YAMAHA A3000: BEADS BEFORE BEADS

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Testing out the now vintage Yamaha A3000 sampler and it's hyper advanced (for 1997) functionality
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[@albertrynkowski3599]

İ just got one with broken encoders for an equivalent of 70€ here in PL. For anyone wondering: the replacement part for the encoders are BOURNS PEC11L-4215F-S0015 or ALPS EC11N1524402 . 😉

[@AndrewTSq]

do both of them work the same so I can buy whatever without checking first? :D mines are skipping so much you can not use them

[@albertrynkowski3599]

@@AndrewTSq Yes, they are interchangeable but keep in mind that ones from Bourns have a longer stem (about 2 milimeters). I got them in my sampler and they work like a charm so far.

[@micknight8158]

OMG 😳 Nobody talks about this sampler enough.

[@borlibaer]

Because it is very special and different from mainstream ☝️

[@dangerdadrockboy9742]

I enjoyed listening to that more than most of the techno on Spotify

[@amnesyaudiotrauma5]

Thanks joey ! I remembered that I’ve buy this sampler in early 20’s for his jump effect I totally forgot ! I can now get back my old a4000 lost somewhere in Arco’s studio and giving him a second life

[@ibisum]

For extra fun, use an external MIDI controller to change the FX settings .. those encoders send MIDI events internally - you can send those same events from an external controller ..

[@paul-yy5qf]

Do you have a recommendation for a particular controller for the a3000? I'm trying to think up ways to creatively get around the encoder problem

[@ibisum]

Faderfox! @@paul-yy5qf

[@WARDISWARD]

back in the old yahoo groups days , people were posting all kinds of crazy self modulating effect chains . Proud owner of an A4K since 2001 , only recently upgraded the HD to CF

[@ibisum]

In the pre-yahoo days, we have a whole user-contributed sample library for the Yamaha A-samplers .. one very popular category was the 'Use Only Built-in Waveforms" challenge, which proved the A-samplers can be used as digital "subtractive" synths just as easily, also ..

[@ShallRemainUnknown]

​@@ibisumAre those patches (contest submissions, etc.) available anywhere to download?

[@borlibaer]

Few years ago, I uploaded a video where I basically ran through all filters of the A5000 (6 filterblocks routeable) controlled by it's software plugin in that well known Yamaha midi software on a 700 MHz PIII PCI Windows 98SE PC with DB-50XG Sound Daughter Board. I plan to create another more sophisticated video soon. I also got an A3000 build in a single rack case just because of it's cool blue look, matching my CS1X and AN1X. 😁

[@ibisum]

Got links?

[@NNokia-jz6jb]

What software plugin?

[@NNokia-jz6jb]

​@@ibisumI am looking for a editor.

[@ShallRemainUnknown]

Yes, links, please. (Plus pic of the custom 1U A3000!)

[@borlibaer]

@@ShallRemainUnknown sorry, I have to much stuff to repair & to refurbish, that I havn't have found the time and space yet to handle that topic again. Possible mid of this year if all went right.

[@cl1xor]

This vid made me buy an a3000. It was only €100 but the encoders were bashed (like displaced) but functional. I figured i needed to replace them anyway so fine by me.

[@clearsidemusic]

Ok I’m getting one. I remember the keyboard mag I had with this on the cover lol

[@mr.DorianJames]

I love your videos. You're the only "reviewer" that pushes the limits of these machines. All the rest seem to demonstrate a standard issued synth patch that you can do with any synth. I'm like yeah but do something interesting.

[@circles79]

holy shit, that thing sounds great.

[@SynthAddict]

great demo

[@AveMcree]

DAMN!!!!!! This is actually a BEAST! Dope beat btw

[@jamessisson3703]

Superb stuff

[@KA0T]

Just bought a 5000 with ok encoders and scsi2sd. I have its phasers burnt in my mind since the first day i touched it back when it was released.

[@mikegeary8056]

I like it fucked up and digital sounding as well.

