The DijonStock Digital Home Recording Support Forum

Leob bought the Vocal Harmony board out of my Motif ES a while back and I installed my new PLG150-AN Analog Synth expansion board today in the empty slot. Installation only takes five minutes and upon reboot the MO does the rest. It was instantly recognised and I began exploring the 256 patches it comes with. If you don't like single note polyphony then this board is not for you. It can however be programmed to play in 5 note poly is so desired. Like all Yamaha hardware it is very well built and the board is sealed in a protective clearcoat of some sort. One does not need to take the grounding precautions the Roland and Korg expansion baords do.

It comes bundled with a basic editor and an advanced editor / librarian that takes the the hardware into soft synth territory. All the knobs , switches are well laid out in a Moog/Virus type layout. Two oscillators , two LFOs and a very kinky step sequencer are also there. There is also the ring and noise generators. The VCA is the typical ADSR type.

Once the hardware and software are installed the editor is connected to the synth via a USB cable. It couldn't be any simpler to use.

The sounds can be described as super fat to very tinny and 80ish as far as the factory patches go. One huge advantage is the ease of programming vs. a hardware module.

Down side? It's rather dated patch wise but 25% could be used in my style
of stuff. Another negative is that it can't be deeply programmed without the editor. Also the LFO and filters don't seem to recognise midi clock , internal or external. I'm sure there is some sort of workaround but I havn't found it yet. Another bummer is the software comes on 3 1/2 floppy drives. Rather than risk all day trying to get it to work with Vista , I dug out one of my old computers and I must say I like soft synths.

When more soft synths come out for Vista , I'll invest in the future for sure.
Summation ? .......It ain't no Moog or Prophet but it's damn close especially on the bass patches and the step sequencer.

If you have a S-90 , Motif , Mo es , or any of the newer Yammys with XG expansion slots , the An is worth the bucks. About $200 when you can find one.

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THE MUSIC IS DOWN IN HERE
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Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment.

Geno: my keyboard is a Yamaha AN1x - same synth engine I understand. The AN1x doesn't suffer from the restricted polyphony. Also, the software editor for the AN1x can be found here - very comprehensive.

http://www.yamahasynth.com/download/an1x/s_an1xed.htm

Dunno if it would work with the PLG board - but maybe you could find a way

I love the sounds it makes!

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"You think you are going to die...and then you don't." © Robbie Jukebox - 23rd July 2004.

Upon further research the AN board definately has 5 note polyphony if so programmed. The An1X editor screen shots look totally different but I'll give 'em a shot. Thanx Lys.

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THE MUSIC IS DOWN IN HERE
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Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment.