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Yamaha QS300

Workstation Synthesizer By Derek Johnson
Published January 1996

Some synth manufacturers seem to be hedging their bets lately, building home keyboard auto‑accompaniment features into seemingly serious synths, to appeal to both types of keyboard buyer. Will the strategy pay off for Yamaha's QS300? Derek Johnson finds out in style...

The marriage of synthesizers and sequencers that brought us the workstation has generally been welcomed as a 'good idea'. Current models, with their built‑in effects and disk drives for external storage, are deservedly popular as all‑in‑one creative musical tools. Home keyboards, on the other hand, with their preset styles and auto‑accompaniments, have long been the domain of 'home' (ie. non‑aspirational) keyboardists. Such instruments do find their way into the hands of financially‑challenged musicians, but most in this situation would upgrade to a 'proper' synth as soon as cash allows. What, then, are we to make of a fairly recent trend, whereby seemingly serious keyboard workstations are equipped with traditional home keyboard features?

Yamaha are not alone in pursuing this trend — check out certain instruments from the likes of Korg, Roland and Technics — but it's Yamaha's latest release, the QS300, that falls under the SOS spotlight this month. The QS300 offers top‑flight synth technology, based on Yamaha's second generation Advanced Wave Memory (AWM2) 'Sample + Synthesis' system (as found on the W5/W7, MU80, and SY85/TG500), plus a sophisticated sequencer, as well as the auto‑accompaniment section — the latter both inherited from the QY300 16‑track sequencer/sound module. Add three stereo effects processors, a 3.5‑inch disk drive, General MIDI, Yamaha's XG (extended General MIDI), Standard MIDI File compatibility, and a good 61‑note velocity and aftertouch sensitive keyboard, and you have the makings of a pretty attractive package.

Hardware

The QS300 is a good‑looking piece of hardware, in a similar package to Yamaha's W5/W7 workstations — and what about that sparkly metallic finish? Further examination reveals that the front panel layout appears to be user‑friendly too: buttons labelled Voice, Song, Phrase, Pattern and Disk lead to the relevant areas of the operating system, and Utility, Edit and Job are self‑explanatory (once you've glanced at the manual).

Dominating the front panel is a 240 x 64 dot, backlit LCD, which provides a graphic representation of virtually every aspect of the instrument: when editing a sound, you see the envelopes, and when arranging sounds in a sequence, you work with a virtual mixing desk. The display does occasionally seem a little cramped — since it's trying to do so much! — but compared to the 2‑line display on other instruments, it's positively spacious.

Directly below the LCD are the Function keys, which perform different tasks depending on where in the operating system you are. Their associated parameters appear along the bottom of the LCD. Under the Function keys are the sequencer transport controls, labelled to mimic a tape transport. The numeric keypad to the right of the LCD doubles up as a collection of quick edit tools when working with Songs or Patterns, and all that's left is the data entry dial. The keyboard is also labelled with various chord symbols, which become relevant when harmonising Patterns.

Architecture

As implied earlier, the QS300 operating system is divided into four sections — Synth, Phrase, Pattern and Song — plus global utilities and disk management. Let's start at the top:

  • VOICE MODE

The sample ROM at the heart of the QS300's synth contains 204 waveforms. As with the W5/W7, up to four waveforms can be used in a finished patch — called a Voice by Yamaha. Each waveform (Element in Yamaha‑speak) in a Voice can be treated much as if it were an independent synth patch — in fact, a Voice actually approximates an SY85/TG500 Performance. The synthesis parameters are pretty normal, and editing is made easier by the graphic nature of the editing pages. Envelope generators in particular benefit from this approach — and if you're ever stuck on the EG front, a comprehensive collection of templates help get you started. The Amplitude section features a four‑stage envelope generator — nothing complicated here — and a velocity limit for each Element; the Filter section includes an EG, resonance, cutoff frequency plus level and rate velocity sensitivity. This is simpler than the SY85/TG500's filter, but in many ways easier to use; the Pitch EG is next, and is equally easy to use due to the graphic element.

