Yamaha I love this !!!. I just bought one. It's truly amazing. As for me, I would LOVE to see one more octave and perhaps add an ADDITIONALL keyboard, IE 2 manual and it would take over the world of music. Even stick with the 3 active but make it a duel keyboard and even that would be over the top insanely fun. Just do it, I can't imagine that you would have a backorder on them. Brilliant. thanks again.
As a guitarist in a band who wants to occasionally add a bit of keyboard without having to shell out for or hump around a Nord, this is absolutely perfect. It would be great if they were all in the same keyboard though. Just have to choose which to get. This sounds epic though.
Reface CP is the closest to guitar amp interface (big knobs that have concrete actions). The CP has rhodes and wurlitzer emulations it perfectly completes guitar. As a guitar player it is a pleasure to play on the CP (small enough, nice sounds). But I really want the YC too!
Hey fellow TH-camrs, we just want to let you know we appreciate the feedback on the synth. Have questions about reface? Simply reply to this comment and we will do our best to respond in a timely manner. Thanks!
+Yamaha Corporation of America Can the reface synths be controlled from a midi keyboard via USB? Say from a korg microkey? Or can they only be controlled via the midi cable or from a computer?
Reuben Unkovich Yes, the keyboard can be controlled via another MIDI keyboard via a MIDI connection. It can also be controlled through your computer via USB simultaneously. However, it is not possible to connect a MIDI device to the USB port on reface without additional interfacing hardware.
+Yamaha Corporation of America I absolutely love the reface products, but I wish they weren't so expensive. I mean, you have to charge how much you do because of cost of manufacturing and design, but if they were 100 cheaper, I'd be way more inclined to buy them.
+Yamaha Corporation of America Are you coming out with a full size version? This is great but only because it gives me hope for an upgraded version, for an organ to only have 3 octaves it's like half an instrument, much like the CP. This organ in full size 5-octave is a perfect dream and would fill a hole in the market, especially if it's lower priced than those ridiculous nords. By the way, the only reason I'm interested in this is that it has the farf, vox, and yam models. Also a thing thats underrepresented in the market. So if you ever expand the YC line, please continue to take those models as seriously as the hammonds.
Absolutely over the moon about mine that I got as a personal Christmas gift in 2020 with a cheap clean amp to plug it into. It has a setting to a much older Yamaha I used to have as a kid (got sold on me while I was at school, I still mourn it) I can’t believe such a beefy gigantic sound comes out of a device that’s a bit longer than my arm and so light to carry unlike my original Yamaha.
They all sound wonderful. The best part is the interview with the Japanese designers of the Reface line. Wonderful people. So much enthusiasm in them. I am hoping larger audiences reach out to these instruments and buy them. Not just musicians, not just hobbyist, but everybody. That's what I'd like to see, and this is the right product for this to happen. I want Yamaha to sell million of these and change the world for the better.
Yamaha Corporation of America Thank you Yamaha for making wonderful instruments over so many years, the VP1 being arguable the most advanced synthesizer every devised by man.
I've watched all of your Reface videos and left this one til last because I really wasn't expecting much from this model... But I think it's actually my favourite!
seriously, yamaha blew my face with this reface series... dude, this is astounding! also, i aways think most people that present keyboards suck at playing. this is a all round ecletic and experienced player! this was very enjoyable to listen and watch! win win win!
As a guitar player I would love to have one of two of the instruments from this series. They would be great to mess around with for song ideas and recording. Plus it would come in handy for spontaneous jams with friends.
Love this organ, its so small, compact, has such a authentic sound, yes the size of the keyboard puts me off a little but Midi fixes that!!!! Also, love that you played Axel F in the middle hahahaha!
I used to hate organs. Until I saw this video years ago and for whatever reason, I keep coming back to watch it. I wish I had half the energy and spirit Dr. Mix puts into these videos. He's like the 'Ants Canada' of music. If you know what I'm talking about, you'll definitely get the comparison.
Such a great little instrument. In a parallel universe the keyboard section and the control part would be detachable thus giving the freedom of combining all four refaces on a single 88 key master keyboard like a Lego 😍
This was so awesome! This video made me want to go out and buy the Yamaha Reface as I've been looking for a synth that's small, portable, and has a slew of incredible organ sounds! Thank you so much for the test and your energy, and incredible skill! Loved that you played Bridge to Nina's How Good it Feels to Be Free!!!
