Looking to replace my Rm1x
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thread starter Looking to replace my Rm1x
I have owned my RM1x for three months now and I just can't get on with it looking to replace it soon with another groove box any suggestions. I want to use it live. Replies
what do you do wit hit? Just sequence other gear? Or do you use the shitty internal sounds?
What dont you like? The sound? the way of working? Yeah, it might help to explain what sort of barriers you've encountered with the Yamaha. Do you need internal sounds, or prefer sampling capability? Maybe something simpler with great effects, like the Roland SP-404, if you are into sampling and phrase sequencing, and the onboard virtual synth isn't bad. Or if you've got some other gear to sequence, the Future Retro Orb looks rather nice. For purely onboard stuff, the Korg Electribe EMX-1 offers quite a bit in one package, and is built to be used live. The electribes are all rather cheaply built, though.
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RS 7000 - it's the big brother to the rm1x.
It sounds much nicer (i.e. the sounds aren't crap), has more modulations and looks like a tank. Best part about it is the mute keys don't double for pattern keys this time around. Thanks guys, what I'm basically after is something I can use stand alone, something that I can use to sketch out patterns and loops, and something I can sample with when I get more gear. I'm leaning towards a Sp404 or a Electribe.
Get an MPC1000. They can be cheap on the ebay.
It's exactly what you need. I second djugel. The MPC1000 are an amazing little box. But you can't go wrong with the later electribe series either (for the price), beware smart media storage though. Which has a work around.
@pppeck what is the workaround you speak of?
Gorf, I presume he means you can get an adapter to interface the smart media device with a PC, thus getting the world of modern sample editing and storage opened to these machines.
If not, I'd be curious what he was talking about too.. Incidentally, since posting above I picked up a RS7000 and have rarely touched it. The pattern and sound editing functions are rudimentary at best, key functions (like LFOs) aren't assignable on 8 of the 16 instrument slots, the midi delay doesn't seem to be output from the machine, the pattern change method is instantaneous and will only start at the beginning of the selected pattern (by instantaneous I mean if you press it early it won't wait to a bar subdivision to change and you can train-wreck) and -- worst of all -- it has volatile memory (i.e. nothing is saved when the machine is turned off). This last item is, for me, intolerably horrid. Nothing kills my desire to create music more than to spend the first 10 minutes hunting down and loading patterns..(oh, the editing of existing midi data via step edit or list edit is cumbersome as well, there is no note nudge function to correct slight timing errors that quantizing doesn't help, etc). I need to sell it actually. I'd suggest saving some cash and buying Ableton and a dedicated controller. You can change the switching of patterns to be non-instantaneous..
I don't own one but I've seen that problem asked/solved before.. Maybe some of the other things can be solved too, time to go digging in the manual/menus I'll take your word for the pattern switching mode stuff (I'll check the manual) but the volatile memory combined with limited modulation abilities (and difficulty in loading one's own samples due to limited space and no USB) makes it obsolete for modern programmers.
It really is geared more to recording live jams than step editing and doesn't seem to cater at all to those that want to roll up their sleeves and really tweak the details of the data (even changing the velocity of a drum hit involves a cumbersome process). Still, I don't deny it has functionality I haven't probed (I've read 3/4ths of the manual but barely touched the box in a production sense -- opting to stay on my g4 with an old PPC version of Cubase instead). It didn't strike me as worth the effort, especially in regards to the post recording modification limitations the interface imposes on patterns. just my 2 cents...
I personally prefer the mpc1000 sequencer and menu system (jjos2 here) to the sequencer on the electribe line. i find the mpc menu rather intuitive and well layed out. I'm sure however that the mpc1000 is much much more heavy than the sp-404 or sp-555... but another advantage is the plethora of outs and ins (both midi and 1/4") on the mpc... No suggestion for an EMU Command Station? You can find those babies pretty easily on eBay for ~$300 and they are the most powerful midi sequencer around IMO. The RS 7000 would also be my next recommendation
FYI, I've spent the last few years going around and around on all this. I've sequenced with Cubase (going back to Cubase VST), The Roland MC-50 MKII stand alone, RM1X, RS7000, Ableton and even weird attempts at sequencing tracks with stuff like Roland's TR-505 and 626 (the old arsed digi drum boxes; the different sounds could be assigned unique midi out numbers). Live stuff was amazing at taking my sets in unexpected directions. The computer stuff offered better control. In the end, I erred on the side of control.
That said, I've found a happy medium with Maschine. It works like a charm stand alone (save the lack of a competent "song" mode) and can be integrated with my software sequencers if I need more control (hosted as a VST in Reaper, etc). It smokes shit like the RM1X but still offers the semblance of hardware.. to a degree. Just my (refined) $0.25 P.S. This message comes over a year from my last (two replies up). hmm... so what software sequencers are you using in Reaper?
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