Out Of The Shadows

Posted on October 3, 2022 by pj

I’ve been working on backing and lead instruments for the classic Del Shannon song “Keep Searchin'”.

Yamaha Genos™ is made for this tune. First off, its “ShadowedPop” style is the perfect fit for that old 1950s rock’n’roll vibe. It has just the right amount of swing and attitude.

Next, Genos has very good electric guitars for lead. Want clean Tele or Strat? Genos has them. Genos also has a suite of effects to obtain a complete, authentic guitar tone.

Yamaha arranger styles have “One Touch Settings” which are mini-registrations. Hit an OTS button and Genos will both change song section and bring up an appropriate voice. The Genos “ShadowedPop” style has two OTS mini-registrations that are worth deconstructing to see how the Yamaha sound designers got their Shadows guitar tone: “60sShadowLead” and “ShadowedGuitar”.

Of course, the “shadow” in all of these voice and style names refer to Hank Marvin and The Shadows — one of, or perhaps, THE iconic 1950’s guitar band and sound. The Shadows’ treatment felt absolutely right for the Del Shannon cover. Hank Marvin was perhaps the first English artist to pick up a Fender Strat, usually putting it through a Vox amp.

The PSR “ShadowedGuitar” voice goes back four or five years and is a standard factory preset. If your Yamaha arranger does not have “ShadowedGuitar”, choose a clean, 1960’s vintage guitar preset voice. Change the insert effect to Tempo Echo and set the insert effect send level to 30. Change the effect parameters to:

 Param#  Parameter name       Value 
 ------  -------------------  ------ 
      1  Delay Time           8th 
      2  Feedback Level       +28 
      3  Feedback High Damp   1.0 
      4  L/R Diffusion        +14ms 
      5  Lag                  0ms 
     10  Dry/Wet              D34>W 
     13  EQ Low Frequency     500Hz 
     14  EQ Low Gain          0dB 
     15  EQ High Frequency    4.0kHz 
     16  EQ High Gain         0dB

Reverb is a big part of the 50’s vibe and you’ll need gobs of it on the guitar. Select a hall reverb and set the reverb send level to at least 50. If your arranger has it, I recommend the “Real Medium Hall+” preset. It’s one of Yamaha’s best reverbs, in my opinion.

Only Genos has the “60sShadowLead” voice voice. Fortunately, it’s easy to add a close sound-alike to your instrument. Start with “ShadowedGuitar” or a clean, 1960’s vintage guitar preset. Get into the mixer (or DSP effect page) and change the insert effect to Multi FX Vintage Echo and set the insert effect send level to 127 (if necessary). Then change the effect parameters to:

 Param#  Parameter name       Value 
 ------  -------------------  ------ 
      1  Comp Sustain    2.9 
      2  Wah Switch      Off 
      3  Wah Pedal       0 
      4  Dist Switch     Clean 
      5  Dist Drive      5.0 
      6  Dist EQ         Mid Boost 
      7  Dist Tone       3.5 
      8  Dist Presence   4.3 
      9  Output          110 
     11  Speaker Type    Twin 
     12  LFO Speed       2.103Hz 
     13  Phaser Switch   Off 
     14  Delay Switch    Delay St 
     15  Delay Control   60 
     16  Delay Time      33

We met the Multi FX algorithm once before. This algorithm is like a virtual guitar pedal board:

Compressor -->  Wah --> Distortion --> Phaser --> Delay --> Spkr Sim

The above parameter values dial in The Shadows’ guitar tone.

You’ll need gobs of reverb, again, to complete the scene. Choose the “Real Medium Hall+” preset and set the reverb send to at least 40.

The “60sShadowLead” OTS also configures the chorus system effect. Having listened to the overall tone with and without chorus, this step is optional. (Possibly some other style part may be affected by this change or a change to any other system-level effect including reverb.) Change the chorus type to “Celeste 1” and set the chorus send level to 12. 12 is not especially high, so you can see why this last step is optional; it’s just a little sweetener.

You might consider changing the chorus effect to tremolo (e.g., “E-Piano Tremolo”). Guitarists in the 50s and 60s didn’t have guitar pedals. (Sorry, Edge.) So, folks relied on guitar amp spring reverb and tremolo (often mislabeled “vibrato”) to get space-y effects. I still have the sound of an Ampeg Gemini going through my head. 😎

Select the “E-Piano Tremolo” effect preset, increase the AM Depth to max, and set the chorus send level to 127:

 Param#  Parameter name       Value 
 ------  -------------------  ------ 
      1  LFO Frequency        5.38Hz 
      2  AM Depth             127 
      3  PM Depth             0 
      6  EQ Low Frequency     500Hz 
      7  EQ Low Gain          0dB 
      8  EQ High Frequency    4.0kHz 
      9  EQ High Gain         0dB 
     11  EQ Mid Frequency     2.0kHz 
     12  EQ Mid Gain          0.0dB 
     13  EQ Mid Width         1.0 
     14  LFO Phase Difference +39deg 
     15  Input Mode           Mono 
         Return Level         127

You’re looking for that deep, “Spaghetti Western”, Ennio Morricone effect. Play the lead line an octave down. Have fun!