I can see this little organ being a really useful in a live setting. Say you'd want to thicken up the chorus of a few songs with some great Hammond or combo organ stuff, but might not have the space or desire to bring your organ/clonewheel and Leslie. I've tried the full Reface series and they all sound great- and I've owned a Hammond tonewheel organ, Fender Rhodes, vintage analogs, and a DX7IIFD. Perhaps we'll see some scaled-up versions of these later on, Yamaha? I sure hope so.
Ordered one of these many months ago. It’s been out of stock for a long time. Just got the call from Sweetwater today. It should be here in two days!!!
Wow... Last time I saw someone playing something that sounded like this.. I was in my great aunt's basement, and she was hammering out very old songs on a huge table sized organ that probably had a few decades on me..
Wow! What a fantastic demo! Having grown up learning organ, I'm very fussy about my organ sounds. You did an awesome demo and you're a fabulous player! Yamaha should sell shiploads of these! I want one now!!!!
The Reface series is so underrated. I've never really been into the organ sound, but even I can hear potential in it for house and techno music. Heard some nice settings in this demo. As all in the Reface series, this has topnotch effects. But you could still experiment with guitar pedals.
Your playing is impressive! Makes for a better product demo. Can't believe the technology, features and quality sound manufacturers are putting into boutique boards and iOS apps!
Having the 3 others namely CS, DX and CP and I love em all, they are soo good keyboards, will get me this one as well, that way will have all 4 reface keyboards. These are some serious sounding synths and keyboards.
I don't understand, why people are bitchin' about the Reface line... "Small keys!, too expensive!, shitty sound!". Show me ANY PRODUCT that delivers so many options in so small, portable and CHEAP package! Where would you find anything similar to eg. CP? Native instruments Scrabee Vintage Keys - 150 Euros, than you have to add midi controller to your rack - at least 100 Euros, than you need laptop. And that's it. You can go this way, or you can just buy Yamaha CP, which gives you EVERYTHING you need in one, elegant, logical solution. No mouse clicking, no presets, no cables, just few knobs, intuitive layout and BIG sound. You can take it anywhere and in an instatnt you have pro sounds at your fingertips. Not to mention great sounding FX on board. Ref CS? It cost about the same as MiniBrute. Well, Minibrute has normal-sized keys, but Yamaha has three octaves. Which, I think, you would prefer, if you had experience with POLY SYNTH! CS has 8-note polyphony! Show me 8-note poly synth with FM modulator and onboard effects. Show me anything that cheap with so many possibilities. MiniBrute, MS-10 and so on? Mono synths needing other stuff to just to turn it on, not to mention playing with it. DX? No comparison to anything on the market. Simple, small FM synth with amazing sound. Not understanding how FM synthesis works? No prob, just play with basic 4 sliders. Wanna create your own sounds from the scratch? Get a degree and then click Edit. Boom! What else could you get to have FM synth? NI FM8+controller+laptop+speakers. Again, you have to invest much more. And you don't have portability you have with any Reface product. Reface YC? Again, nothing like that on the market. simple, small solution with 5 organ models, drawbars and onboard effects. 500 bucks? That's CHEAP. Wanna play Farfisa organs while taking a dump? No prob. Then wanna compose a track in your super-duper home studio? Plug it to your DAW via MIDI, plug outs to your soundcard and you have complementary, pro, studio solution. Need bigger keys or/and more octaves? No problem, you have MIDI In. Just plug any midi controller and you're good to go. And then wanna go on vacation with some instrument to have fun with, compose while sitting on the beach? Wanna play with your guitarist friend at night by the fire? Try to do this with Korg MS-10 :) I think people forgot what's important in music. It is playability and creativity, not the way it looks on your desk. You don't need bunch of stuff to play music, you need complementary intrument, who cares how it looks? If it doesn't look like Doepfer Eurorack synth, it immidietely is bad? No. Who cares about looks, size, what's importatnt - what you can do with it. Basically, with any of Refaces you can do exactly tha same things you could do with much bigger and more expensive insruments, which probably wound never leave your hosue due to their size. I had chance to play these instruments. aNd I immidietely fell in love with these. It releases so much creativity, when you have simple, small and complete solution with you. These instruments have the same spirit as an acoustic guitar or any other acoustic intrument. All in one solution, just take it on your lap and play. It is so much fun, when you don't have to turn on your computer, than your speakers, than you DAW, than your virtual instrument. No matter how much these products will be critisized, I think they will over time become legendary. Just like Yamaha DX7, Roland TR808/909 and so much more other instruments. At the begginning they were critisized, and then... they became legendary :)
Excellent point of view. I play my YC via MIDI on the upper manual of my old HS-8 home organ, just fantastic. And when I'm outside I put it into a small bag, and play my organ sounds everywhere.
