Yamaha RS7000 screen exchange and short demo

[@PedroAnastazi]

dont forget to check and update your FW to get tighter midi and the dozen or so extra filter types.....

[@mr_floydst]

Hi, thanks for watching and thanks for your input! I will check that asap. :-)

[@PedroAnastazi]

@@mr_floydst here u go.... this will give u realtime editing and recording during playback, as well as tonne of new filter types and associated edit options, etc... chk the pdf readme... if u dont have it, drop me a note and i'll send it to you somehow... you'll work it out when u get it all running... but once installed, you should have a more solid unit to work with. Also, the rec line in sockets can double as a hybrid mixer input (without EQ unless the device youre connecting has its own of course).... The master effects bus (situated above the screen you just replaced.... being compressor, slicer, lofi etc) WILL ALSO affect the signal going through that line input. You DONT need to allocate the line in device to a track or phrase... it can literally be just a stereo input, with no track allocation.... which is affected by master effects and the loop remix function... basically anything going to the main master output stereo bus can run thru the master effects or the loop remix... beleive me when i say, almost 20yrs on, and this unit is still THE best hardware sequencer on the market... tbh, as a sequencer on its own, the RM1x IS slightly more fluid as a pure sequencer as it lets u access all 16 parts per style at once (white keys), whereas the RS only allocates the black keys as these same section launch buttons and the white keys act as mutes... You still get the full range of section parts, but you gta use a PC message OR turn the knob under the display which shows which section your in .... now these optical knobs flake out, so be sure that your change from 'page one' of th esections to 'oage 2' isnt anything too short... What id have also suggested, would be to check the tension on your cutoff/reso knob, and swap it out with another knob of the same type, which isnt used all that often, like lfo rate/shape or one of the volume or envelope knobs which dont have that same type of wear... If you swap the knobs around every year or every 6mths or so depending on use, wear and tear should remain consistant across all the knobs. The squishy keypad buttons are a lil crap, but my Rm1x has only recently had 2 of those buttons die... so Im swapping them all out, and keeping the working ones as backups. They cost something like 35bux and theyre 4pin solder points, easy, but tedious job.... but they make a difference when they work lie and youre literally switchign live mutes at half 1/4 measure... Speaking of live switching, go into midi and utility setup and change your main sequence quantisation to 1/8... this will give you a clean transition betwen sections or when swapping out phrases live as you mute/switch phrases, or move from section to section... Put it this way, if yamaha updated the screen, changed the crap plastic and colour shell, added a better keypad, gave us 8 individual outs or built in optical/digital 8 stereo ch out (as the AIEB2 does) and boosted this units memory to cater for todays memory availability and cost, it'd STILL make everything on the market obsolete... Even these days, its ONLY limit is the sample time... These units are THAT good and dateless... I say dateless coz even as a rompler, youve got core waveforms with some nifty LFO options (even if it is only one...) , If u wna go hard, you use PCM tones running these synth waveforms (like a wavetable synth) across multiple tracks on copies of the one phrase , using the knob controlled playfx unison and even using a pitched sample, with midi all routed from one channel into each individual track, meaning you can play each track at once from the one source.... Once u do that, you can sample down into to one stereo patch... What you got there is a virtual 15 oscilator stacked synth (one stereo sound per track see..and one empty stereo track to record this monstrosity in to... ) , Not many ppl know this, but with customizable lfo which can be drawn in on your own, and synced to tempo if youre into that... btw almost 20yrs on, this is now a huge deal for Roland in 2021... but the RS could always do this... Oh as a bonus to note, is the fact these units support (ie read only) akai format sample Cd's or floppies.. just copy pasta to memory card.. inc loop points for sustain. It DOESNT support multisamples or velocity sensitive multi-samples though.. Multi's do respond to velocity as gain though through external... But yeah... if it wasnt for the low memory of 64mb, these units could stil be sold today at full price and people would be jizzing their pants. Certainly not perfect but closest to perfect in the market today. The next best thing is the MPC Live running a mobile version of Ableton and the Roland Fantom/MC707. You'll find their clip based setup is very similar to how the RS/RM manage its phrases (in a matrix config) Just hit the pattern button twice to see the grid of slots which you can swap phrases around in to know wtf im on about... Theres much more to share on this and coz there arent many RS7k vids out there, i was thinking of doing something to explain all this shenanigans... in the meantime, NJOI your new wife... lollll Heres the firmware usa.yamaha.com/support/updates/rs7000_os_updater.html