The EQ parameters in the tremolo algorithm make this a good guitar tone mangler — swept mid EQ with Q (width)! Mid boost or cut is right at hand.

Here are short demos (MP3) on Genos with tremolo and without tremolo. Yamaha Montage and MODX have the same effect algorithms, so you should be able to apply the same techniques on those instruments, too.

Links to a few other posts about chasing tone on Yamaha gear:

MODX+: Glad that’s over!

Posted on September 1, 2022 by pj

Yamaha launched its MODX+ keyboards today. The MODX+ has a few modest improvements over the MODX (Mk1):

1.75GB user waveform memory
Rubberized pitch and mod wheels
New livery (black end-cheeks)
128 tone FM-X polyphony (maximum)

Seamless Sound Switching (SSS) is the same as MODX (limited to 4-part Performances). There are a few on-line videos that are incorrect. The USB audio spec has not changed either.

In case you missed it, Yamaha have a MODX+ Early Adopter Promo Rebate. Register your MODX+ and receive a free FC7 expression pedal and FC5 foot switch. The promotion ends 31 December 2022. That should take some of the sting out of the new prices: $1,499 MAP for the MODX6+ versus $1,399 for the MODX (Mk1). Look for a bundled gig bag, too.

Yamaha are promoting a downloadable Bösendorfer piano. Gotta fill up that expansion memory! Look for new additions to the Montage/MODX+ library in the future. Yamaha IdeaScale participants previewed a new CP-90 piano currently in development. Big multi-samples to drive MODX+ sales.

Anticipatory discussion was filled with wishful thinking and speculation concerning the addition of a second SWP70 tone generator chip and possibly AN-X™ virtual analog synthesis. Judging from the boost in FM-X polyphony, the MODX+ quite likely got the second SWP70.

Speculation about AN-X borders on fantasy. It is based on the premise that an SWP70 is even capable of virtual analog synthesis. Other than Yamaha, does anyone really know what is inside of an SWP70 tone generator?. I don’t.

Adding further doubt for the wet-blanket brigade, I offer the design decisions surrounding the Reface series. The Reface YC and CP are genetic sisters. Both are based on AWM2, both using the SWX08 processor with integrated AWM2 tone generation. Why then, did Yamaha deploy the SSP2 digital signal processor in the Reface CS? Surely, it would have been more cost effective to share the same logic board as Reface YC and CP. Thus, I have my doubts unless SWP70 has some hidden, yet-to-be revealed functional capabilities. Yamaha have the new SSP3 to play with, too.

Given the limitations of the Montage/MODX user interface, including relatively few front panel controls, AN-X on Montage/MODX+ is just putting a bag on the side of a fine product. [Apologies to Tracy Kidder.]

So, I don’t think Yamaha is finished with announcements. There are still CK61™ and CK88™ to account for. Marketing 101 says “Don’t muddy the waters with multiple product launches in a given lane.” Plus, Yamaha marketing is not that big and poor Blake needs to flog the MODX+ while it’s hot. Stay tuned, boys and girls.

Punters are trying to justify the small price increase in terms of component count, etc. Yamaha priced MODX+. Done. If they don’t shift boxes, Yamaha will drop the regional MAP. Currency fluctuation may have more to do with variations in price than component count. Unfortunately, the suits often win.

As to price, one more observation. MODX and MODX+ have crashed the psychological $1,000 USD barrier. Smash it. The MX series is the only sub-$1000 offering. (Reface don’t count with its mini-keys.) There is a big gap between MX and MODX. I don’t think Yamaha can raise prices on the current MX, so maybe something else is coming?

Where to put AN-X™?

Posted on August 26, 2022 by pj

Let’s not miss the forest for the trees…

Wishful thinking abounds — Let’s add an AN-X™ engine to the Yamaha Montage and/or MODX+. From the comments, you would think this is a done deal.

Well, the frenzied demand is certainly there. 🙂 With demand wafts the smell of money. How will Yamaha make money with AN-X?

Occasionally I see a forum comment that is so spot-on, it bears repeating. This comment comes from CyberGene on the Musicplayer Keyboard Corner:

The more I think about it (and knowing Yamaha of course, as well as owning and selling a MODX for being too awkward to work with) I have no high hopes for this hypothetical AN-X being integrated into anything intuitive and easy to use. 🙂 Most certainly it would need to be preprogrammed in advance rather then having a good hands on interface for real time manipulation. Yeah, you can route the knobs and faders to it as usual but still — I just think they should make a YC/CP type of instrument where they add the entire reface CS panel and engine. 😉 Why not add it to the YC73/88, so that it becomes a Nord Stage competitor. Call it a YCS73/88, bingo!

Amen. Could you imagine programming or controlling an AN-X engine within the context of the current Montage (MODX) user interface (UI)? Kill me now.

If Yamaha learned one thing from the YC and CP stage instruments, it’s “stage instruments with a focused user interface and engine (drawbar organ, piano, whatever) are desirable and sell.” [Ka-ching.]

