A few Yamaha EX5R performances

Demo of a few Performance patches from the Yamaha EX5R, the rackmount version of the EX5. Produced in 1998, the EX line (which also included the slimmed down version EX7) offered different synthesis methods, including AWM (sample-based), AN (virtual analog), and the interesting FDSP. (Controller keyboard: Roland W-30)

[@AlexLomaev]

Found and purchased after this demo! 🤝

[@musiclabmn]

Just received my EX5R yesterday... for the age, I can't comprehend how good it sounds. Stands up next to my MOFX6 and actually surpasses it in many ways. Even the standard Stereo Piano voice and Acoustic Guitar sounds pretty dang good for a 90's synth.

[@bhamadicharef]

beautiful machine ... always liked the front panel and parameter access

[@VictorSchelsinger]

0:46 Dream Grand....Oh....so gorgeous! 8:45 Nylonosphere...Oh...so gorgeous!

[@nemo2e4]

The Vangelis-esque "Celebration" string from 6:25 is worth the price of admission alone.

[@deauvillevrienden]

Absolutely !!! a Bladerunner's heaven :-))

[@stefpir]

Oh yeah!!!

[@deauvillevrienden]

As a big Vangelis fan this patch made me buy my EX5R

[@scottcupp8129]

Indeed so. Truly divine!!

[@philosophiaentis5612]

It comes from the Yamaha CS80.

[@kevincoffield1787]

I Especially like FX Celebration at 6:30 wow! What a great module this was. This is the first time I've heard one.

[@capferrat6058]

Yeah that was one of my favorite patches when I owned this. I plan to buy one again someday. I now own a JX3P and Yamaha SY-77 but the EX is unreal. Warmest filters you'll ever hear on a digital synth

[@deauvillevrienden]

@@capferrat6058 NO JX3P here but very glad i have a TG-77 and a EX5R, great combi together with two analog Deepmind 12 modules and two digital JD-800 synths :-))

[@philosophiaentis5612]

It comes from the Yamaha CS80.

[@bode7164]

Great presentation, nice little tunes. Seems like a special synth, some of the sounds are divine.

[@greganikin7003]

Pads are incredible! OMG! i want this synth!

[@davekuhn4831]

Such an underrated synth. If you're looking for a full workstation, there are better options. BUT in terms of just the synthesis part, the EX5 is arguably one of the greatest "sounding" digital synths ever made. I owned an Ex5, sold it and bought a Motif and ended up selling that to get the EX back. It has the warmest filters you'll hear on any digital synth and the AN engine is the same virtual analog engine found in the AN1x which is in many people's opinion the best sounding virtual analog synth ever made.

[@basspartout]

+Dave Kuhn Absolutely true. The EX5 is a gem. I use it very often, first choice for pad sounds and I will never ever sell it. Cheers from Berlin ♫

[@superproducercee6224]

Im Looking For An EX5 NOW

[@BarryWarne]

One of the best things Yamaha made. Both the EX-5 and EX-5r

[@bradmodd7856]

I read that the AN1X is polyphonic and the EX5R has only a monophonic version of the VA...I hope that I am just repeating another baseless internet rumour

[@antigen4]

EX5 does AN1 stuff polyphonically - it's just monophonic with VA sounds which the AN1 doesn't even have - so apples and oranges

[@scott1564]

I have one of these. Highly underrated synth.

[@AltayGENC]

It is fun to watch the "magical approach of the hand" that unviels the name of the patch :) Due to the auto-contrast setting of the camera, naturally :)

[@moogdome2562]

Yamaha synths are amazing and so underrated. I have five The sound and quality as this excellent demo shows are 1st class. Still very cheap, don't let digital put you off. Who's gonna race me to eBay. Thank you for sharing.

[@SynthManiaDotCom]

Thank you

[@mattyg499]

Warm and relaxing.....thanx.Just ordered one from EBay.

[@GreenInvasion]

Amazing! A couple of weeks ago I decided to go for one of this reliqs on Wallapop, 350€. It was quite battered but I was already in love with the EX5 so I brought it home anyway. It was empty apart from the P1 and P2 banks, keyboard in good condition but most of the function buttons are death or hard to get to respond. I suppose is grim from years of being stored or who knows what has been spilled overt it. I swaped the disk unit for a USB emulator and restored the factory patches so I got it full of wonderfull voices. Very happy after all.

[@dennisdemeglio9420]

I would like info on the swap..thanks

[@gtubgle]

Thanks for the demo, just learned about this.