Nice rant and I agree, I love that recently Yamaha with their preface series, Roland with their boutique series and Korg with their volca series have all tried to recreate smaller, very portable but still for the most part accurate sounding recreations of their classic synthesizers. Are they more limited than the originals? Sure. But if you're trying to tour DIY venues with a live setup, would you rather carry around an original DX7, original TR9, original CS-80, or the Volcas FM, TR-09 boutique and a Reface CS, which can all be found in the $100-400 range? Easy choice, and your back will thank you later for it, let alone the jumping around the room you need to do to play all of the full-size ones. Plus, that kind of convenience and new limitations leads to new perspective on old sounds, rather than just rehashig the same approach to a 35 year old synth, yet again.
I bought an Alesis Micron back when they were new, and at the time, I didn't end up using it much because the interface of the regular Ion was shrunk down into a tiny, menu-driven interface that I had difficulty getting the hang of. I eventually sold it and always regretted it because I loved to hear some of the sounds that were possible with that synth, the Ion engine just sounds rather unique to my ears when it comes to analog-modeling synths. Last year I finally went and picked myself up another Micron. I really do love this thing, it's so compact and yet so full of big, luscious sounds. There are now software patch editors for it, too! So ultimately, while it would have been awesome owning a full-blown Ion, the Micron actually fits much better with the rest of my gear because I already own several bigger synths. I agree about the Reface line, to my ears these things sound really, really good. Every one of them. My only gripe is with the touch controls on the DX, they don't seem to be very consistent and I just really dislike most touch controls in general, especially something like that which is controlling numerical parameters and has zero tactile feedback. Every time I watch a video of someone using them they seem to be hit-or-miss. If you need bigger keys or more octaves, I get it, I wish they made that, too, but personally I enjoy adding small synths to my collection because they don't take a lot of space and I find myself sometimes fiddling more with them than the bigger ones because I can just grab them and sit them on my lap instead of sitting down at the thing and going at it. In my opinion, you're absolutely right, people are going to look back on these things and kick themselves for not picking one up for what is, in my opinion, relatively cheap prices for the sound you can get from them. Compact size, I think, is a virtue overlooked in today's instruments, especially when there are loads of bigger MIDI controllers out there. Don't get me wrong, the old, original stuff is great and if you want to own that, by all means go out and find a good one that is still left (you can pry my Ensoniq ESQ-1 from my cold, dead hands). But when that stuff starts to break down or become harder to find, or more expensive, at some point it might make sense to give stronger consideration to the other options out there. At the end of the day, I think these are ultimately pretty well-designed products that (most importantly) produce great sound, so I think the correct attitude to have is "what a great thing it is that companies like Yamaha are making synths like this." I feel the same way about the resurgence of small analog synths like the MicroBrute and Monologue. Ten years ago you couldn't find anything close to synths like these, at all. For that reason alone, I think many of these synths will become classics.
Best reface demos. I watched you CP demo, bought a CP. My CS is on its way too. A lot of people can hate but the build quality behind these is really good. You will not find a better mini keyboard with midi capability on the market. Especially at this price. A lot of people are complaining about the price point being too high. $200 for a 8 voice poly synth with tons of mod features doesn't sound bad to me. $300 being the highest of the Reface prices.... Compared to a lot of other gear (or even guitar pedals) that is low priced. Also i'd like to point out that I cannot play most mini keyboard situations (being a larger adult 6' tall) and I can play these no problem.
All you need to do is plug it into another midi keyboard, I hooked my reface up to my workstation with a full size keyboard and it works great... no need for the octave switch when you use a full size keyboard.
I seriously want all of these! I can't decide. I love FM synthesis but the electric piano one is perfect for acoustic jams and this one is great for gospel!
Seriously considering getting this and hooking it to a larger keyboard. Incredible sound and love the gospel vibes around the 3 minute mark! Can't wait to use this for some funk/neo soul alongside my rhodes mk1 :))
Hello Doctor Mix, I went to the specifications and played the audio samples, and the YC has the sounds that will be good for my church choir accompaniment and also jamming with my friends playing the 60s 70s music. It does not have the piano strings combi but it has superb organs. Overall, the YC model is for me. I heard the U.S. street price has gone down to below $400. thanks Ed
Who is also still coming back after all these years to appreciate the playing and sound?
