pjd

I had a chance to play one today. Wrang it out for an hour at GC Lynnwood, WA. Not bad. Short story, it's Analog Lab in a box with a decent keybed. I enjoyed playing the EPs especially. As to my own use, I need the Augmented Brass and Augmented Woodwinds which are not part of the current content load. A lot more comments here: https://sandsoftwaresound.net/arturia-astrolab-yes-i-played-one/ Concerns about price vs. competition have already been discussed and I share the concerns. Have fun -- pj P.S. Thanks to the folks at GC. It's a lot more sane to try an instrument on a Wednesday morning with nobody around ...

Hi Maurizio -- Thank you for your detailed comments! They are encouraging enough that I will drag my broken bones to a brick-and-mortar store somewhere to try one. Astrolab and I aren't 100% ready for each other until Arturia adds the Augmented Woodwinds and Brass. I really need them. The one second voice switch time is concerning -- I hope Arturia finds a way to speed that up. Thanks, again -- pj

The Reface DX is on sale, too. $250! The price of a guitar pedal! I couldn't resist and bought one. I'm glad I did. Thanks to Soundmondo, I turned it into a rehearsal tool. Gotta say, having patch storage is what did it. Not so sure about the CS and no patch storage. The YC model is fine without storage, but, hey, it's drawbars... The Reface DX and CS share the same internal design using the Yamaha proprietary SSP2 SOC. Yamaha have moved on to the SSP3. Possibly, they have exhausted their inventory of SSP2? Who knows what the kaiju will do? 🙂 All the best -- pj https://sandsoftwaresound.net/yamaha-reface-dx-in-the-house/ https://sandsoftwaresound.net/inside-reface-dx-and-cs/ https://sandsoftwaresound.net/reface-yc-dx-teardowns/

R.E.M. “It’s the End of the World As We Know It”

I wouldn't count the Reface DX out. They're on sale for $250 and I bought one -- even though I swore I wouldn't by another mini-keyboard. 🙃 https://sandsoftwaresound.net/yamaha-reface-dx-in-the-house/ My first impression: It's a real synth and can store patches (32 locations). I need acoustic-type sounds and spent major time sorting through Soundmondo to find patches that aren't DX gag-ish. People over-tagged their contributions and it's nearly impossible to refine search. Anyway, I did find a decent Rhodes that doesn't have that FM tang and a good Wurli, among others. You can do a lot with the two-stage effects alone without dipping into the FM programming. Cheesh, for $250? -- pj https://sandsoftwaresound.net/reface-dx-no-static-at-all/ https://sandsoftwaresound.net/more-dx-fm-learning-resources/

I had a Casio CT-S1000V and enjoyed playing it. Here are links to a few of my blog posts about it: http://sandsoftwaresound.net/casio-ct-s1000v-first-impressions/ http://sandsoftwaresound.net/casio-ct-s1000v-observations/ http://sandsoftwaresound.net/casio-ct-s1000v-quick-tips/ http://sandsoftwaresound.net/casio-ct-s1000v-drawbar-organ-tones/ http://sandsoftwaresound.net/casio-ct-s1000v-about-them-effects/ http://sandsoftwaresound.net/casio-ct-s1000v-more-tips/ The S500 is essentially the same board, leaving out the voice synthesis stuff. I sold the CT to my piano-playing partner. His daughter loved it, too, and it seemed like the right thing to do -- give it another home. I owned and played a PSR-E443 some years ago, and I would rate the CT-S500 above the Yamaha E-series for sounds. The styles not so much. If I need a small battery powered external speaker, I play through a Bose Soundlink Color II. Hope this helps -- pj

Hi -- Scroll down to "Other Downloads" on: https://usa.yamaha.com/products/music_production/synthesizers/montage/downloads.html You'll find "MOTIF XF Performances for MONTAGE". Hope this helps -- pj

Thanks for mentioning that! The link is: https://sandsoftwaresound.net/yamaha-p-225-review-its-not-for-me/ I was searching for a piano to have and play at home (i.e., furniture OK). I eventually bought a Yamaha CSP-170 on close-out and I'm pretty happy with it. It's kinda like a furniture P-515 (NWX) with a better sound system. There are still close-out CSPs around -- Yamaha got caught with extra inventory when the world economy tanked. All the best -- pj

Just when I thought it was safe, there's the video from Ujiie-san! 🤩 Nice to see he has the same piles of pens and litter in his studio... I agree, if the street price was lower, they would reel me in. -- pj

Just a thought... You mentioned that a Yamaha PSR-SX900 arranger is available? My suggestion is to use it as a live drum machine. One thing folks miss is that you don't have to use every part (track) in a style. Turn off the tracks you don't want. It's super easy to get rhythm only -- press the ACMP button (turning it off) and all that's left is the rhythm. Then press the ABCD buttons to change pattern within the style or to trigger auto-fill. Some of the PSRs support a foot pedal for pattern (ABCD) changes during performance. I do this when I want to knock off a quick demo and play all of the non-rhythm parts myself. Since the PSR is around, why not give it a try and save money... Hope this helps -- pj

I built one way back when: https://sandsoftwaresound.net/crumar-d9u-in-the-house/ https://sandsoftwaresound.net/crumar-d9u-day-one/ https://sandsoftwaresound.net/crumar-d9u-day-2/ https://sandsoftwaresound.net/crumar-d9u-what-went-wrong-day-3/ https://sandsoftwaresound.net/crumar-d9u-testing-midi-part-4/ https://sandsoftwaresound.net/crumar-d9u-electro-2-sketch-part-5/ I haven't gotten as much use out of it as I thought, mostly because I prefer built-in controller drawbars. It was a fun project, none the less. All the best -- pj

That would be the NTS-3 KAOSS pad DIY kit. $170 USD (MAP).

Your wish is my command: 😃 https://sandsoftwaresound.net/yamaha-seqtrak-quick-reaction/ https://sandsoftwaresound.net/namm-2024-yamaha-seqtrak-ideastation/ I quickly browsed through the SEQTRAK voice and effects list. If someone owns/plays and programs a Montage or MODX, the voices and effects look very familiar. No AN-X? Not much new ground broken, here. Kind of blah. The workflow had better be outstanding or sales are going to be slack. My old AN-200 has AN and AWM, for pity's sake and it's how old? -- pj

I had pictures in October. 🙂 http://sandsoftwaresound.net/the-other-unicorn-in-the-room/

The style developer chooses the drum kit and digital effects to be put on the drums and other instruments. Sometimes the style developer tweaks individual drum sounds like the snare or kick. The Genos (and PSR) ethos is to "sound like the record" out of the box. The "ActionAnthem" style uses the AnalogT8Kit and the new Ambient drums RockKit. The channels are run through the Uni Comp compressor effect and the Ambi kit probably has some level of ambience dialed in. The "OrchRockBallad1" style uses the new OrchTimpani voice and the new Ambient drum DirtyKit. The DirtyKit is going through the newly added multi-band compressor effect. There's lots of sound shaping tools available. I'll grant ya, the Ambi RockKit is largely the old Revo kit with new ambient samples added. Hope this info helps -- pj