My Yamaha AN1X Story -

The AN1X is the holy grail of Yamaha Virtual Analogue Synthesizers, largely because Yamaha have not released another worthwhile one since. To me though it has a rather different meaning...
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[@CrisPearson]

Thank you man. It's these kind of videos that makes me truly love humanity and youtube.

[@-IFFTI-]

Important information for all owners of AN1x and similar in the blue case. You have to be particularly careful when cleaning, so as not to wash off or matt the paint. The use of strong detergents or liquids with alcohol ends fatally. Soapy water seems to be the safest.

[@JDStoneCreations]

Good point! Should have said that in the video. The surface cleanser in the video is the strongest I use and on the decals is used soooo lightly, also only sprayed into the cloth not the keyboard. My shed an1x already had the damage so I’m not too fussed!

[@xoio]

Good save of what i easily becoming a classic. AN1x is still one of the greatest VA synths ever made.

[@JDStoneCreations]

Imo the only affordable VA synth that comes close is the Alesis Ion, which is better in some ways but doesn’t have any built in delays or reverbs which is a tragedy!

[@mlbellino]

I’m always intimidated when I open a keyboard. Good job man, I would have trashed the whole thing.

[@JDStoneCreations]

I was too when I first did! Start with a cheap one that doesn't matter so much and work your way up... and probably don't do what I did and jump straight up to £1000 of Korg Triton 😅

[@snuppssynthchannel]

Glad you got it working, and for 36£, that's amazing!!! I love the An1x, I don't think I ever will part with mine. I acutally happen to own a Alesis Fusion 6hd which I bought recently, its actually among the most powerful workstation synths of all time. Contains both an immensely powerful 32 slot modulation matrix, a 6 operator FM synth engine with freely routable operators and 240 voices of polyphony, a excellent V.A engine based partially off the Alesis Ion which many of us V.A fans consider to be among the truest to analogue sounding V.A, that engine feats 140 voices of polyphony, two physical modeling engines each with 37 to 47 voices of poly and or course your typical PCM based engine with up to 270 voices of polyphony. The machine is also a 24 bit sampler. It also has an 8 track audio sequenser, SSD slot, 40 to 80 GB of internal storage. Basically was like a budget Oasys when it came out in 2005.

[@caveymon]

That is a very awesome journey! Glad the machine is still working, and you got to give it some tlc to get it back to 100%! Awesome :)

[@jbognap]

I was thinking of selling my AN1X to fund other DAW purchases and I rarely mess with it. But I played with it again yesterday and don't know if I could part with it - the sounds are stunning.

[@noouch]

DUDE I literally ditched my Miniak for this as well, around 2014. Never looked back, it's still one of the juiciest alive-est VA's out there. It's definitely not without hardware quirks, I've had to open mine for ribbon repairs twice, and it really really doesn't like to boot; I just never turn it off. Chopper An1x is on another level though, love it.

[@JDStoneCreations]

I still have the an1x, but have since got the the Miniaks older bugger brother the Alesis Ion. What a world of difference having knob per function and a big screen makes! Stick the Ion through an effects pedal and the results easily rival the An1x!

[@AnalogFlava]

@@JDStoneCreationswould you still buy the an1x knowing what you know today having worked with it?? Is it cumbersome?

[@MancunianToryDespiser]

Just found your channel. Superb stuff, and what an immense talent! Any links to your music.

[@JDStoneCreations]

First off, LOVE the username. But also thank you! Things have been difficult of late and music has taken a back seat. It keeps asking “are we there yet” and I am starting to turn around and humour it by saying “almost” instead of ignoring it. I’ll do a video explaining soon!

[@MancunianToryDespiser]

@@JDStoneCreations keep me briefed, brother. You’re a true exponent of the art

[@vinniramos]

great video! bought one, sold it, regretted deeply, bought another one this week in mint conditions! I'll never sell it, it will never leave my studio haha. Do you still have yours?

[@JDStoneCreations]

I don’t! I need to do a follow up video, as selling my second one (the very rough one) was... interesting, because I sold it twice! I sort of wish I kept it... but only because values shot to not long after and I’d have for more for mine!

[@vinniramos]

please do! your videos are great, man! keep it up !

[@gladtobeangry]

