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Average rating:
3.9 out of 5
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I recently picked up a V50 in very good condition and am in the process of discovering what it can do. (There is a great utube demo that shows what the V50 is capable of.... worth a look.) As a hobbyist/songwriter my main goals is searching for vintage synths is collecting different sounds at a resonable price. I'm not that fussed with floppy disc drives not working, or with difficulty in programming sequencers because I record using a Korg D1200. Sounds, sounds, sounds and the ability to manipulate them are what I'm looking for. I totaly agree with Jake. Spend some time layering up your voices and making fine adjustmments to the tunings and you will create some rich usable sounds. I also own a O1/W korg which basically has twice the attributes of the V50, but the V50 has found a place in my ever expanding micro-studio. Another point of interest is the collectability of this synth. Completely overshadowed by the mighty Korg M1 at the time of its release the V50 did not sell very well and is becoming harder to find. One final thing, the build quality is solid and board plays very well. All in all not bad for a twenty year old.
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Yamaha V50 user friendly Built to last internal boards all wax coated, magnesium caseing,standard Yamaha Keys (velocty board) also currently run a protable Yamaha DSR-1000,Tryos2-3, KORG Triton, Rolland 303-909 if you have a v50 go play it. The V50 one of the best;)
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I first got this board in 1989. It was my first pro-level board. It is excellent to teach someone the basic elements of synthesizers, performances, transmit/receive channels, sequencers, and drum machines. University of Texas used to have a room full of these for teaching.
Some of the preset performances are useful if you want to use it as a synth lead or a synth bass. There are a few really great electric piano sounds and organs. The fugue is one of my favorites out of anything I've heard.
The drums are not very useful. Very flat, short, and low-res.
There are patch disks available that do have some pretty wicked sounds. There is a french-horn lead someone made that is very realistic, even for sampled instruments. Some of the square-wave leads and minimoogs could be very useful in dance/trance/breakbeat/acid type stuff.
It's a niche keyboard though. Great for a beginner, but only marginally useful in a studio. By itself, you will have a hard time liking the sound on its own.
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This is a strange machine, but if you've got the inclination and basic tech-savvy to program it you'll find there's a myriad of unusual ways to manipulate (original) sounds. I can't believe some of these reviews which don't mention (or are unaware of the fact) that this is a multi-timbral (8 part no less) 4-operator FM synth with massive layering opportunities. The DX7 was a 6-operator non-multitimbral synth. Work it out for yourselves.
Why anyone would want to use this for its presets is totally beyond me, but I suspect that was due to Yamaha's poor marketing of it - it should have been pushed as a creative tool, not something for average Joes wanting to make music for crooning too (a la the demo) - which is a shame because for mono sounds and rich, layered, chorused strings, mangled effects, synth/electro drum sounds (I don't mean the drum machine, I mean synthesized ones) and huge basses, it's a wonder.
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After owning one of these for several years, I wanted to share a important practical facts regarding this 'Workstation'. I originally bought it having been 'impressed' by the built in Demo's and because I wanted to move up in the 4-op Yamaha line and keep computability with my older sounds & patches etc. Plus it was marked down as Yamaha had dropped it after a few !short! months. I figured the included drums and sequencer were going to be very practical tools in creating songs and such. As I said, several years later and here's what I have to say; the drums are pretty flat and highly compressed (my Yamaha RX17 is better with exception of greater quantity of sounds on the V50) plus I don't know of anyway to import patterns from other sources unless they've been specifically created for the V50 - I've never used them due to their dull sound. The sequencer is very awkward leaving you to have to keep track of start and stop positions to perform your various edits (you'd have to have a work-sheet to map out your whole song) also put up with lots of key-presses etc. not to mention the very loud metrononmic 'click'- MUCH easier to use a proper external Midi Sequencer! The global effects are 'ok' but don't provide much variety or flexibility as far as how they can be uniquely assigned - either on-off or adjustable amount per each performance/rhythm part - external effects are MUCH more powerful and have greater presence. Physically, the belt in the floppy drive DOES go after a few years requiring a brave attempt to self service the unit and risk incidental damage or a trip to a professional tech. After several years, many of the programming buttons have broken away from their internal mounts whereby they rattle in their place and either give sporadic response or bounce like mad with unpredictable results. The broken buttons are enough to make the unit difficult or impossible to work with - not to mention the wearing out of the floppy belt. Other than that, it has the 4-op engine which is classic and has a reasonably good sound though there are inherent noises in many of the voices on the low and high end depending on the patch. Would I buy one again? ONLY to try to temporarily resurrect /fix my present unit! Otherwise, if you just want the sounds minus the effects (easily provided externally), then get a DX11 as it has the most similar/compatible sound engine minus the effects and low-grade drums. Even better, assuming one has a midi keyboard, is the TX81Z as there are very few control buttons! : )
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