YAMAHA FS1R Demo & Review

[@purplejewls2107]

this guy is such a master of keys his playing is phenomenal

[@nickmariotti4241]

His demos are among the best to be found anywhere.

[@Astralwurksdk]

I had one years ago and I absolutely LOVED it. shimmering cold FM sound that NO software can ever emulate. The FS1 is a PAIN to program though, but when you do, it's unreal what you can make that thing do.

[@ampdoc]

Oh gosh, I had one too, and I still don't know what to make of it. I wrote tomes of sysex data for it, never to come up with what I really intended, absolute bloody nightmare to program! Yamaha gear of the 90-ies was the weirdest wild world: you never knew what to expect.

[@StuartRochabrunt]

9:20 This is so beautiful. A song can be easily made from this chords.

[@emulatorthree7349]

And this guy knows his Yamaha synths quite well,,,Katsunori UJIIE is a creative director, composer, arranger, and keyboardist. And He has a great career in field of software production, musical education, and producing. As a sound designer, He produced for Yamaha digital equipments like DX, SY, QY, VL, EX, CS, MOTIF, etc and ...

[@InsertName125]

It's nice to see someone who can illustrate what a device can do by actually being abl to play!!!

[@illDiology]

After all these years we finally have the first FS1R demo on youtube. Thank you!

[@DadoSimicStudiostriver]

I never heard such a great FM sound,pristine,full and punchy at the same time.And of course crystal clear which is the most famous character of this type of synthesis. Too bad it is very hard to find it nowadays.

[@intelligenceservices]

@animaser this is a synthesizer that deserves its own parameter for parameter Hardware controller.

[@dvamateur]

FM and formant filters are such amazing synthesis methods allowing for great level of expressiveness. It's kind of sad that Yamaha abandons production of such cool products. Sample playback is cool and all, but I don't understand why everybody is so obsessed with sample playback only, and not much else.

[@dvamateur]

+Michael Loutris Yeah, I used to have EX5. I bought for $1,650 and sold for $150. Yes, there's no market for it, and I got rid of it in favor of second SY99 which I like much more. Oh well, it was a big mistake for me to get the EX5, big regrets and lots of waste of money.

[@dvamateur]

Michael Loutris Mainly aestetics, it has more of a bar of soap shape than keyboard instrument, and also someone had been tempering with LCD which was not aligned properly. Yes, I have OCD. eBay seller ripped me off big time. I paid $1,250 for it + the $400 16MB Flash RAM. It was like three years ago. I had though I'd like the EX5, but it didn't grow on me, and I decided to get rid of it. Got another MINT SY99 instead. Oh well, we make mistakes, I made a big one. Now, I am far more careful with buying things.

[@dddux]

+Andrew Piatek Can you point me to another EX5 for $150 please? It's an instant buy for me. Preferably EX5R rack version, but I'd take a keyboard version for that price any time.

[@t.n.3819]

I really wish Yamaha would return to their 90s/early 2000s weirdness again. The Reface line was OK, and the MODX stuff is cool, but I really want to see them do more stuff like the FS1R, SY99, DX200, AN1x, RM1x, etc. But sadly, Yamaha seems to be content with Roland and Korg dominating the synth game for the time being.

[@Andronicus2007]

I think the AN1X and AN200/DX200 were quite successful, but the FS1R was definitely a flop. I'm also a fan of the VL synths, the VL-70m is a great little module IMO.

[@ashkirby8896]

Don’t forget 80s weirdness as well!😄

[@KastriotHoxha]

I feel sorry for those 9( at the moment!) deaf downvoters.. good work Katsunori ;)

[@TechCrazy]

His musical pieces are out of this world. So melodious. He is just not a great synth guru but a great composer as well.

[@jokeyman2943]

Beautifully played-after listening to a Podcast from Manny Fernandez discussing the development of this, and owning an SY77 since 1989, and now 2 Alesis Fusions with FM sounds that are unbelievable-some sounds approach this for complete "twistedness" and otherworldly, although even the old FB-01 had some pretty developed FM sound effects for weirdness way back then-the Fusion has formant filters like this FS1R, which I have yet to really exploit and apparently neither has anybody else after listening to musitrackjp-I've always felt there aren't too many people who were ever able to completely exploit what FM can do right from the beginning-until I heard this guy! Yes this is FM on steroids, but what amazing sounds can come out of this. Now I know how the Fusion came up with some of its FM sounds that blow me away even in 2023 and I am no newby-sounds I've not heard anywhere until I heard this demo. FM, what an underestimated creative system of sound design.Time to go back into the woodshed....what an amazing musician can do with one box. But I guess it has to be this one.....

