This Vintage Drum Machine Is Very Cool! (Yamaha RX17)

[@jcstevegigs]

I've had mine since 1988 but it's been up in the attic for the last 20 years. I recently hooked up a new "studio" and added it in! Brings back memories!

[@johnb9507]

Hey Josh!! Great to see you're enjoying the RX and thanks for the link.

[@malcolmbliss777]

My first drum machine. I miss it to this day.

[@russellwoodstechno]

i have an RX21 on the way so thanks for this.

[@DomesticSceneMusic]

Hey Josh! I just came into possession of a circuit bent RX17 - I looked it up to see what the hell it is and SURPRISE found your video on it. High-five! I have no idea if mine works or what all the added patch points will do. But I’m glad for a rundown of the unaltered machine.

[@kentaccordionist]

I had one in the late 80s. They were a great bread and butter drum machine. Besides the drums I also used mine as a bassline sequencer by re assigning the midi notes output by the drums.

[@malcolmbliss777]

Don’t forget, you can change the pitch on these by slowing down or speeding up patterns.

[@johnb9507]

I remember before I bought that I had my eye on the Alesis HR16, but the music store I frequented was out at the time so I got the RX. With that particular vintage, the lower the number the higher (and more expensive) it was in the line. So the RX15 was the next step up, then the 11, etc. I think the RX5 was the top of the line. I had a lot of fun with it, but the rub was that I had to write the drum part before anything else in a song.

[@MazHoot]

Hi, is it possible to save pattern and songs inside rx17 ? I can't find any information about this. I mean if the pattern and song which you created will be still here after power off and on again. Regarding the manual the only way to do this is save an audio file on a cassette player and then load it again (hu, what...) ?

[@AlbertMonkey]

Yes it saves them via the internal battery and RAM. The cassette or disk is to save them when memory is full so you can load them later on but it’ll erase the ones you had saved to the internal memory

[@criddyla696]

Just got mine back from my ex girlfriend after 20 years… just gonna check if it still works, I also received a Roland TR 606 too so if they still work excellent result.

[@drewgrit_]

Literally just came across one randomly on eBay. Had never heard of it but thought it could be cool to make a yt vid on. So I looked it up and see you’ve already nailed that idea haha Keep up the good work dude💪

[@MicroBanshee]

I had a Yamaha RX in the mid 80's [Not sure which one?], I didn't have a clue how to work it, other than using the presets, no KZbin around then to help, even in your brief tutorial you have probably helped someone somewhere... and for that they thank you.

[@JoshIsMakingMusic]

Thank you, I hope folks find it helpful! I couldn't imagine getting one of these used without a manual in the pre-youtube days. I'm spoiled by the internet.

[@haydnr1631]

Same here! Bought my RX17 in 1987, played it a couple of times and returned it to its box where it still remains. Tempted to give it another airing after watching this really informative video.

[@Hammondguy88]

Sounds like my story. Bought it new and couldn’t figure it out and put it away. Just took it out to try and try using the factory patterns but can’t seem to do that either. Just not good with this stuff I’m just a player. Can the factory patterns be erased and if so can you get them back?can any one give me step by step to be able to achieve this.

[@moncorp1]

This sounds like the background music playing if was Crockett cruising down the causeway in his white ferrari at midnight, sad because Tubbs got shot and is in icu.

[@SimpleHold]

Nice collection of sounds on this drum machine. I used to have a Boss DR220A, which I like a lot, but it didn’t have tambourine, shaker, etc. like this one. They really shine in the context of an arrangement when you add other instruments, like the synth at the end of video.

[@JoshIsMakingMusic]

Thank you! I've got a Korg DDM 110 that has just the basics: kick, snare, crash, hats, and rim shot. But that's all you need for dope beats. The Boss DR220A looks wickedly cool. And I love its "Casio calculator watch" aesthetic.

[@SamNiverba]

Hey! Awesome video on the RX17. great sounding drum machine! can you help me out? i'm in the market for my 1st vintage drum machine. which one's perfect for synth pop? Yamaha RX120 or a Boss Dr Rhythm 670?

[@tragiksun]

Can you use midi in and control Rx17 with Akai MPD26? How do you?, if so

[@JoshIsMakingMusic]

I don't have that specific controller, but I've controlled it via Midi with an external sequencer. You assign the drums to different notes on the RX17 itself.

[@tragiksun]

@@JoshIsMakingMusic copy the mpd 26 is a external midi controller I haven’t seen any good videos on tweaking or assigning controls.

[@tragiksun]

maybe do a vid or commentary on the midi page and options and cassette options, that would be helpful and entertaining.

[@littlesquidward8117]

3:00

[@MuslimCommunityInUSA]

Thank you very much! You come to Atlanta, lunch on me. 🎉

[@jdpower6360]

Wish I could hear this with the tempo slowed. It isn’t really useable at that tempo to me

[@RegebroRepairs]

I got one, and the snare and handclap are absolutely terrible and I hate them intensely. All the latin sounds are great though! Also, it's designed to fit on top of a TX7!

[@tigershoot]

The ride cymbal was jarring. I was happy with all the other sounds.

[@RegebroRepairs]

@tigershoot Yeah that ride is terrible. And I get that claps are very personal, but the snare? It's like somebody is barfing pink noise. 😆 It's all because they are trying to save as much memory as possible, of course.

[@tigershoot]

@@RegebroRepairs I bought mine new in the UK for £300 in 1987.

[@RegebroRepairs]

@@tigershoot Yeah, the RX series at that time was just way more bang for buck than anything else. And as mentioned, the latin sounds of the RX21L / RX17 are still fantastic. I had a friend with an RX21 and used it a lot in 1986.

[@tigershoot]

@@RegebroRepairs £300 was lot of money back then but all the gear was expensive. I used to have my congas panned to one side and then the bongos on the other! On stage it sounded like we had two percussionists. I used to connect it up with MIDI to a Commodore Amiga computer running MusicX and then have a Kawai K5 as the synth.