[@oyoyoyo7624]

never knew a love like this b4

[@aki_gong6271]

Pretty juicy as effect module isn't it? WoW

[@emilioguerid11]

Well, got one and it's amazing

[@b.benjamineriksson6030]

That went up in price quickly... Damn. Would love to have one.

[@Radar23]

sold my A4K with replaced knobs, SDcard reader, internal hdd and digital IO expansion card a year ago for about $500...hope the new owner uses it well

[@DaneXbsinthe]

Iirc you can assign those fx parameters to midi cc, so you can automate it all from a daw/controller. I need to get off my ass and get mine integrated back into my rig.

[@0e0]

ya i had a lot of fun like that..controlling the CCs with audio from my daw ...making envelope shaping delays and stuff

[@geluix69]

I own 2 bought new in 2001, kept both only used for FXs since then. the encoders are easy to fix.

[@NunyaB1s]

14:29 I don't think I've ever thought to try routing a chorus after a reverb. That was.. really weird and cool. (Even if I don't buy one of these, I'm going to steal several of your ideas lol)

[@aliceautomated]

Some of those reverbs are getting into Desmodus Versio territory

[@steenkoudahlfrederiksen6417]

Come On Encoders - Great name for a band, project or album title ☺

[@DaneXbsinthe]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/g4imhKqVmLOrgcU

[@0e0]

i forget the model but there is an FX rack that came out just before the A3000 that has all these fx inside..it probably sells more than those yamaha AxK series samplers

[@PedroAnastazi]

I was quite active back then, but i dont recall the device youre refering to. I know there were afew boxes out there, but I dont recall an all in one other than Berhingers rack range which were pushed hard along with their console mixer units. Then once VST effects were a thing (this before efficient VSTi) they started releasing their mixers with these same effects, which was great but they were still analogue mixers... I wish i could recall the unit youre refering to... What i DO recall however is the license with Berhinger for Yam to include the B's harmonic exciter (great big ugly white and balck box which was a hybrid exciter and chorus 2u high rack unit. This was tossed into Yams range from the A series, Motifs and RS.. Soz i cant help anymore...

[@0e0]

@@PedroAnastazi it's a yamaha FX box from around the same era and it has all those effects from the ax000 series (jump etc)

[@PedroAnastazi]

@@0e0 Gawd if i could get my hands on one of those... whooooooooo... life would be sweet... LOLLL I dno the unit youre refering to tbh, but im now on a mission to find it... Never heard o it, never heard that there was one, never knew Yamaha made standalone fx units I used to help do their store demos for the RM1x and RS7000 when they used to do their tours around australia (loooong before internet was what it is now) and still i never came across anything close to that description.. Do u know when it was released or what it was called?? If u find it, (google and other dont bring anything up) feel free to reply to this post... Meanwhile, imma keep lookin... LOLL Damnit.. a new Holy Grail... urgh... noooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!! LOLLL

[@WARDISWARD]

Yes yamaha released lot's of fx units , but non of these had all the A series series effects

[@0e0]

@@WARDISWARD they put out a standalone fx unit with all the weird aseries fx like jump etc. It wasn't very popular I just don't remember the model

[@NunyaB1s]

Do the encoders send/receive midi? Should be easy to bypass with modern midi controllers.

[@PedroAnastazi]

depends where u are on the matrix.. when in performance mode (playback of samples in a performance) CC works just like any other synth. In menu modes, like we see here, SYSEX and NRPN messages allow u to do what he was doing with the optical encoders. Program change messages are allocated when you load up or create a new sample and allocate it to a spot withing your project. It does it for you as it/you can set up multisample patches across the kb with pitch and velocity, BUT it also lets u set up a drum patch (different sample on each key) It also does looper type tracks just using a drum tracks set up and choose what type of pitch shift algorythm. Oh and it reads akai sample discs as well, so u can load them up without drama... Once its in your ram, you can do whatever u want with those samples but u cant write back to the floppies as its only read only until you convert it to A3k format.. so just use another disc or get a scsi set up happening...

[@WackyJackyTracky]

Does it put out the midi controller data for the fx-parameters? Can it be automated in the DAW?