[@kurisuchiinathecrocodile333]

Great play and great synth! Cheers

[@Musicology1975]

So Majestic sounding.

[@scottcupp8129]

After years of wanting another one (tragic story related to the first one ) I just recently purchased another EX5 on Ebay. CANNOT wait to get it.

[@PureAmbientDrone]

These are fantastic instruments to own and play. I have the 76 keyboard and it sounds incredible!

[@scottcupp8129]

Yes I just bought another EX5 on eBay. I bought one new back in the day but that one had a sad and tragic ending. It was stolen from the club I played two weeks after I bought it and found smashed in the alley behind the club, beaten to bits. I basically knew who did it. Being the savage hot head that I was back in those days, I found the miserable drunk that did it and beat him within an inch of his life with a tire iron. Not really so much that way these days :) I've got about 20 days before my EX5 arrives from Japan but it is WELL worth the wait. Being that it is from Japan though, I had to buy a step down transformer to convert 120 to 100v

[@deeno8]

ah ok! good to know...thinking of buying one.

[@marcbsounds]

amazing demo of this synth!

[@wreckage-vs5jv]

expressiveness in digital sounds is a Yamaha domain

[@Rtcmanga_YouTube_Channel]

Wow, really nice sounds!! Awesome!! And nice playing skills too! :) Thanks for sharing! :)

[@jezgomez]

The intro pad is amazing

[@BaymondRell]

Keeper synth and these are just Presets.....program the arp section for some AMAZING sound. As a sound source this is top ten and Yamaha keeps a few themselves for in-house sound design to this day..haha

[@brightbite]

Boy, that's incredible!

[@NachtSchreck13]

Lovely machine. One of the best digital synths ever made. I rate it up there with the Kurzweil K-series for versatility. The MOTIF series was a serious step down in sound quality in my opinion.

[@Daring2Win]

The last synth I need to be satiated. This destroys any of the plastic sterile MOTIF line IMO, especially the original. Can't believe I slept on this synth. The pianos sound crisp and very Korg SG Rack/Triton-esk to my ear, which I love.

[@SpeedySPCFan]

I love the sound of my Motif ES8 (I think it's far from plasticky and sterile) but I'm planning on getting the EX5 once I have the money soon. It sounds like the perfect companion to my ES, Trinity, and JD-990 - totally unique from all of those... though it does have the same clarity and beauty of the 990! It's really hard to find synths that sound *this* pretty.

[@Suzukisenpai]

Brilliant sounds!

[@henrikgustav2294]

beautiful

[@davidmartin123]

This has some really great full sounds, a very usable selection. I would prefer this to a MODX, just based sound quality. And I would not miss the superknob or sidechain compression at all!

[@theaudioeng]

Or own both!! (in my case) EX is a very special multi-engined synth, still love & using it!! 😉🎹🎵🍻

[@AndrewTSq]

if only my moxf6 sounded this good.

[@oscargrouch8888]

I love the Yamaha ex5 / ex7 sounds and bought the sound module too along with both keyboards . It has a great arpegiator which can work with synths midi with no arpegiator. The piano sounds are fuller than Yamaha motif

[@nipponhouseplayer]

Fantastic, thanks for sharing!

[@SeverityOne]

A fully kitted-out EX5 has a crazy asking price on Ebay... and I have a fully kitted-out (four extra analogue outs, 16 MB flash, 64 MB RAM, SCSI) silver EX5S. Hmm. No, it's not for sale.

[@ShiningJMaster]

A few days ago I was lucky enough to get a very nice one at full spec ( max memory installed and SCSI interface) for a mere € 500.

[@NeuronalAxon]

Cool - does it use a CF/SCSI converter so you can use flash cards?

[@SeverityOne]

Ah, the EX5R. I sold mine in order to buy an EX5(S). :) One problem of that rack module is its sheer size. 3U high and very deep. And it's mostly air that's inside it. The 3U you need to put away the screen, buttons and knobs, the 19" is standard and the depth is because of the massive PCB. Had they made two smaller PCBs, the machine would have been much smaller.

[@deauvillevrienden]

So I suppose your EX5 is much smaller then the rack now ? :-))

[@mattyg499]

Yeah but you need the face/control area anyhow....

[@SeverityOne]

@@deauvillevrienden There's the little issue of the 76-key keyboard...