It's a beautiful sound
I'm ordering one soon!!
Yes. And I have one lol
I want to buy it
Yo mama
I'm so glad the user has a choice of waveforms. That REALLY expands the range of sounds available. What a great little instrument.
I would actually feel giddy and lost at the same time...
What does this do? *pulls slider a little bit more
[REDACTED]
I’ve watched this video hundreds of times but everytime he hits the Leslie control I get chills
This is how you present an instrument!
+derLordVetinari Thank you for your great comment!
Yamaha I love this !!!. I just bought one. It's truly amazing. As for me, I would LOVE to see one more octave and perhaps add an ADDITIONALL keyboard, IE 2 manual and it would take over the world of music. Even stick with the 3 active but make it a duel keyboard and even that would be over the top insanely fun. Just do it, I can't imagine that you would have a backorder on them. Brilliant. thanks again.
I could literally watch you play with keyboards all day!
dood same
as opposed to, say, metaphorically watch him play all day?
As opposed to only watching him in short periods of time in the TH-cam videos. Durr!
@Crap oh no!
As a guitarist in a band who wants to occasionally add a bit of keyboard without having to shell out for or hump around a Nord, this is absolutely perfect. It would be great if they were all in the same keyboard though. Just have to choose which to get. This sounds epic though.
Reface CP is the closest to guitar amp interface (big knobs that have concrete actions). The CP has rhodes and wurlitzer emulations it perfectly completes guitar. As a guitar player it is a pleasure to play on the CP (small enough, nice sounds). But I really want the YC too!
@Tuco Ramirez you can’t really get the CS aspect with that tho
Agreed man.
Yamaha hit the ball out of the park with this. After all these years, still a kick-ass keyboard.
Hey fellow TH-camrs, we just want to let you know we appreciate the feedback on the synth.
Have questions about reface? Simply reply to this comment and we will do our best to respond in a timely manner. Thanks!
+Yamaha Corporation of America
Can the reface synths be controlled from a midi keyboard via USB? Say from a korg microkey? Or can they only be controlled via the midi cable or from a computer?
Reuben Unkovich Yes, the keyboard can be controlled via another MIDI keyboard via a MIDI connection. It can also be controlled through your computer via USB simultaneously. However, it is not possible to connect a MIDI device to the USB port on reface without additional interfacing hardware.
+Yamaha Corporation of America I absolutely love the reface products, but I wish they weren't so expensive. I mean, you have to charge how much you do because of cost of manufacturing and design, but if they were 100 cheaper, I'd be way more inclined to buy them.
+Yamaha Corporation of America Are you coming out with a full size version? This is great but only because it gives me hope for an upgraded version, for an organ to only have 3 octaves it's like half an instrument, much like the CP. This organ in full size 5-octave is a perfect dream and would fill a hole in the market, especially if it's lower priced than those ridiculous nords. By the way, the only reason I'm interested in this is that it has the farf, vox, and yam models. Also a thing thats underrepresented in the market. So if you ever expand the YC line, please continue to take those models as seriously as the hammonds.
+vforvillain77 PS: using a bigger midi controller as a hack isn't a solution for many. They want a complete instrument, as do I.
The industrial designer did a fantastic job with this series of keyboards.
👍
4 years later and I’m still sold. This is pure Gold ⭐️🙌🏼
Absolutely over the moon about mine that I got as a personal Christmas gift in 2020 with a cheap clean amp to plug it into. It has a setting to a much older Yamaha I used to have as a kid (got sold on me while I was at school, I still mourn it) I can’t believe such a beefy gigantic sound comes out of a device that’s a bit longer than my arm and so light to carry unlike my original Yamaha.
Nine years here.
That sounds insanely good. Now I want to buy one to play during our beer-league hockey games between whistles, haha
FinalBaton I was thinking a baseball game.
The letters are actually types of organs. For example: H stands for Hammond, V stands for Vox, F for Farfisa, and so on
+Keraken Great point! I should have mentioned it :-)
+Doctor Mix no problem, great demo, by the way, awesome songs you played lol
I got that, but what is the A for?
Christopher Bride analog i guise
Ace Tone
They all sound wonderful. The best part is the interview with the Japanese designers of the Reface line. Wonderful people. So much enthusiasm in them. I am hoping larger audiences reach out to these instruments and buy them. Not just musicians, not just hobbyist, but everybody. That's what I'd like to see, and this is the right product for this to happen. I want Yamaha to sell million of these and change the world for the better.
