Yamaha QY700 : Scored a mint one

The Lounge Other Gear
#44

Doing your research already? :smile:

One thing I really liked about the QY700 was that it separates the phrases (individual note patterns) from the track. So you can have phrases 1-8 on tracks 1-8, then while it’s playing you can type 5 and enter into the number pad and track 4 or whatever can be playing midi phrase 5. You can then mute in out out patterns, and use parts A-H when you want to change a lot of phrases at the same time - if you see what I mean. So I would start building bits up, with mutes, swapping individual phrases for variation in real time, then dropping to part B. Etc.

You can also change the groove timing in pattern mode while it’s playing to create instant interesting rhythms!

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#45

More like revision, I had one for a couple of years in the late ‘90s but sold it as I was very productive with my Atari and C-Lab Creator.

I’m sure your advice will make sense when I have the unit in front of me and vital parts of the manual have penetrated my neural network. If not I’ll send out distress flares. :slight_smile:

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#46

Scored a QY700! Super cheap!
Mint condition with Original Manual, Floppy`s and Original Power Suplly
Jamming with Reaktor 5 / QY and WOW!!!
One can have 16 reaktor ensembles being "sequenced " with phrases in pattern mode.
For example QY Bass patterns applied to Reaktor Sampler Players, you can get very interesting crazy electronica going !!
Very “Squarepushy”!

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#47

Anyone tried changing the mechanical switches on their QY700? I gotta order some Cherrys and get to it.

#48

Those are some sexy pics! :drooling_face:

#49

Recently got a one of these and have been enjoying using it as my main sequencer. But one thing still has me totally stumped: the pause that happens when looping sections in song mode, it’s driving me mad. Previewlounge mentioned it in one of his earlier posts, but I still can’t seem to figure out how to prevent it from happening. I know I can use pattern mode which loops seamlessly, but I was hoping to be able to write stuff in song mode, and then loop those sections to work on them further. Maybe this isn’t the preferred mode of working with the qy700, but I’m surprised it offers a way to loop a section but won’t do it seamlessly.

Can somebody point me in the right direction as to how to solve this? Am I just missing something obvious? I’ve been looking everywhere for a style definition event that I can delete, made sure the style definition in song mode is set to off, switched the pattern voices to pat instead of phr…

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#50

Can anyone comment on the supposed difficulty of use of the QY700? I’m kind of fascinated by this machine, it seems very deep.

They can be found at a reasonable price (or so it seems to me), but the lack of video tutorials scares me.

Beside that, how is the build quality?

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#51

So long as you have the manual (downloadable from Yamaha) you should be good. The main thing is getting your head around the concepts ad terminology Yamaha employ. Take it slow at first, and in a couple of weeks you should be most of the way there. I don’t have one any more so can’t help much further than that.

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#52

I recently picked up a QY700 for its linear song mode. For that, it’s absolutely excellent and not difficult at all. I can’t speak to the pattern mode. I watched a few YT videos as research, and within hours of opening the box, I composed 32 bars of music on it and was sending MIDI all over the place.

Do you have any experience with old Yamaha gear? They had a unique approach to UI but very logical. The manual is well written, and the big screen helps guide you through anything you need to do.

I believe the QY70 has a similar interface, so watch those videos too. There are some helpful Q70 pattern mode videos out there, as I recall.

Build quality of the QY700 is excellent. I love the look and feel, which matters to me. The only issue on mine is a skippy rotary dial. You can also use buttons for navigation, so I haven’t been in any hurry to fix the dial. I’ve considered adding a gotek drive, but floppies work fine if you happen to have them lying around from the ‘90s like I do!

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#53

I do not have any experience with any gear, apart from a Electribe 2 which I had a couple of years ago and almost never played. So, no musical experience.

That’s why I’m scared about the lack of tutorials XD

I’m currently doing a lot of research on hardware gear and it seems like the QY700 is the best hardware sequencer that can be found cheap. But it looks intimidating.

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#54

It will come down to what “best” means for you. Some people want instant, intuitive, and simple. Others want deep and flexible. There’s a range in between. The QY700 has a learning curve, but no steeper than an Elektron Digitakt, in my experience.

I also recommend considering functionality, and knowing why you’re choosing one thing over another. For example, many sequencers these days are step and loop based. I wanted the other approach, linear, which is why I picked the QY700. It’s supports how I work.

I’ve never used an Electribe. Why didn’t you use it?

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#55

It was recommended to me when I was young and VERY naive and wanted to start making tunes, knowing absolutely nothing about production and wanting to do Autechre.

The thing I hated the most was the menu-diving. I was trying to learn it by watching tutorials (the manual was definitely not useful for me) and I grow frustrated pretty quick. Gave up altogether - I’m not a patient person.

Actually, understanding how sequencers work is what I find most difficult in music production.

#56

Got it - then you probably won’t like the Yamaha stuff. It’s a menu system.

What gear are you looking to sequence? Mono synths? poly?

The Launchpad pro Mk3 looks interesting… maybe check that out.

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#57

A reissue of the QY700 would be amazing. There’s very little I would want changed, buuuutt…

  • Updated internal sound set that reflects yamahas current offerings
  • more processing power so you don’t have to worry about things like the pause on looped sections, or having to stop playback for going to some operations
  • more internal memory for songs, although tbh it’s barely a limitation as it is, unless you want to use it for a big library of backing tracks
  • usb host for midi gear
  • I love the current screen aesthetic, but if upgraded would prefer to see a style more like 1010 blackbox than the kind of full colour workstation style screens
  • i love the note keys on the qy700 and love to play them, but if they could have velocity sensitivity and aftertouch it would be amazing. Also, if the bottom row of 16 white keys could light up and be used for step sequencing, then sure why not
  • keep thr basic menu structure because it’s great and muscle memory ahoy ahoy
  • keep the floppy drive because I’m sure they have a crate of them somewhere, and better yet, make it back compatible with weird FDD formats and put a bomb controller in it so that I can read double-density disks in it via usb on Windows 10… (ok maybe not…)
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#58

The menu diving on the Qy700 doesn’t look bad to me. I love the big screen.

Gear to sequence: sampler and drum synth.

Does the Qy700 respond to velocity when using an external controller?

#59

It’ll respond to everything in the standard midi spec. Velocity is no problem.

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#60

wouldn’t it though? a big company like Yamaha making a hardware sequencer AT ALL in 2021 would really be something. the QY700 is 25 years old! there’s definitely a market for hardware sequencers, given that things like the Pyramid, Tracker and Cirklon exist. but the quantities those sell in versus things that Yamaha typically sells are, I imagine, worlds apart.

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#61

Two more beginner questions:

  1. Is the USB upgrade worth it? Did anybody try it? How hard it is to replace the drive?

  2. Any MIDI controller should be good? I was thinking about a Korg PadKontrol, no ideas for a keyboard. Recommendations? Anything I should know?

And, out of curiosity… Does anybody know how the QY700 sequencer compares to the RS7000?

#62

Midi data hardly takes up any space so not worth it to me. Have you actually run out of the internal storage?

#63

Usb controllers won’t work- what do you want it for? It has a built in rubber keyboard that is as good as any mini keyboard for composing sequences