[@fuckcensorship69]

Heavy as fuck too for some reason. I guess the metal casing alone

[@BlixtenMarlowes]

Great sounding ... :-)

[@fnonaka]

I really love stuffs with a lot of buttons! Lol

[@gallen5042]

Sounds light years, miles better than the Motif series that supplanted it afterwards. Yamaha went backwards, in terms of sound rather than portability / playability, after this one, I'm afraid to be saying.

[@SynthManiaDotCom]

+gallen ar Personally I wouldn't make such a drastic statement. There are great things on both the EX and the Motif line.

[@geoffk777]

+SynthMania i have a Motif Rack (1st version) and an EX5R, and can definitely say that the EX5R is a more unique and interesting instrument. The Motif has a lot of great Bread and Butter sounds and better polyphony. But the pads on the EX5R are unique and stunning and the physical modelling really makes a difference on the brass and analog synth sounds. I'm glad that I have both, but I'd get rid of the Motif first (if I had to), as it isn't nearly so distinctive and powerful. The Trinity Rack or Fantom XR could easily replace the Motif, but not the EX5R. The EX5R is still underrated, and many of the DSP effects like the "underwater" sounds are hard to copy even today.

[@basspartout]

+geoffk777 Totally agree! Nothing beats the EX5 pad sounds. I often try to use other sounds but always find myself coming back to "Warmer" - the ultimate pad sound imho :-)

[@Synth2000]

I have also the feeling that dx7, sy77, and ex5 sound better than later offerings. I am after another one for my strings and pads... (i had a tx802 for a while)... would you recommend sy/tg77, or better to chase a ex5 ?

[@basspartout]

I'd say go for an EX5 and an SY 99, both are great sounding instruments and will always be.

[@ProphetJPSangoMinistries]

So cool

[@SynthManiaDotCom]

thanks

[@mark12011972]

6:23 yes!

[@evgeniy5157]

Cool Synth)

[@AveMcree]

fukk Im looking for one of these right now

[@issiewizzie]

my fav sound is this 6:21mins

[@wackenthaljef]

I love this machine...ive got a TX802...and i would find this one;.

[@analog_]

Beautiful @ 7mins!

[@michaels8597]

I have to agree that these companies have gone backwards...Yamaha synths,sequencers,etc,etc,just went backwards..oh and did i mention they are built ike damn tanks..I know the Yamaha A4000 samplers and others had fiddly encoders supposedly yet i didnt have any issues

[@deauvillevrienden]

At 6:33, what is that haunting Vangelis-like sound? I have an EX5R and lots of banks but never heard that sound before... I need it !!! :-)) Great playing by the way !

[@deauvillevrienden]

Stupid me, after reading all the comments here I just find out that the "Celebration" patch on 6:33 is a factory performance sadly overlooked by this ignorent guy :-o I layered it with a performance "Abyss of the Sea" from my MOX6 and Vangelis heaven begins

[@Galv140577]

I HAVE ONE OF THESE

[@mones6]

05:05 great!! why you stopped? :v

[@CaptButtonMash]

06:23 I can almost see the title screens for a Blade Runner spin-off show....

[@Aetila]

I've checked out this again, just downloading the manual...the strange thing is that it doesn't have a nice Mixer View (like that on the QY 20-70-100), you'll only see markings under a channel nr, but no pannings and volume to set in a convenient view...it's a bit of a miss, for a workstation.

[@molekulaTV]

And you're using your good old W30 as master keyboard... What is this world coming to... :) :) :)

[@basspig]

It has a floppy drive, so I'm guessing this is late 90s tech. Even so, the synthy sounds are quite nice.

[@kurokuragawa]

1:34-1:53 I really liked it. Is that from a song, or your improvisation??

[@SynthManiaDotCom]

+kurokuragawa I was just improvising, however it's a typical Italo style sound - like Spagna

[@kurokuragawa]

thank you for your reply

[@larrbaII]

+kurokuragawa 1:34-1:53 That got an upvote, catchy tune.

[@RogelioPerea]

My headphones... oh my headphones :-)

[@GalantGoStudio]

Is there an advanced editor for it? if there is..... ill buy one to play with the physical modeling parameters to create my sounds.

[@dirkkeersmaekers4343]

At that time you still had real sound designers

[@ram-4]

Yamaha in general had the best presets IMO. I feel like Roland had the worst - they just had a thousand variations of the same sound. Korg was also good before the bland Triton (Trinity comes to mind).

[@6581punk]

It really depends. Pure synth units often have big sounds to show them off. Something like the EX5 was aimed more at players, hence the huge keybed, multiple expression wheels etc.