[@mr_floydst]

@@PedroAnastazi WOW, thank you SO much for this detailed summary! I'd really pin that, but I can't pin replies, sadly. Really helpful!

[@PedroAnastazi]

@@mr_floydst all good. Someone will find it... I haven't explained things all too well, but this stuff is easy to work with & work out... Oh as for the section change, I forgot to mention, u can avoid knob use of section change between Page 1&page2 by just holding shift & pressing the appropriate button... But in doing this, you don't get the page2 layout of the sections... Meaning that the last 6 sections on Page 2 aren't instantly accessible as they would if u just changed the whole "page" ... Imo the easiest is to just hold shift & press the appropriate alphabet key to launch its respective section which holds the phrase (scene) matrix group. Hope that makes sense

[@Aetila]

Thanks for the tips!

[@mr_floydst]

Super thanks for your Super Thanks! ;-)

[@MegaAshski]

Thanks Floyd for how calm and thorough you are with your tutorials and reviews. I gain a lot of useful info from you, and sometimes it's just nice to learn about products I know very little or nothing about. Thanks again

[@mr_floydst]

Thank you very much!

[@arcanics1971]

That's a big one! That screen looks fantastic!

[@mr_floydst]

I think so, too! And yes, I think it has it's own gravity. :)

[@cougarman8]

My kingdom for more tutorials on this machine!! Just got one and I’d love to know how to use it better. Your channel always gets me to buy a machine you show off!

[@mr_floydst]

Hi, thanks for watching! There'll be a video this Thursday. :)

[@cougarman8]

@@mr_floydst this makes my day!! Your channel is fantastic!!

[@THETBRETT]

I'vew had my RS for 10 or so years, and apart from updating FW, Ram and replacing the battery a few years ago, I have barley touched it because of the screen. I have seeen a really nice black and white one on Reverb and considered getting one...then I saw your video, which I am thankful for. Gonna leave it as is, my unit is mint, still has the plastic cover on the screen, and the idea of taking a screwdriver to it so many times leaves me a little concerned lol. I have like all your RS clips so thanks for that. Subbed

[@mr_floydst]

Thank you very much! This screen replacement isn't that complicated - just make sure to take a photo of every step.

[@vileguile4]

I love mine! I remember seeing it when it first came out. Such a beautiful box and so very expensive. I got mine about two years ago. It took a while to understand how it works but now it's easy :) The sequencer is just great. So easy to manipulate and it's crazy for driving a xoxbox. Love it!

[@mr_floydst]

Thanks for watching! I'm still exploring. Sequencer is great, as are the synth sounds. I yet have to try the sampler.

[@vileguile4]

@@mr_floydst Learn how to save and load samples and double check it's really working before you spend time sampling tons of stuff and then ......

[@vileguile4]

@@mr_floydst that said, it's pretty straight forward and editing is easy enough!

[@mr_floydst]

I also have an EX5 here, so I know (and love) Yamaha's way of doing things. I think their interface is pretty well thought out and structured, and the sequencer isn't restricted in any way - looking at you, modern 16 steps per pattern groove boxes. :)

[@vileguile4]

@@mr_floydst I can only think of minor improvements for a 2021 version.. :) More editing without stopping sequencer, filters that are easier to mix (maybe user error). But apart from that, it really is a perfect groovebox. Enough simplicity and enough depth. Not too little and not too much.