Yamaha marketing folks are players as well as business people. The right way to do analog is to put the engine in a box that it is studded with knobs, buttons and analog controllers. Analog synthesis is meant to be interactive. Yamaha marketing surely knows this and the Reface CS — on a small scale –is proof.

So, AN-X on Montage and MODX+? How would that fit within a menu-based UI which many people find too complicated? In the case of MODX+, would you be happy with four sliders, four knobs and a Superknob for control? Would you enjoy menu-diving? [Sound of shrieking noises here.]

So, thanks, CyberGene for your insight. If Yamaha want to do AN-X right, they need to do it in a focused stage instrument. And make money.

Update: Yamaha have filed for a stylized (figurative) trademark in the European Union. See image below.

Yamaha trademark ANX (European Union, filing: 018741845)

Yamaha MODX+ madness

Posted on August 23, 2022 by pj

Thanks to a few pages posted from the Yamaha MODX+ user manual, the new MODX+ is a bit of a nothing-burger — a product spiff. The MODX+ got a few bumps over MODX (Mark 1): more expansion memory (1.75GB), FM-X polyphony on-par with Montage (128), and a way to add rhythm patterns:

Also, the MODX+ has a new feature for instantly adding rhythm patterns so that the players can take their music creation forward with dynamic rhythm parts. With this feature, creating rhythmic changes in the “Motion Controls” is easier than ever! [Yamaha]

Just enough to keep MODX+ competitive in its price bracket. The bump in FM-X polyphony indicates the likely addition of a second SWP70 tone generator IC.

I suspect Yamaha will use new downloadable libraries to drive a few pack-rat punters to upgrade to MODX+. Recently, IdeaScale participants had a chance to preview a new CP-80 voice (and waveforms). Yamaha were soliciting opinions as to which voices/waveforms had the most sonic appeal. A flood of must-have content might create demand among current MODX (Mark 1) players, making that 1.75GB a necessity.

The forums are filled with speculation about AN-X™. Again, a lot of wishful thinking about AN-X coming to Montage and/or MODX+. Only Yamaha know for sure.

As yet, however, no one has solved the mystery of the other registered trademarks: CK61™ and CK88™.

Yamaha have moved on from the SSP2 signal processing chip to the SSP3. The SSP3 first appeared in the Yamaha AXR4U and Steinberg UR44C audio interfaces. Yamaha move ahead like a shark and the SSP2 is deprecated for new designs. In fact, the MODX+ refresh likely includes the SSP3 as SSP2 production inventories must be low or exhausted.

That turns my attention to the Reface DX and Reface CS. The Reface DX and CS are sisters, sharing the same internal design modulo screen interface and front panel gizmos. Both are based on SSP2 and, thus, both may be in need of a refresh — or replacement. The SSP2 signal processor provides the FM and VA synthesis horsepower.

Simply put, will CK61 and CK88 replace the Reface DX and CS? Will the CK61 and CK88 be the AN-X machine? How will Yamaha monetize AN-X? When it comes to business, Yamaha are not fools. Never sell one model when two will do as well! Ka-ching. 🙂

On a personal note, I started this site to inform players about music technology and what’s inside the tin. It’s gratifying to read the forums and see how much this site has influenced discussion, especially discussion about Yamaha products. Thank you for reading and please keep coming back! — pj

A few handy links:

Is MODX+ on the way?

Posted on August 17, 2022 by pj

[Updated 18 August 2022.] Rumors are circulating about Yamaha MODX — either replacement or refresh.

Now pictures of a misdelivered “MODX8+” have appeared. Naturally, one asks “fake or real?” Cosmetically, the only external differences are:

A different product model legend on the right side of the top panel, e.g., “MODX8+ Music Synthesizer”.
Black plastic end-cheeks instead of grey.

The MODX8+ was shipped mistakenly to a customer. Support anticipates release in the Sepember or October timeframe.

The new livery reminds me of the Yamaha MX series V2 spiff. It was somewhat difficult for a customer to identify an MX V1 vs. an MX V2. The new MODX+ legend makes the mark 2 clearly distinguishable. No word about enhanced features or sound set. One must also ask if the Montage will get a spiff, too?

I’m going out on a limb — real.

Update: MODX+ discussion is rampant in the forums. Here are a few quick comments, corrections and a request.

SWP70 is an integrated circuit designed by Yamaha. It is manufactured by a partner fab. Yamaha is fab-less. Yamaha transferred its semiconductor manufacturing subsidiary to Phenitec Semiconductor in 2014. It takes a lot of money to build and maintain semiconductor fabrication factories — a money losing proposition for Yamaha (or my old employer, AMD, for that matter). Yamaha remains a manufacturing powerhouse at the board level and sells its own line of PCB assembly equipment.

SWP70 processors are manufactured in batches based on Yamaha’s estimated need. Depending upon the portability of the SWP70 design, Yamaha may turn to multiple alternative partners for fab. “Portability”, in this sense, means how easily the design can be re-targeted for a specific fabrication process.

