Yamaha Synth Space History | FS1R | Dom Sigalas

Dom Sigalas takes a detailed look at the powerful Yamaha FS1R FM synthesizer.
The FS1R was released in 1998 and uses 8 operators with 88 algorithms which offer additional waveforms and wave shaping features plus an added multimode filter, effects and EQ. In addition, the FS1R exclusively offers eight unvoiced operators per voice which result in a unique sonic engine called Formant Shaping Synthesis.
In our Synth Space History video series, we take you on a journey to explore the different historic Yamaha Synths and Stage instruments to be found in our Synth Space. Watch more episodes: bit.ly/SynthSp...
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[@mossgraber]

Why isn't Yamaha building an FM synth with such a user interface? This would be an instant buy!

[@Coowallsky]

Instant buy but by how many people?

[@stellanholgersson7170]

@@Coowallsky one here. The tech is already developed, but potentiometers are too expensive so we get one scroll wheel only

[@MikeS-1969]

I bought one unit in excellent condition about 12 years ago for less then 400 euros. Today is my best synth of all my collection. I can never get past how its sounds.

[@ilovmachines]

Definitely one of the best synthesizers ever made... I love this machine 😍

[@kicksNCY]

Totally! Thats why you must bring us a plugin editor/librarian 😄

[@mikethompson3305]

It's amazing how this synth got panned by the magazines with lukewarm reviews, consequently it was overlooked in the marketplace. I bought mine simply because I wanted the DX7 patches but was pleased to buy an enhanced FM synthesizer.

[@HappyOrganMan]

What a dream-machine 🤩. I love these videos with vintage Yamaha instruments.

[@luucdentoom6955]

Those pads sound like a dream really. I heard the FS1R was kind of a flop in the 90s (I think it’s in one of the Kraft videos here on KZbin), but I have to say the controller really seems to make a huge difference. I love the idea of FM synthesis. Bought a reface DX at one point, but only to find myself loading presets from Soundmondo and not really enjoying it, I sold it again.

[@howardAmb]

Skerjanc controller really opens it up… Excellent video..

[@RhettAnderson]

The best 1U in my rack.

[@Wagoo]

That FS1r controller is pretty special :) I've never understood why the things the FS1r can do like the formant shaping haven't been added to the Montage/MODX with firmware updates..

[@SynthAddict]

Wolfgang Palm's old Phonem iPad app did it the best

[@lesliefreak2045]

yes. the fs1r is the best fm synth ever!!! greatest sounds

[@carriersignal]

I own a FS1r. Great synth with a great deal of sound flexibility, but all of that power comes at a cost. It is not easy to program or access its features due to its limited interface. I feel this video is as much about the controller as the synth, but the controller is not for purchase and likely never will be apparently. If it was, it would probably be exorbitant. Nice tool for demoing the FS1r, but also makes the use and demonstration of it rather pointless considering.

[@saren6538]

Would you not recommend one then ?

[@carriersignal]

@@saren6538 The FS1R is a great sounding synth and very powerful to this day. It has a host of features that are (to my knowledge) not available together on anything else. If you have the patience, determination and time to learn and program it, it can be very rewarding. There used to be software available, I think I used Sounddiver, to program it. It's quirky itself but mostly works. It really depends on the user.

[@josephwright5921]

I am so glad that I picked up one of these when they were $350.00 on EBay. Now if I could only get only those controllers!

[@thorz.2222]

Robert Skerjanc only made 10 copies of the controller, so finding one is next to impossible. Sorry.

[@falangistavaleroso9689]

My fav digital synth,

[@brucebennett5338]

if yamaha reissued the fs1r with this hw controller interface, i'd buy it in a heartbeat.

[@KosmicKitchen]

I can certainly hear a heritage link between that and the Montage/Modx.

[@TibbyWorcester]

I wanna Skerjanc controller 😂 my FS1R deserve's it!

[@NTRSN-Archive]

Yamaha synthesizers are all great even the cheap ones .