Andrew Piatek Yes. Thanks! We are very glad you enjoy the product - spread the word!
Yamaha Corporation of America
Thank you Yamaha for making wonderful instruments over so many years, the VP1 being arguable the most advanced synthesizer every devised by man.
+Yamaha Corporation of America Thank you for responding to viewer comments, great products & customer service go hand in hand, again Thank you.
+Andrew Piatek Thank you so much for your appreciation and your love!!
OH MY GOD, I was expectin' an organ demo, but a little over halfway in you turned it into a wicked soundin' synth.
1:15 AHHAHA I died. I was NOT expecting that! Brought me to tears, man. A+ playing and unbelievable sound for such a small little thing. Great video
I've watched all of your Reface videos and left this one til last because I really wasn't expecting much from this model... But I think it's actually my favourite!
This is my favourite Synth/Organ of the Reface family...Realy it's amazing!
seriously, yamaha blew my face with this reface series... dude, this is astounding! also, i aways think most people that present keyboards suck at playing. this is a all round ecletic and experienced player! this was very enjoyable to listen and watch! win win win!
As a guitar player I would love to have one of two of the instruments from this series. They would be great to mess around with for song ideas and recording. Plus it would come in handy for spontaneous jams with friends.
Brian Rodman same idea
I got the four of them they're all great
So refreshing to find a video where someone PLAYS THE DAMN THING. Too many Americans standing round talking about the features and cables.
Nosy Egg as an American I can confirm we do that
lol
@@sethunderwood5525 Yup, sorry about that! ;)
@@dougfa3515 nothing to apologize about, just a joke that I took part in
@@sethunderwood5525Hehe, just taking part in it myself.
1:43 "I don't know why I'm playing bridge over troubled water"
Because it sounds fucking amazing!
Wasn't it about 'Axel F", in fact?
In that moment I think, he will sing too, wow, but it was just an comment hahah
Love this organ, its so small, compact, has such a authentic sound, yes the size of the keyboard puts me off a little but Midi fixes that!!!! Also, love that you played Axel F in the middle hahahaha!
@:4:50 and that change @5:07 sold me. I didn't think it would have made that type of sound. Amazing!
I used to hate organs. Until I saw this video years ago and for whatever reason, I keep coming back to watch it. I wish I had half the energy and spirit Dr. Mix puts into these videos. He's like the 'Ants Canada' of music. If you know what I'm talking about, you'll definitely get the comparison.
Such a great little instrument. In a parallel universe the keyboard section and the control part would be detachable thus giving the freedom of combining all four refaces on a single 88 key master keyboard like a Lego 😍
Mx88
You can actually do that via MIDI cable. 😉
This was so awesome! This video made me want to go out and buy the Yamaha Reface as I've been looking for a synth that's small, portable, and has a slew of incredible organ sounds! Thank you so much for the test and your energy, and incredible skill! Loved that you played Bridge to Nina's How Good it Feels to Be Free!!!
One of the best demos of this keyboard. Didn't realise it was so varied and powerful. Like
tried it at a store, the amount of sounds it can produce is incedible
I love the Leslie emulation. Fantastic bit of kit.
I know what I'm gonna get myself for Christmas this year.
Wow, this is the best instrument review I've seen in a long time!
This looks like a lot of fun to play, with so many different timbral variations possible. High tweakability factor too, which is great.
ewanstefani Glad you enjoy the product!
This is how you do a proper demo! 👏🏼 👏🏼 👏🏼
Wow.. you are such a good player..!!! Great videos!
Sleepydog thanks!!
Sleepydog Doctor Mix We second that.
Combo organs will rise again!!!
+OP Alaraasakka hopefully
Brian Torres
I just bought myself a vintage combo organ (CRB Diamond 700) a month ago. It rocks. Much better than all the shit these days..
The south will rise again!!!
I always preferred my organs with pipes
I have a Hammond A-100 it's fantastic.
I still revisit this video, still one of the best demos on YT!
This is one of the best, if not the best, keyboard test I've seen. Fucking awesome. I want to buy the 4 keyboards damn it.
Glad you liked it! :)
I can see this little organ being a really useful in a live setting. Say you'd want to thicken up the chorus of a few songs with some great Hammond or combo organ stuff, but might not have the space or desire to bring your organ/clonewheel and Leslie. I've tried the full Reface series and they all sound great- and I've owned a Hammond tonewheel organ, Fender Rhodes, vintage analogs, and a DX7IIFD. Perhaps we'll see some scaled-up versions of these later on, Yamaha? I sure hope so.