Generally, Yamaha has done a good job exploiting commodity components. The SWP70 uses ONFI-compatible NAND flash and RAM. The MODX and Montage host processors are high-volume, embedded ARM microcomputers. Although Yamaha has preferred suppliers for NAND flash and RAM (e.g., Cypress/Spansion, Winbond), these are commodity parts and are available from many suppliers. Commodity components are probably not a pressure point.

As I’ve said before, Yamaha have just a few critical external supply vulnerabilities. Aside from fab capacity, SWP70s or other Yamaha proprietary processors are likely not the issue here. When it comes to DACs and ADCs, however, Yamaha is very reliant on Asahi Kasei Microdevices (AKM). AKM is still trying to recover from its factory fire. The AKM supply shortage has put Yamaha and many other vendors on the back foot.

Yamaha have the right to substitute components. Every manual has the following disclaimer:

Specifications and descriptions in this owner’s manual are for information purposes only. Yamaha Corp. reserves the right to change or modify products or specifications at any time without prior notice. Since specifications, equipment or options may not be the same in every locale, please check with your Yamaha dealer. Visit the web page for information on the latest Owner’s manual.

Of course, this could mean substituting for AKM devices. DACs and ADCs communicate via the I2S digital audio interface format. If Yamaha did substitute — speculation — would we hear an audible change?

Much speculation surrounds the second, unpopulated SWP70 position (TG slave) on the original MODX printed circuit board. The TG slave has an associated open position for DSP RAM only. Thus, if Yamaha choose to use the same board and to populate the open positions, these changes would bring MODX+ up to the same polyphony spec and tone generation horsepower as the current Montage. Montage would still have the advantage in digital audio routing and processing (including audio channels over USB). The original MODX board does not have provisions for upgraded audio channels.

A product spin is needed when a Yamaha proprietary component is obsoleted and out of inventory. Such may be the case with the venerable SSP2 — a workhorse in many Yamaha products including mixers, Reface CS and Reface DX. Yamaha and Steinberg have moved on to the SSP3.

Finally, a request. Please do not publicly reveal your source of leaks. Yamaha are incredibly paranoid, exceeded only by Apple and Sony in this regard. First, leaks get real people in trouble. Second, Yamaha learn from their mistakes. Protect your sources and methods!

You spin me right round

Posted on July 26, 2022 by pj

Spot product shortages have sparked speculation about discontinued products, new products, etc. Given the human propensity to look for and find patterns, it’s no wonder that conspiracy theories take hold!

The on-line inventory picture is mixed. Some retailers show Yamaha Montage/MODX, for example, in stock, some show them out of stock pending September availability and, in one case, discontinued.

Random “discontinued” tags seem to come and go. A month ago, the Yamaha Canada site marked the MX as discontinued. Now the marker is gone. Better indicators are blow-out pricing to move stock or a Yamaha spiff incentive to move old stock. So far, I haven’t seen any clearance pricing or promotions.

Yamaha’s mid- to upper-end keyboard products have a vulnerable supply dependency on Asahi Kasei Microdevices (AKM) DACs and ADCs. The AKM factory fire was worse than originally thought and production is still not back on-line. Renesas has offered to manufacture AKM devices. The Yamaha UK site has the disclaimer, “Due to the difficulty in procuring semiconductors and procuring parts worldwide, some of our product area deliveries may be delayed. Thank you for your understanding.”

AKM aren’t very public about their recovery and certainly haven’t released a public roadmap. A recent press release for VELVET SOUND DACs and ADCs mentions sampling (no pun intended) in January 2022 with “mass production scheduled for the third quarter of 2022.” Given that Toyota is a top AKM customer, who wins, Toyota or Yamaha? 😉

The AKM shortage inspires other conspiracy theories, too. Theory #1: Yamaha are using non-AKM DACs and ADCs in Montage — the analog/jack (AJK) board was redesigned or manufactured with inferior non-AKM devices. Theory #2: MODX is suspended in order to give preference to and ship the wider-margin Montage. Someone went so far as to ask about replacement DACs in Montage and got the usual non-response from Yamaha. (What did they expect?)

Some of the Yamaha boards use Yamaha proprietary ICs, e.g., SWL, SWX, or SSP2 processors, creating a different supply dependency. When production inventory is exhausted, Yamaha need to re-spin end product to use a newer part. The July 2016 MX refresh is one interesting example. I believe that was the case with the MX refresh.

I haven’t seen a new version of the heavy weight SWP70 tone generator. However, Yamaha have updated both the SWX and SSP lines:

The SWX08 is replaced by the SWX09.
The SSP3 — now appearing in Steinberg and Yamaha pro audio products — will likely replace the SSP2.

The SWX update would affect mid-range keyboards, notably the Yamaha Reface CP and YC. The SSP update would affect Montage, MODX, and Reface CS and DX.

Are new product spins in the works? Something is coming (eventually) given the CK61™/CK88™ and AN-X™ trademarks. Once again, only Yamaha really knows. 🙂

Yamaha YC series: Tonewheels

Posted on June 30, 2022 by pj

overall Speculation about future Yamaha product reminded me of some unfinished business — analyzing the design of the Yamaha YC stage organ series.

