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The Yamaha VL-1 was amazing...


Sundown

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Hey all,

 

I know I lampooned the idea of a keyboard mimicking a wind instrument here, but I was watching some Youtube demos of the Yamaha VL-1, and I was just blown away.

 

I still would just call upon a real wind player, but my God, that was an expressive instrument. It would be great to see manufacturers and designers employ similar techniques to get more expression out of other, totally unrelated sounds.

 

Cool stuff...

 

Todd

 

Sundown

 

Working on: The Jupiter Bluff; Driven Away

Main axes: Kawai MP11 and Kurz PC361

DAW Platform: Cubase

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Agreed. I bought Yammie's VL70m module from Mark S here on the forum (we both live in the same town), and it really can produce some amazing stuff. Mostly use it for recording now rather than playing out, and in the right mix and context the nuances possible with the modeling are first rate.
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Yup really nice stuff can be done with the vl line, too bad Yamaha did not kept developing the line, and it died with the motif's plg cards, the current motif xs sounds great, but Yamaha should do a programers synth, vl-based would be cool, they also dropped their breath controller line didn't they?
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I have a VL-7 keyboard; love it. My only BC3-capable keyboard now. Like timwat, I take the VL out much less, only use it for recording. Yamaha's Phil Clendenin is an amazing VL performer; impeccable phrasing, great chops.

Composer/Performer at Roger Hooper Music

Product Trainer at CASIO

www.rogerhooper.com

 

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You need to try a Jupiter 80. Seriously
probably next month, roland made the dealer in my country get a couple, i'll take my time with it. altho i don't think there going to sell them for a while, too boutique and much too expensive especially with the mark ups they have, considering the exchange rate it should be about $4500 :( , that dealer still has 2 v-synths (original ones) and K2600's that they haven't sold.
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I have the VL70m for the same reason, and wouldn't give it up for anything - it makes some truly unique sounds.

 

Having said that, I had the opportunity to play around with a VL1m for a while, and the additional voice really adds something to the experience which the VL70m somehow doesn't quite capture. Would love to have one of those, but the asking price only seems to go up...

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Just to clarify, the VL70 isn't a one voice VL1.. but the VL7 is (and that can be had much cheaper than a VL1). I asked Yamaha years back what the main differences were between the PLG/VL70 and the VL1/7 and from what I recall it was the fact the VL1/7 had a more complex model/parameter list and a higher resolution.

 

I know when I played the PLG board in my MOTIF 7 and the VL in the EX5 side vy side they sounded lower resolution and more gruff than the VL7 I had.

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I have come so close to buying a VL1 or VL1m, only to lose out to a sniper at the last minute. Yet I never regret it, because the buyer usually doesn't pay.

 

At this point, I have stopped looking, because I am too afraid of scams. People know how in-demand and rare this synth is -- especially with the upgrade ROM's -- so there's some sneaky stuff going on with fake auctions and the like. Be careful!

 

The VL1 was bi-timbral, which could really help add realism and/or could be used (e.g.) for a bagpipe drone (especially taking advantage of Yamaha WX controller user programmability for the extra buttons and sliders).

 

With the VL70 (and later the PLG), Yamaha yanked the expert editor. I'm not sure the VL70 can't be programmed in as much detail; it's just that you might need a VL1 editor and then find a way to dump half of the patch to a VL70 (which is mono-timbral). I think that's what Matt Traum did at Patchman Music?

Eugenio Upright, 60th Anniversary P-Bass, USA Geddy Lee J-Bass, Yamaha BBP35, D'angelico SS Bari, EXL1,

Select Strat, 70th Anniversary Esquire, LP 57, Eastman T486, T64, Ibanez PM2, Hammond XK4, Moog Voyager

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...The VL1 was bi-timbral, which could really help add realism and/or could be used (e.g.) for a bagpipe drone (especially taking advantage of Yamaha WX controller user programmability for the extra buttons and sliders).

 

With the VL70 (and later the PLG), Yamaha yanked the expert editor. I'm not sure the VL70 can't be programmed in as much detail; it's just that you might need a VL1 editor and then find a way to dump half of the patch to a VL70 (which is mono-timbral). I think that's what Matt Traum did at Patchman Music?

 

The PC version of the editor is still at WindSynth: http://windsynth.net/vled.html

 

The Mac version is somwhat hidden at Yamaha's site:

http://www.yamahasynth.com/downloads/drivers_software/tone_generators_samplers/vl70_m/editor/

 

Yamaha's Mac version of the VL70m's Expert Editor would translate the data file from the VL1 Expert Editor. Unfortunately it doesn't work the other way. I've quite a few VL70m patches I'd like to have on my VL1 but never wanted to spend the time to re-encode the patch by hand...

 

Manny

People assume timbre is a strict progression of input to harmonics, but actually, from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint, it's more like a big ball of wibbly-wobbly, timbrally-wimbrally... stuff

 

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