[@dikochi690311]

YAMAHA FS1R、すごいですね。冒頭のボイスの音聴いてひっくり返りそうになりました！！抜群に良い音がしますね、本当に。

[@VincentsVideoVisions]

This guy is like Yoda.

[@powerdx7383]

Wow, the FM synthesis engine at its best! I would love to see the 'revolution' of the FM synthesis engine by Yamaha, making an amazing pure FM synthesiser that nothing can touch it, even without AWM2. I have the Yamaha DX7 Mk1 and TG77. I don't use the TG77 anymore, as I lost interest in hybrid synth. Even with the DX7 FM synthesis engine (6 sine wave operators), I can push it further and further to create amazing male & female choir!!!!!! Yes, you can still get amazing sound from the original DX7!!!!!!! Problems with those hybrid synths are that their sampled sounds go out of date quickly. Instead of pouring money into AWM2 or romplers, they can divert that R&D money to make a greatest 'pure' FM synth. I would love to be involved in the development of such a synth.......... That's my dream. Cheers, Power DX7.!!

[@NinjaDeathTeddy]

100% agree! How long has it been since this was released?

[@t.n.3819]

@@NinjaDeathTeddy 20 years!

[@njdewit]

www.bipolaraudio.nl presents FM. BISON

[@njdewit]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/npvOoYaMaqereJI

[@franckmuller-astruc5673]

It looks like new synth sounds go like the humanity : in the wrong direction.

[@ElectricCelt56]

Nice chops- cool jazz voicings. Beautiful synth filters, timbres and formants. And finally, good sub-titles.

[@HenritheHorse]

@@agerven It has digital filters.

[@agerven]

@@HenritheHorse Of course you are right. Don't know why I ever made that remark!

[@WhyBeF]

I got this synth shortly after I bought the Yamaha EX5. I love both of them and still use them. The FS1r comes alive when you use a PC editor to program it. It is a PITA trying to program this thing from the front panel otherwise (an inspiration killer!). There are several PC based editors floating around the net. The two I have used are pretty good and I'm about to try ZeeEdit.

[@layzer80]

this guy can make a toilet flush sound majestically magnificent

[@stilllearningtruth]

i just imagined that and yup, he could.

[@tonicombs7242]

Have you seen him play the modeling synth? He kills that shit.

[@therealniksongs]

This is true. He does some of the best demos out there. But it certainly helps that he is a terrific player and takes the time to really get to know the instruments he demos. I am sure the Japanese synth manufacturers use him for factory demos. And if they don't, they should!

[@Heavy_Distortion]

FS1R is the best digital synth ever produced. It's sheer capability is stunning. Solaris and K5000 pale in comparison. Buy the FS1R. Period.

[@jayteejr8080]

Hahahahaha...

[@snuppssynthchannel]

Not true, but its fantastic yes.

[@anonymusum]

I´m not impressed. Most of it are effect sounds or gimmicks or sounds that may work for commercials or movies but not within a band. The rest is something that you can achieve with a SY77/99 and even supass it easily.

[@snuppssynthchannel]

I respectfully disagree with you. I own a SY77 and i dont think that the effects of that particular synth is better then those on this synth, however the SY77 is a very capable machine and can be acquired for a much better price. I personally disagree with Swankrecords and his claim that the K5000 and Solaris pale in comparison, its simply not true, as both of those synth are quite different from this one, when it comes to synthesis, this being Fm and the Solaris is a wavetable/formant synth and the K5000 is a highly capable additive synth, perhaps the most capable hardware synth of its type.

[@snuppssynthchannel]

anonymusum Learn to bloody program it. This is the best FM synthesizer to date. Nothing even comes close.

[@TechCrazy]

Notice after playing a bit, he breaks out into this excited talk about the synth and looks at it like its his baby. Pure Passion. Katsunori san, you are awesome !