Design of the YC series put some of Yamaha’s best minds to work including Dr. Toshifumi Kunimoto. “Dr. K” and his team are well-known for Virtual Circuit Modeling (VCM) and physical modeling (VL). Before reading ahead, it’s worth reviewing my post summarizing YC61 Developers’ comments. The article has link to a (subtitled) interview with Dr. K, Takashi Mori and Akinobu Shibuya. One big take-away is how the developers took a system-wide approach to emulation the Hammond sound.

The YC61 Owner’s Manual cites six specific innovations:

Natural, organic harmonies when playing chords — thanks to a matrix circuit that connects the keyboard, tone wheels, and drawbars.
Percussion sound with presence — based on vacuum tube circuit analysis.
Key clicks and leakage sounds — based on electrical circuit analysis.
Natural sound distortion — simulating vintage vacuum tube pre-amplifiers.
Vibrato/Chorus effect — from scanner-based vibrato circuitry.
Changes in frequency characteristics and drive amount that responds dynamically to operation of the expression pedal.

These innovations are all in the realm of VCM and are needed to re-create the overall Hammond sound.

I assumed that Yamaha modeled the tonewheels, too. Now, I’m not so sure. I think the tonewheel waveforms are sampled and a modified form of AWM2 synthesis generates the basic, uneffected tonewheel signal (in digital form, of course). Here is my justification.

The interview and YC-series documentation

Yamaha are always honest about what they say even if they don’t say everything. Neither the developers’ interview or Yamaha documentation mention modeled tonewheels.

The YC specifications provide an important clue. Yamaha specify YC polyphony as:

VCM Organ + AWM2: 128 (Total of VCM Organ and AWM2), FM: 128

YC series keyboards have a single SWP70 tone generator (TG) integrated circuit (IC). Like the MODX design, the YC splits AWM2 and FM-X tone generation duties. It’s clear from the polyphony spec that the “VCM Organ” and AWM2 voices split resources, i.e., the AWM2 tone generation channels.

In AWM2 synthesis, each active voice element is assigned to an SWP70 tone generation channel. Genos and the upper-end PSR — also AWM2- and SWP70-based — assign a single drawbar waveform to an element (so-called “Organ Flutes” mode). Organ emulation on MODX (Montage) is similar.

Clearly, the AWM2 pipeline is involved in “VCM Organ” synthesis in some way.

Oh, the complexity!

Everyone is familiar with the 100,000 foot view of the Hammond tonewheel generator. A synchronous motor drives an assembly which spins the tonewheels. Each tonewheel has a pick-up that produces a fluctuating sine-like waveform. The waveforms pass through a key switching matrix and drawbars producing a mixed-down, composite organ tone. The tone is sent to the vibrato scanner, reverb, Leslie speaker, etc.

When it comes to modeling, the devil is in the details. I highly recommend reading one of the excellent Hammond tonewheel deep-dives on the Web:

When reading, please think about what is would take to write a mathematical model of this wonderful electro-mechanical contraption! It ain’t as trivial as summing up a bunch of sine waves. 🙂

The tonewheel assembly itself is closer to Charles Babbage’s mechanical Analytical Engine, than it is to an electronic home organ. The twelve (24, really) fundamental pitches are determined by integer gear ratios which approximate equal temperment. The tone wheels themselves have 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 192 notches, producing subpitches at (near) octave intervals, derived from the fundamental scale pitches.

We know from our own experience that other aspects of the Hammond and Leslie organ system affect the final sound more than the basic tonewheel tones. If I were a developer, I would say, “Memory is cheap,” sample the tonewheels, move on and concentrate on the scanner, vacuum tube distortion, rotary speaker, etc.

Patents

Except, there is the issue of phase relationships when samples are played back. The Hammond tonewheel generator is a mechanical system with fixed relationships between tonewheel positions. This must be taken into account. Naive sample playback moves phase all over the place in an un-Hammond-like manner. Sample playback should be positionally aligned to preserve the fixed relationships present in a real, physical Hammond tonewheel generator.

Dr. K refers to “phase interference:”

“While collecting a range of different pitch waveforms, combining them, and including some non-linear additions, we also had to deal with phase interference between them. It turns out that this interference is not constant, and while balanced over the entire pitch of the instrument, the pitches do shift in subtle and inconsistent ways. … [T]his disordered yet harmonious behavior” is essential and necessary.

I believe that Yamaha have solved this problem by fetching and combining sampled tonewheel waveforms in a different way than everyday AWM2. Here are some patents to consider:

US Patent 10,388,290 B2 Multifunctional audio signal generation apparatus, August 20, 2019, Inventor: Taro Shirahama, Yamaha.
Japanese Patent 6360692 B2, Audio signal generation apparatus, July 4, 2018.

Yamaha could be aligning tonewheel waveforms when samples are fetched, thereby eliminating phase errors with respect to Hammond behavior. The sampled waveforms, of course, must also preserve the near-equal temperment of integer Hammond gear ratios. The end result is “Natural, organic harmonies when playing chords.”

