Yamaha GX-1

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Yamaha GX-1
Yamaha GX-1 (clip) @ Yamaha Design Masterworks.png
Yamaha Corporation GX-1
classification Electrophone
synthesizer
range 3 × 61
Template: Infobox musical instrument / maintenance / sound sample parameters missing Related instruments

EX-42

The Yamaha GX-1 , first as Electone GX-707 released, is an analog polyphonic synthesizer - organ made by Yamaha as a test system for future consumer synthesizers and organs of the Electone was developed series for stage and home use. The GX-1 has a total of four sound synthesis groups (so-called synthesizer ranks ) consisting of three manuals, solo , upper and lower , as well as pedals and an analog rhythm machine . The GX-707 first appeared in 1973 as a "theater model" for concert stages before the GX-1 was released in 1975. It is rumored that Yamaha changed the name when it was discovered that it shared the model number with the Boeing 707 . The basic design of the GX-1 followed the Electone EX-42 released in 1970. The first delivery took place in the winter of 1973.

Overview

Yamaha GX-1 manuals

The top manual, the solo manual, consists of a 3-octave keyboard with 37 keys, which have the full normal width, but are slightly shorter than usual. Directly above the solo manual is the portamento unit, a ribbon controller that can be used to play stepless pitches that roughly correspond to the following solo keyboard note. The portamento keyboard overwrites the solo keyboard when used at the same time. The solo manual only has a single oscillator, but a dedicated low frequency oscillator (LFO), a pitch envelope generator and a ring modulator .

The middle (upper) and lower (lower) manuals each have a 5-octave keyboard with 61 full-size keys. They are both 8-part polyphonic with two oscillators per voice. Each of these poly manuals has a dedicated LFO and there is a common “random” modulation generator. The upper manual also has a horizontal aftertouch for pitch, volume or filter and a polyphonic gliding function .

The pedal system consists of 25 pedals . It's monophonic, with three oscillators but no LFO. Among the Laustärkesteuerungen include an expression pedal with foot control and a spring-loaded knee controller (spring-loaded knee controller) .

All four manuals use a common voice-card design (called a “tone generator” in Yamaha parlance) to generate their sounds. Each of these voice generation cards has a voltage controlled oscillator ( VCO ) with multiple waveforms , voltage controlled high pass and low pass filters with 2 poles and two envelope generators for filter modulation and VCA control. There is also a variable band pass filtered sawtooth wave and a high pass filtered square wave on each voting card. A GX-1 contains a total of 36 voting cards, each with 36 oscillators, 72 envelope generators and 144 filters. Due to the use of numerous sub-modules, which in classic analog transistor technology in epoxy - boards are made, a complete set of weights GX-1 voting cards alone more than a Polymoog .

Preset sounds are stored on “sound modules” - small cassettes, each containing 26 resistor dividers with a fixed value. These generate voltages that drive the voting cards, with each resistor controlling a parameter of the sound. The sound modules are installed in compartments in the upper area of ​​the synthesizer. An optional "sound board" programmer can be used in place of a sound module, providing a complete set of knobs, switches, and sliders for manually controlling the parameters of a sound. Tones generated in this way can then be "programmed" to a module with variable tone using the settings box for tone modules. The upper, lower and pedal manuals all have a vocal structure in which each of the two voice cards is assigned a different tone. With a number of hidden wave motion controls, the second tones of the upper and lower ranks can be detuned, similar to the chorus effect known today . In the pedal manual, the second tone is doubled on two voice cards, both of which have separate detuning controls.

The GX-1 console weighs 300 kg. The pedalboard and stand add 87 kg, and each of the tube- powered speakers , four of which can be connected to the GX-1, weighs 141 kg (for a total of 951 kg).

The GX-1 was priced at $ 60,000 (adjusted for inflation: $ 315,000 in 2014) and premiered at NAMM in the United States in 1973 . The exact number produced is unknown but is estimated to be less than 100. It is known that at least 13 GX-1s exist outside of Japan, with the remainder believed to have remained in Japan.

The GX-1 served as the test bench for the development of the Yamaha CS-80 polyphonic synthesizer , which turned out to be much smaller and more portable, although it still has to be considered heavy compared to modern synthesizers for live performance. The sound of the CS-80 is audibly different from that of the GX-1.

Musician

A number of artists used the Yamaha GX-1 extensively for their recordings:

See also

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Yamaha Electone GX-1. Retrieved August 3, 2020 .
  2. Tobis B .: Special: String Synthesizer, History, Models and Artists - Page 2 of 6. In: AMAZONA.de. September 22, 2018, accessed August 3, 2020 .
  3. Yamaha Electone EX-42. Retrieved August 3, 2020 .
  4. a b c d The MOST Yamaha goes to Mickie. In: YAMAHA: GX-1. HOPPWEI - Who Advertises How Sounds Was, January 1978, accessed August 2020 .
  5. Ulf Soderlund: The Yamaha GX-1 - it is alive - Gearslutz. Gearslutz, October 30, 2015, accessed August 4, 2020 .
  6. Grönalund: Benny's Synthesizer / Yamaha GX1 has been restored - Benny Andersson - ABBA.de - Forum. Abba Forum Germany, January 30, 2017, accessed on August 4, 2020 .
  7. Tulio-Enrique-León. Retrieved August 3, 2020 (European Spanish).
  8. Ulf Soderlund: The Yamaha GX-1 - User List. Gearslutz, June 28, 2018, accessed August 4, 2020 .