I just bought this and I love it :) Great piece of hardware
O H MY GOD I LOVE THOSE ORGAN SOUND LIKE IN THE 70S
I WANNA REQUIREMENT TO BUY EVERYONE THESE ORGAN !!!!
Charlie is that you?
Ordered one of these many months ago. It’s been out of stock for a long time. Just got the call from Sweetwater today. It should be here in two days!!!
I was shocked, it legit sounds like an actual Hammond organ. Was no expecting that good of a sound
Great demonstration! I grew up on Yamaha electone console organs and this captured the experience perfectly
Wow... Last time I saw someone playing something that sounded like this..
I was in my great aunt's basement, and she was hammering out very old songs on a huge table sized organ that probably had a few decades on me..
wtf! that sounds insane! Stunning
Oh yes, the Leslie speeds up and slows down properly.
I was sold at "let me try the next waveform..." 4:16
Wow! Exciting instrument. So versatile. A B3 in your pocket.
Doctor takin' us to church in that first part!
Wow! What a fantastic demo! Having grown up learning organ, I'm very fussy about my organ sounds. You did an awesome demo and you're a fabulous player! Yamaha should sell shiploads of these! I want one now!!!!
The Reface series is so underrated. I've never really been into the organ sound, but even I can hear potential in it for house and techno music. Heard some nice settings in this demo. As all in the Reface series, this has topnotch effects. But you could still experiment with guitar pedals.
Many house music is make with organs in the jahre 90
@@antoniocalimero1173 True :)
And accordeon 😀
th-cam.com/video/6aCeBGFSe7I/w-d-xo.htmlsi=PPy9hS4wbQe02zsq
A time where people had inspiration
really enjoyed this video, you are on fire (both on the keys and personality-wise). also your accent makes me homesick for old days in Echo Park....
Wowh! This guys are fantastic players in any kind of instruments! Great Job Doctor mix!! Thanks Yamaha!
Sounds like the best of the Reface series.
almost caught the holy spirit in this bitch
All of your videos makes me cry, sound too beatutifull :,.3
05:22 a satisfied laughter, that’s what every musician should aim for... of all other complex things.
Exactly what I thought
que genialidad!!! siempre fui mas de korg... pero este organo me enamoro! saludos desde argentina!!
ive been a guitarist for nearly 30 years. this makes me want to learn keys
Your playing is impressive! Makes for a better product demo. Can't believe the technology, features and quality sound manufacturers are putting into boutique boards and iOS apps!
I love those slider caps. I’d love this look in the Reface - CS.
I love how you make it sound like a synth after 5:00 :)
that's because it's a synth.
@@littlesnowflakepunk855 an awesome synth at that
A little late to say that this dude makes great demo's !
Connecting this to my Yamaha Montage 6 trough midi oh man can't wait.
Perfect as a plug-in to your existing MIDI keyboard(s) to add cool organ sounds.
Yes so true! I really enjoy using my Matriarch to play midi chords into my DX cheese organ preset. Next order will be this YC!!!💚💚💚
Hallelujah praise the Lord!
Having the 3 others namely CS, DX and CP and I love em all, they are soo good keyboards, will get me this one as well, that way will have all 4 reface keyboards. These are some serious sounding synths and keyboards.
The CP and YC will be my next purchases. Don’t need the CS and DX (tho I love them too and have owned them both).
Very cool, i could spend all day listen to these sounds
Just a great demo!! Love your enthusiasm.
you're so good on the keys!
8:42 I SAW IT COMING HAHA! Great presentation!
5:07 - 5:22 Nice innovation for Axel F...
I don't understand, why people are bitchin' about the Reface line... "Small keys!, too expensive!, shitty sound!". Show me ANY PRODUCT that delivers so many options in so small, portable and CHEAP package!
Where would you find anything similar to eg. CP? Native instruments Scrabee Vintage Keys - 150 Euros, than you have to add midi controller to your rack - at least 100 Euros, than you need laptop. And that's it. You can go this way, or you can just buy Yamaha CP, which gives you EVERYTHING you need in one, elegant, logical solution. No mouse clicking, no presets, no cables, just few knobs, intuitive layout and BIG sound. You can take it anywhere and in an instatnt you have pro sounds at your fingertips. Not to mention great sounding FX on board.
