Date: Mon, 21 Sep 1998 11:49:19 -0400 From: David Bivins To: analogue@hyperreal.org Subject: CS1x (from an analog perspective) The CS1x is an inexpensive swiss army knife, but a knock-off swiss army knife. It's very useful to have an XG set of sounds when necessary (XG--Yamaha's extended MIDI sound set), and you get all the basic waveforms to build with if you want to keep your sounds more "pure." I use it to fill in little bits here and there that my analogs can't fulfil, especially when I'm doing live takes. The drums are a problem. They need a lot of processing to get them to sound alive or punchy (or both). You also only get L/R outputs, which doesn't give me the flexibility I would want with drum sounds. It's main use for me is as a master controller (not great at that, but there are assignable knobs for MIDI continuous controller messages). It's "analog" sounds are not bad and you get less stepping and zipping than even the AN1x (for some reason). I think it's a great synth to begin with. It's multitimbralism, price, and sounds mean a rank amateur can learn to put together a decent track with minimum investment. Please don't rely exclusively on its drum sounds, though. They are pretty flat. If you want good sounding drums, please get a separate module or machine dedicated to such a task. You'll be happier. David. ============================================================================ Date: Sat, 19 Sep 1998 09:04:40 +1900 From: AC Subject: Alpha Juno 2 & CS1-X What would be a fair price for a used Juno2 in excellent condition? And please don't flame me on this but how does the CS1-X by yamaha stand up? is it another lame attempt or another mc303ish thingy or is it actually worth $500? How does it sound and how are the drum sounds on it? Thanks AC (666 ZipCode Town)