[@NinoCotonato]

At 6:23... Wow...

[@cubdukat]

IMHO, the EX was a strange bird. It was during that period where Yamaha was still trying to come out with an answer to the Korg Trinity. Of course, they finally got it right with the Motif series, but it just seemed as if they were trying to find their way. I mean, it was perfectly competent, but it was missing that extra edge... Personally, I wouldn't mind having one myself.

[@AveMcree]

+Larry Wilson personally own the trinity rack and I don't think its on the same level as this. No arps (though I can just set my midi options in FL studio to do that) and it lacks in my opinionated taste for synths. Its great in everything else though

[@geoffk777]

+Ave Mcree (CeeMurda DaBasedgod) I have a Trinity Rack (two, in fact) and an EX5R and they sound very different. I really love them both, though. The arpeggiator on the Trinity is nice, and, if you get a MOSS board and expansion ROMs, it can do some unique sounds of its own. It still doesn't sound like an EX5R though--nothing else really does.

[@antigen4]

the motif doesn't compare to the EX5 - yamaha took a wrong turn somewhere

[@theaudioeng]

​@@antigen4 Was well chuffed when I bought my (now named 'Classic') Motif 7 back in 2001, couldn't have been happier ... until I found out about the EX5/r predecessor which had just been pulled by Yamaha 😭 Gutted.. The Motif is not a patch on this utterly brilliant all-bases covered synth. I truly believe they threw all of their latest future tech at it (remember it was bottomless wallet time end of 80's then for R&D spend) and then realised they had nowhere to go technically, so reigned in spec on Motif with optional expansion boards for each technology ie. AN, VL, FM, to get the $$$ in. Imagine they lost money on the EX launch. Finally sold up the '7 and hunted around for the EX5 board, which I actually drove about 100+ miles to collect. Replaced since by the rack, now fully loaded with every mod possible - never selling this beaut!! 😁👍🎹

[@mattyg499]

@@theaudioeng No FM tho...i just ordered one on Eday.Used to have one years ago.

[@NinoCotonato]

I like more than motif rack...

[@StefanoPapaleo-TS]

Soundstruck!

[@xp50player]

Keeping that thing minty with the screen protector still on it😇

[@SynthManiaDotCom]

This EX5R is one of the few pieces of equipment that I bought brand new when it came out (I usually buy used or a long time after they come out, for bang for the buck). The EX series was fantastic when it came out (still is). Wow, it's already been twenty years

[@littlebritain64]

Hi Paolo, great work. This is such a beautiful synth. I would like to have one but I am in lack of money. Years ago I purchased an expanded A4000 sampler. Do You think I can do same things like these with it? Same quality sounds? Thanks for Your work! Saluti da Pistoia.👍

[@SynthManiaDotCom]

Thank you, I did the military service in Pistoia (183mo Nembo) --- The sample part of the A4000 will be similar, but you won't have the other types of synthesis which were unique to that workstation... but if you add some good FX it will definitely sound good - although personally I used to own an A4000 back in those days when it came out, and sold it because the SCSI transmission was slow.

[@littlebritain64]

@@SynthManiaDotCom Thank You! The 183 Nembo Is still there and It was in piazza del Duomo ten days ago for celebration with the inhabitants! I don't know if the EX5 has the same editing Power but I have read that we could use a fast memory card adapter instead the old slow peripherals. I have to purchase one! If You come here for the next Nembo celebration tell me here, let's meet and have a beer!! Ciao!

[@techalex1992]

i see a big similarity with korg m3

[@mehmetbagcan4904]

6:22 😮

[@DinoSvanhvit]

Hi! sounds great! would you be willing to share sounds?

[@SynthManiaDotCom]

+Jörgen Fredrikssen Thank you, these are the stock performance patches on the machine, if you don't have them you can easily reinstate them from the factory disks

[@plata3000]

@@SynthManiaDotCom Could you advice me where could I find for downloading the files from the factory disks?? Thanks,

[@superproducercee6224]

Where Can I Find One Of These Been Looking On Ebay All Week

[@OperationChicago]

Let me ask you something if you know. Do you think this rack has tha same sounds as tha actual keyboard ?

[@TooSlowTube]

Yes, the EX5 and EX5R have the same sounds, and even the same firmware ROMs. Look for the EX5 / 5R DATA LIST. At some point they changed the names of some of the sounds / patches, for legal reasons, so it depends which firmware version you get how some of them are named, but they're the same. There are different editions of that data list. I've found the 2nd and 3rd editions, so far.