[@SamiJumppanen]

Yep

[@Wizkidmelburn]

Phk me that's cool, and I just picked on up....wow

[@0e0]

a3000 is from 1997

[@MusicGearNuts]

noobs about to snowball A3/4/5k prices :P

[@flame2106]

im just here trying to fix my a4000s encoders, damn skippy things. Not funt when the amp suddenly jumps to 127

[@flame2106]

also those scratch and delays would be great midi synced

[@PedroAnastazi]

Theyre optical (as are most Yamaha under the screen clicky tactile menu knobs) , so you can dismantle the unit and give them a REALLY good clean, or just replace them to be on the safer side... A nice poster had commented here and provided the model number for replacement knobs. Look around and you'll find it

[@laughingthrushmusic5269]

Is there a blend knob?

[@PedroAnastazi]

are u refering to cross moduation between samples or mixing between track/parts? Blend is typicaly found in wavetable synths.. or VAs with a cross mod, like the JP8k..so u might want to discern what you mean by 'blend' when asking that coz there are different terms for the same thing OR one term for different things, depending on manufacturer

[@laughingthrushmusic5269]

No I mean a simple blend/mix knob for adjusting the dry/fx ratio

[@PedroAnastazi]

@@laughingthrushmusic5269 oh, now i get ya... to answer the q, shit yeah, of course..it'd be useless if you couldnt.. . The wet/dry thing goes through the mixertrack management matrix ... Each track falls within its lil part on the mixer section where u can assign outputs, gain, eq and FX sends (be it inserts or send fx.. u decide..) U can adjust wet/dry levels here.. coz its literally a mixer... Cant recall if you can tweak that FX chain algorithm, but i know the RS7000 lets u choose fx routing in serial, parallel, insert fx or send fx.. I could be wrong here in the next bit but im going with 20yr old memory ... I believe only insert fx (or unassigned fx) affects the line input.. Whqwta this means is that youve got your 16 tracks, plus the line in.. In that line in, the baseline setting you cofnigure any given fx to, is what will be used.. literally a line into the input, thru the fx chain directly (bypassing tracks and eq) and then straight out.. so its 16 fully configurable tracks PLUS one line in... That line in becomes configurable when u set up for recording IF you set that recording to sample project/local (allocating where that sample is gna live in the project) That sounds confusing but its not. when u sample, u can literally just sampke a bunch of stuff that all projects can access any time.. these are flat no eq, fx ONLY if youve set those up and they live nowhere in particlar.. THEN theres the local/project samples.. these all record the same way BUT those samples are exclusive to the individual project you allocate that sample to. What this lets u do (typically) is record ur sample or resample from internal, (this was designed for resampling) which then puts said sample onto one of the 16 tracks.. giving you those mixer & fx send options.. Hope that makes sense.. basicaly, once u do that, and u set up a track for this sample or bank to live on, THATS when u get access to the EQs and other track goodies and whatnot.. UNLESS your doin the whole resample thing (ill get ot in a min) .. Problem is, is that if u make a mistake, and sample into local/project, but then decide to reuse that sample, u cant extract it from the project/local... UNLESS you resample INTO common sample bank.. Dno why they do it this way, but thats the wya they do it.. At least for the RS anyway.. Now, one thing to note, is that loop remix DOES work on external sources.. This isnt exactly an 'effect' per se... but it basically acts as a programmable scatter function on a track or global level.. This made drum life easy, coz you literally create a drum bank on a track.. and instead of just having midi play through and do ur roles and hits and snares and whatnot across many tracks or across many tracks sending to ch10 (as you would send diferent individua ltracks from ur daw TO the ONE track in the HW... ) this lets u set up different drum loops (4 octaves i think) and trigger them as loops with individual key notes as needed. Now if youre doing complex drums, and sending hundreds of messages across midi to severla different bits of HW, that midi chain gets gluggy... BUT.. doing it THIS way, refines the midi situation without the need to 'thin out' ,which many synths/samplers at the time had a menu function for.. even the old mc303 had this.... literally interpolating the midi and purging unneccesary signals, "pings" or commands.. so if youre runnign a3k, get the firmware upgrade. Believe, me, it'll change EVERYTHING for the better.. plus a bonus 12 filters... Its like $30bux these days.. and there are engineers all over the world still providing this stuff.. even on ebay.. The OTHER thing is that once u set your 3 effects, thats it.. its global.. its 3 fx per track... Oh and if u use, lets say the jump fx, u cna resample that, THEN u can slice and dice it and toss it on a drum or pitch track and go use another effect.. Useful for mangled drums This is where resampling comes into play.. Im rambling now but Hope that helps