Okay, when you started the video I thought "how dare this guy bitch about the mighty AN1x?" Then when you got the box full of bits I thought "The time, aggrevation and effort it would take to put that pile of junk back together isn't worth it" Glad for you you got it working again though, and respect for the skills and dedication needed to do that. AN1x was my first synth, and every time I'm first playing something new, I'll be there looking for features that the AN1x did brilliantly, and turn out to be either rarities that never really were copied in other synths, stuff you find in much more expensive synths, and in some cases ideas that were just years ahead of its time. When for instance reviewers were all raving about the Minilogue's ability to record 4 lanes of motion sequencing without the notes, my only thought was, well my AN1x could already do that back in the 90s, and in a more flexible format as well, so I don't really see what the fuss is about. Same goes for scene morphing which I think was recently featured on the Matrixbrute, and was presented by reviewers as this new and spectacular form of modulation. But the AN1x has that feature as well. It's almost as if when synth designers run out of ideas, they look at the AN1x's features and copy some of that goodness into their new 'revolutionary' instrument. I dislike the factory presets though. If you'd scroll through my presets, you'd find a lot of stuff like the presets you got in your first unit. Epianos, organs, vintagey sounding pads, it does all of that stuff effortlessly (admittedly, the examples on your unit were slightly underwhelming, it can sound much better than that). Also: The classic Mod Wheel and Pitchbend is the only way to go for me. Those Roland double axis things never made any sense to me. I want pitchbend to snap back to its root note when I release the pitchbend wheel, but a Mod Wheel allows me to quickly modify my sound and then get back to having two free hands for playing/knob twiddling. When it snaps back to zero if I release like those Roland-thingy's it's of no use to me at all. To each their own I suppose.

[@PhalseProfit13]

Well done mate excellent

[@orientalflux]

don't know why , I always want this synth so much (I hv cs1x since 97 )

[@JDStoneCreations]

Good thing with classic synths is they’ll hold their value, so if you DO go buy one but decide you don’t like it, you can sell it for the same price and have only paid a small fee to own it!

[@ResAffolterSoundproductions]

Wow these sounds are crazy🔥🌈🕊🙏🏻

[@We.Are.Lockhart]

Sounds like the AN1x you got was used in a Pink Floyd coverband before.

[@JDStoneCreations]

Interesting observation! I don’t listen to much floyd so wouldn’t recognise anything beyond the intro pads in crazy diamond 😅

[@dayglo98]

Hi JD, is it a lot of work disassembling and getting to the keyboard ? I have a non-functioning key to check out.

[@JDStoneCreations]

As far as I remember its all the screws around the outside of the bottom metal panel (careful as there are different screws into plastic/metal... or at least as there were on mine 😅) then flip it over the right way and remove the plastic shell with all the circuitry still attached by hinging it backwards. The metal panel will stay with the keyboard still in place, the cables can then disconnect and you can remove the keys to inspect the rubber membrane key contacts. I have however said this from memory so it might not be that at all... I am pretty sure it is though!

[@-gbogbo-]

Hi in 2:07 nice tonewheel organ here ! is that a patch from you ? if so can you share it pls ? What about the piano sound just after ? thx

[@JDStoneCreations]

Hey cool people are actually watching 😅 Hi Alf!

[@daniel.lopresti]

I'm not sure if you figured it out in the end, I didn't watch the entire video to the very end, but I had the same problem with completely random corrupted patch names and sounds - it was simply a matter of a dead cell battery that needed replacing!

[@daniel.lopresti]

Just to clarify, my synth (bought new, many years ago) had always worked perfectly, and one day I switched it on to find I'd lost all my patches - only some of which I had saved, many years previous - a few minutes' google research revealed it was a simply a dead battery :)

[@JDStoneCreations]

Wow I’m surprised the memory cell caused that! Maybe “it dying” caused the crash rather than it “being dead” did, which could have happened with mine too. Still, fresh ones and a reset solved all that!

[@tz64nk41]

prices are around £600 now!

[@JDStoneCreations]

Amazing isn't it, and yet Yamaha STILL haven't released a synth like it... My very broken one was never going to be worth that much though!

[@melkent399]

Oh, so you sold the AN1X and then bought another. Was confused there and thought whoever you'd sold it to sent that back instead. Love my An1x btw, sell it? Never!!!

[@JDStoneCreations]

Haha yes I sold the first one and bought a MUCH worse one later. Funny thing is, after selling the second one it DID get sent back to me as it got damaged in the post! So I sold it a second time, amazingly for more money, having fixed it again!

[@melkent399]

@@JDStoneCreations Ah, all is clear, thanks. Awesome videos as well. Looking forward to watching the rest!

[@PhalseProfit13]

I own one and need to play it😂

[@3dmaxuser]

Great video, good to see others out there saving these keyboards from the bin, I just got hold of one of these for £235, it was in a bit of a bad way but not as bad as yours, 2 broken keys and corrupt audio which a factory reset helped with but did not fix the distorted audio, turns out two op-amps needed replacing. I'm now just waiting for a new battery to turn up as that fails the self test every time but apart from that its now up and running,

[@JDStoneCreations]

Nice! And likewise good to hear you’ve been able to save one as well. 235 is a bargain for an AN1x nowadays!

[@mastercylinder1939]

20:04 is the filter mating.

[@JDStoneCreations]

My AN1X is for sale! So is my SY 35 i’ve never made a video about... it ends on Saturday, the 30th of April 😁

[@bcitral]

Mine was worse. It was in pretty much the same condition but with 1 inch of solidified tobacco and weed in the bottom that had been sat in a garage for 10 years. After a new keybed and many fixes, it now no longer smells and works great. Testament to how resilient the an1x is after serious neglect.

[@JDStoneCreations]

I’d say that with any electronic circuitry. As long as it’s cleaned meticulously and nothing shorts out on first start up it doesn’t matter how dirty it is! Still, funny to hear there was a worse one out there.

