It comes full circle
4 Likes
Same here, shipped it around the planet on my travels as my first Groovebox - but ultimately let it go as too large.
Great if you have a space for it though, but probably obsolete these days given what other boxes you can fit in that large briefcase sized footprint
1 Like
the reps would come in to talk about the montage and iād always say āmake a small keyboard w/lotās of knobs/sliders and have it be all the advanced FMā - and was told āyeahā¦ everyone says that and weāve tried to share the message but no one is hearing itā¦ but the FM engine in the Montage is more capable thanā¦ā yada yada yada. soā¦ ya knowā¦ just plop $3k down on a mess of a workstation that will make your neck hurt to program.
4 Likes
LOLOL Yep!! I remember you from back in the ANCIENT early YouTube days as well = )
Your mind will be blown if you look at the original website interface when we first started out. It was so humble and unassumingā¦now look what it has becomeā¦
I met Phil Clendenin randomly while getting off a TRAIN in southern california. He had a Yamaha t-shirt and we started talking. So the next time I went to NAMM I looked him up and this began a long succession of NAMM āhelloāsā with Phil. He always remembered me as the āRS7000 guyā, that felt really nice.
Now - if one could make a new RS7000 with an Elektron interface, and Toraiz Squid real-time effects, Iād eat ramen for MONTHS to buy one.
3 Likes
Dude you killed it with this (MC-505) one, I love your energy in it too, pure acid enthusiasm, I commented on it 15 years ago 
8 Likes
That Nord Micro / Rs7000 mashup sounded so awesome, that I had to see it. Itās here: Sneak-Thief's Nord Micromodular/RS7000 Experiment
Pretty awesome.
I had an RS7000. But once I got into the world of Elektron, I realized I didnāt really have a need to for the older tech of the Yamaha gear.
4 Likes
I bought the RM1X new when it was 1st released. It took me a few to get around that thing but damn I loved it when I understood it. I regret getting rid of it, and I truly only passed it on to a friend because I wanted her to have inspiration as she was getting started in music. I donāt regret giving it to a good friend but I do miss it.
In particular, I miss how that box easily combined step and real time sequencing. Overdub record mode on the RM1X was bad ass. Yamaha could re-release that OS with an updated soundset, storage facilities and 4 audio outs and Iād jump on it.
2 Likes
I have an E-mu Command Station as well. Love the Z-plane filter, mod matrix, arps, etc.
Unfortunately, thereās something loose with a board or something inside. The slightest bump and it loses power. Hey, shit happens when stuff gets old.
Iāll probably take it to a shop to get looked at, eventuallyā¦ but now I have the MC-707 and thatās keeping me busy enough. Maybe I just havenāt gotten bored with it yet.
1 Like
I agree with you, but also they werenāt kidding. The FM engine in the Montage is godly.
3 Likes
yeah i know. sat w/it for many months at work. but only as long as i could stand it because my neck would start to hurt. itās not big on ergonomics imo.
i found editing it cumbersome too. too many layers, touch screen was mehā¦ and all those pages and envelopes and all thatā¦ it would be so much faster if it was a just a hotrod little 25 or 37 key synth with knobs and sliders and good sized screen or encoders w/LED rings or whatever.
i can see touring musicians and church players etc lugging it on tour and playing their parts all w/one synth but as a composing tool or sound design tool it was like strapping all yamaha synths on a chip and then building the interface around it afterwards. hardly intuitive.
1 Like
The RS7000 is my favorite groove box of all time. I regret to this day that I sold it years ago when transitioning to an PC-based studio, especially since I reverted back to all hardware.
I hope Yamaha releases an updated version, but it is highly unlikely.
My buddy @hseiken-HSI has been rocking the RS7000 for a while now. Hes made a bunch of amazing stuff on it. Always trips me out some of the crazy features on this old behemoth!
RS7000 was more then a competent follow up, great bit of kit!
1 Like
Im having another RM1X delivered today.The sequencer is obviously the bomb but also if you know the ins and outs the internal sounds can be put to good use.The real kicker is when you turn it off and turn on again its exactly how you left it.Priceless!!!
When I was a kid I had two BB1200ās and they were very nice basses
1 Like
I happen to really like my Refaces because they donāt have onboard memory, for the same reasons I like my SH-101. Itās much faster to get what I need in any performance situation and the controls tell you everything you need to know. The only Reface I never bought was the DX - I happen to prefer my Digitone. YMMV.
1 Like
This is my favorite feature of the digitone (itās the only elektron gear I have so maybe they all do this?). One time the power went out during a storm and when it came back on, I was exactly where I left off. I think this should be the standard way hardware sequencers are designed because you donāt always have a chance to wait for a save file operation before an unexpected event and losing work just sucks!
That said, I still use the RS7000. I traded up to it from the ESX thinking it was just a cooler sampler grooveboxā¦but instead, I found, as everyone else has pointed out, just a smooth workflow and tons of forward thinking features and even stuff that hasnāt really been replicated, much less normalized, in other sequencers, software or hardware. Just going in and shifting around timings of drums to fatten and loosen them up with just a couple of knob twists is pretty magical.
2 Likes
Yes, thatās what we need. Even more choices in grooveboxes!
Since some of us are talking about non-groovebox Yamahas, Iāll mention I have a Yamaha YEV-105 electric violin. The YEV is their cheapest model, but itās popular among electric string players because it delivers good value for the money. The one caveat is the pickup is very high output for a passive - players use the volume knob to turn it down rather than up.
1 Like