The tuning parameters are not without their surprises. Although the QS300 lacks alternate tuning, the tuning page does have one unusual trick: Pitch Scaling Depth, which allows access to fractional intervals. There are just six percentage values for this parameter: 0%, 5%, 10%, 20%, 50% and 100%. A setting of 100% offers normal, semitone‑based scaling, while 0% results in every note playing the same pitch, which you can define. In between, you have access to quarter‑tone tuning, an octave spread between top and bottom C keys, and one where a minor third is spread across the whole keyboard!

The LFO is a simple device, yet has some useful features. For example, the sawtooth option used with amplitude modulation results in an old‑fashioned repeated note effect, great for instant '80s effects, and not possible on my SY85. Pity it can't be sync'd to MIDI, although the manual lists the LFO's parameter value against its real rate, in Hertz; given a track's tempo, you could probably fake it. Each Voice also features a collection of common parameters, including portamento, mono/poly mode, and control of the three effects processors.

Sound editing has good and bad points. On the one hand, the large graphic display means that you can always see what you're doing — there are virtual knobs, sliders and envelopes everywhere. However, accessing these virtual goodies is a little awkward with the QS300's buttons. They take a little getting used to, and something as simple as muting Elements (to allow precise editing of other Elements) can be quite clumsy.

...the QS300 has more than enough features even without the styles, and at £1199 is actually cheap for a workstation.

There seems to be some confusion about how many Voices the QS300 has. 'A lot' is the general impression, but Yamaha's literature doesn't agree on the exact number — the manual says 954, one brochure agrees, and another says 1106. However, you definitely have 128 Voice locations (plus one drum kit) for storing your own edits. The manual refers to numerous banks of sounds (47), made up of Preset, User and XG banks. XG, in common with Roland's GS (with which XG shares certain compatibilities), allows for a number of variation patches allied to each of the 128 main voices; these variations are arranged in Banks and are accessed externally by MIDI Bank Select commands. Not every GM Voice has a variation, and some have as many as 16, so although there may appear to be many banks, not all of them are actually full of Voices. Lastly, there is a bank of TG300‑compatible Voices, but this is more of an alternative operating mode, and Bank Select, Voice editing, Patterns and Phrases are unavailable in this mode.

Just a quick word about QS300 drum kits: they respond to pitch‑bend, unlike kits on previous Yamaha equipment. Hooray! A negative point here is that the sole User Kit can only be an edit of one of the factory kits — you can't assign your own sounds to keys, which is quite disappointing.

  • PHRASE & PATTERN MODES

On our journey up to Song mode — the sequencer — let's stop at Phrase mode. There are 3093 preset Phrases, identical to those found on the QY300, plus room for 100 of your own. Phrases consist of up to eight bars of drum patterns, percussion lines, bass lines, riffs and so on. You can record and edit each user Phrase as if it was a little 1‑track sequence, complete with quantisation, velocity rescaling, transposition and so forth. The factory database of preset Phrases is huge and varied, but I couldn't help wishing that there were a few more User Phrases.

The next step is a Pattern, which is also up to eight bars in length but uses up to eight tracks. There are 100 preset Patterns on board (covering a wide range of musical styles), each of which has eight variations (Intro, Main A and B, Fill AA, AB, BA, BB and Ending), and there is room for 100 User Patterns (again, each with eight variations). Patterns are constructed by combining Phrases on a grid, and full accompaniments are assembled, along with chords, in Song mode.

  • SONG MODE

Top of the heap performance‑wise is Song Mode, where you'll find 10 sequences, each with its own 16‑part multitimbral setup. Song Mode can be treated as a straightahead 16‑track, linear, real‑ or step‑time sequencer. You've got a limit of about 86,000 notes, standard 96ppqn resolution, and a host of editing facilities. The event edit list is fairly standard: scroll through the events, changing, adding or deleting as you go. The main innovation here is the graphic representation of controller events (pitch‑bend, mod wheel, aftertouch, etc) and the ability to insert and edit System Exclusive data — the dividing line between software and hardware sequencing grows ever thinner.

