pjd@cwruecmp.UUCP (dr. funk) (12/27/85)
Hard to believe, but I'm almost out of toys to acquire! I've had a DX-21 for about 6 weeks and I still love it! The MIDI documentation is quite good and my Atari 520ST is already talking with the 21. I strongly recommend the DX-21 to anyone who has budgeted about $700 for a synthesizer or MIDI'd add on to a personal computer. My latest love, however, is the RX-21 rhythm machine. Yamaha appears to be going after the low end of the market (quite aggressively!) after dominating with the DX-7. The RX-21 is really a good value for the money. (I paid $235 at PI keyboards in Cleveland.) The three toms and kick (bass) drum all sound quite good and the cymbal and high hats are pretty solid too. The snare is a bit disappointing and the claps are kind of weak. (If you quantize at 1/32 and put another clap 1/32 after an accented clap, you get a beefier sound. I haven't figured out how to work around the snare, tho'.) The RX-21 will record 4 songs and 44 patterns. 56 preset patterns are available for "lame-Ohs" like me with no sense of rhythm (even after playing the sticks for three years in elementary school!) The presets aren't to good, but with the copy pattern feature, they provide a good point(s) for departure. Patterns can be programmed in realtime against a click track or using the LCD display which shows one bar (or fraction there of) of one instrument at a time. Programming both patterns and sounds is pretty easy. The only "structure" operator provided for songs is the repeat, so complicated song structures will require some work and redundancy. The RX-21 MIDI implementation is VERY weak. In order to save and restore patches from the ST, I may have to disassemble the dump info. I haven't tried writing to Yamaha yet ..... Now some general notes on both the RX and DX. I have an aversion (make that hatred) of overloaded buttons probably a result of dealing with weirdo digital watches. However, the human interface of the RX and DX have been carefully designed and don't pose any significant problems. Recent price increases by Yamaha are probably "compensating" for the strong YEN -- Toyota, et al. have also increased prices. It's not necessarily greed. For the money, they are a good value. (Might as well through in the 520ST as well, but we've had enough of that flamage in net.micro.insanity.) -- paul drongowski decvax!cwruecmp!pjd case western reserve university pjd%Case@CSNet-relay