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MGR/ShackMan « Yamaha W7 »
Published on 07/29/11 at 15:00This was, oddly enough, the little brother to Yamaha's W5 workstation, which had the exact same features, apart from being 61 keys instead of 76, and not having the semi-weighted feel or aftertouch. It's a full size sequencer. I've been in bands, playing live, and composing for quite some time now.
Got it on a trade for an old Marshall guitar amp that wasn't getting any use in my house. They usually run in the ballpark of $700 or so.
<a href="http://www.benshannon.com/">http://www.benshannon.com/</a>
Great string and pad sounds. The AWM2 system has 8MB of wave memory, which leads to some pretty decent sounds. The main thing I use it for is for strings and pads. The pianos and wurly sounds are decent and passable, but they've long been surpassed since then. The sequencer side of it is really easy to use, and the voice editing templates and presets make dialing in sounds pretty breezy. The fact that it's a combination synth/sequencer/performance board alone makes it worth while.
The real drawback for this board right now is the sounds. There's no way to import them due to it's older interface, but it's still an excellent and easy board to use that doesn't require the user to have a perfect grasp of subtractive synthesis to operate it.
It's heavy duty, that's for sure. And it sure is heavy for a board of this size. But I'm fine carting it around. It's not delicate.
It's been since replaced by Yamaha's EX-5 and EX-7, which are overall much better boards, but people still like the sound of the W series that Yamaha made, whether out of nostalgia, the fact that it's interface is still much easier to use than the EX series, or just because it has a certain tonal quality that the newer boards don't. Whatever it is, it's still somewhat sought after by a niche market. I'm keeping mine just for the string patches, if that tells you anything.
<img src="http://www.vintagesynth.com/yamaha/w7.jpg" />
This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com
Got it on a trade for an old Marshall guitar amp that wasn't getting any use in my house. They usually run in the ballpark of $700 or so.
<a href="http://www.benshannon.com/">http://www.benshannon.com/</a>
Great string and pad sounds. The AWM2 system has 8MB of wave memory, which leads to some pretty decent sounds. The main thing I use it for is for strings and pads. The pianos and wurly sounds are decent and passable, but they've long been surpassed since then. The sequencer side of it is really easy to use, and the voice editing templates and presets make dialing in sounds pretty breezy. The fact that it's a combination synth/sequencer/performance board alone makes it worth while.
The real drawback for this board right now is the sounds. There's no way to import them due to it's older interface, but it's still an excellent and easy board to use that doesn't require the user to have a perfect grasp of subtractive synthesis to operate it.
It's heavy duty, that's for sure. And it sure is heavy for a board of this size. But I'm fine carting it around. It's not delicate.
It's been since replaced by Yamaha's EX-5 and EX-7, which are overall much better boards, but people still like the sound of the W series that Yamaha made, whether out of nostalgia, the fact that it's interface is still much easier to use than the EX series, or just because it has a certain tonal quality that the newer boards don't. Whatever it is, it's still somewhat sought after by a niche market. I'm keeping mine just for the string patches, if that tells you anything.
<img src="http://www.vintagesynth.com/yamaha/w7.jpg" />
This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com