[@bcitral]

@@JDStoneCreations she’s still running fine though. Didn’t think it would ever work again. These beauties are tough things electronically.

[@karltraunmuller7048]

I have one in pristine condition upstairs. Manual and all. Won’t sell it, though :grimacing:

[@JDStoneCreations]

Good man, they are only going up in value!

[@1000sofusernames]

I have a digital piano, a laptop and an Akai Force and my wife is giving me grief. I'd imagine a knife would come out of the drawer if I had that that level of gear.

[@JDStoneCreations]

If somebody I was married to her threatened me or gave me grief for a genuine passion for and collection of musical instruments, I would question the toxic behaviour, the relationship and likely end it. If of course you have these instruments on the kitchen table in a one bedroom flat then maybe I can understand where she’s coming from 😂 I do feel lucky that my girlfriend fully understands why I have what I have!

[@davidbanner9001]

Any one know where I can get a new potentiometer for one of the 8 assignable knobs? just bought an AN1x and one is broken. Based in the UK.

[@JDStoneCreations]

Your best bet is to have the keyboard in pieces and see if you can see any numbers on the pot or at least see the size and shape and amount of solder tabs (I've repaired that many things I forget what's got what) and find the nearest equivalent after searching on google. RS and Conrad are good electronics parts online shops too!

[@davidbanner9001]

Thanks, I can find a replacement of sorts. But not with a push switch option like the original.

[@malkytrance]

wing dings font being used

[@y968lcptubby9]

Hey guys

[@Simbor-rh1dj]

I got one in 2001 in pristine condition…and sold it like a dummy.

[@JDStoneCreations]

We live and learn. If I’d kept the first one I had for years longer it would have been worth twice what I sold it for, but then I wouldn’t have the synth collection I do now!

[@naiburu9318]

The Yamaha AN1X sounds pretty cool!...I only see ones for 800-1000$ on reverb though :/

[@gladtobeangry]

Wow, that's a lot of money. Here in Europe they tend to go for somewhere around 400 euros, although prices seem to be rising. We're now at that stage where synths that were designed to provide vintage-fetishists with a nice surrogate, have themselves become "vintage". I never really bothered with buying Vintage stuff, and used secondhand sites to find synths for bargain prices. Nowadays, I think everyone's better off buying new stuff. There's plenty of great gear out there available right now. I might find a Moog Sub37 for 100 dollars cheaper than its store price, but it's been in some idiot's live rig for 8 years, and is covered in beer, cigarette ashes and "its perfectly working, it's just that the power switch, the keyboard, the knobs and the Bob Moog signature logo are missing". All the actually old synths go for ridiculous prices. I saw a fricking poly800 being sold for over 500 euros just last week. Hot tip: It's absolutely not worth that kind of money. 500 euros spent on a new synth will give you midi, connectivity over usb, a warranty, a manual, and free firmware updates for the next couple of years if you're lucky. 500 euros spent on something that's been rotting in a damp cellar for 25 years is for antique collectors. And yes, if I ever find a CS-80 for under 5000 euros, I'm still going to sell my kidneys.

[@naiburu9318]

@@gladtobeangry Yeah, it's so polarizing to find any virtual analog synths because they kinda cost more in the U.S. I did notice a price increase on Reverb, an certain synth will be cheaper at first but then later it becomes alot more, which SUCKS!

[@gladtobeangry]

@@naiburu9318 for what it's worth: Ive had my AN1X for 15 years, and yes, it is a lovely synth that I will never get rid of. But it's also just a 10voice polyphonic, 20 year old piece of software loaded onto a decent keyboard with knobs on it.

[@Johnsormani]

Prices on reverb are crazy, not only with AN1X. Local prices are more realistic. A few hundred dollars list more like the ballpark selling price . If you consider there is more or less just one chip in the synth and have a look at the build quality it was a terrible product line. The CS-X line was built on the same platform and probably some cheap home keyboards as well. Yamaha used to make great keypads and had amazing buit quality in the past ( DX7 , SY series) but this was awful. I would not dare to take one on the road for sure. Try to find one of these ( or CS) without missing knobs..... I bought a CS2x locally some time ago for 60€ ( one key didn't function) . Great sounds but I hate the synth for it's layout and build quality

[@naiburu9318]

@@Johnsormani Yeah that's true pretty much alot of stuff on reverb gets insane with the prices. I did just buy a Nord Lead 2X synth it sounds pretty good I just have to mess around with it a bit, It's also built pretty well I think.

[@PhalseProfit13]

Seems to be in Japanese language

[@Johnsormani]

these AN1x and CS1X CS2X series were so cheaply built.. Just terrible. It looks like they used a 50€ home keyboard and went from there.

[@JDStoneCreations]

The funny thing is that although cheap materials have been used, once the synth is built and together it is quite solid! I had a Sequential Circuits VS in for repair once, and despite having a fully steel case painted nice and solid buttons, the whole thing flexed when you pressed buttons and twisted when you picked up one corner! It was shocking!