Yamaha YC61 Announced

[Doerfler]

That seems like it would be a very do-able weight. The YC61 is 15.65 lbs, actually about 2/10 of a pound lighter than the Vox Continental. Which means a 73 YC could even be a bit lighter the Vox 73's 18.52 lbs.

 

so lets just call it even.

[Al Quinn]

 

Ibut I might want to bring along the HX3 Expander Module for blues gigs where a more authentic B3 is called for.

I wouldn't hesitate to use the YC on a blues gig. I've already decided it's good, just haven't decide if it punches up there with the B3X. On today's gig I used both and kept gravitating to the B3X, but I think familiarity had a lot to do with that.

 

Cool! Simpler is always better. Thanks. Assuming they carry it a GC I should be able to check it out in the store soon.

[jeffincltnc]

$2,000 for a new YC61 vs Nord Electro 6D 61 might now tilt to the Yamaha. If I had a deal on a used Nord Stage 2 with 73 keys, aftertouch and the older synth/leslie for $2,000, maybe that is still a better score for me as an all in one to carry around.

[kenheeter]

Hi Adan, it's great to read your impressions of the YC61, very helpful. I have a specific question which I hope you can answer. My plan would be to sit the YC61 on top of my Crumar Seven. I'd like to know if it's possible to have the YC being played as an organ or synth and at the same time have an external Midi controller play its internal AP sounds? I'll try to figure this out reading the manual but if you can confirm that would be great. Cheers, Ken

[rogs]

I know this is addressed to Adan, but I was just trying out the same thing....

 

So -- yes you can do what you are asking..

 

Settings - External Keyboard: ' Organ - Off'.... then select: 'Key A - Ext. Only'

 

The YC61 keyboard will then play the selected organ settings , and the external keyboard the Key A selection

[kenheeter]

Thanks for the quick reply! This sounds better and better....

[AnotherScott]

In a private exchange with another forum member, we discovered that the YC61 DOES let you pan sounds, which should give you a way to put the organ out one side to a Vent while your other sound of choice comes out the other side. They implemented what Nord has done on some boards... using the autopan effect, if you set the Rate to zero, it becomes motionless, and the Amount knob can then be used to send the sound to the left or to the right.

[jeffincltnc]

I am now seeing online dealers on Reverb selling "Brand New" stock at 10% below MAP at $1799 with free shipping in the US and there are now some initial "Mint" open box/return/floor model stock coming into Reverb just a little below that.

[conundrum]

Canadian dealers are finally starting to list it.

$2700

Apparently it"s due sometime in the last half of this month.

[AnotherScott]

Another Electro/YC comparison... Nord gives you 400 program locations, vs. 160 on the Yamaha (both of those figures include the factory programs, which are rewritable); and there are more total instrument sounds already in it (293 changeable plus organs vs. 139 fixed plus organs).

[jeffincltnc]

Which one is more fun to play?

[rogs]

Which one is more fun to play?

 

I've tried several of the Nord keyboards at our local dealer over the years, but could never get on with their 'Italian Job' keybeds.....

When I tried out the YC61 it was 'love at first feel' for me...

 

So the YC61 is more fun to play, IMHO. That's why I bought one!

[Adan]

If we're talking about organ and only organ, then between my Mojo 61 and the YC61, the Mojo is more "fun to play." Having proper Hammond-sized keys, high trigger, and the Fatar action as modified by Crumar (significantly better than Electro) makes it a clear winner over the YC for spawning Hammond chops.

 

But the Mojo 61 is not an all-in-one keyboard. Which is more "fun" between YC61 and Electro if I'm using organ, piano, and other sounds? I'd vote for the YC. If we were just comparing organ chops it would be a closer call. But for going between organ and pianos, I find the YC much more easy and fun. To me it's not a hard choice.

 

I don't have an Electro but I've played them enough to not need a refresher.

 

But no one can tell anyone else what will be fun for them. It shouldn't be hard to find both the YC and Electro side by side in the bigger music stores, once they're open again.

[The_Star_Guy]

Thanks for the observations. I am definitely becoming more intrigued by the YC61 review updates. I am very glad to read that so many forumites think that the YC-61 compares so favorably to the Nord Electro 6D. I am considering replacing my MODX7 and for me at least, it is coming down to a 2 horse race between the Yamaha YC-61 and the Kurzweil PC4. Whichever keyboard gets to 7x keys and full DX7 FM sysex import first will probably get my vote....and my cash!

[jeffincltnc]

Both the Kurzweil Forte v4.0 and the PC4 allow DX7 Sysex files to be imported. I have this working on my Forte.

 

Forte 7 is 76 keys hammer action (TP/40L).

 

Yamaha has neither a 7X keybed in the YC61 family nor do I think it can load Sysex for a DX7 library. They have a number of bread and butter DX7 sounds built in and using the FM engine but I do not know of any capability to load in DX7 Sysex files on that board as far as I can tell. Not sure though. With a digital interface, though, you can plug in a cable to a laptop or iPad and fire up any plug in emulation you like though. (GarageBand + Dexed are both free if you have a Mac)

[kenheeter]

The Forte 7 weighs 42 lb!

[AnotherScott]

Boards that load DX7 sounds are Montage, MODX, Forte, PC4, and Kronos. I think that's all the current options.

[ElmerJFudd]

Boards that load DX7 sounds are Montage, MODX, Forte, PC4, and Kronos. I think that's all the current options.

 

Would have been killer to have the synth engine editable on this board.

[AnotherScott]

Boards that load DX7 sounds are Montage, MODX, Forte, PC4, and Kronos. I think that's all the current options.

 

Would have been killer to have the synth engine editable on this board.