[@willfarrell5317]

Love your detailed responses. Good on ya mate ☺️👍

[@saren6538]

sounds great ... if you had to choose one the A3000, A4000 or A5000 ? As I see a few A4000 going really cheap ?

[@NunyaB1s]

A4k will double the polyphony. I'm not as sure about the A5k but it was likely meant to compare with the Akai S5000 which was a flagship sampler around that time. I *assume* the effects follow an upgrade path accordingly. The A3k has a steeper learning curve just because of its display.

[@PedroAnastazi]

Id go the a5000 if i had a choice... If you find one cheaper than the a3k, GET IT.. Its important to point out that there were two models of the a3k. Make sure you get the mark2 (it scrolls up and shows u the FW version on boot up) These were upgradable via firmware ( an eeprom chip from memory which was available free of charge at the time, so most if not all a3k's inevitably became mk2's unless the owner wasnt on the ball with magazines and warranty registries and whatnot... Anyways, the update provided basic loop remix functions, 12 additional filter types and combinations (mimicking dual filters on the one filter, coz theres only on real filter here) BUT with these dual filter 'types' you can set the second one (within that dual type) to behave like a second filter, in turn, dong the exact same thing as a second filter would do if it was there. Really clever way to do it tbh.. Umm what else did they do.. oh, they refined the menu response, tweaked the midi glitches which were rampant across most hardware devices like this (even the JP8000 had atrocious midi implementation) I THINK they added the Berhinger harmonic exciter effect box into this (the big white & black monster which did some crazy beautiful things... but I would be lying if i said that was in the FW update or whether it was already there during release... it was so long ago... Anyways... The a3000mk2 is pretty much an a4k. The A4k has a prettier screen and better scsi and disc management. Its also faster in processing, chopping etc The A3k mk2, if u update the firmware, does EVERYTHING the 4k can do.. .from effects to multisamples to bank management, to sample slicing and dicing to loop remix and all that jaz... Oh and ALL models inherantly read Akai disc format. If u have akai floppies, just pop them in and use the import function as opposed to the open function, much like if youre using a Floppy to USB thumbdrive adapter. If you have Akai CD's just copy the files to floppies and load them up. As you cant connect the a3k and a4k hdds straight to a HDD, you cant copypasta files straight to the hdd then plug it back in. You have to go through scsi or floppy (or emulated floppy) for the Yams to convert them to Proprietary Yamaha format... Tedious but hey, Akai was king for sample libraries... Its why yamaha didnt really push the sample thing all that much.. they just licensed it form Akai (by then, the MPC's were dying out... Apps liek Vaz modular, reaktor and rebirth were in full force (and being sampled or stemmed typically) and DAWs like fruity loops, Orion, Ableton and Acid were kicking off as PC prices dropped and power increased.. Apple were in the process of buying out Emagic (logic pro audio) which is what i used to use on my old pentium2 with 384mb ram and a 16mb diamond viper gfx card and the OG soundblaster Live card with digital daughter board, inc mini midi sockets run through a massive Logic console and controller desk. Not cheap... LOLLL Top of the line back in 2000, now my $160 chinaphone can do it all I digress.. (i do that often.. ) Both the a3k and the a4k have 64 voice (not note, but actual sounds, meaning loops, samples, drums and multisamples etc with a memory up to 64mb + 4mb built in. Not sure what the note polyphony is, i believe its either 96 256 or 384. The RM1x and RS7k both have 96 npqn The a5k is identical to the a4k in all respects, other than processing power (ie speed of loading and menu diving) BUT the most important difference being voice count. The a5k is 128 voice poly with up to 128mb ram. From memory, i think they also tweaked the scsi file system. I know the a3k/a4k use a Yamaha proprietary file systems, but i THINK the a5k uses basic fat23.. I could be wrong about that (probably am wrong) on that but its been 20yrs since ive had my a3k mk2 and a5k.. At this time between 2001 and 2003, i believe the Akai Z series had only just come out (or was about to) , and other Akai rack units (with removable faceplate) were too