[@YukiTheSynthDragon]

Nice guide ! It always amazes me how far we have come with cpus and dsps to the point everything can be so much simpler these days. I remember taking apart an s900 for a repair back in the late 90ies and it was so complex with so many ram ics. Recently doing a pot repair on a blofeld and it only having 1 dsp some ram and flash and a mcu for the buttons / midi was just like well thats all you need these days !

[@mr_floydst]

We're at a point were specialized audio hardware just isn't needed anymore, a smartphone CPU will easily run multiple blofeld synth - a - like plugins without breaking a sweat. :)

[@Tubeinnit]

Really great video, great tutorials !! Subbed 👍🏼

[@mr_floydst]

Thank you very much!

[@elisabethreco5339]

Excellent le trak

[@mr_floydst]

merci beaucoup!

[@daredad6481]

That is a great bit of kit!

[@mr_floydst]

Not only is it great, it's also huge. :)

[@dannyschollaen9727]

I love it!

[@mr_floydst]

Thanks for watching!

[@fm737]

excellent

[@mr_floydst]

Thanks!

[@NatrualVibration]

Another great helpful video and also please do finish that tune it could be good for the old dance floor when people finally do feel they can start celebrating freedom

[@mr_floydst]

Thanks for watching! I'll consider it. :)

[@HootHinge]

test mode; While holding down the [PATTERN]+[PATT CHAIN]+[UTILITY] buttons, turn on the power, is a good tool to check out the machine for issues. I had LEDs out on my sequencer section, since the switches are panel mounted any drops or heavy hits to the buttons/pads will crack the board and break traces for buttons and LEDs

[@mr_floydst]

Hi, thank you very much! That's a valuable info, I'm going to try it right now.

[@gonzinigonz]

I've had mine listed for sale for months, mines also got the AIEB2. Had a bit of interest but i think its a bit too much money for people so thought about splitting the AIEB2 out and selling separately. Anyway dug it out yesterday to test it and check the output expansion also have a play with it. Also hooked up the Behringer TD-3 using the external inputs on the RS. I'm not sure I'm going to sell it now, its still great to use though a massive chunky silver box! Its just instant creative fun. I picked up an Akai Force late last year but i think as a finished product the RS is a much more refined music making machine, albeit 20 odd years old. Its certainly has much less firmware issues and the sequencer is more mature with the real world functions you need than the Forces silly marketing gimmicks.... Yeah drum sounds are dated but you can load up your own samples if you can't tweak something close, has that Yamaha sound about it but master EQ can shape that a bit better. I found a dip around 3.2K helps. Storage is a pain but i have SM cards for an RT Spectralis so not short on those. You can use an SM / xD card adapter as well. Check your caps on the mainboard, they're starting to leak on many of these now which will eat away the traces if left and start it not booting and crashing in use. I replaced a number on mine a few years back, just caught it in time before too much damaged caused.... Found it was mainly a certain value SMD leaking, maybe 2 in less amount. Changed out about 10 i think. I have pics if that helps find the ones.

[@mr_floydst]

Thank you very much for your feedback! It's a great machine. The only real drawback is the rather dated Smartmedia format, but at least it is a bit less cumbersome than SCSI and floppy disks. Soundwise, as you said, you can just upload contemporary drum sounds and synthesise anything else.

[@michaelh7972]

I really want to buy one now 😩💸

[@mr_floydst]

They're not really rare, but the price tag isn't low for one in a good condition. Perhaps send me a mail to fs at floydsteinberg dot com :)

[@michaelh7972]

@@mr_floydst Very tempting! however I just checked the prices these things command and I don't think I can justify it right now. I recently bought the Akai Mpc One and these two cross over quite a bit... This looks cooler though! Cheers

[@mr_floydst]

If you already own an MPC One, I think you've got a machine that can do much more than this one, especially after the latest update introducing all those plugin synths.

[@michaelh7972]

@@mr_floydst That's true but there's something inspiring about having less options but more hands-on control I think. Ps enjoying your videos!