[@jfn467]

Yamaha! When are you going to build a new keyboard synth with a full controller like that, and the FS1R chipset inside, aftertouch and a decent midi implementation. My credit card is waiting!!

[@Rr0gu3_5uture]

I should've bought an FS1R in the early 2000s, kinda regret it now as they go for around £1500 these days. I think I was originally put off as I heard that if you use the filters it cuts the polyphony in half. Nice synth though.

[@shad0wfax]

I bought a second hand FS1R about 12 years ago. Honestly, I never liked it and I sold it a few months later for the same amount. I was particularly interested in formant synthesis, but Yamaha provided almost no information about how to use and program it, and after a long research I was only able to find some old, cryptic and obscure software, which was totally unusable in practice. So, if you're interested in the FS1R for its formant synthesis, you'll probably become very disappointed. Maybe things are different with the fancy controller of the video, but I guess it's very expensive and hard to find. And if you're interested in advanced FM, you'll do much better with a Montage/MODX/MODX+. The FS1R has only 32 notes of polyphony and it's 4-part multitimbral, and the effects section is dated (90s stuff). With the MODX/Montage besides 8 operators and 88 algorithms, multiple waveforms, filters and the like you get 64 or 128 voices and 16 parts, and a much better effects section. And it's also an amazing AWM2 synth. Honestly, IMHO the FS1R is quite a flop.

[@serhiymarchenko8361]

Considering when FS1R was released (1998), 32/16 polyphony with 4 parts for FM/FS synthesis wasn’t bad at all. The biggest problem was UI and lack of tools for creating custom formant sequences.

[@gustinian]

Nothing, repeat, *nothing* beats the FS1r for synthetic vocal pads. 1000+ parameters per patch is the complexity you pay for this level of control and versatility. Probably one of the least explored synths of all time.

[@spyrock247]

a synclavier ii with mixed in vocal samples would be pretty unbeatable too, though different and not as much control

[@thaexception3406]

Informative

[@vanessajazp6341]

So beautiful. Very reminiscent of the CS80.

[@tsoba1]

BRAVO BRAVO BRAVISSIMO MULEK , EU AMO PROGRAMAÇAO DOS TECLADOS YAMAHA SOU MUSICO A 25 ANOS TOCANDO TECLADOS YAMAHA EM EVENTOS EM GERAL ACOMPANHANDO CANTORES , VALEU ...TSOBA MUSICO do brasil .

[@aleidenf]

love mine

[@Keyboardnut99]

I have one in the loft too hard to program now use the montage

[@professorquack]

The fs1r is so complicated even the manual says in order to make a sound don't ever start from scratch, just tweak a preset. Yamaha tried to fix the complexity by sending out a computer editor (Sounddiver) to all owners, but it was too buggy. (Then Apple bought it and killed it so no bugs were fixed, true story) I like the crazy morphs of a sound over time it can do, but every sound is way too clean and you get bored of the presets. It can load dx7 sounds, but like why would you do that.

[@josephwright5921]

Yep. Apple killed the competition.

[@SectorSevenSlumz]

What synth did apple make that was competing

[@josephwright5921]

Is the guy demonstrating this the same guy who made the controller or did Yamaha manage to borrow or buy the one controller in existence?

[@SynthAddict]

nice demo and history sadly that custom controller is still a one-off, and Robert Skerjanc hasn't decided to make any for sale yet 😞 the deprecated iOS app called Phonem by Wolfgang Palm still has the best formant sounds around

[@DrSynth]

Cool that Dom played quite few of my presets. I was very happy of the drums I got out of it. I believe Robert made about 8-10 controllers. This one here looks like his original proto, which I tried to buy when was selling it, but it proved too much trouble to get it shipped to the States :(

[@SynthAddict]

@@DrSynth hey cool, nice patches man 🙂 yeah those controllers are amazing but probably cost as much as 3 currently-priced FS1r units 😛

[@KUPHSER]

Robert will build one for you. He posted it on Facebook a while ago

[@SynthAddict]

@@KUPHSER thanks, I need to re-visit that

[@protobaby1]

whats the name of the controller and is it offered for sale somewhere ?