expensive for most to simply upgrade to it. So cost wise, the Yams were cheaper, but, in 2002 we're STILL talking about $3500AUD for an a5k and $2600 for an RS7000 new. Adjusted for inflation, youre looking at $5851 for the A5k and $4220 for the RS . Thats without digital expansion boards and memory/hdd Oh i forgot to mention. The RS7000 is basically a cross between the a3kmk2 and a4000 with a rompler and sequencer built in .. It had the a4k HW but the a3k SW basically... so there was a firmware update which didnt mess up performance. Everything is identical from effects to line input management to memory to speed.. It too had a firmware update (this time via memory card and a burn into the eeprom.. which is wonderful BUT Im surprised none of these backyard hackers didnt try to mess with it (as we now see with the old korg electribes.. but i digress...) Anyways, it added everything which the a4k can do OTHER than manage multisamples. It used a newer & cleaner pitch shifting algorithm and different envelope block (apparently), so Yam held a position that multisamples were uneccesary for this device coz it was 'dance music' based while the OG Motif (with PLG card slot and higher spec closer to the A5k) musicians tool... Truth be told, I couldnt tell the difference between my a3kmk2, a5k and the RS. They all pretty much sounded the same IMO aside from velocity meta'd multisamples. I havent had issues with pitching my sounds across the KB so multisamples werent a problem for me. I got rid of the a3k and the a5k AND my FS1r AAAAAND my JP8000 like a dumbass & now im kicking myself HARD... I wish I knew these were gna explode in price once the DAW hype died down .. still made 3x my money back 15ish years ago, but thats beside the point.. Anyways... I love my RS and id never sell it... not unless an RS7 mk2 comes out, but yamaha have dropped the ball.. (I digress... again... ) Back to the samplers and asking which ones better.. The RS has a master effects unit (insanely awesome compressor) and its loop remix function has been jacked up to the moon... its insane. Think Breaktweaker and ReCycle.. in realtime on anything, be it midi or audio.. not think that all this was 20yrs ago.. Oh and it had a customisable LFO (U can draw in your own LFO shape .. ie mimic sidechaining) which Roland are now touting drawable lfo in their MC707/Fantom ...Roland were 20yrs late to that party, but anyways... smh... Yam didnt do the whole A5k coz that unit and the Motif were supposed to be the 'flagships", so they were tryin to do a Roland cripple hammer... Thing is the OG Motif6/8 was identical to the RS, down to the memory.. BUT it had a PLG slot.. which let u turn the thing into a DX7 or AN1x. They had some others too, but these 2 were the bees knees... This too is only 64voice with 64mb max memory, BUT 2 of those voices are (I believe) linked to the line input (which can be affected by effects like we see in this video) OR the master effect.. which is post standard fx in the chain of heirarchy As there is no digital out without the AIEB board (the A's used the AIEB1 while the motif and RS used AIEB2) , you can add another 500 to 1000 to the cost.. these days theyre what poeple are looking for coz digital eveything now & as theres no USB audio, digital audio was next best thing to a clean signal. THing is, ppl these days WANT the warmth of the DA converters... .. back then not so (one reason i went mostly SW...) ... but tbh, these units have built in EQ, and enough effects and compressor settings (inc EQ IN the effects) so as to get away with only a stereo out. Hell if it was crap, or if there was no workaround, people wouldnt buy it in the first place... So... to answer ur question...If u can find a dirt cheap motif, grab it.These would be cheaper coz form factor and level of useage... . its a jacked rS7000 with a kb and PLG expansion socket. If u can find a5k cheap and u dont need the KB and virtual syths of the AN/DX daughter boards, grab it. The a5k (and all the other A's) DOES HAVE a built in VA synth anyway.. Dno if theyd be cheaper than the motifs, and u cant cross modulate one sample to another (liek the JP Xmod or the DX FM algorythms) BUT you CAN set up several samples with effects and whatnot and then RESAMPLE that into a new patch... and youve heard the effects, so theyre ALL the same across ALL devices... If u can get the a5k cheaper than the a4k or a3k, DO IT.. .a4k is identical with only half the voices or the a5k anyway.... Hope this hepled...

