal w/ pads/chords or long held notes. With anything held longer than a measure you have to 'tie' into the next measure and after a while it gets frustrating. You also have to remember what notes you've entered as there is no way to tell what note is actually being played. Other than those things it doesn't get much easier.

The 'keyboard' sucks and it even takes a while to get used to pressing down the buttons as they are not sensitive at all. You almost have to punch the button unless you hit the very bottom of it (it takes some getting use to but it OK now). I've had no problems w/ MIDI and I use the RM1x to sequence all my external gear, can't ask for much more than that. It is all easy to set up and pretty much common sense if you know about MTC and syncing.

This is the downfall of the RM1x. The sounds for the most part are useless. If you have external effects then you can make them sound okay. Editing of voices is very limited but you can't save them so it doesn't really matter anyway. The thing that frustrates me the most is that the RM1x doesn't have voice memory... so when you turn the thing off and on again it won't save a bass voice that you had on track 1 but instead will play the default sound (I think its a piano) it sounds god awful and you have to change everything. There is a the floppy drive but it is still more of a pain than it should be for a list price of over $700. I never use the sounds on the RM1x, I don't even have the thing hooked up to my mixer.

Rock solid. There are 4 knobs right by the LED that are a bit suspect b/c they have been wobbling more and more as time goes on (they are still on but treat them nicely). Other than that it feels like everything is unbreakable. I've gigged a few times w/o a backup and have had no problems.

Had a response about a week later and they directed me to their 'national' support team so I figured the problem out myself.

My overall rating is a 9 b/c I only use it to sequence my other gear. If I had this box by itself it would get about a 3. If you have external gear then this is GREAT hardware sequencer but if you're just getting a 'groove box' then go w/ one of the Rolands.