And the surprises don't end there. Amongst the sequence editing 'Jobs' is an Undo facility. What a revelation — why don't workstations feature this more often? In addition, there's a variety of Song‑specific Voice and Playback parameters. Again, similar to software sequencers, these parameters have no effect on the raw sequence data or the Voices as stored elsewhere in the instrument. They let you modify (per track) quantise, swing, transpose, clock shift, gate time and velocity; Voices can have their own Song‑specific tuning and filter settings, amplitude EG, plus vibrato and velocity sensitivity. If a Voice isn't quite right, it's often enough to tweak it here rather than go for a full re‑edit. Patterns also have their own Playback effects.

So far, so good. But what about those pesky Patterns? Well, in addition to the 16 sequencer tracks, there are separate Pattern, Chord and Tempo tracks. Not surprisingly, Patterns are chained on the Pattern track, allowing you to create an instant musical backing. It doesn't take Einstein to realise that if a Pattern can contain up to eight parts, adding them to a 16‑track sequence means that 24 separate parts can be playing in any given sequence.

The Chord track allows you to record the chords that will be used to harmonise the Pattern track — 28 chord types are available, and you can even define a separate bass note for each chord. The Chord Entry page actually looks a little like a grid from PG Music's Band In A Box software. You can also input chords directly; in this so‑called 'Fingered' mode, you use a specified stretch of keyboard to play any three‑ to five‑note chords, which then harmonise the current Pattern.

So you've chained your Patterns, sorted out the chords, and you'd like to edit the results in a more sequencer‑like fashion or save the Song as a Standard MIDI File. Trouble is, eight of your parts are tied up in the Pattern track. No problem: the Pattern and Chord tracks can be expanded to fill eight sequencer tracks (they spread out onto tracks 9‑16, so make sure they're empty!). Note that they will now take up a lot more memory.

  • EFFECTS

As mentioned earlier, the QS300 has three effects processors. One specialises in reverb, one in chorus effects, and the third (the so‑called Variation effect) offers 42 different effects, including delays, echos, rotary speakers, phasers, guitar amp simulation, distortion and more. The Variation effect can simply behave as a third effect, though in Sequence mode it can also be used as an 'Insert' effect (a la W5/W7), selectable for just one Voice. Using this option means that any Voice which depends upon one effect — overdriven guitar, say — could be replicated within a Song's multitimbral setup. All the other parts would still have full access to reverb and chorus. So, you may not get the W5/W7's three floating Insert effects, but neither are you restricted to two global effects, as on so many other synths and workstations.

  • DISK OPERATIONS

The QS300's 3.5‑inch disk drive uses high‑density or double‑density disks, formatted to MS‑DOS standard. Disk operations are easy to follow, with options to load and save all data, all user Voices, individual Phrases, Patterns or Songs, and MIDI Files. Interestingly, Voices can be loaded individually from disk. SY85 owners, and I'm one, are gnashing their teeth! It's also possible to load a new Song while playing the keyboard — in practice, you get the occasional glitch, but it keeps boredom from setting in between Songs.

There remain a couple of anomalies: for example, when saving a Song as a MIDI File, you have to rename the data file — the QS300 doesn't just simply add a '.MID' file extender to your Song name. The drive itself is located underneath the left‑hand side of the instrument, and the eject button works rather too well: you may find disks launching themselves at the floor if you're not careful. Note also that while the User Voices remain intact on power down, the same is not true of Songs, User Phrases and User Patterns — they must be saved to disk.

Conclusion

So that's the QS300. It's a comprehensively specified instrument, and even I (given to being hard on anything that whiffs of 'home keyboard') found more than enough to keep me occupied. And in spite of myself, I found the auto chord functions addictive. On a more serious note, the Phrase and Pattern modes could be used to produce custom sequence building blocks: programme your own drum parts, bass lines, arpeggios, riffs and so on, then harmonise them in Song mode. Expand the resulting Pattern and Chord tracks onto eight sequence tracks, and who'd know the difference? It's a fast, fun, and different way to work.

In general, the QS300 is easy to navigate around. Some may find the display a little busy, and moving around using the little buttons can be tiresome, especially since the Function keys under the LCD don't even line up with their screened numbers, let alone their virtual counterparts in the display. However, it's quite easy to get used to if you persevere. Quite what a newcomer would make of the QS, I'm not sure: if you're just moving up from a real home keyboard, be prepared for a degree of culture shock. Also be prepared for an eccentrically arranged manual, with more than its fair share of typos.