Ref CS? It cost about the same as MiniBrute. Well, Minibrute has normal-sized keys, but Yamaha has three octaves. Which, I think, you would prefer, if you had experience with POLY SYNTH! CS has 8-note polyphony! Show me 8-note poly synth with FM modulator and onboard effects. Show me anything that cheap with so many possibilities. MiniBrute, MS-10 and so on? Mono synths needing other stuff to just to turn it on, not to mention playing with it.
DX? No comparison to anything on the market. Simple, small FM synth with amazing sound. Not understanding how FM synthesis works? No prob, just play with basic 4 sliders. Wanna create your own sounds from the scratch? Get a degree and then click Edit. Boom! What else could you get to have FM synth? NI FM8+controller+laptop+speakers. Again, you have to invest much more. And you don't have portability you have with any Reface product.
Reface YC? Again, nothing like that on the market. simple, small solution with 5 organ models, drawbars and onboard effects. 500 bucks? That's CHEAP. Wanna play Farfisa organs while taking a dump? No prob. Then wanna compose a track in your super-duper home studio? Plug it to your DAW via MIDI, plug outs to your soundcard and you have complementary, pro, studio solution.
Need bigger keys or/and more octaves? No problem, you have MIDI In. Just plug any midi controller and you're good to go. And then wanna go on vacation with some instrument to have fun with, compose while sitting on the beach? Wanna play with your guitarist friend at night by the fire? Try to do this with Korg MS-10 :)
I think people forgot what's important in music. It is playability and creativity, not the way it looks on your desk. You don't need bunch of stuff to play music, you need complementary intrument, who cares how it looks? If it doesn't look like Doepfer Eurorack synth, it immidietely is bad? No. Who cares about looks, size, what's importatnt - what you can do with it. Basically, with any of Refaces you can do exactly tha same things you could do with much bigger and more expensive insruments, which probably wound never leave your hosue due to their size.
I had chance to play these instruments. aNd I immidietely fell in love with these. It releases so much creativity, when you have simple, small and complete solution with you. These instruments have the same spirit as an acoustic guitar or any other acoustic intrument. All in one solution, just take it on your lap and play. It is so much fun, when you don't have to turn on your computer, than your speakers, than you DAW, than your virtual instrument.
No matter how much these products will be critisized, I think they will over time become legendary. Just like Yamaha DX7, Roland TR808/909 and so much more other instruments. At the begginning they were critisized, and then... they became legendary :)
Excellent point of view. I play my YC via MIDI on the upper manual of my old HS-8 home organ, just fantastic. And when I'm outside I put it into a small bag, and play my organ sounds everywhere.
Nice rant and I agree, I love that recently Yamaha with their preface series, Roland with their boutique series and Korg with their volca series have all tried to recreate smaller, very portable but still for the most part accurate sounding recreations of their classic synthesizers. Are they more limited than the originals? Sure. But if you're trying to tour DIY venues with a live setup, would you rather carry around an original DX7, original TR9, original CS-80, or the Volcas FM, TR-09 boutique and a Reface CS, which can all be found in the $100-400 range? Easy choice, and your back will thank you later for it, let alone the jumping around the room you need to do to play all of the full-size ones. Plus, that kind of convenience and new limitations leads to new perspective on old sounds, rather than just rehashig the same approach to a 35 year old synth, yet again.
The small keys really are a massive drawback imo otherwise the sound of these for the price is insane really
I bought an Alesis Micron back when they were new, and at the time, I didn't end up using it much because the interface of the regular Ion was shrunk down into a tiny, menu-driven interface that I had difficulty getting the hang of. I eventually sold it and always regretted it because I loved to hear some of the sounds that were possible with that synth, the Ion engine just sounds rather unique to my ears when it comes to analog-modeling synths. Last year I finally went and picked myself up another Micron. I really do love this thing, it's so compact and yet so full of big, luscious sounds. There are now software patch editors for it, too! So ultimately, while it would have been awesome owning a full-blown Ion, the Micron actually fits much better with the rest of my gear because I already own several bigger synths.
I agree about the Reface line, to my ears these things sound really, really good. Every one of them. My only gripe is with the touch controls on the DX, they don't seem to be very consistent and I just really dislike most touch controls in general, especially something like that which is controlling numerical parameters and has zero tactile feedback. Every time I watch a video of someone using them they seem to be hit-or-miss.
