Yamaha at NAMM 2008 or is it 1998 ?

rikhyray · Post by **rikhyray** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 12:31 pm

Am I missing something or Yamaha lost it ? These new products are absolutely "amazing".
http://www.yamahasynth.com/products/kx/index.html

sweetjesus · Post by **sweetjesus** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 12:40 pm

rikhyray wrote:Am I missing something or Yamaha lost it ? These new products are absolutely "amazing".
http://www.yamahasynth.com/products/kx/index.html

yeah u are missing something

a lot of piano players love the feeling on yamahas keyboards, this product is aimed for them mostly instead of us sun deprived types.

rikhyray · Post by **rikhyray** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 1:02 pm

I am somehow fascinated by it, the wording of the add- "innovative design, single USB cable" that really sounds like something from decade ago, then look at supported products, the Korg:
12 Polysix
13 Wavestation
14 MONO/POLY
15 M1
16 MS20
that is all 80s early 90s, there is no Triton or even Trinity not to mention newest Korg keys or even more important since it is supposed to be soft controller the Legacy.
Forget absence of Ableton or Reason, it is probably even pre Rebirth design. Looks like some secretary found long lost files from decade back and by mistake sent it to production dept.

sweetjesus · Post by **sweetjesus** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 4:02 pm

rikhyray wrote:I am somehow fascinated by it, the wording of the add- "innovative design, single USB cable" that really sounds like something from decade ago, then look at supported products, the Korg:
12 Polysix
13 Wavestation
14 MONO/POLY
15 M1
16 MS20
that is all 80s early 90s, there is no Triton or even Trinity not to mention newest Korg keys or even more important since it is supposed to be soft controller the Legacy.
Forget absence of Ableton or Reason, it is probably even pre Rebirth design. Looks like some secretary found long lost files from decade back and by mistake sent it to production dept.

lol
well now that we're truely in the thick of 80's fashion come-back.. yamaha is being forward thinking and looking ahead at the next trend by bringing 90's motifs (excuse the pun) back

thelike5 · Post by **thelike5** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 4:16 pm

Yep, Yamaha is a very strange company indeed; a company so huge that releases a product like a standard midi controller at NAMM more suited for the late 90's. Sure some people love the way those keys may feel but its hardly going to make any major impact. At least it works with Cubase... (!!!)

That being said, it's completely mind-boggling that this same huge company gets convinced to get behind something as odd and left field as the Tenori-On, then releases it, sort of.

Weird. Yamaha definetly needs to get with the times. How many more Motif versions are they going to create? Them and Roland both, I swear. Bothy these guys need to fire thier creative staffs respectively and look to bring in some new blood. Between those recycled Motif's and Fantoms. Yuck.

rikhyray · Post by **rikhyray** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 4:41 pm

For nostaligic reason they could have reissue this

or even

Seriously I was Yamaha power user, they were innovators- VL 1; DX7, digital mixers, I had all of their hardware sequencers but then they got stuck till today with that disgusting AWM2 which was obsolete in 90s.
Even their position in electric stage piano was taken or at least challanged by Clavia.
When I think of it, since a decade they didn't bring any really new product they should replace those 3 tuning forks with 3 boats or bikes as their company logo.

thelike5 · Post by **thelike5** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 5:04 pm

Sure they, along wioth Roland were the innovators.

I auditioned a pair of the Yamaha HS5 and HS8 powered monitors the other day and I simply couldn't believe how bad they sounded. Did NS10's really sound like that? These were supposed to sound to be a powered version of NS-10's. Yuck. Someone once told me the Alesis MK2 monitors were close to providing the same flat tone as the NS10's. To me, the Alesis sounded much better and even porovided some low end fopr good measure. Not only did the HS5 monitors have zero low end (which I figured) the highs sounded terrible. Absolutely not for electronic music with a pulse. They shouldn't even be considered.

cube · Post by **cube** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 6:46 pm

And Why only four knobs???? Yamaha is going down!

I hope that Korg will make a bigger brother to KONTROL49 with dubble the amount of knobs and faders, PadKontrol Pads and more.

TITBAG · Post by **TITBAG** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 10:39 pm

these yamaha controllers really do suck the nuggets of shit stuck to my ginger arse hair

Machinate · Post by **Machinate** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 10:44 pm

rikhyray wrote:For nostaligic reason they could have reissue this

or even

Ah yes, some of the most error-prone, insanely expensive, impossible to maintain instruments ever built. I believe all oscillators had to be manually tuned before each show :-/ No thanks.

beats me · Post by **beats me** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 10:50 pm

thelike5 wrote:Sure they, along wioth Roland were the innovators.

I auditioned a pair of the Yamaha HS5 and HS8 powered monitors the other day and I simply couldn't believe how bad they sounded. Did NS10's really sound like that? These were supposed to sound to be a powered version of NS-10's. Yuck. Someone once told me the Alesis MK2 monitors were close to providing the same flat tone as the NS10's. To me, the Alesis sounded much better and even porovided some low end fopr good measure. Not only did the HS5 monitors have zero low end (which I figured) the highs sounded terrible. Absolutely not for electronic music with a pulse. They shouldn't even be considered.

If we're talking about the same NS-10's (I'm thinking industry standard for like all of the 90's) then the "magic" behind them was that they sounded so shitty that if you managed to get a decent mix on them then you knew you dialed in something great. So if the Yamahas sound like crap then maybe they nailed it.