Whether you buy the QS300 shouldn't depend entirely on how you feel about auto‑accompaniment. Certainly, a particular species of gigging solo musician will welcome the combination of styles and GM‑compatible Standard MIDI File playback, allied to a truly good collection of sounds. But anyone in the market for a workstation wouldn't go far wrong either, since the QS300 has more than enough features even without the styles, and at £1199 is actually cheap for a workstation. Only Yamaha's SY85 currently costs less. The sounds and effects are great, editing is easier than on a lot of instruments, and the sequencer is very well‑specified — you can't ask for much more from a workstation.

Preset Styles

As well as the more staid and traditional styles of auto‑accompaniment, such as Foxtrot, Bluegrass, Country Ballad, Dixieland, Slow Bossa, Rhumba, Polka, et al, the QS300 makes a fairly good stab at some more current styles, such as Rave, Techno, House and Eurobeat.

Most of the preset styles are pretty authentic and certainly competent, though the so‑called 'Acid 2' is a bit of a blot, and 'Ambient Pop' sounds suspiciously middle‑of‑the‑road to me. However, if auto‑accompaniment is your cup of tea, you're bound to find lots to please you amongst the QS300's 100 presets.

Sound Stuff

The quality of the QS300's sounds is uniformly high, with an emphasis on usable rather than simply impressive sounds — although lush new age‑type ambiences are available. The General MIDI sound set is especially good, and is definitely a rival to Roland's Sound Canvas set. Some raw samples do have obvious loops and crossover points between multisamples, but these are only obvious when playing solo.

I particularly liked the analogue synth simulations (of which there are many) — User 25, 'Ambient AT', adds a brilliant two‑octave swoop with aftertouch, and User 10, 'Seq+Sin‑MW', is a great synth bass, with real‑time control from the mod wheel. Realistic sounds are also well represented: pianos are generally good, solo wind instruments work well (especially the GM bassoon and oboe), and there's a healthy selection of ensemble strings. Drum kits are adequate, with only the GM Classic kit presenting a problem: the bottom C, where you would usually find a rich, boomy bass drum, is equipped with a 'blat', and there are no chromatic timpani. A much better bass drum appears at the B just below the bottom C (you need to shift the keyboard up an octave in Utility mode to get at it) and instead of timps, Yamaha have provided tuned jazz toms and hi‑hats. A more useful orchestral kit appears in TG300 mode which, sadly, is inaccessible in any other mode.

Specification

  • 61‑note keyboard, aftertouch and velocity sensitive.
  • 240 x 64 dot backlit LCD.
  • 3.5‑inch DD/HD disk drive.
  • Stereo output jacks.
  • Headphone socket.
  • MIDI In, Out, Thru.
  • Foot control, foot volume, sustain pedal sockets.

SYNTH:

  • AWM2 synthesis.
  • 32‑note polyphony.
  • 24‑part multitimbral (16 Sequencer tracks + 8 Pattern tracks).
  • 954 patches.

SEQUENCER:

  • 10 sequences.
  • 86,000 note capacity.
  • 96ppqn resolution.
  • Standard MIDI File compatible.

PHRASES & PATTERNS:

  • 3093 Preset, 100 User Phrases.
  • 100 Preset, 100 User Patterns (8 variations each).

Further Reading

I've made reference to many other Yamaha products in the course of this review, as the QS300 has much in common with several past Yamaha instruments. If you'd like to fill in the gaps in your knowledge, the reviews for these instruments appeared in SOS as follows:

  • Yamaha MU80: April '95.
  • Yamaha QY300: August '94.
  • Yamaha SY85: October '92.
  • Yamaha TG300: March '94.
  • Yamaha TG500: November '92.
  • Yamaha W7: January '95.

Pros

  • Loads of sounds.
  • Nice graphical approach to editing.
  • Flexible auto‑accompaniment, if that's your thing!
  • Three internal effects processors.

Cons

  • Only one user drum kit.
  • Only one effects processor offers more variety than reverb and chorus.

Summary

An attractive workstation at a good price, and still worth a look even if auto‑accompaniment isn't what you are after — the sequencer is powerful, and those Phrases and Patterns can be put to serious use.