[@PedroAnastazi]

@@NunyaB1s Soz man, i hate correcting people , so pls dont see this as a dig or anything... I just added to your reply though.. The a3k and a4k both had 64 voice (sounds at a time) polyphony with 16 part multi (as did the RS7k and OG Motif 6/8 which were chopped down to 62 coz master fx, loop remix & jump/pitch fx buffer ) Anyways... The a5k had 128voices with 16 parts multi. The other difference was RAM memory, where the a4k/a3k BOTH had a max of 64mb + 4mb (As did the RS and Motif) while the a5k had a 128mb max memory. ALL had scsi interface as standard (50pin) (internal or external or both) and ALL load their systems & samples identically. ie, load up either a sample or project one by one or a combo project with its respective samples, OR load up a global setup on boot up inc all your projects (better for live stuff and IMO flowy mojo workflow)... which IMO was the best way to go about it. Just a lil slower on boot up and before shutting down.. Gta remember, these units DONT stream sounds off Hard disc or memory card or floppy... Everything goes to RAM then u do your thing...then u save it... ALL 3 had the same effects unit. Down to the settings within the fx.. They also (eventually) shared the same filters, lfos, envelopes etc (ill explain what i mean by eventually ina sec) The RS and the a4k/a5k share a VERY similar loop remix function which was slightly improved over the a3kmk2 when it comes to options and styles of choppage but the main premise was the same. The A3kmk2 'eventually' matched the a4k through a firmware update with the only difference between the two being the speed of processing, display (obv) and loop remix tweakability. That simple FW update thru a eeprom swap out (free frm Yam at the time, like the RM1x) squeezed in 12 more filters in addition to the original six which the mk1 had... It added afew other things and refined midi and setup etc but in the end, Yam did that for a3k users coz back then Yam were tyrin to get into the groovebox market and support their loyal customers. Akai had the market back then..I honestly dno why as I found the S series and the MPCs rather ho hum tbh. They werent as 'live' capable as the RM1x/RS7k or Aseries samplers... Sure u could do things live, but not like the RM/RS/Aseries does them live.. The a3k was stupidly expensive and was before the coming of software samplers like sampletank, samplitude, gigasampler etc. The a4k and a5k were relased around the same time, the only difference between the two was strorage.. I think the whole storage fixation and cost per gb (or cost per mb in this case) inevitably stopped around 2013 to 2015... They wanted to tap in & beat the Akai s5000/s6000 and soon to be zSeries market.. BUT.. by the time A5k was released, loop based devices were a thing and loop based daws like Fruity loops, Orion and Ableton were released. So when Akai finally released their Z series, it dies in the arse coz PC were capable of doing the same thing and more... And for about 15years, thats how it stayed. I dno what intro'd the resurgence of HW though... Maybe it was the dirtier grittier unclean genres or maybe producers prefered a tactile response after gettin their hands on an Ableton Live Push unit which married HW and SW PROPERLY without giving u a migraine.. Once u use a Push, you dont wnat to go back to mouse and KB, so the seed and sentiment of tactile music making and live loop launching & everything else tactile control gives is more than understandable... hell ive lived this way forever.. I only do sw when I have to... everything else is hardware, own to the stems and complicated polyrythms or chords and whatnot back then, memory and HDD was the price gauge killer, not so much spec... so the a3k/a4k went for a little over half the price of the a5k... The a4k and a5k were released around the same time.. just after the RS7k and Motif and before the SW DAW boom. Around 1999 through to 2003 Apple had bought out Emagic (Logic) Creative Labs bought out Ensonique, and cakewalk released CC controller panels which let u control your HW automation via SW. SBLive came out with Ensonique's Emu10k chip on a card u can buy for $500 with a straight up midi & digital daughterboard... That was a HUGE deal back then... Soundfonts ecame a thing (phenomenal sample library management system TBH) and mist ppl used their PCs as high end samplers... It was cheaper, faster, used your system ram, was tight in latency, cheaper power bills and cheaper insurance coz ur not insuring so much gear... Then VSTi's kicked off when Steinberg opened up the VST/VSTi doors to the rest of the SW world... that was lucrative and many of the standalone apps like Rubber Duck, TS404, Sampletank, Samplitude, Gigasampler etc either died or were converted into VSTi variants. God i ramble... imma stfu... Back to topic... As for flagships, studios used Akais coz more often than not, synths were stupidly expensive, and it was cheaper to buy a sampler and have all your mates pitch in their sample discs and everyone shares their sounds.. Whether it be official or 3rd party or private sample banks, mailing discs out made life easy... they also work well, sound great and all that jazz, but in the end, it came down to price and maintenance of sound libraries. sample discs made buckets of money.. and to tap into the Akai ecosystem and entice Akai owners to jump ship, Yam decided to licence Akai file formats in read only. What this meant was that Aseries, RS7k and Motif could read and edit Akai samples (and rewrite edited patches into Yam format (coz the akai readabilty is ONLY read only..... In any case, this cross platform thing instantly opened the door for producers to get their hands on a 16part monster, with realtime synth style editing on sampled sounds.... THAT was the HUGE whopping wtf moment... coz that level of realtime editing on the Aseries, made akai sample banks virtually limitless... In todays dollar, youre lookin at gear valued between $5 to 8k AUD for any of the Aseries. .. Actually higher coz u also have to get memory, digital out board, HDD/floppies, scsi drive.. the RS7k, i remember i bought it for $2600 back in 2001ish... Fully loaded in todays $ its about $5k... Ahh.. those were the good old days of synth versus samplers.. hardware versus software..... mario vs sonic, Ken vs Ryu, Panasonic vs Sony, Canon vs Nikon... God i need a holiday.. .and a time machine... :D