I also want to draw attention to:

European patent application 20214572.8, Rotary speaker emulation — Device, musical instrument, method and program, December 16, 2020, Inventors: Yuji YAMADA and Takashi MORI, Yamaha.

This patent may summarizes Yamaha’s most recent work on rotary speaker emulation although the patent seems to be written as to obfuscate its intent. Yamaha has covered this territory before including:

US Patent 9,899,016 B2, Time stretching applied to rotary speaker sound, February 20, 2018, Inventors: Masatsugu Okazaki and Taro Shirahama, Yamaha.

Please note the inventors!

Guess again: AN-X ™

Posted on June 23, 2022 by pj

Various forums are buzzing about Yamaha’s latest trademark application: AN-X™. The application was filed 9 June 2022 and must go through several steps before approval.

Like “CK61™” and “CK88™”, the primary class is “Musical Instruments” and the trademark registration is “intended to cover the categories of musical instruments, namely, electronic musical keyboards, electronic pianos, music synthesizers.”

Although Yamaha submitted a drawing (below), the “mark is presented in standard character format without claim to any particular font style, size or color.” So, keep your fingers offa those characters! 🙂

Update: Yamaha have filed for a stylized (figurative) trademark in the European Union. See image below.

Yamaha ANX trademark (European Union, filing: 018741845)

Of course, everyone is deconstructing the proposed mark. “AN” is known as Yamaha’s Analog Physical Modeling Synthesis as embodied in products like the AN200 Desktop Control Synthesizer. I’ve still got my AN200 and it’s a keeper. The AN200 consists of an SWX00B host processor and a PLG150-AN daugherboard. The PLG150-AN itself has a Renesas H8/300H 16-bit microcontroller and two Yamaha custom integrated circuits: VOP3 and MDSP. The custom circuits implement the VA synthesis and digital effects.

Yamaha AN200 analog physical modeling synthesis

It’s worth mentioning that VOP3 appears in the Yamaha FS1r — the inspiration for today’s FM-X. The FS1r does both 8-op FM and Formant Shaping Synthesis. Internally, two custom FS1-AB integrated circuits perform FM and formant shaping synthesis. Two VOP3 integrated circuits implement the filters (the first VOP3) and effects (the second VOP3).

Yep, I’ve mused about adding VA synthesis to Montage before and was skeptical about adding it to the existing SWP70-based Montage pipeline. I remain doubtful about adding VA synthesis to the existing Montage/MODX platform.

It’s worth noting, again, that Yamaha have never published nor described the actual data processing pipeline and signal paths within the SWP70 tone generator. I don’t have any formal relationship with Yamaha nor does Yamaha engineering ring me up regarding the internal details of their tone generation hardware. 😉 Do I have a right to change my mind in light of new information and analysis? Yes. Do I hope for a surprise from Yamaha? Yes.

The question is whether the SWP70 is capable of subsuming VOP3-like DSP functionality for VA synthesis. ~~It’s how the YC series implements its Virtual Circuitry Modeling (VCM) organ engine. Clearly, if you can model drawbars, you can model an analog oscillator.~~ Lest anyone forget, the Montage V3.0 upgrade (MODX V2.0) added the VCM Mini Filter, VCM Mini Booster and Wave Folder DSP effects.

An earlier version of this port stated the YC series uses modeled tonewheels. Further analysis makes me believe otherwise.

As to filtering, what is a hardware or software digital filter other than a mathematical model of an analog filter — even if its cold and heartless? What is a digital amplitude envelope other than a model of an analog envelope generator and VCA? Distinction due to implementation technology is nearly moot; it comes down to the characteristics of the particular models.

What does all this portend for the future? If I were Yamaha and I could add VA to the Montage (MODX) platform, I would sell it as an upgrade. Many people want VA on Montage and there is money to be made.

I’m willing to go a step further. Yamaha could and should offer a VCM organ upgrade, too. The SWP70 can support it. I’ll put money where my mouth is — I will pay real money for a YC upgrade on MODX (Montage). BTW, there’s no technical reason to not offer the FM-based YC organs on MODX/Montage already — it’s FM-X, after all.

Now, what are “CK61” and “CK88”? 🙂

Critique: Genos™ drawbar organ

Posted on October 25, 2021 by pj

I like the Korg Module Pro “GospelOrgan” patch, so I tried to create a sound-alike voice on Yamaha Genos. Genos and MODX share the same waveforms and DSP effects, and I may port the result to MODX, too.

The experience recalled my previous misgivings about the rotary speaker simulation and limitations of the Genos DSP effect implementation. I will amplify those comments here.

Mid- to upper-level Yamaha arranger workstation have long had a drawbar organ feature which Yamaha calls “Organ Flutes.” This feature dates back to 1999, appearing in the PSR-9000 keyboard. Although a few details have changed over the years, Yamaha has not substantially overhauled Organ Flutes. It’s time, Yamaha — the world has moved on. I’d love to see the new YC organ technology in Genos. It’s the flagship of the arranger line and YC organs would definitely differentiate Genos from its lower-cost brethren.