Timur · Post by **Timur** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 10:56 pm

I auditioned a pair of the Yamaha HS5 and HS8 powered monitors the other day and I simply couldn't believe how bad they sounded. Did NS10's really sound like that?

What exactly did sound bad about the HS80Ms? Neither of these is intended to "sound like NS10", they are only reminiscent of NS10 and intended to be kind of successors. Alone the fact that the new ones are active while NS10 are driven by whatever amplifier you are using (including the sound of that amp) is difference enough. In their price-range I find HS80M to be delivering as promised and seemingly many reviews on the net share that view.

Do they sound "nice"? Nope! Do they deliver enough transparent sound with flat response even at very low levels, while maintaining enough headroom for loud levels (if you're stupid enough to mix that loud)? Yep! Can you customize the lows, mids and highs to fit your room? Yes! (I have my lows set to -2dB for less wall reflection problems and the high set to -2dB for more transparent mids and less ear fatigue). Do they sound nice if you're using the typical Hi-Fi equ smiley (increased lows and highs with slightly attenuated mids)? Yes!

PS: Yamaha is the owner of Steinberg! So talk about innovation.

thelike5 · Post by **thelike5** » Tue Jan 15, 2008 12:26 am

Timur wrote:
I auditioned a pair of the Yamaha HS5 and HS8 powered monitors the other day and I simply couldn't believe how bad they sounded. Did NS10's really sound like that?
What exactly did sound bad about the HS80Ms? Neither of these is intended to "sound like NS10", they are only reminiscent of NS10 and intended to be kind of successors. Alone the fact that the new ones are active while NS10 are driven by whatever amplifier you are using (including the sound of that amp) is difference enough. In their price-range I find HS80M to be delivering as promised and seemingly many reviews on the net share that view.

Do they sound "nice"? Nope! Do they deliver enough transparent sound with flat response even at very low levels, while maintaining enough headroom for loud levels (if you're stupid enough to mix that loud)? Yep! Can you customize the lows, mids and highs to fit your room? Yes! (I have my lows set to -2dB for less wall reflection problems and the high set to -2dB for more transparent mids and less ear fatigue). Do they sound nice if you're using the typical Hi-Fi equ smiley (increased lows and highs with slightly attenuated mids)? Yes!

PS: Yamaha is the owner of Steinberg! So talk about innovation.

I'm well aware of the fact that NS10's are passive while the HS5's and 8's are active. It wasn't just me making the comparison, many people have labeled the Hs series to be the "powered" version of the NS 10's...

I went to the store to seriosuly audition them, with cash burning a hole through my pocket. I sooo wanted a set of them. Me and my friend both looked at each other and shook our heads once we heard them. I played Detroit style techno, Kompakt "pop" ambient stuff, a slew of indie rock recordings, nothing sounded "right" by my ears. Again, these were THE monitors of my short list. I was disapointed. I then demo'd the KRK Rokit's; both 5" and 8" and thought they sounded light years better. I played exactely the same songs. I want to try out the Event ALP series and then I will make my decision. Too bad the Yamaha's just didn't cut it for me. I knew the Yamaha's weren't going to cut it in the low end department; that's what the sub is for, but I didn't know the highs were going to sound that abd. That shocked me. For a lot less money the KRK's sounded so much better (even without the sub).

You can custimize any monitor to your room provided you are using a nice sounding EQ.

I'm also well aware of Yamaha and have always held them in high regard. It's just that the last several years, they haven't neccesarily been that inovative. The Tenori-On, while a huge leap forward at least at the surface, failed to deliver. It's not even readily available outside of Japan and a few record stores (WTF?) in the UK.

Yamaha and Roland both could and should be the innovators they once were. All it would take is bringing some new blood in there. Please tell me you aren't sick of the same Fantom and Motif being repackaged... Seriously. It doesn;t even make sense to me. To think these two companies created the CS80V, FM synthesis, the TB-303 and the TR series of drum machines blows my mind. Heck even the mid 90's at least they tried with the grooveboxes! In my opionion they aren't even attempting to do anything new.

Roland is the ultimate WTF. YAmaha is a close second.

Timur · Post by **Timur** » Tue Jan 15, 2008 8:47 am

thelike5 wrote:I then demo'd the KRK Rokit's; both 5" and 8" and thought they sounded light years better. I played exactely the same songs. I want to try out the Event ALP series and then I will make my decision. Too bad the Yamaha's just didn't cut it for me. I knew the Yamaha's weren't going to cut it in the low end department; that's what the sub is for, but I didn't know the highs were going to sound that abd. That shocked me. For a lot less money the KRK's sounded so much better (even without the sub).

Could you please define "bad" and "better" sounding? I'm still confused of what is so shockingly "wrong" with the sound of the HS80M.

Roland is the ultimate WTF.

Roland FC-300, about the best new Midi foot-pedal out there. Only a small piece of item and nothing close to the complexity of their early synths, but still standing out of the masses with many unique features. And their whole V-Drums line still delivers first notch.

Pitch Black · Post by **Pitch Black** » Tue Jan 15, 2008 9:22 am

rikhyray wrote:For nostaligic reason they could have reissue this

or even

Two words.

Blade.
Runner.

Yamaha at NAMM 2008 or is it 1998 ?

Yamaha at NAMM 2008 or is it 1998 ?

Re: Yamaha at NAMM 2008 or is it 1998 ?