I didn’t want to take up more bandwidth on the NAMM 2021 thread.
I found a video in which the YC-61 is compared to a Nord Electro 6. In the process of watching, I noticed that he did dial up an FM lead synth patch, and in the process also demoed the pitch paddle…
This is looking more and more like a winner for me. USB class compliant audio that works with IOS, Master EQ section, drawbar indicator lights that can be color-coded, etc.
I found official Yamaha clarification on the FM-X engine. Posting here so y’all don’t have to wade through as many typical YT-quality comments as I did, and also skip over the wailing in response to Yamaha’s comment.
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Hey YAMAHA Synths Official given this product has the FM-X engine will it accept DX7 sysex via a converter like a Montage/MODX?
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Yamaha Synths Official
1 year ago
Yotam Cohen It will not, there is only a preset functionality on this one. Sound is big but you can’t edit or load sounds like one montage. It is based on a different platform.
Looks like the only FM sounds the user can customize are the FM organ ones. I’m not a big FM patching person so I’m ok with that.
Yeah I am curious if they will end up updating it with a few more FM organ set ups focused on emulating the old YC and Acetone transistors organs also. But maybe the clean FM organ covers those ones well enough.
Some talented playing here, although I wish he focused a bit more on organ as I think that is where his playing really stands out to me.
Perusing this page, the YC really does look like Yamaha’s answer to the Nord Electro. Electro is also an “organ-focused stage keyboard”. The first time I tried an Electro, I was drawn to the immediacy of the UI - no deep synthesis/sound design stuff, just controls to quickly dial up the desired variation of organ, electric piano or “generic”/“commonly-used” synth preset, and quickly tweak the sound to the current environment - the live mix, the venue acoustics, etc.
All these YC-61 demos are making my current keyboard practice rig sound inadequate. 
It’s my Matriarch MIDI-cabled to a Roland MC-101 running a piano patch. I’d convinced myself it was fine for learning some of the easier stuff from Well-Tempered Clavier, reviewing the ii-V-I piano chord exercises that I got from a local pro pianist a few years ago, etc.
The idea of juxtaposing its clonewheel tones with the sounds of my Matriarch, and Osmose, along with Octatrack alterations/treatments is growing more and more on me.
For contrast with the other YCs from Yamaha.
A couple days back Nick at Sonic State did a thing for NAMM with Blake Angelos of Yamaha looking at the YC 88 and YC 73 which are newer releases from Yamaha from the YC 61. As Blake explains they all use the same sound engine, the difference between them being the size and action of the three different keybeds. Blake also goes through basics of the engine and controls really concentrating on what that all means for performance.
I’m surprised he didn’t mention the Master EQ, which the other gentleman mentioned here. Yamaha YC-61 - #2 by GovernorSilver
OTOH, it was cool to see a demo of the Looper. I have an Octatrack but it’s handy to have an onboard looper. Also cool to see demos of the amp models and some talk about the YC OS. I didn’t realize that the vintage YC and Acetone sounds from the Reface organ were not ported to the YC family. But its encouraging to hear that the YC OS updates that added two new pianos and two electric pianos will continue to be free.
He didn’t touch on the waterfall keys of the YC-61 vs. the bigger models not having them but maybe it was understood that the customers for the bigger models are likely to be more piano-focused players who might need a little organ in their music, as opposed to organ-focused players who might need to cover a piano part on occasion.
YC 0S v1.2 is out. The top complaint from the clonewheel connoisseurs was the quality of rotary speaker simulation compared to the competition (Suzuki/Hammond, Nord, etc.). So of course the very first update they demo is the “studio” rotary speaker.
Other updates:
Tech talk to follow on their YT channel
Tech Talk is live. So far I can see they added use of drawbars for carrier and modulator settings for the FM synth engine used for the FM organs.
YC Editor/Librarian was announced and demoed. John Melas CP / YC Site
