It seems to be some trend in last years - not only Yamaha goes this way with Reface series. Korg has more versions of their MS20, there’s Volca series (one also using FM), they offered even old ARP! Roland did Jupiter, Boutique series, recently some old modular…
Mostly with those unpleasant small keys good for anything, just not for performance.
All Japanese firms, maybe it’s some kind of reaction on the lack of space in Japanese houses and appartments?
If they are not able to bring something really new, they can do combinations as you said. The last attempt for innovation by Yamaha was FS1r. Combination were used in EX5/7, to some degree they were possible with plugin card system. And the last Montage is a combination of improved FM and samples..
But maybe they think user can make such combination instrument (which would be expensive) from more small instruments…
Daniel Forro
On Sep 20, 2017, at 11:40, 'Nicole Massey' nyyki@... [YamahaDX] <YamahaDX@...> wrote:
Yeah, that's my big complaint with Yamaha these days -- all they're doing is repackaging things. They're not giving me a reason to buy from them -- they'll have to give me an option that's more than I can get running soft synths on a Muse Receptor before I'll get ready to fork over some bills. And the shame of it is that they have the technology to do this -- give us a line of instruments that can mix FM, ROM samples, user samples, Physical Modeling, and modular style subtractive synthesis with resonant filters and a vast array of signal path and modulation options and then we could create both our old school sounds (or load them through dumps to the instrument) and blend in newer and different elements. That'd be worth buying, especially if the FM was 8-operator. Regurgitation isn't innovation, folks.
-----Original Message-----
From: YamahaDX@... [mailto:YamahaDX@...]
Sent: Tuesday, September 19, 2017 9:33 PM
To: YamahaDX@...
Subject: Re: [YamahaDX] DX7 ROM Card with 256 x 32 patches
Yes, I see the point, Daniel. Communication is why we are here.
If I had a cartridge slot on my TX7, I'd definitely be interested in one of each - a RAM cartridge and a ROM cartridge. Maybe the next project will be a cartridge carousel, so they can both be left in the slot and switched between :)
Agreed; this might actually be a better time to offer one than last year. Yamaha have successfully piqued interest in FM again, while failing to provide a product for people to buy that really does what a lot of us want.
Okay, I'm sure the Reface DX has its points, but I'd want something that's functionally better than my TX7 or TX81Z, not something that's kind of cut down, with a few new quirks added, before I parted with a few hundred for a new one.
Maybe they have something else in the pipeline? I hope they do, but I won't hold my breath. The FM synths they made in the 80s, are still the ones to get. So, yes, more accessories to improve those are what we need.
Andy
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