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2015 Summer NAMM Show: Yamaha today officially introduced its new reface Mobile Mini Keyboards line, inspired by four of the company’s classic keyboard lines. Here’s what Yamaha has to say about the new keyboards: The series offers great sound, built-in speakers, 37 keys with professional-grade.
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Support the people that make all of this possible.Meta.Let's Talk.Related SubredditsGear and Software.Music and Synthesis. I've been seeing a lot of hate and harshness towards the Yamaha Reface DX and I keep wondering why.Where are you seeing all of this hate?For the record, I love it. It does everything I need it to and doesn't weigh 60 pounds, so I can pick it up and take it wherever, should the mood strike me.
It's easier to program than any FM synth I've played. There are a ton of patches online that you can easily transfer to your Reface in less than 30 seconds. The sequencer (more of a looper, really) is pretty fun. Easy to use, but a bit limited.
It sounds pretty wonderful. Ugh, I feel like the reface DX is the most misunderstood product for no good reason other than Gearslutz people hating on it because they're Gearslutz.First, the 4 vs 7 OP issue is a bit silly. The Reface has feedback on each OP (variable waveform). This usually takes 2 OPs to do. So, there are situations where the reface can do more that the DX7 and vis versa.
However, 4 OPs is way easier to deal with organizationally and makes the entire process more streamlined and accessible.Another complaint is the lack of FM patch compatibility. Well, the reface doesn't run on systex and has a different architecture.
Thank god, because MIDI CC compatibility is far more useful.As far as sound quality, the older yamaha FM synths have the reputation of being a bit noisy. The reface is silent.The DX7 and related synths are a nightmare to edit from the front panel. The reface is probably the easiest dedicated hardware FM synth to edit from the front panel, ever. Tried looking for another FM synth that seemed as easy to edit, old and new, and couldn't find it. Have a PreenFM2 as well, which can do some nice unique things, but I'd take another reface DX over it 90% of the time.I will admit that the touch controls suck. Some rotary encoders would've been far better, or they could've implemented the touch in a much better way.If you're interested in learning and creating patches from the ground up on a FM hardware synth, the reface is wonderful.
![Yamaha Reface Dx Iphone/ipad Connection Manual Yamaha Reface Dx Iphone/ipad Connection Manual](/uploads/1/2/5/4/125469139/868988227.jpg)
If you want a preset machine, get the volca FM. It's a great little synth.
Some of the posts in this thread are curraazy.easily the best hands-on FM editing outside of a touch OS. Sounds great. Very nice effects. Quite a cool and useful MIDI looper.comparing it to an actual DX7 is weird, try putting a DX7 in your backpack. Similarly try editing a TX from the front panel. Old FM synths are awesome don't get me wrong but none of them is a direct replacement for the reface.the only real issue is it's 4 operator rather than 6, but i dunno how many functional FM patches really need 6 operators. I enjoy mine quite a lot, it's to my knowledge the easiest FM hardware synth to program, which despite the stupid touch slider interface, is still very doable.
My issues with it are the lack of modulation routes (I'd go nuts to be able to apply an LFO to the algorithm, Feedback, that kinda thing), the 4 op cap, the lack of after touch controls, that awful looper, and no mod wheel/stick/whatever. I suppose the greatest strength was its downfall, in that it's so easy to program you end up wishing it could have been more complex. That said, the sounds are crystal clear and you can essentially cover every base with this little guy.
The speakers are outstanding, the effects are really good (except the wah, don't know who the hell uses that one) and the ability to live tweak your sounds without crossing a point of no return is pretty cool. I guess my ideal FM synth is the FM chunk that is bound to the new Montage workstation, rocking crazy cool features but shoehorned into a nether of other features I really don't care about. I wish the whole FM engine of the Montage was a stand alone synth, it would be fantastic.
Yamaha’s reface collection is a set of keyboards designed to give you legendary sounds from the company’s history, squeezed into tiny portable packages.The DX is all black and moody, drawing inspiration from the iconic Yamaha DX7, and, in all honesty, it wasn’t a keyboard I was expecting to get along with.The original DX series was notoriously unfriendly, and although it won itself a place in the hearts of what are now slightly older musicians, the DX line’s vanilla presets today have a tendency to sound cheesy and dated in a manner their 70s forebears somehow don’t. As per its ancestors, the DX is all about mucking about with waveforms (carrier operators) and smacking them into other waveforms (modulators), to create new sounds. Wisely, the keyboard comes with a bunch of presets.Old gits will likely love the bells and pianos that were hallmarks of the classic DX sound.
Some lovely pads should melt everyone’s ears. And for more contemporary tastes, there are some monstering electro noises that would likely make Jan Hammer flee in abject terror.That’s not especially authentic, but who cares? It ensures there’s something here for everyone, rather than only catering for people who hanker for the days of massive shoulder pads, Axel-F, and Spangles.Most importantly, the DX is accessible. The touch ribbon controllers enable you to delve into editing presets, adjusting the main parameters or going deeper to change things like LFO settings. From a technical perspective, you actually get about half a DX7 (a DX 3.5?), but you can very quickly surprise yourself regarding creating excitingly noisy leads or dreamingly pleasing soundscapes.Even if tapping away at buttons and swiping ribbons will never offer the thrilling physicality you get from something like reface CS’s selection of sliders. The DX impresses in other areas, though.
There’s a 2000-note looper, the means to save sounds on-board, and some great effects. In fact, the effects might be the smartest move in the entire unit, at least from a standalone perspective.Two effects can be added to any sound, potentially thickening up and adding depth and interest to even the blander built-in presets. For example, BeepBass (2.3) is a perfectly fine FM electronic bass with a hint of contemporary about it; but make it polyphonic rather than mono and then add lashings of chorus and delay, and it suddenly becomes interesting.Drawbacks? They’re much the same as across the entire reface range.
The mini-keys will alienate some, although after years of prodding virtual synths on an iPad, my fingers didn’t mind too much, and you can always connect the DX to a full-size keyboard anyway. And the display’s a bit diddy, but still beats the minuscule two-line effort found on the original DX7.