[@franckmuller-astruc5673]

Who could dislike a sound like the 'lead' @ 6:50, and all others by the way ! Fantastic 20 years old technology.

[@geoffk777]

This is a pretty good demo, but I think thar Katsunori-san empisized the FX sounds at the expense of some of the musical sounds. The pads on the FS1R are exceptional, and some of the string and brass sounds are very good as well. Everything sounds very clean and almost glassy, which really stands out in a mix. And, as he said, the electric pianos are awesome--even better than a DX or TX unit. If you can get one, this is a great synth. If you can't find one, there is a Kontact sample set which has some pretty good sounds, although a real one is still better.

[@Raydensheraj]

The bass sounds you can make with this are fantastic. Also for ambient type of sounds there is hardly a synth - maybe Korgs Wavestation - that has such a unique sound

[@djthomaswhite]

I love my FS1R! Thanks for the demo. I immediately went and checked mine out after leaving it dormant for too long. Great videos as usual (all 4 new videos!)

[@jimmied01]

This dude rocks! Lots of knowledge and ability.

[@Andronicus2007]

I wonder if this man did some of Yamaha's demo songs in the 90s, something sounds familiar to me.

[@chieftp]

I had 3 of these at one time. I bought 2 new when Brasswind and Woodwind was blowing them out for $350. I ended up reselling them shortly thereafter for $500 each. they were great synths and made some very unique sounds. it's one of those things I probably would have kept if I were rich and had a huge studio to collect synths. no way in hell I'd pay $1000 for one.

[@synthrodriguez7518]

Fast forward 4 years, they're going for $2000.

[@antoniocalimero1173]

No, the real sold price is 1000-1200

[@illDiology]

Thanks for the english subtitles. It's funny you mention Vocaloid, both made by Yamaha and I think the vocaloids use formant synthesis as well - fs1r was their granddaddy. Also some great sounds demo'ed here, it would be cool if someone demonstrated the possibilities of making your own patches from scratch on this beastly synth.

[@Barefoot67]

one of the coolest synths around, have to get one

[@wilcandou]

Awesome for those of us who are into sound design. Can do anything with this.

[@javiertrevino5535]

great. Excellent FM sounds. Thank You

[@MatthewChristianMurray]

I own far more VST instruments than I care to admit. Virtually any classic sound, I have a sample of the actual patch, or in the case of some of the digital sounds, software versions of the instruments that made them (D-50, M1, Wavestation, DX7). I actually have some FS1R samples too, through UVI’s Synth Anthology collections (I have v3 and v4). You know what, though? I was able to play an actual FS1R once, on a visit to the home of a bigtime vintage synth collector/player, and the FS1R is basically the ONLY vintage synth I’ve come across that I can’t closely approximate through a VST. My favorite synth oddity is the Ensoniq Fizmo. The Fizmo samples I have come very close to the demos I’ve heard (unfortunately never seen/heard one in person). They’re still far more limited than having a real one would be, but they sound like one. There’s actually a free/cheap VST (OB-Xd) that can come uncannily close to emulating the “Oberheim sound”. Yet the samples I have do not sound as rich or full as the fairly basic DXano patch I played on an FS1R (through a very nice MIDI controller) on that guy’s house. There was something almost magical about that sound. I can’t currently afford to drop several grand on a 25-year-old instrument (or on anything else, for that matter), but owning an FS1R (and a Fizmo) is definitely on my bucket list.

[@AUDIONAUTAS_TV]

With a software editor this synth is massively powerful, there's nothing out there that sounds like the FS1R.

[@emulatorthree7349]

I have Yamaha TG 33 and its a dynamo...,but it would have a hard time trying to keep up with this monster... Its one of the best Ive heard but they are expensive... But both are awsome synths by YAMAHA..., And this man, HE'S AWSOME ON THE KEYS WOW.....

[@dmomcilovic9185]

Rare machine, for those who know ! Going up in price a lot lately, classic already!

[@truthmanifestingtruth]

animaser good buy! They’re $700 in some places now.

[@bukuroprince]

FS1R shows that DX and Miku are linked not only visual design but also technology inside. Yamaha is unique maker.

[@bernardb2n]

I always enjoy his review....like this guy, though i don't understand what he's sayin'. Great job.