[@sK3LeTvM1]

Maybe it hasn't got the vowels, no formants either, but FS1R sounds like my Roland JD990. And that one is child play to edit and maybe even sounds better...

[@serhiymarchenko8361]

While you can get some similar sounds on JD990, you cannot create the whole wide palette of sounds that FS1R can do on JD990. Vice versa is also true - those 2 synthesizers are very different (and that is for good).

[@dirkkeersmaekers4343]

You definitely need a controller.

[@AgentsofRush]

The free editor does a decent job.

[@Pacer416]

I have a Montage and an FS1R. For some reason, I don't find the Montage nearly as inspirational (or aspirational) as the FS1R. The FM Section in the Montage isn't nearly as developed. The FS1R is one of the deepest synths ever made. It never should have been a single rack synth because it's impossible to program that way. While it couldn't be "knob per function," because there's an insane number of functions on the FS1R, it could certainly have A Lot of the functions provided via knobs and smart menu design/big screen. Please Yamaha. Blow our Minds. To me, the Montage is more of a work station synth. It's kind of a kitchen sink synth. To me, there's nothing overly special about it. It's another work station'ish synth. It would be so great to see Yamaha bring back the FS1R Mk II for today's world and do it right!!

[@jasonhoumusic]

Unfortunately it's unlikely to happen. Just think how many years it takes for them to bring back the engine of AN1X. For FM synthesis, I even prefer the SY77 than the Montage. The technologies of VL/VP and FDSP from EX5 are completely absent. Sadly the market just want the same "keyboard" repackaged in different looking cases again and again.

[@blankman4012]

This technology not being in the Montage is ludicrous 🤦🏾‍♂️

[@eyesintheskies]

Think at todays prices I will just buy 8 elektron cycles, interesting machine though, if it had been made easier to program it would’ve been much more of a hit.

[@dougie6897]

These FM drums seem to have more life more depth and more character than sampled drums

[@alphabeets]

They do because every velocity level is essentially a different waveform on a synth as compared to a sampler which can be single waveform or a few if the drum is multi-sampled.

[@Rr0gu3_5uture]

Unless drum samples are round-robined they're always gonna sound aenemic and flat.

[@js-sound]

Yamaha released this synth with 4 knobs and without editor. It wasn't right. FS1R was a good synthesizer in those years. And a good editor was not made for him by Yamaha. Now there is a Montage with a good touch display, but it does not have FS1R that could be controlled on the Montage through the display and other controls. And this is a big annoyance. Yamaha always does something wrong with these synths. An external editor made by another person is not ideal either. Why do synth videos on Yamaha's channel about their good synths? To tease themselves with them? I don't understand Yamaha's strategy today. They could boldly look into the past and say to themselves "we can do everything we had in the past and today, but only better!" But this is not the case, the prices for old synthesizers are growing, and new synthesizers are throwing off everything in batches, getting rid of underdeveloped insignificant synthesizers that often occupy a useless place in any studio. FS1R itself is definitely unique. As well as AN1x and SY99. I understand only one thing that it is useless to wait for a "new bike" from Yamaha! It's sad to see everything new. But for this reason, there is an excuse for such videos about old synthesizers. Although they sometimes delight the audience with their content.

[@josephwright5921]

It is a little frustrating that Yamaha released a video promoting a synth that has been out of production for 20 years or so and furthermore promote it with a controller that is unavailable to the public. Are they going to release or rerelease either of these? Nope.

[@josephwright5921]

@@jasonhoumusic Yes, that would be awesome. However, I think the MOD DX is as far as they are going in terms of accessibility to the sound engine from the front panel. Tweakability has never really been that important, going all the way back to DX series. Most people will simply use the presets, so every synth released contains mostly buttons, rather than knobs or sliders. For some reason, with FM, we are always forced to menu dive. I wish someone would give us a FM megasynth with all or most of the parameters on the front panel. A desktop version of this would be fine, then we could use our own controller and save $800.00

[@peterpeper4837]

@@josephwright5921 Check the new KORG