[@DanielAugustoMac]

Hi, do you have any YAMAHA EX5 software editor? I want to send some patches. Thanks

[@prodbystunnacee8017]

Where can I get all these sounds at my ex5 does not have these

[@TooSlowTube]

These are the factory performances, apparently. You can still download them. There's not much point in me trying to say where from, because my comment would get deleted, but they're still out there.

[@TooSlowTube]

Look for: Yamaha EX5 Factory Demo Disks (4 disk set)

[@wizards001]

Can the VL on this sound just as good as from a Yamaha VL7?

[@SynthManiaDotCom]

Same technology

[@scottcupp8129]

I was wondering, would you happen to have images of the factory demo disks?

[@SynthManiaDotCom]

Google "yamaha ex5 factory disks". Third result in page.

[@AveMcree]

these things are super rare not even one single person selling on ebay right now. what is the step down or up module for this?

[@SynthManiaDotCom]

+Ave Mcree (CeeMurda DaBasedgod) Down, W5/ W7; up, any of the Motif racks. I might actually sell my EX5R on eBay soon.

[@lcl1564]

+Ave Mcree (CeeMurda DaBasedgod) cs6r or s30 or s80. or any motif

[@AveMcree]

SynthMania hmm you got me interested Ive actually video blog about your channel alot lol. matter of fact Ive actually bought rack based soley off your video like the trinity rack and the JV1080

[@poindexterfrink8276]

+SynthMania How is a Motif a step up from this? They dropped FDSP, AN, and VL synthesis on the Motif and turned it into a run-of-the-mill rompler. I got my EX5 with full flash memory and RAM and a Zip drive (lol) for $350 Canadian and I can't imagine selling it. The only downside is that it's a "limited edition" so it's nasty silver plastic. There's one for sale in Toronto for $1000, and has been for like a year if anyone's interested.

[@SynthManiaDotCom]

+Poindexter Frink True, they dropped the extra synthesis methods, but it's also true that for sampled sounds, a Motif XF in Performance mode sounds pretty darn great compared to a synth from 1998 like the EX5.

[@PC0067]

Super sons.

[@JoseVGavila]

I have been lucky to find one each: EX7, EX5R and EX5 (by that order) and, well, what can I say? 😍

[@dreikelvin]

EX5R emulator VST3 plugin when?

[@littlebritain64]

Mmmmhhh, I am afraid that It will be maybe in several years, as for the Dx7. Some good souls made a free software replica for Virus synths, no ROM's but You can find on the web. For same copyright issues It would take a loooot, I am afraid....

[@Vuyccbvuj]

Can you get this in software edition? Like the Roland cloud synths?

[@plata3000]

I don´t have the factory disks, Do you know where could I download these files??

[@SynthManiaDotCom]

Google "yamaha ex5 factory disks". Third result in page.

[@plata3000]

@@SynthManiaDotCom Found it, thanks a lot.

[@SynthManiaDotCom]

You're welcome.

[@GuilhermeMittmann]

Man, just curiosity, why did you still use a Roland W30 as controller? I'm asking why if you say good things about him i will buy one that my neighbor is seeling very cheap.

[@fnonaka]

Did you buy it? Lol

[@GuilhermeMittmann]

@@fnonaka No.

[@prodbystunnacee8017]

Does the ex5 have all these patches

[@TooSlowTube]

Yes. Same patches and firmware ROMs, in both. Some of the names of the patches were changed, in later firmware versions, for legal reasons, but they're still the same sounds. Look for the EX5/5R Data List, to get a list of them and the full MIDI spec details.

[@владимирвладимирович-е2н9г]

ум меня был в 2000 ex5 =зашибись-зачем продал- до сих пор жалею

[@jeffwackenthal7725]

waaaaowww!

[@theodora5531]

scsi through loads of 64 mb in 24 minutes.

[@jan-martinulvag1962]

Don't know. Zebra 2 ..............

[@axelnussbaumer]

I have a SY99 I am willing to trade for an EX5r. PM me, if interested, and US based.

[@ucupi]

vst lost....

[@mark12011972]

Synthmania do you like your EX5? :)

[@SynthManiaDotCom]

Love it

[@Vim-Wolf]

And now I have to have one ... and they're rocking horse poo :/

[@Vim-Wolf]

Update. I did eventually get one, and it’s gorgeous.