[@cruzlawson]

Your playing is absolutely beautiful!

[@BarryWarne]

Perhaps - but even with Aturia's CS80 software, the vital missing ingredient is the controller, the interface. The poly-aftertouch keyboard, the massive console, the various sliders and buttons. That all counts. You can physically lean into a CS80 and shape the sound. Hard to do on your Axiom controller without breaking that and the Ikea table it sits on, in two. Hulk get angry. Hulk like real CS80. Hulk smash puny software synth.

[@therealniksongs]

Hulk can break into bank vault and steal money needed to buy real CS-80. ;-)

[@lars1588]

Kawai included formant filters on their K5000 series of additive synthesizers in the late nineties. It's such a versatile sound-shaping tool.

[@lundsweden]

Kawai K5000 has formants in addition to additive and PCM subtractive synthesis. It does'nt sound like this, but yeah you can get choir sounds out of it, plus many other sounds.

[@powerdx7383]

ヤマハの最上級のFMシンセですね。オリジナルDX７でも機能を最活用してリアルな女性＆男性コーラス音が出せます。AWM2音源無しで、FM音源の’改革’を行い素晴らしいFMシンセを出して欲しいですね。サンプル音源はすぐに’期限切れ’になってしまうので、FM音源の改革に研究開発のお金をつぎ込んでFM音源だけの物凄いシンセを開発すれば良いのでは............ 夢ですが、そんな研究に携わって見たいです................

[@tristanchroma9014]

I've already acquired an TX81z, and love it- especially since the price tag was cheaper than some used consumer-level VAs go for. But I would absolutely love an FS1R- unfortunately, the price tag is exorbitant.

[@notgonnatakeit1]

Yeah but how much is a good analog polysynth, vintage or new, or even a digital like the Virus or a waldorf? You certainly don't get any premium synth that could be considered the best of it's kind for $1k

[@Kemuzin1]

この人が 抜群にっていうと、凄く欲しくなる笑

[@jurikonradi8941]

Great demo, thank you.

[@skunchtv]

dont know japanese but it dont matter THIS IS GREAT

[@ratchetboo]

ujiie u are the best. you and jexus should get together and demo the moog one

[@tonlangenbach4881]

You are great Ujie.................good explanations , .................Still playing in the Band ????....

[@stefbarone]

I love this thing!!!

[@FunkBach]

Ahh... the piano sound at 3:45 is one of the best I've heard.

[@oupahens9219]

Cool. Now, can the Montage do all of that as well?

[@therealniksongs]

That is a very good question. I would say yes to some of the things since it does have 8-operator FM, but no to others since it does not have Formant Synthesis. I had a Montage 7 for a while and currently have an MODX6 (same sound engine) and also have a DX5 (two DX7s (6-op FM) in one instrument, but, like all synths from that time, no onboard effects.) All of these are remarkably capable, but you really have to spend some time with FM to appreciate it.

[@oupahens9219]

@@therealniksongs Well, yes, I think the Montage is building up on the Reface, with these "normal" SAW and SQUARE at your fingertip instead of just "SINE". Montage can do all of the original DX7 stuff, but none of the SY77 stuff. As from the TX81Z there were 7 additional waveforms added, in the SY77 15 to the normal sine wave. Reface has only Square and such. Montage has no ways to rearrange the Feedback loops or make more than one. And it has no way to use a wave from the AWM section as part in the AFM section. No RCM in sight. It does not sound bad tough, since SY85 they really tried to get the Rompler sound section on top of Roland and Korg. Yeah, sometimes they did, then, no. Then they reintroduced FM. But never as complex as in the SY77.

[@Raydensheraj]

The best Hadrware FM based Synthesizer ever made - and as a Bonus you get Formant Synthesis...the Choir Sounds are fantastic...man I wished they would release a Vsti or Native Instruments would Update their great FM8 to make it possible to import Fs1r Sounds...

[@akiyoshimizuno4491]

解説すばらしい

[@LegendaryWoke]

A classic must have!

[@KiNeTiCsOuNdPrIsM]

best synth i know for really synthetic voices , i personally think for dx7 sounds the older modules are better as this is so clean but its a stunning synth for soft ambient sounds and synthetic choirs etc .A very spaceage synth....

