Yamaha RM1x

I've owned my RM1x for less than a week now, and I have atleast a grasp on all of this units function. It is very intuitive. The only other sequencers I've own were the Alesis MMT-8, which was easier, but less powerful, and the MPC2000 which was more powerful, but much more difficult to figure out. The RM1x has a well layed out front panel, and all of the functions are easy to get to. The menus are written out on the right side, so you can look there to find out where you need to go. All in all, very easy to use.

This sucker is loaded wit options. Being able mute parts on the fly, change patterns, and switch which parts are affected by the knobs, makes this unit very powerful. You can also choose whether each of the sequencers tracks affects the built in tone generator, any external instruments, or both.

700 sounds that are very good for dance music. There are sounds in this box that I've been trying to achieve for a long time, buthaven't been able to. Not just your standard bass synths, strings, and stabs. But also bass drops, clicks, blips, horns, etc. Each of the sounds can also be edited in many ways unlike other machine like this. (ie MC-505)

Not a problem, but it hasn't even been a week.

I will be keeping this unit till I die. It is so usefull and easy to use. Great for anyone who wants to make dance music. Whether you only want on box, or are looking for a dedicated sequencer like I was.
BUY THIS BOX

I think it's hard for beginners to get good sounds out of this thing.Even if you read the manual(and understand it!),I don't think it'll help people who never tried a synth.But the best thing to remediate is to experiment!

Very much effects,very much sounds of any type,amazing drum section.You can make any type of music you want.

Most of the sounds aren't good if you DON'T use effects.But once you use them,the quality is incredible,it gives a very good depth to your sound,and can transformate it any way you want.As I said before,the rythmic section is very good.

The onboard is perhaps a little bit slow,but it can be accelerated,so no much problems here.This unit is based on "dance" music,but I tried to get sounds for Rock,and did it.It is flexible enough for that.

It's all built in metal,so I think there will be no problems if I ever use it on a gig.The keys are perhaps a little bit weak.

Never dealt with them.

I'm a beginner in dance music,and this is my first sequence-remixer,but I spend hours on it and I like it more and more.If it were lost or stolen I'd regard on my money,but I'll surely buy another one,

Kind of lost untill I realized that almost all features are kept hidden in the Job list. I tend to think that part of the manuals purpose is to give you a run around so you don't have to get it from them:) But Once you grasp the concept, it proves to be quite inteligently laid out!

This unit was bought because i thought that the sounds were usfull enough not to have to turn them upside down before use, thus I can use my 32 notes of polyphony sparingly. Even so them 32 notes still don't go as far as Id like them to! Effects aren't bad, but not good enough to expect us to use only 1 stereo output. More outs would be nice to rought through external FXs.
As a sequencer...NO problems as of yet!
have 4 midi devices hooked up in a chain, all controlled by this, and have witnessed not any bunging of data. It's a blast for live, you get right into it .......ROCK ON!!!

Expresivness??
Well sure just DON'T use those little white tabs on the bottom.(you see them? those little white tabs?) The sounds do sound good, way more versatile than some of the "Groove machines" that we won't be so evil as to mention..RrRrRroland.. cough ,..cough.
Lots of Dance stuff but mine is used more for experimental electroism.
No problems so far but could run into major problems for any fans of sound-scapes or atmosphere. As for my "broken mechanism style" it does the trick!

OK, All Right, these two sections might not apeal to the keen costomer!!!!
I...Have not touched my RM1X for 7 weeks now!!
When I bought my unit, brand new mind you, it came with a faulty disk drive!! Figuring that it was lack of knowledge I spent 3months toiling with the stupid manual trying to figure out why ALL my work got all fucked up when ever I loaded it!!
Finely, I sent it back to the store and haven't seen or heard of it for coming up to 2 months!!! let me spell that out: TWO MONTHS!!!
Make sure everything works before you take it home!! I guess on the + side in the duration of the 3 months that i had one nothing ELSE broke down. YEH YAMAHA!!!

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HE HE HE HE HE HE HE HE HE HE HE HE HE HE HE HE HE HE HE HE HE HE H
HO HO HO HO HO HO HO HO HO HO HO HO HO HO HO HO HO HO HO HO!!!!!!!!

