Sequencers / Grooveboxes

Just when you think you've seen it all, Yamaha come straight at you out of left field with an instrument unlike any other. But is the Tenori-On a musical revolution in the making or a white (flashing) elephant?

Two and a half years after the launch of Yamaha's impressive Motif workstation synth, the range has been further enhanced and upgraded. How much better can it get? We find out...

For 10 years, Yamaha's compact QY 'walkstations' have offered an impressive set of tools for the mobile MIDI musician. Nicholas Rowland checks out the latest, which adds guitar and vocal processing.

Yamaha's RS7000 is a groovebox with a difference. Incorporating a sequencer, sampler and a synth, it claims to offer everything you might need for modern music production.

It looks like a groovebox, but inside it's a powerful FM synth, fully editable via bundled software. Derek Johnson & Debbie Poyser modulate those frequencies...

It may look somewhat toy-like, but Yamaha's latest desktop synth workstation is actually anything but - it features serious synthesis from the AN1x and a host of performance-friendly controls. Chris Carter gets modelling...

Derek Johnson looks at a new baby hardware sequencer and GM/XG synth from Yamaha.

Yamaha have taken their time in entering the market for all-in-one dance workstation sequencers, but their new RM1x looks set to be a heavyweight contender.

There are still plenty of people who just won't have a computer in the studio, but nevertheless need some way of saving MIDI data. Nicholas Rowland checks out the successor to the venerable MDF2.

Like the Doctor in the TARDIS, Yamaha's newest Walkstation sequencer is small but deceptively spacious. Martin Russ dons his floppy hat, winds his stripey scarf a little tighter, fortifies himself with another jelly baby, and enters a different dimention...

Paul Wiffen, a ferocious advocate of hardware sequencers for many years, takes a look at Yamaha's new flagship sequencer and finds himself reminiscing about the way things were (and could be again).

Although it offered a GM mode, Yamaha's QY22 Walkstation was not a true General MIDI instrument. With the release of the new fully GM-compatible QY22, have Yamaha rectified the shortcomings of the previous machine? Derek Johnson finds out.

After last month's test-drive of Yamaha's top-of-the-range-QY300 music sequencer, Martin Russ now takes its baby sibling, the QY8, for a spin around the block.

The Walkstation grows up! After causing a stir with their 'pocket-sized' QY10 and QY20, Yamaha have produced the 'Big Brother' of the range, the QY300. Martin Russ discovers to his delight that it's not just the size that's increased...

Craig Anderton's QY10 goes everywhere with him — and he's developed loads of useful short-cuts to help QY10 owners make even better use of this brilliant musical notepad.