[@mikeb2575]

It just sounds like a choir patch from a regular synth going through a small stone phaser to me, whats all the fuss about ?

[@agerven]

@Mike B. The fuss is about extended FM synthesis (now also in the Montage and MODX) and the formants. Every acoustical instrument has formants, given by its physical shape and material. So formant synthesis not only applies to vocoding and voice synthesis but also to enhanced and dynamid violins, saxophones etc etc. Although there are synths with a (one!) formant filter, you would need a huge modular to be able to apply multiple, fast modulated formants in a sound. You can easily do that with the FS1R.

[@IanCanefire]

I think his demos are fantastic. The FS1r is selling for US$800 these days and that is just ridiculous. Get a V-synth XT or a regular vsynth with the VC2 card and you are so much better off. I think if you got your hands on the FS1R when they were still cheap($250) then you made out well.

[@alphabeets]

Going for $1700 USD now!

[@NinjaDeathTeddy]

Damn this is a great video. Would love one. Don't wanna think about how much it costs.

[@gpr4eva]

Yamaha definitely needs to bring this technology back. Maybe in their next version of the Montage they can revamp this and reintroduce it as a new engine. I almost forgot... ADD A DAMN MIDI SEQUENCER!

[@janrehak8027]

very nice ! this will be very usefull in new platform of audio recording... in track will be placed new track with synthesis! i like it.. there will be more details in high pass frekvencies and middle.. and high with bass... i wait for this in daw.. in this time there is easy wave from sound.. saple.. but there must be real synthesis...

[@stevenyjtsai]

FS1R is the masterpiece of ultimate FM spirit althought it's not so pure FM but truely with FM core inside... I believe many professional guys are very love FM cus it sounds extremely crystal-clear and clean like spiritual or god voiced-like thing. In a word, I strongly suggest you guys to get one for worship .... due to FM has gone for over decade.....from mainstream marketing though~

[@agerven]

Wow, great video again. Why did Yamaha release so few of these units, they're extremely rare and almost impossible to obtain now. Reissue please!

[@dmomcilovic9185]

agerven , re issue won’t happen, get one if you can they come up for sale from time to time. Going up in price more and more

[@agerven]

@@dmomcilovic9185 I just thought, like they did with their reface series.

[@djinferno8690]

Very nice. But what can you do with an old Yamaha MU-100 unit?

[@josephwright5921]

Add a high-end reverb or delay to it and you would be surprised at how great it can sound in a track

[@letMeSayThatInIrish]

What a lovely old thing.

[@SuperDENIST]

6:41 remembers me the soundtracks of JazzJackrabbit 2. really awesome those synth leads

[@janrehak8027]

yes tone generator is soundcard and soundcrad chipset is based on fm soundgenerator but synthesis have another parameters for manipulate and of course another charaxter for manipulation in high pases for hd quality... in cause of res equa .. what based it is ofcourse...

[@bnzza07]

svidja mi se

[@y34r]

1000$ for used fs1r on ebay ,...what do you think? this thing can do very deep customization ,no doubt about that,including 8 ops,and formant shaping ,...but for 1000$? tx802, tx81z,tg77 or casio vz-10m might be good cheap alternative

[@VangelisWorld]

Sounds is very good.

[@thorndust5329]

Does Yamaha employ FM synth in their XG compatible MU-series synths?

[@WV591]

Awesome sounding synth but mother to program even harder than TG/SY and TX/DX.

[@霧雨針名]

音作り難しそうだけどほしい

[@wreckage-vs5jv]

8 OPs plus formant shaping makes it unique, not fully explored even to this day I guess, regret selling it in the early 2000s kind of.

[@tristanchroma9014]

Considering my pretentious detest for software synths, I'm in the market for a hardware FM synth as a substitute to FM8. KZbin commentators and Katsunori, what might you recommend as decent hardware gear for FM/Formant synthesis? I'm not particularly looking for vocoding capabilities; my R3 covers that area well enough as is. But complex FM operator setups or very lengthy, high-band formant records would be great.

[@TheMetalMusicMachine]

One thing is to try to emulate a MiniMoog wich is completely analog from its oscillators to its filters and amp, or a Juno wich is a DCO based oscillator but analog filters and amp section. Other thing is to try to emulate a DX7. But if the synth engine is based on DSP like this, is not that hard to emulate it. The only analog thing in this synth is its output jack BUT sounds great anyway!