Over all? a great unit if we had a working relation ship!!
Smart, FUNNY, Versatile, Good Looing But I Can't take it anywhere with out it embarresing me!!

This machine is easy to get started with and can keep you busy exploring its features for hours. Supposed to be great in a live situation, but I don't use it that way so I wouldn't know. Lots of real time knobs are fun to play with.

I think the polyphony is 32 which I have maxed out many times.
You're going to need to get a separate MIDI contoller to play this thing. The little buttons on the front aren't very good for laying down grooves. The little buttons also don't sense velocity. The effects are a little on the weak side. Only one type of effect can be applied at a time.

Some of the instruments are cool. I find though that I gravitate towards the same ones though. Mostly a dance machine, but I hate dance music and I still love this machine. I often use some of the preset drum patterns to build up a song. It plays 100 times better if you use an external MIDI controller.

Out of habit I always back up all my files, but it has never crashed on me.

It's a good thing to get if you're starting out with electronic music. It's easy to get started and it gives you everything you need to start making some basic tunes. I use it to sequence my software on my PC. The Rm1x is the only piece of hardware I own. Hook this thing up to Fruity Loops, sync up, and you are ready to go!!

The manual, like most musical equipment manuals, is a little difficult to follow at times, but overall, the RM1x is a breeze to operate. The learning curve is not very steep at all, and you should be able to get a firm grasp of all its features in a very short amount of time. The large backlit screen makes most tasks very easy. I no longer needed to use the manual at all after only a few weeks of use.

Where the RM1x really shines is in the sequencer department. If you're looking for a great synthesizer, look elsewhere, but if you want a hardware sequencer that's extreamly powerful when used live, then the RM1x is the way to go. Like I stated above, the large backlit screen makes creating and editing patterns a breeze. The RM1x is definately aimed at the creation of rythmic and dance based music, and I'm not sure how usefull its non-linear sequencing abilities would be for non-dance purposes.

The synthesizer section is the RM1x's weakpoint. Basically you have a ton of preset sounds, that you can modify slightly, i.e., lowpass filter settings, portamento, very limited LFO, Simple EG. Some of the presets are ok, but for the most part, it has a very thin and digital sound, and it takes a lot of work to keep the mix from sounding muddy. If you do some layering and unison setups, you can make some fairly decent sounds, however this eats up a lot of polyphony. Bascially, don't buy the RM1x and expect to get an all in one wonder machine. The RM1x is such a great sequencer, that it would be a shame if you didn't use it to control more gear than just itself. On a side note, I found the DJX's soundset to be slightly better sounding than that of the RM1x.

I've hauled my RM1x all over the place, and I've left it turned on for days at a time. I've only had it crash once in hundreds of hours of use. I feel totaly confident using the RM1x in a live situation. However, there have been some reports of the buttons and knobs getting a little worn over time.

I've never had to deal with Yamaha.

If I lost my RM1x, I would definately buy another one. It controls all the synths and samplers in my rig, and I'd be lost without it.

This thing is pretty to easy to wrap your hands around. I've had it for 4 months and am still learning new things as I try more things, but it took about a week before I was really comfortable with it. The presets, ofter criticized, are not bad. Actually, if you are able to throw some effects on your voices, they sound really good and sit well in a mix with other instruments. Alone, I would be sick of the presets pretty soon, but you can do alot with one other piece of gear - say a decent keyboard.
The manual is a little thick to read at first, but once you get into the Yamaha mindset, it is quite useful.

The features on it, all in all, are mediocre. As a sequencer, there are a few things that annoy me - like you can synch FX to tempo, you can't record mutes, you can't record patterns in song mode and there is no MIDI THRU. Otherwise, the sequencer is fantastic. I got it because it does everything, but I will keep it because of the sequencer. Song mode is easy as hell, pattern mode is a little strange to wrap one's mind around, but very cool once you get used to it.
The FX are pretty good, as of today, there isn't any expansion possible (and this hurts because it only has 2 analog audio outs, and only one MIDI OUT) but for $600, you can't really complain. The keys are not pressure sensitive, but you can adjust the velocity.