I'd settle for just being able to load the DX7 sounds. I mean, when I had a DX7, I never edited them anyway. ;-)

[Fleer]

^^^This.

[ElmerJFudd]

Boards that load DX7 sounds are Montage, MODX, Forte, PC4, and Kronos. I think that's all the current options.

 

Would have been killer to have the synth engine editable on this board.

I'd settle for just being able to load the DX7 sounds. I mean, when I had a DX7, I never edited them anyway. ;-)

 

Agreed.

[nadroj]

Boards that load DX7 sounds are Montage, MODX, Forte, PC4, and Kronos. I think that's all the current options.

 

Would have been killer to have the synth engine editable on this board.

 

Think that would be a possibility in a software update? This thing would slay as an all in one/top tier board if it had a fully configurable 9 operator FM engine in it.

[ElmerJFudd]

Boards that load DX7 sounds are Montage, MODX, Forte, PC4, and Kronos. I think that's all the current options.

 

Would have been killer to have the synth engine editable on this board.

 

Think that would be a possibility in a software update? This thing would slay as an all in one/top tier board if it had a fully configurable 9 operator FM engine in it.

 

Yamaha is not always as agile a listener as some smaller developers, but hey it's worth a shot to push for this feature....

https://www.yamahasynth.com/forum

[AnotherScott]

Boards that load DX7 sounds are Montage, MODX, Forte, PC4, and Kronos. I think that's all the current options.

 

Would have been killer to have the synth engine editable on this board.

 

Think that would be a possibility in a software update? This thing would slay as an all in one/top tier board if it had a fully configurable 9 operator FM engine in it.

8 operator according to the YC61 web page, though it was just 6 op for a DX7. But besides the fact that few people probably want to edit sounds on a small display, this century, Yamaha has rarely offered deep editing outside of their workstation-ish line (Motif/Montage and their derivatives... and not even all the derivatives), so I'd be surprised if they went that way. But as I said, even just being able to load DX7 sounds into it would be a really nice bonus/ (BTW, the boards I listed in the quote that starts this post to allow you to not just load DX7 sounds, but also do full 6 OP FM synthesis.)

[Adan]

I'm still really like my YC, but the more I play the more I think this should be thought of as an all-in-one board rather than a focused Hammond clone.

 

The YC is next to my Mojo 61. Last night I queued up Jimmy Smith's Unfinished Business album and played along with 8 Counts for Rita and Serpentine Fire -- 2 tracks that have long inspired me to explore J.Smith style licks -- and the difference is obvious. To be clear, playing like Jimmy is always a tall order. But it's harder on the YC than the Mojo. With the high trigger and the larger key size on the Mojo I can properly hit those licks. I can mostly hit them on the YC, but it's more of a struggle. This is after several days with the YC, so my fingers have had ample opportunity to adjust.

 

There's a couple takeaways from this. The first is that Jimmy Smith is as awesome as ever! If you've never checked out his Serpentine Fire, you must.

 

 

The second is that although I'm extremely happy with the YC as an upgrade from the VR09, I'd probably take the Mojo to any gig where I wanted my best organ chops. And that's fine. That's what I had in mind when I bought the YC. T is just confirming my expectations.

 

The YC can sit nicely on top of the Mojo 61. I use a couple of rubber pads underneath the YC to get it at the right height so the keybeds are close but I can still easily reach the Mojo controls. This would be a good configuration for an organ-heavy gig with the YC handling everything except organ.

[kenheeter]

I hadn't thought of teaming it up with my Mojo61 but that sounds like a great lightweight combination!

[rogs]

Boards that load DX7 sounds are Montage, MODX, Forte, PC4, and Kronos. I think that's all the current options.

 

Would have been killer to have the synth engine editable on this board.

 

Think that would be a possibility in a software update? This thing would slay as an all in one/top tier board if it had a fully configurable 9 operator FM engine in it.

 

Yamaha is not always as agile a listener as some smaller developers, but hey it's worth a shot to push for this feature....

https://www.yamahasynth.com/forum

 

The Yamaha staff who post on the forum are suggesting you might like to register with this site: https://yamahasynth.ideascale.com to get new ideas better noticed...

[RandyFF]

Sounds like the YC is turning out to be more of an all in one board than anticipated. Hopefully, this board will take off and Y will see the viability of offering a 73/76 key version!

 

So what kind of sounds are emerging from 9 op FM compared to 6 op? Hopefully something radically different, we've heard the 6 op FM like forever. Don't they have an editor now to make editing somewhat feasible? Or maybe I'm thinking of another 8-9 op FM board that makes it easier to edit/create your own sounds-

[ElmerJFudd]

The Yamaha staff who post on the forum are suggesting you might like to register with this site: https://yamahasynth.ideascale.com to get new ideas better noticed...

 

Thanks for that, RandyFF.

Interested or own the YC-61? Hey, I just started a topic at Yamaha's IdeaScale site, "FM Engine in YC-61, allow for import of DX patches" or to offer an editor librarian for the FM engine on iOS or the Desktop OS's.

If you like the idea, vote it up!

[Adan]

What I like about this setup:

1) 110 keys and under 25 lbs total

2) keybeds very close together

3) keys are all same shrunk Yamaha size, so no recalibrating moving one to the other keyboard

4) stand is light and needs no assembly

 

MX49 midi'd to YC61, not using MX sounds. The MX keybed not as good for playing, but good enough in a supporting role.

 

Second pic shows how the YC is supported by On Stage stand with the Tony Orant mod, which I've used frequently for years. A couple of rubber pipe ends from hardware store sit on the MX to support front of YC. Very stable!

 

YC makes it easy to change the assignment of external keyboard on a per program basis. Can be a Keyboard "A" or "B," upper or lower organ manual.