[@mr_floydst]

@@michaelh7972 thank you very much!

[@midifun8423]

There is no need for unscrew the mainboard off the metal plate. Just skip the screws wich are marked by the white circle on the mainboard. I've got it on my video. Good luck!🙂

[@MIDERA]

hah, whoops, I have seen this video before. Thanks for sharing and reminding me.

[@albordeestudios5966]

great video! please make a video explaining its functions and the sampler! Thank you

[@mr_floydst]

I will. Keep an eye on this channel :)

[@wanderingjuniper]

That's sounds great, lovely bit of kit. (hmmm cake)

[@mr_floydst]

Oh, you watched 'til the very end! Thank you very much! :-)

[@gegenwartsstudio]

Nice video. Thanks a lot. I can't find the replacement display anymore on ebay. Any ides where to buy it? Thanks

[@mr_floydst]

Here it is www.ebay.co.uk/itm/155660604451

[@sammythebull116]

Looks badass nice with the blue screen,respekt to you Little info I saw on the past a rs 7000 with a sd card reader So there are switch from the smartmedia card to sd card😋

[@mr_floydst]

Thanks for the info! Yes, those exist. You can sometimes spot them on chinese tech pages. ;-)

[@richardgajdos8943]

thanks for sharing. i have one in top shape. want to learn to work with it. i would be really happy if u would do more videos on it. sampling, time stretching etc. that step recording does head in, but i will figure it out eventualy.

[@mr_floydst]

Hi, thanks for watching! There will be an in-depth-video next week, covering sampling and stuff. (Obviously, I can't show all the features of such a deep machine in one video)

[@richardgajdos8943]

@@mr_floydst sure. i understand. really looking forward to it. cheers!

[@Aetila]

Checked the LCD link...they have nothing left at all...and it wasn't cheap either. I'm looking for an RS7K...but it seems a risky purchase if the LCD goes. Thanks for the great fixing tutorial! -------------------- By the way, do you know exatly what ram memory doest it use? What voltage and frequency? Could it use a PC memory if all the data fits? (Like 72 pins, 70 ns...but what voltage and frequency?) Checked the web abd only saw fitting ram from US....

[@mr_floydst]

Hi, thanks for watching. You'll want to search for "32MB (2x16MB) RAM, FastPage, 72 Pin Long DIMM, UDIMM (Non-ECC unbuffered), 5 Volt" The LCD isn't cheap, but it's uncommon to break in the first place. The unit I bought clearly had seen a lot of stage use.

[@Aetila]

@@mr_floydst Many thanks for your kind reply! Your videos make me regret badly that I sold my QY 100 which I bought cheap from UK, at that time. I purchased even extras to it, like a memory card , net adapter...and I put it aside, then sold it with loss...and now the prices are in the skies, lol. THIS is the only device I regret selling, not the 20+ synths I owned, lol. Great channel there and many thanks for all the show and tutorials!

[@videowwaves]

Hey! I just got one of these and it's amazing. Planning to swap the screen eventually, but first I wanna swap in a SCSI2SD. I'm having trouble finding which one I should get/info on installing it, do you happen to have any info that could help? It would be super helpful!

[@mr_floydst]

Thanks for watching! Just get the newest revision 6 (scsi2sd v6). You can then access the contents of the SD card with a USB cable. If you don't need that, V5 will do as well, and it's a bit cheaper.

[@videowwaves]

@@mr_floydst Awesome! Trying to track one down but the chip shortage is making it more difficult than I expected. Seems like a super easy setup. Thanks again! Really love my Yamaha so far

[@alasha161]

Hello , i enjoy your videos , did you ever have trouble with capacitors falling off the board ? I went to use mine today and heard loose sound , opened the RS and found 3 capasitors fell off , any idea whats the best way to reattach Appreciate any advice

[@mr_floydst]

Hi, thanks for watching! Yes, capacitors are usually the first thing to fail. Please take a look at the capacitors that came loose. They're most likely corroded and spilt their innards onto the board (which is not a good thing - it can damage the traces). Try to read the values and buy some new ones - you'll find them on Amazon for example. Then try to find out where the broken capacitors fell off from. Look at the service manual elektrotanya.com/yamaha_rs-7000_sm.pdf/download.html to determine the correct polarity. Now clean the board www.eevblog.com/forum/beginners/what-chemical-to-clean-the-pcb-after-leaking-capacitors/ Then get a soldering iron, and unsolder the remains of the old capacitors. Clean the board once again, then solder on the new ones. Good luck with that!