Yamaha Organ Flutes main voice editing screen

The main, tweakable organ parameters are:

Nine drawbars
Percussion (first note/each note, length)
Percussion pitch (4′, 2-2/3′, 2′)
Response (onset delay of drawbar and percussion sounds)
Vibrato (on/off, depth, speed)
Rotary speaker speed (slow/fast)
Volume level (1 to 8)
DSP effect (e.g., rotary speaker)

For B-3’ers, the 4′ percussion pitch is the 2nd harmonic setting and the 2-2/3′ percussion pitch is the 3rd harmonic setting. The 2′ pitch supports non-Hammond organs which require it.

Compared with a contemporary clonewheel, one immediately notes a few missing features:

Vibrato only, no chorus
No key click
No rotor noise
No leakage

Overall, the Genos B-3 is super clean and polite — not vintage. MODX (Montage) provides key click, rotor noise (grit) and rotor whistle waveforms. Why does Genos lag behind? Although MODX is AWM2, not modeling, these extra waveforms are better than nothing at all.

The Genos synthesis engine is also AWM2 sample-playback and AWM2 provides the Organ Flutes vibrato. Organ Flutes does not simulate the one-of-a-kind Hammond vibrato/chorus scanner. The Korg Module “Gospel Organ” voice incorporates C-3 chorus and the AMW2 vibrato just doesn’t cut it (head-to-head comparison). I had to substitute Genos’ V-2 setting and move on.

Simplified, graphical rotary speaker interface

If you want to change the rotary speaker type, you need to dive through the effect setting button at the top of the Organ Flutes screen. After selecting the insertion effect, Genos displays a skeuomorphic (graphical) rotary speaker cabinet with a few knobs. In the screenshot above, we get rotary speed, horn and rotor balance, and microphone left/right angle. Like many (most?) rotary speaker simulations, the rotary effect emulates the sound of a mic’d up, stereo recording of a Leslie, not a horn and rotor moving air in a room.

Additional rotary speaker (DSP) parameters are changed by tapping the “Detail” button in the lower right corner. deep-diving reveals a few more deficiencies:

Missing parameters due to a limitation on the number of DSP effect parameters (16 parameters maximum)
Only one insert effect (typically the rotary speaker)
Volume control is post-effect and does not affect overdrive

Here is a little more information about each issue.

At heart, the Genos (PSR, Tyros) sound engine implements the Yamaha XG synthesis and effects architecture. The XG architecture allows up to sixteen (!6) parameters per DSP effect unit. Unfortunately, Yamaha’s DSP engineers are creating effect algorithms (AKA “effect types”) with more than sixteen parameters! The MODX ROTARY SPEAKER 2 algorithm has eighteen (18) parameters. The Genos REAL ROTARY effect type is the same algorithm as MODX. However, only 16 parameters are accessible or stored on Genos. The two missing REAL ROTARY parameters are:

Slow-Fast Time of Rotor
Fast-Slow Time of Rotor

You cannot change these rotor ramp times on Genos, yet, you can change them on MODX.

This issues affects the Genos UNI COMP compressor algorithm (MODX: UNIVERSAL COMPRESSOR DOWN). Dare I mention the inability to specify a side-chain part, too? People are trying to create EDM on arrangers.

The XG architecture allows only one insert effect per part. The Organ Flutes insertion effect is typically a rotary speaker simulator. The MODX effect architecture, on the other hand, allows two insert effects per part. Yamaha synths take advantage of the second insert effect to add overdrive or vintage EQ:

Rotary speaker 1 → Multi FX (Distortion Solo)
Rotary speaker 2 → VCM 501 EQ (Flat)
Amp Simulator 3 (Tube) → VCM 501 (Flat)
Amp Simulator 1 (Stack 2) → Rotary Speaker 1
VCM 501 EQ (Flat) → Rotary Speaker 1

The rotary speaker drive alone is not enough to warm up the basic sound nor is it enough to get a sweet, realistic overdrive with guts. I experimented with the Genos REAL ROTARY effect and got some very squirelly results at high drive levels. The algorithm can be pushed in unexpected, undesirable ways while searching for true funk.

Unlike a real Hammond/Leslie combination, the Genos expression pedal controls post-effect part volume. This is like putting the volume control after the Leslie speaker. A Hammond B-3 pedal controls the level into the Leslie pre-amp. Thus, the pre-amp frequency characteristics and overdrive track the Hammond pedal. The Yamaha YC61 modeling gets this right. Putting the volume pedal before the pre-amp lets the player get clean or dirty in the same way a guitarist uses picking and/or the guitar volume knob to distort or clean up their tone.

If the Genos developers must work around the XG architecture, they should consider a new effect algorithm that combines overdrive with the rotary speaker simulation. The algorithm should allow foot pedal control over the Leslie pre-amp input level. Genos and other PSRs allow wah pedal control, so they obviously know how to achieve this capability within the current architecture.

Random answer day (1)

Posted on September 9, 2021 by pj

Maybe it’s the first day of the regular NFL season or the phase of the moon. Here’s a recap of a few questions that came into the forums.

