glickman@fisher.UUCP (Mark E. Glickman) (04/26/85)
It seems that there has been a strong emphasis recently in posting articles on drum machines. For those of you who haven't heard, Yamaha has created yet another series of wonders: the RX line of drum machines. I believe they have just appeared on the market as recently as 1/2 year ago, and I'm told that the RX's are on backorder virtually everywhere. And with good cause! I just bought the RX-15 (the less expensive model of the two that Yamaha is selling, the other being the RX-11), and I'm happy to say that for its price (I got it for $450) it does as much as one would want out of a machine that would sell for $1000! The sounds are very crisp, and the machine is very easy to program (once you decipher the manual). Here are the basic features of the RX-15: The RX-15 comes with a wide variety of sounds; 2 snares, 3 toms, 2 closed high hats, 1 bass, 1 crash, 1 rimshot, 1 ride, 1 shaker, 1 cowbell, and 1 clap. The output level as well as the stereo panning for each drum can be controlled. Also, each drum can be accented (good for drum rolls and fills), and the level of the accent can also be controlled. Programming the RX-15 can be done in real-time or stepwise. The user creates 'patterns' which he can link together to form songs. Editing patterns and songs is quite easy, and using certain options (e.g., the 'repeat' option) can save a lot of memory. The data from the internal memory can be loaded onto a casette tape, and if one has an RX-11, one can also load memory onto a RAM cartridge (also used with the DX7 - but who wants to spend $125 for RAM??). Finally, the unit is Midi-compatible (Midi in and Midi out) which actually allows it to function as a small sequencer to Midi- compatible synthesizers. Although I've only had my unit for a couple of months, I've had absolutely no complaints or problems with the RX-15. Does anyone else who owns an RX-15 (or RX-11) feel the same way I do? - Mark Glickman (fisher!glickman)