Yamaha RMX-1

[troutmask]

Anyone have any experience with the Yamaha RMX-1? One just came up on Craigslist.

[HxC]

That thing looks kinds cool & rare- never seen on in real life. I'd scoop it if the price was good. I wonder what it has for MIDI I/O ? hardware sequencers are good for people like us.

[ColeRockLee]

Most people say the sounds are just shit but the sequencer and midi are the shit.

[ellaguru]

Most people say the sounds are just shit but the sequencer and midi are the shit.

i've heard this one too...well the sound are not that really shit, but...

[Lezlie]

I had one a few years before replacing it with the follow-up, the RS7000.
The rm1x is a very nice sequencer, but the sounds are lifeless and dull. There are quite a few nice efx, though, so it is indeed possible to tweak out some cool stuff. Polyphony is 32 voices, so when you quickly run out of power (midi-delays and such are cool for creating more interesting sounds, but they eat off of the polyphony).

But if one intends to use it as a center piece for other hw, it can do the job very nicely (beware though, that the first OS had a bug that reset external synths to patch 01 - or something like that, honestly can't remember now).

The RS7000 has the same 1 element voice architecture, but has a lot more puch and presence. Plus better efx, better filters (rm1x had only 1 lowpass, as far as I remember, RS7000 has several), various other cool stuff (programmable lfo), a very handy integrated SAMPLER, some cool new features in the sequencer (loop remix) etc.

I'd say that if you plan on using it as a sequencer, it can be very functional and nice. It's not too big, has very good build quality, and definately looks cool. But it's not worth getting for the sounds.

[cartesia]

But if one intends to use it as a center piece for other hw, it can do the job very nicely (beware though, that the first OS had a bug that reset external synths to patch 01 - or something like that, honestly can't remember now).

When you push the stop button I think it was.. you can get around it by turning on filters (sysex I think or program change filter if u have that) for the synth.. or you can use something else as the master clock source/transport control.

[troutmask]

Thanks for all of the insight. is $100 a good deal for one of these? Also how hard would it be to set it up to trigger my sp404? Im new to midi

[drewzle]

^ it's incredibly easy to set it to control the 404.

very good way of muting different drums/samples too...send different tracks of MIDI info to the same channel then mute some

[Lezlie]

When you push the stop button I think it was.. you can get around it by turning on filters (sysex I think or program change filter if u have that) for the synth.. or you can use something else as the master clock source/transport control.

Yeah, I think you're right about the 'stop' button.
I wonder if it's still possible to order the fixed OS from Yamaha?
Most likely the unit will be alright anyway, I guess.

[chemisferio]

Thanks for all of the insight. is $100 a good deal for one of these? Also how hard would it be to set it up to trigger my sp404? Im new to midi

The RM1x is great for controlling the SP-404 and other gear, and you don't have to know almost anything about MIDI. The sequencer on the RM1x is 16-track, and each one sends through a different MIDI channel. You just have to change the channel of the SP-404 to match the track on which you have programmed your drums and that's it, more or less.
I used to rock that setup, although I now only have an SP-606 instead of the 404 (although I do sometimes miss the latter, it was so easy to hook up with the RM1x and the effects were so great for live tweaking...).
At $100 the Yammy's a steal, and there's no need to go for an RS7000 if you already have the 404 for sampling (in my opinion, of course). Just try it, and if it doesn't suit you, you can resell it very easily for the same price (or even more ).

[ellaguru]

if you don't want to spend many $ and you're not interested on how yamaha rmx1 sounds, than you ciould try his little cousin , the yamaha qy70. it costs almost less than 100$ and is a good sequencer; it has some useful sounds and vesatile parametres/fx to change them; see elhau video on youtube, it uses this machine to controll the sp404...
ps
i have a crappy video controlling the remix16 with the qy70 on youtube...

[troutmask]

Thanks for all the help guys. I went ahead and bought it last night...and I love it. Its going to take me awhile to figure out all I can do with this machine but it seems like a very powerful piece of equipment. I even think that with some tweaking some of the sounds it comes with will be really useful.

thanks again.

[chemisferio]

It indeed has an overwhelming amount of functions, I'm still figuring out new things every week on mine. And you're right about the sounds, many of them can be used perfectly with a bit of tweaking; although the overall sound is quite dull and does not stand out very much in the mix this makes it great for accompanying tracks (and in any case you can sample some sounds into the 404 for further processing).
I'm glad you made the correct decision and hope you enjoy it. If you have any doubts just ask and I'll see if I can help.

[ColeRockLee]

It's cool when you get a new piece of gear. It's super giant cool robot action hour cool when you get new gear you like. When you get some cool sounds out of it post something in the library. That would be some cool shit.

[ormo]

I used one as my main sequencer for years. the sequencer is amazing as good or better than the mpc2000. no joke I used em both


the buttons are total shit though.