[@sharingeconomies]

Where can I find your compositions online?

[@anibalromero4502]

Hello, congratulations!! What kind of synthesis is it?..

[@bigbang4906]

great !

[@Blagotebi1]

This was the best! 4-3-2-1...

[@lemonslice2233]

This thing is mind-boggling.

[@UniQueWerkx]

Can you make the FS1R say what you want or is it only what comes from factory? I'm guessing that's the formant sequences part.

[@AlexKislitsyn]

checkout "fseq-flash" - it converts .aiff to fs1r .syx. You can play with it in your browser too and edit the formant sequence without the fs1r

[@BarryWarne]

Any chance of English subtitles ? Would love to hear what's going on.

[@dikochi690311]

この動画をみんな見て、FS1Rの中古価格が吊り上っていると思う。

[@Coowallsky]

Montage, baby!!

[@SeverityOne]

The FS1R is nice, but not "asking prices on eBay and Reverb" nice. I've seen listings for €2750, which is absolutely insane. These weren't sold very well (just like the Ensoniq Fizmo/Fizmo Rack and the Kawai K5000S/W/R), because they're just a little too weird. That basic premise hasn't changed, so why they ought to bring in three times the origin list price doesn't make sense? Just because they're rare? You have to wonder why they're rare. In my view, these shouldn't fetch more than €600, but it'll be a while before we reach that point.

[@christianblade2052]

It would be so totally awesome if someone would make a new FM synth under full real time control.

[@BarryWarne]

always looks so easy : )

[@mossyburger]

god of synth!

[@Pnut-qd4em]

6:43 I want to buy it just for that sound .

[@tristanchroma9014]

I guess I have a vocoder already so it wouldn't add much with the formants. I did end up purchasing a TX81z for a four-op FM, but only as it was pretty cheap. I don't know, there's just something about running an instrument A->D that gives magic to the recording. It's probably entirely a sound placebo in my head, but it's hard to give up buying physical boxes for cheaper and superior software.

[@WV591]

I have one very amazing sounding and powerful synth but complicated as hell. makes DX synths childs play.

[@dddux]

+WV591 There is a Windows and OSX editor for it... ;)

[@maxhult830]

There's even an iPad editor made for the TBMS app, 80 pages - 1000 parameters or something... Complex synth, yes.

[@topheecheesecake]

"No stopping now" :D

[@zedster911]

mmmmm Affordable Tomita sound creator....

[@fuckingharpsichord]

i need this cause i want to make japanese music

[@neolojism]

@LunatiqueSF I think that part of his success may be due to the fact that his biggest fans have no idea what he's saying. I'm not implying that his commentary is not good, it's just that by being in a foreign language, the average youtube joe shmoe can just sit back and enjoy his playing technique and sense of aesthetic without agreeing/disagreeing with or being distracted by his comments, whatever they are.

[@TheEdwin73]

Yamaha should do a re-issue, only this time 4 or 5 octave keyboard, with plenty of analog-style interface knobs/sliders in an attempt to make fm/formant synthesis more usable/understandable for the average person, and without the insane price tag of a yamaha DX-1 of course.

[@josephwright5921]

Agreed! Did you see the demo of the guy who made the extensive controller for the FS1R?

[@SuperDENIST]

there are english subtitles. press "CC"

[@TheMetalMusicMachine]

In first place... Every device made for "synthesize" sounds is a synth!!! It doesn't matter if it's based on DSP, Software or Analog. It's its function to synthesize sounds! So why are you arguing about! A Polymoog is NOT a DX7, and a Motif isn't a real piano... But, Digital, Analog, DSP or Software based synths are different instruments by themselves and they are useful in different situations! And in second place... Think about the meaning of the word "Emulation"...

[@shirokumaxdub]

中に人がはいつとるでぇ・・・！

[@darinwilliams1376]

Yamaha, are you listening? Bring back the FS1R and AN1X!

[@josephwright5921]

Did you see the video of the guy demoing a controller he made for the FS1R?

[@alphabeets]

Why. Everyone stopped buying it decades ago.