The Making Of A Modern Classic - Yamaha AN1x Owner's Manual

The Making Of A Modern Classic

The classic analog synth sound is back with a vengeance and more popular than ever. Vintage analog synthesizers are hot
items, recirculating and finding their way into the arsenals of the world's most innovative music makers, many of whom
weren't even born when the voltage controlled synthesizer was coming of age more than a quarter of a century ago.
Enter the Yamaha AN1x Control Synthesizer—a modern classic in its own right—complete with the VCO, VCF, and VCA
blocks, or "modules" that give retro synths that famously fat, rich, warm sound, plus multiple knobs for controlling every nuance
of the sound, and even an on-board Arpeggiator and Step Sequencer for generating pattern loops at the press of a key.
What's much more, however, is that the AN1x incorporates features that vintage synths could only dream about—like three on-
board programmable digital multi-effects units and a 3-band stereo EQ, a multiple controller-to-parameter assignment architecture,
a 4-track Free EG for "hand drawing" real-time knob position movements of up to four different tone generator parameters, plus
real-time morphing between two different sounds, and more—all of which can be customized for each of the 128 voices and
stored as individual voice data.
The History...
Why is the "analog sound" so popular in a digital
age? What long and winding road had to be
traveled—just to end up right back where we started
from? Let's take a quick look at how we got from there
to here, and where here really is, anyway.
Electronic music synthesis has been around in one form
or another since the beginning of the 20th Century. But
it wasn't until the early 1970s that developments in
voltage controlled synthesis technology made the
concept practical—and affordable.
As such, the voltage controlled synthesizer became less
and less an experimental curiosity in the world's great
universities and sound labs and more and more a
valid—and revolutionary—musical instrument in its own
right. It quickly became a staple in professional
recording studios, and its myriad sounds started
gracing the ears of millions through popular recordings
in literally all genres of music.
Then came the 1980s, and the introduction of wildly
popular, affordable-for-the-masses, great-sounding and
easy-to-use digital synths like the famous Yamaha DX7.
What followed was the MIDI revolution, which drove
the rapid development of ever-more-sophisticated multi-
timbral digital synthesizers and tone generators, along
with the overwhelming acceptance of digital sampling
which has literally changed the way we create and
listen to music. And all of which have gone hand-in-
hand with the desktop music revolution.
Most recently there has been the introduction of
breakthrough physical modeling synthesis technology,
which has been successfully applied to the accurate
reproduction of acoustic instrument sounds through
purely electronic means, as well as the creation of new
"hybrid-type" acoustic-oriented sounds.
Enter Analog Physical
Modeling...
The classic analog synth never fell out of favor with the
world's most innovative musicians. That's because it
has a special punch, power, plus important elements of
interactivity that digital synths and samplers have
tended to lack by comparison.
And now, with the demand for that "classic analog
sound" due to the global popularity of techno, trance,
and other modern forms of dance music, it's hardly
surprising that Yamaha—a company consistently at the
very pinnacle of electronic musical instrument
technology—would react to that demand and create a
completely new performance-oriented "control
synthesizer" that takes the company's original
breakthroughs in physical modeling synthesis and uses
it to digitally "model" the analog sound-generating
components which gives voltage controlled synthesis its
unique character and virtually unlimited range of
sound.
And package it with a host of digital extras to bring
the technology full circle with a completeness and utility
never before possible.
In short, the AN1x is a logical—and timely—
development in the evolution of electronic musical
instrument history, based on the modern needs and
demands of the world's cutting-edge musicians. And
once again, as is often the case with creations from
Yamaha, music history will never be the same.
All the tools are in the box. The rest is up to you....
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