[@alasha161]

@@mr_floydstwill do , I appreciate you taking time to help thank you

[@ukusila]

nice man!

[@mr_floydst]

Thank you!

[@Complexautist]

Floyd, is that blue connector a 4 pin connector for external drive? (next to your scsi port)

[@mr_floydst]

Hi, thanks for watching - no, that's some kind of power supply (if you follow it, you'll end up at the PSU board)

[@Complexautist]

@@mr_floydst Ah I see, i wander if for some scsi adapter, most welcome Floyd, always a pleasure. Its such a great machine. Been tinkering on it today for hours which I haven't done in a while. I recently found out my old Yamaha SCSI CDRW; you can load from the cd's, but i was slightly optimistic at 18 and hoped it could save. This is when cdr was still newish... lol

[@LanthanOIde]

Really interesting! Lots of its feautures remind me of my QY100, but yours has much more hands-on control. Hm, the RS7000 wouldn't be able to read / write XG MIDI files, or would it...?

[@mr_floydst]

Hi, thanks for watching! It can read MIDI file format 0 and 1 and write format 0.

[@PeterMilanovski]

I thought that it was kinda weird that it had a blue backlight for the LCD... And I was thinking what was Yamaha thinking? Taking away the green backlight from a Yamaha device is like taking away it's soul.... I can't say that I'm a fan of blue backlighting.... But apart from that, it's a great machine which is still relevant today!

[@mr_floydst]

I guess everything is a matter of taste ;) The blue screen is much more contrast-y though. I find it easier to read.

[@PeterMilanovski]

@@mr_floydst yeah I'm not into wanker lights... These days it's like everything comes with blue lights, they all look the same! Once apon a time, different brands had their own DNA and you could spot what it was from across the other side of a stadium! I say that if the Yamaha engineers felt that green was good enough for them, then it's good enough for me! They know exactly what they are doing, there's nothing that they have done which anyone can say is junk... Golf clubs, jetskis home hi-fi and studio equipment, engine's and motorcycles and who knows what else! Anyway, I come from a time when green backlight was king, it's a pity that no one seems to do it anymore....

[@6581punk]

The LCD screen dude is luxdisplays? I bought one VFD from him for a Waldorf XTK and I gave him positive feedback but mentioned that it impaired the viewing angle a bit. I later found out the plastic LCD cover from the keyboard had dropped out, it was probably okay after all but I put the original LCD back in. For that he blocked me from buying from him again. So when he made the Roland JD990 LCDs (custom made, not a standard part) I had to get a friend to buy it for me. The guy phoned my friend up when it was marked as delivered asking if it worked okay etc. He must be on the spectrum is all I can say (and no, nothing wrong with being autistic, just something to bear in mind when dealing with them).

[@mr_floydst]

I've heard these stories, but in my experience, he was a nice and friendly vendor who got out of his way to help me installing the display (late in the night, even).

[@onceanquagh]

🤔 LCD shop link is broken... Do you have another idea ? #ref of the LCD ?

[@mr_floydst]

Please try this www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_nkw=rs7000+lcd

[@onceanquagh]

​@@mr_floydst 😓The price make me think it's better buy another RS7000 to get full of replacement parts.... I bought mine at 300€...

[@onceanquagh]

Have to sell another Electribe 2 😂

[@xisotopex]

is it possible to expand the ram?