If you need bigger keys or more octaves, I get it, I wish they made that, too, but personally I enjoy adding small synths to my collection because they don't take a lot of space and I find myself sometimes fiddling more with them than the bigger ones because I can just grab them and sit them on my lap instead of sitting down at the thing and going at it. In my opinion, you're absolutely right, people are going to look back on these things and kick themselves for not picking one up for what is, in my opinion, relatively cheap prices for the sound you can get from them. Compact size, I think, is a virtue overlooked in today's instruments, especially when there are loads of bigger MIDI controllers out there.
Don't get me wrong, the old, original stuff is great and if you want to own that, by all means go out and find a good one that is still left (you can pry my Ensoniq ESQ-1 from my cold, dead hands). But when that stuff starts to break down or become harder to find, or more expensive, at some point it might make sense to give stronger consideration to the other options out there. At the end of the day, I think these are ultimately pretty well-designed products that (most importantly) produce great sound, so I think the correct attitude to have is "what a great thing it is that companies like Yamaha are making synths like this." I feel the same way about the resurgence of small analog synths like the MicroBrute and Monologue. Ten years ago you couldn't find anything close to synths like these, at all. For that reason alone, I think many of these synths will become classics.
Wow, not bad at all. I have a Nord Electro, and it I have to admit that this little one sounds pretty much alike. Congrats!
That would be great to sorprend some folks with some Bach Sacred ones! cool remind me my childhood organ lessons
The 60s in a box, I love it!
Great sounding instrument and fantastic presentation!
Excellent review! Man, I'm still cracking up about "I don't know why I'm playing Bridge Over Troubled Water."
Beautiful, just so well emulated! Very honest little keyboard - in sound and looks. Thanks!
Best reface demos. I watched you CP demo, bought a CP. My CS is on its way too. A lot of people can hate but the build quality behind these is really good. You will not find a better mini keyboard with midi capability on the market. Especially at this price. A lot of people are complaining about the price point being too high. $200 for a 8 voice poly synth with tons of mod features doesn't sound bad to me. $300 being the highest of the Reface prices.... Compared to a lot of other gear (or even guitar pedals) that is low priced.
Also i'd like to point out that I cannot play most mini keyboard situations (being a larger adult 6' tall) and I can play these no problem.
The only one of these 4 I would consider getting. And possibly the cp. Sounds amazing.
now give it another 51 keys and your there
In my wildest dreams I see the 4 Reface in a single box with a full size keyboard
well it has a MIDI input right?
in my wildest dream, yamaha gx 1 in my mothers coffin instead of her body
All you need to do is plug it into another midi keyboard, I hooked my reface up to my workstation with a full size keyboard and it works great... no need for the octave switch when you use a full size keyboard.
By Design give me octave buttons and I’m all good
Just saw Kaseva live. Their keyboard player used this. It did sound super❤
5:40 i want it for those sounds alone
Wicked! Dr. Mix!
brother your energy is high
Grandissimo, Claudio!
I seriously want all of these! I can't decide. I love FM synthesis but the electric piano one is perfect for acoustic jams and this one is great for gospel!
Superb job you've done on these little synths, this organ is impressive, well they all are but this really surprised me.
Glad you like it, jamie munro!
Yamaha Corporation of America
I'm not alone, I'm sure lots of these will be everywhere :-)
@Doctor Mix I had fun watching you check out that keyboard 🎹
If this thing had a built in looper it would be the stuff of my dreams
U made me cry. Thank u a lot now im inspired to play like u
Sin duda el mejor teclado.
3:26 Makes me want to go to a church and scream Halleluja..
then, don't forget to listen 1:32 !!
Seriously considering getting this and hooking it to a larger keyboard. Incredible sound and love the gospel vibes around the 3 minute mark! Can't wait to use this for some funk/neo soul alongside my rhodes mk1 :))
Right sounds are amazing, left of centers sounds are interesting too. The resolution is solid and plain
Thanks so much for this...great little axe. Your playing made it real.
E
Wow! I just saw this. Awesome!
I feel like fish and chips by the British sea-side now for some reason haha
Hello Doctor Mix, I went to the specifications and played the audio samples, and the YC has the sounds that will be good for my church choir accompaniment and also jamming with my friends playing the 60s 70s music. It does not have the piano strings combi but it has superb organs. Overall, the YC model is for me. I heard the U.S. street price has gone down to below $400. thanks Ed
How much do you think is a good price for the reface?
incredible : more than organs sounds , it's a real synth