How are arranger/synth preset voices stored? First, one may ask, “How is a preset represented?” Typically, a preset voice consists of waveforms (AKA “samples”) and voice (meta-)data. The voice data control how the sample-playback engine applies filtering, amplitude envelope, modulation and so forth. The waveforms, of course, provide the basic digital audio data.

There is such a broad range of arranger/synth products at different price points, that the amount of storage and the kind of storage varies quite a lot.

The lowest of the low in the Yamaha range: PSS-A50, -E30, -F30, PSR-F51. Presets are stored on a 2MByte serial flash ROM and are loaded into the processor (SWLL) at start-up. The 2MBytes include code, too! Tone generation is integrated into the SWLL. Insanely small, and very low cost.

The highest of the high in the Yamaha range: Genos. Factory presets are stored in four 1GByte ONFI NAND flash devices. Expansion memory consists of two 1GByte ONFI NAND flash devices. Wave memory connects directly to external tone generators (SWP70).

I’ve looked at the diagrams for Genos and I’m not sure about the size and function of those memory units, especially Genos USER memory and expansion memory.

Yamaha confuses people when they speak of “user memory,” “internal memory,” etc. They are usually referring to logical, user visible storage.

When getting down to the hardware level, there are many different physical memory units. since we’re not discussing fairy dust or magic, the logical storage must be assigned to one or more physical memory units. And, of course, the physical memory units themselves may be composed of multiple integrated circuits. The other dimension is “what communicates to what.” Memory is passive and needs a processor to initiate reads and writes and to do something with all that data. At the physical level, a memory unit essentially belongs to a single processing unit (host computer, tone generator) and directly communicate with it.

Sometimes I think of the SWP70 as a parallel processor just like a GPU. The CPU/SWP70 is not exactly analogous to host CPU plus GPU, however. Graphics memory is shared between CPU and GPU. The SWP70 does not share its waveform memory with anybody — it’s dedicated to the tone generator. That’s why installing an expansion pack (voice library) is kind of slow and technically complicated, and why a Genos reboot is required.

Staying with Genos, Genos has two SWP70 tone generators: one handles factory presets and the other handles user expansion voices. The factory SWP70 has 4GBytes of flash memory while the expansion flash memory has 1GB of flash memory. That’s physical memory. Yamaha boosted the effective capacity to 3GB expansion through compression.

The SWP70s also have DSP RAM. As a user, you never know about this memory. It’s scratchpad memory for DSP effects. Physically, the DSP RAM is completely separate and independent from the waveform memory, and communicates with only its parent SWP70.

The host CPU has two kinds of memory (as determined by its bus interfaces): 1GB of working RAM on the CPU memory bus (EMIF) and two embedded eMMC memory devices that act like solid state storage drives (MMC0 and MMC1). As far as a user is concerned, the user never sees the 4GB eMMC drive (MMC0) just like you don’t see the DSP RAM; it’s hidden. The MMC0 drive contains the Linux operating system kernel and the root file system.

The user sees only part of the second 64GB eMMC drive (MMC1). The user sees the logical storage which Yamaha calls “Internal memory” or “USER drive.” What’s in the remaining 6GB? I don’t know — Yamaha haven’t left any clues.

What about Montage and its 5.67GByte waveform memory? 5.67GB is the capacity when the waveforms (samples) are compressed. Again, this is logical storage capacity.

Montage has two SWP70s. One SWP70 is dedicated to FM-X and it does not have waveform memory. The second SWP70 handles AWM2 synthesis (sample playback) and has waveform memory connected to it. The waveform memory consists of four 1GByte devices totaling 4GBytes. Thanks to Yamaha’s proprietary compression, Montage stores 5.67GBytes-worth of data in the physical waveform memory. The remaining space, 1.75GB physical, is available for user samples.

How does sample capacity relate to price? It doesn’t. Component cost is outweighed by manufacturing costs, software development cost and sound design cost.

If the memory components are so cheap, why isn’t there more waveform memory? If there was more, then you wouldn’t buy the Mark II model, would you? 🙂

I understand that E30/F30 do NOT offer velocity sensitivity. My question is about the internals. Is it confirmed that it’s a keybed with two switches per key, that just aren’t supported in software?

Yes, you need to be careful here. There are hardware model differences: E30 and F30 are not velocity sensitive. A50 is velocity sensitive.

There are two different keybed printed circuit boards (PCB). Yamaha part number VAY27800 for F30/E30 and VAY28500 for A50. The A50 PCB has the necessary diodes installed for velocity sense. The F30/E30 PCB does not have the diodes. Further, the A50 board has a 12-pin connector while the F30/E30 board has an 11-pin connector — perhaps to avoid assembly mistakes.

Yamaha Reface key switch matrix schematic

Is velocity sense worth the extra bucks? There may be other differences, too, but these differences are plainly visible.

And the usual caution/disclaimer — kiss the warranty good-bye! For the money, the PSS should be good mod-fodder. Korg probably sold a mess o’monotron that way.

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Category Archives: Montage