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Yamaha RX8 | |
Digital Rhythm ProgrammerArticle from Music Technology, June 1989 |
Two years on from their impressive, RX5 drum machine, Yamaha have slimmed down their flagship to give us an affordable 16-bit beat box. Chris Many reckons it could be a hit.
Yamaha wish to announce an addition to their RX family of drum machines; RX8 takes after his older brother, RX5, but has his own character and costs less.
THE RX8 COMES loaded with 43 voices: five kicks, five snares plus a rimshot, eight toms (four acoustic and four electronic), open and closed hi-hats, ride cymbal (cup and edge), claps, tambourine, shaker, congas (high muted, high open and low), bongos (high and low), timbales (high and low), agogo (high and low), cuica and whistle. In addition to these percussion voices, several tuned instruments are included: bass guitar (pull and thumb slap), marimba and orchestral hit.
The unit itself is simply laid out, with 16 rounded rectangular pads used for programming patterns. The drum sounds are assigned to 12 of these pads, two are used for accent and pitch or for panning adjustments, and the last two are used as Start and Stop/Continue buttons. Above the pads are 26 additional thin rectangular buttons that are used by themselves or i nvarious combinations to access the features of the RX8. A small LCD is placed above these buttons in the top centre of the machine, along with two partly ~ recessed knobs to the left. These control Volume and Tempo respectively. The back of the unit has 1/4" jacks for headphones, stereo (or mono) audio output plus two individual audio output lads. MIDI In and Out (no Thru), a socket for the eternal DC 12V-15V power supply, and interfaces for both cassette and cartridge storage.
The buttons have a rubbery spring to them so you can tap out your rhythms without getting sore fingers. However you don't have to worry much about playing the pads with different velocities as there is no provision for velocity sensing on the keypads except in the most rudimentary way. This is one of the major drawbacks with the RX8 as far as I'm concerned, and it alone prevents the machine from sounding like anything but just that - a drum machine.
The one concession made on the RX8 towards achieving variety in its output is the Accent button, which basically allows you to increase the velocity of a note when you press it as you program. Adoption of this method of programming guarantees patterns with few dynamics. All in all, it's a rather primitive approach to rhythm programming for 1989. (A comparable unit, the Alesis HR16, has fully velocity-sensitive pads). More encouragingly, if you use an external controller with the RX8 MIDI drum pads, or a suitable MIDI keyboard it will record incoming note velocity data, so there is a way to generate dynamic patterns.
YAMAHA'S NEW DRUM machine includes all of the basic features you'd expect a drum machine to have. Programming Patterns and chaining them together into Songs, step editing and quantisation are all to be found somewhere in its spec. Rather than cover each individual feature, I'll try to concentrate on the things that set the RX8 apart from other rhythm programmers, or at least those that are outside the standard list of beat box functions.
First off, I'll give the machine credit for ease of use, l worked just about everything out without recourse to the manual, simply by pressing buttons and following the structured menu paths in the display that are associated with each function. The manual itself is easy to read and has an improved TQ (translation quotient). Given the complexity and sheer number of facilities that can be found on drum machines these days, it's reassuring to be able to pick up a unit and, with no prior experience of it, program a complete track with a minimum of hassle.
Once you've learned your way around the RX8, there are a number of simple short cuts you can use. These are invoked by pressing the "Job" button and another key in combination. This prevents anyone familiar with the unit from having to constantly search up and down menus (annoying when you become expert at operating a machine) and directly access the desired function or feature with a few button strokes. Result: it doesn't take long to become a competent programmer of this machine.
YAMAHA HAVE DONE a good job of translating their RX5 into a more affordable home studio unit. Its strong points include an easy to learn user interface, a variety of high-quality 16-bit sounds, a cartridge port for storing Songs, Patterns and voice assignments (especially handy for live gigs) and it has a few special effects thrown in for good measure. Programming is very straightforward, although features that allow tracks to be "humanised", or offset during playback to adjust the feel of a pattern aren't on the list of features. The machine's one big drawback, the lack of dynamic programming from its playing pads, can be overcome if you want to program from an external, velocity-sensitive keyboard or other MIDI controller.
I can't fault the sound of the RX8, but due to the lack of dynamics, you're likely to wind up with drum tracks that sound like they've come out of a drum machine - not that that's necessarily a bad thing, but it's something to take into account.
So, if you like the sound that Yamaha's drum machines make, can live within the framework of an easy-to use rhythm programmer, and don't quite have the budget for a more expensive drum machine, check out the RX8.
Price £399 including VAT
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Review by Chris Many
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