I find the presets to be good and bad. The synth sounds are crap but the possibilities with the Bass tones are endless. They are hollow to start (which is good sometimes, when that is what you want) but you can EASILY fatten them up with some chorus or reverb. The sounds are not all that realistic but remember that this is a dance oriented instrument.

I have not had one bad experience with it. Never crashed (cross my fingers), never lost anything. Very stable to this point.

Haven't needed it yet.

I have had it for over 4 months now and it is the CENTER of my setup. If I lost it or stole, I would be very disappointed and would definitely consider getting a new one. It fits well with my Korg N364 and ER-1. I wish expansions were available because there is no onboard EQing and there are only 2 audio outs. Another MIDI out would be great as well. But, I also remember spending a little over $600 for it and to me, it was a bargain. Don't compare it to things twice as expensive (like the MC505 - which I considered but passed over). This allows me to make the kind of music I want to make. It is not the end-all of hardware, but it is a damn good start and I will keep it, even as I expand.

This thing is really well laid out, sort of similar in organization to the QY-70, but with more controls that make it easier to get exactly what you want, ONCE you've learned it. Having used the QY-70, i figured this thing would be a breeze. And while it IS similar, it's a lot more complicated. So if you're new to Yamaha's screens and organization, get ready for a couple of weeks of learning before you're going to be able to do much programming. But the complexity is all there for a reason, and once you've got it down you should be able to do whatever you want with minimal effort (there are several ways to perform many functions with relative advantages and disadvantages, which is wonderful). A couple of irritating details (for example, switching between tracks is oddly ackward), but mostly a great interface.

Hell yes there are features. At least four different ways to enter data, all different and all useful depending. There are just tons of screens and you can get very "deep" into everything. This thing pretty much makes a MC-303 look like a my first casio. Read the yamaha site for a list of features. There are some weaknesses, tho. I found the arpeggiator to be pretty simplistic. My biggest gripe with the QY-70 applies here just as well - the lack of effects. Yamaha claims "three effects processors," which means chorus reverb and variation. Each track can be bussed to any of the three. This means if you want distortion on your drums and rotary speaker on your electric piano you're screwed. Maybe okay for some (and addmitedly that's not QUITE the end of the story - you can simulate delay, tremlo, and other things with midi), but to me this is just a HORRIBLE state of affairs. To make matters much worse (again, for me), there is only one stereo output (!!! - my SR-16 has four outputs). I'm not really qualified to evaluate the quality of the preset patterns (which are all dance), as this is not what i bought the thing for. But i'd just say that they seem impressive in programming complexity, but it's an open question whether you could actually "rock a party" with the presets. personally, i'd feel a little stupid. but yes, yamaha DID try to make this something that could be used in "live performance" (knobs and informative lights all over the place). the extent to which they succeeded remains an open question.

I used to have the QY-70, and was dissapointed to find that not all of those sounds are here. there ARE lots of nice sounds, mostly electronic but a decent sampling of acoustic instruments, esp. as pertains to electronic music (eg, lots of ethnic instruments). There are LOTS of cheezy synth tones on this thing, although if you want someone to think you've got a minimoog i'm not sure it's going to happen. 808? check. 909? check. rezzy bases, DX-7 strings, "setting sun" bass drum drop? check, check, check. Esp. great is how much you can edit the sounds - all the usual suspects (cutoff, res, a/d/s/r, etc etc- all here, and on knobs no less). the built-in keyboard is more useful then it looks, but of course no velocity sensitivity.

comes in a very nice metal case, but the knobs look a bit fragile. the "playing" keys look like they could take some abuse (and feel great, BTW), the programming buttons a bit stiff. but i'm sure this thing's going to last for a damn long time barring abuse or serous carelessness.

i'm sure the customer support people are very friendly and great. haven't called. incidentally, the manual is not too great. very cluttered and skeletal, not too readable. i've always wanted like an "appliation" book that tells you what different featuers would typically be used for. sort of a cookbook for frequently prepared recepies. but you never see that :-(

there's nothing else like this. i'm not thrilled, but it's the closest to what i need. much more serious then the roland stuff. i'm sort of trying to take the dance out of it, which is a challenge since it really IS a dance machine. i'd say this thing and a cheapo sampler and you could do some pretty decent trance/whatever, tho intricate drum & bass maybe look elsewhere. it's mostly a great machine.