[@mr_floydst]

64MB is maximum. That translates to around 6 mins of stereo audio 44.1khz 16 bit, or 12 mins mono. You can save your samples to SCSI or Smart Media, transfer speed is acceptable. (Much faster than my Yamaha EX5 from that same era). There's an adapter called "scsi2sd" which lets you use SD cards instead of SCSI disks, that would be the route I'd go (you'll then have plenty of space for samples)

[@PedroAnastazi]

@@mr_floydst there also smartmedia to Transflash adapters, like they did with the Sony (PSP) basically its just an smartmedia card with a fat ass adapter that lets u use transflash/microSD (same memory cards as what youd put in your phone) Now im not sure if it lets u allocate a 4gb card and split it into partitions of 100mb per partition, but i know there are floppy variations for that feature for the RM1x.. press a button and flips to another partition kinda thing... i think there are external scsi or smartmedia devices out there that let u do this... how price effective they might be, who knows, but once u load up the RS with the 64mb of your media card into the 64mb of ram, then the device acts like a rompler with instant access to everything with no additional need to access the card... Meaning you can load up all your 'styles" (Projects) and samples all at once upon boot up.... inc config and midi setups per style.... and it responds instantly coz everythings running off ram... this means your loop remix and sample editing can be chopped and changed without commiting... if u commit, THATS when it saves to card... ... so its not like the MC707... i havent needed to look into this in depth, but there are afew options out there i beleive... 64mb might not be alot for those wanting to go nuts with their sampling, but you can easily import at faster pitch(shorter) and let the RS run its time stretch/slice algorythm to give you a full pitched KB of sounds, without shortening or lengthening the sample (it slices and interpolates the sample internally, it does just play it faster or slower...) Also its breaktweaker like abiity to remix lets u easily import one short loop, stretch it how u want, then run a loop remix and resample to whatever at lofi internally which saves space.. sure its not gna give u the ability to run 3 minutes worth of high res stereo vocals, but this machine was never designed for that.. You can do it, but honeslty, there are better longform samplers out there for this kinda thing... even your phone running Zenbeats connected to midi if you really wanted a mobile solution... atm, i have a 64mb smartcard using about 60mb... Ive got 3000+ samples and loops on that card ranging form 2kb 1second pitch's with looping sustains (ie PROPER pitch smaples...lolll) , and drum hits through to full blown pads and loops..No need for stereo sampling or even high res if ur into the grittin breaksbeats... Effects can mimic spaciality. Its important to note that the RS is using a licensed variation of Berhinger's harmonic exciter, which will make u sit up and take notice.... In any case, if i cant find SOMETHING that i can use within that collection of samples, then theres something wrong with my methods, not the machine...

[@thegerman3480]

So jealous of your blue LCD 😂

[@mr_floydst]

It's quite readable compared to the original LCD!

[@silviarainoldi8648]

Perché nessuno usa mai i pad grossi grigi...ha cosa servono??

[@mr_floydst]

Those pads are assignable freely - you can e.g. assign notes and sounds to them which will be triggered when hitting those pads. For making dramatic bongo solos, or triggering certain samples manually. ;-)

[@anthonytalley55]

I like already you just can't you just cut it on

[@mr_floydst]

Thanks for watching! If this is referring to the "KZbin chant" ("Like and subscribe, everybodaaaay!") - it's clear from the stats that videos perform better when one does this in videos.

[@Hazel-wj9fw]

I really like the sounds on this synth, the entire yume nikki soundtrack was made on it, I wonder if there is any synth that has the bank this one has- sadly yamaha seems pretty tight handed about doing VST's..... and i dont really know synthesis.... i really need to learn but idk what a good synth vst to learn that covers everything.

[@mr_floydst]

Thanks for watching! I didn't know that - and it's unfortunate Yamaha isn't really committed to keeping their legacy relevant, Roland and Korg are showing more commitment here. Yamaha once made an XG plugin, it's abandonware now, but works in most DAWs. You can find it here veg.by/en/projects/syxg50/