[@ShallRemainUnknown]

​​@@PedroAnastaziWOW! Reading your two posts here was quite a ride - props for your enthusiasm and taking the time - BUT, aside from the frenzy evoking you're "on" something 😂 - you got so much WRONG from a technical aspect (and contradicted yourself a few times over! 😅) Anyway, I couldn't thumbs-up the posts because of the inaccuracies, but it was entertaining and nostalgic; the OP is best off just downloading original sales brochures and reading pro reviews (e.g. SOS magazine) to get good, comprehensive info. Owner's manuals beyond that (all free and readily available, if OP really cares for an answer and isn't terribly lazy.) Finally, tons of specific Q/A posts on forums over the years, most still available online. Cheers, and thanks again! 🍻👍😁

[@PedroAnastazi]

@@ShallRemainUnknown Voice to text is a wonderful thing... not so wonderful to read... 🤣 Of course, manuals & oldskool printouts of your customised hints & tips are always the go-to but I don't see anything wrong with a guy who's deep dived all Yam machines & whos dsy job was to use, demo &/or train ppl on the gear. I appreciate all feedback & if I'm inaccurate, please feel free to correct my booboo!! I personally hate being "that" guy but no hate lollll. Were all trying to help each other. Back when RM1x was released, there wasn't many resources, so we had a dodgy old message board called Yamaha dot Co dot UK & rs7korg, & also operated my businesses with an online support service, so im in the habit of ridiculous detailed text explanations. In any case, if I'm wrong, I'm happy to be corrected & wear it lollll

[@sudbenzer6603]

wow wtf?