I have been pondering whether to change from my software MIDI sequencer to a Yamaha QY700 — the gains, I hope, being better timing and no noisy computer fan. If I do decide to change to a QY700 in the future, can it really handle 32 MIDI tracks (not pattern tracks) without glitches? I have read your review on the product, and although you mention the rock‑solid 1/480ppqn [pulses per quarter note] timing resolution, you didn't mention how many tracks were running. I don't want to make a £600 mistake!
Stuart Ship
Assistant Editor and QY700 owner Mike Senior replies: As a happy owner of a QY700 myself, I'd thoroughly recommend it. While I have not personally needed to create a 32‑track arrangement, I feel justified in saying that I have tested the machine's capacity — I use a large amount of continuous controller and pitch‑bend data (one of my finished synth parts used something like 12 simultaneous controllers in action, for example, which weren't datathinned in any way). I have never had any problems with the main sequencer in normal use such as this. What's more, the machine has yet to crash on me in more than a year of serious use.
There is one possible timing issue, though — the only time I've noticed the sequencer timing slipping has been when I've been dealing with SysEx patch dumps from my other MIDI gear. It doesn't appear to corrupt the data in any way, and you'd probably have to have some unrealistically serious SysEx parameter‑twiddling going on before this caused any problem. I said that this was a "possible timing issue" with good reason, though. The three SysEx dumps in question were all going at the same time on adjacent tracks, which was almost certainly more information than the MIDI protocol will actually handle, so the timing slip could well have been because of this and not because of the sequencer itself.
Speaking of the capacity of the MIDI protocol, if you manage to exceed the maximum data throughput of the output MIDI ports then timing will inevitably suffer — it won't make any difference what sequencer you use. The good thing about the QY, though, is that tracks are prioritised: something on track one will always be played on time, even if there are 10 notes on that beat on track four, for example. (What's more, it appears that this prioritisation is utterly predictable (unlike some software packages?), as was evidenced in a few experiments I did with my QY and a data filer. I always put my drums and bass on early tracks and controller data much later, so that might be part of the reason I've never had any timing troubles.
The only other occasion when the timing of the unit as a whole can suffer will probably not affect you. If you are trying to use phrase tracks and ordinary sequence tracks simultaneously, and you do this with 'Pattern Setup' mode engaged, the QY recalls all effects and voice‑edit parameters every time a pattern is triggered, which can cause a slight processing delay before the relevant downbeat. However, if you avoid having 'Pattern Setup' on, or dump the pattern tracks to the proper sequencer before getting down to serious work, this ceases to be a problem. (As an aside, don't dismiss the phrase tracks out of hand. They're much more useful than you might think — effectively the QY's version of aliases in Logic, and more intelligent because they can be programmed to change with the harmony...)