Yamaha QY100

Let's face it, great sound is what inspires performance and motivates you to practice. The QY100's built in Amp Simulator bring you the characteristics of a range of amplifiers – specifically guitar amplifiers and microphone preamplifiers – so you have total control over your own sound as well as your backing accompaniment. In addition to great amp sound, the QY100 Amp Simulator includes a range of top-quality effects for use with guitar and microphone.

The guitar setups, for example, feature overdrive/distortion, modulation (chorus, flange, etc.) and reverb. The microphone setups offer delay, modulation and reverb. The QY100 has 18 guitar setups and 5 microphone setups that you can customize to create the perfect sound for your music.

G01 MultiDrive: A heavy driving sound that's ideal for power chords and soaring solos.
G02 LightCrunch: A subtler "crunch" tone reminiscent of a slightly overdriven tube amplifier.
G03 StudioLead: Heavy overdrive with a touch of chorus.
G04 CleanLead: Clean, smooth, and spacious. Great for clean solo lines, and a good choice for comping.
G05 HardBlues: Solid, raw distortion that can make those blues licks sing.
G06 JetFlange: A pronounced flange effect that shimmers and shifts for lively backing and solos.
G07 PopRhythm: A clean, well-defined sound with a slightly compressed feel.
G08 HeavyRock: The name says it all – heavy and rockin'.
G09 StackLead: A simulation of the awesome tone of a full stack.

G10 FunkyCut: A slick, slinky sound for funky chord work.
G11 TradBlues: Back to basics – tried-and-true tone for heartfelt blues pickin'.
G12 StageLead: Big. Really big.
G13 AirDrive: Light and airy – for those delicate musical moments.
G14 CityLead: An "urban" tone that will be appreciated by fusion fans. But try it in any style.
G15 PopChorus: Subtle but sincere. A clean tone that will blend well with most popular styles.
G16 FuzzyMod: In-yer-face fuzz and modulation.
G17 JazzyNight: Mellow, sophisticated – perfect for lamplight and cocktails.
G18 Ghost: Every note invokes a ghostly glitter (?!).

M01 PopVocal: Slap echo and a subtle touch of modulation.
M02 RockVocal: A short delay and tight ambience.
M03 DelayVocal: Multiple long delays for a super-spacious feel.
M04 RoomVocal: Fairly straightforward room ambience.
M05 Rap: Tight early reflections so the emphasis stays on the vocal rhythm.

The QY100 accompaniment tracks and functions make simple to put complete accompaniments together in a matter of minutes. The result is that you spend less time programming and more time creating and playing. Rather than recording individual notes or chords as on the linear "sequencer" tracks described below, accompaniments are produced by specifying a sequence of "patterns" to be played within a specified "style", and an appropriate chord progression.

The QY100 includes 128 preset accompaniment styles covering everything from hard-core through hip-hop to waltzes (check out the style list, below), each with 6 variation "patterns" (intro, A section, B section, A-to-B fill, B-to-A fill, and ending).

The QY100 provides an extensive database of more than 4,000 phrases (drum phrases, bass phrases, keyboard phrases, etc.) that you can combine in the 8-track pattern sequencer to create original style patterns. If you really want to be original you can even record your own phrases from scratch. The QY100 has memory for up to 64 complete original styles – each with a complete set of 6 patterns.

Of course, you can't have accompaniments without chord changes. Once again, the QY100 makes life easy with 99 preset chord progressions that you can simply select and play. These "chord templates" include a wide range of standard progressions – some you might recognize from your favorite songs – commonly used in a wide range of musical genres, plus some innovative variations.

Chord changes are recorded simply by entering the names of the chords at the appropriate times (you can do this via the micro-keyboard simply by pressing the appropriate key). You can specify the bass notes for the chords, as well as syncopated chord timing for maximum versatility in creating accompaniments for any type of music. The entire accompaniment is automatically re-harmonized to match the chords you specify.

When you want to create songs linearly, it's time to take advantage of the extraordinary potential provided by the QY100's 16-track sequencer. You can individually assign any of the QY100's 547 normal voices or 22 drum kits to the sequencer tracks and record anything you like via the built-in micro-keyboard or an external MIDI keyboard – or any other type of MIDI controller connected to the MIDI IN connector. Whether you use all 16 tracks to create rich musical textures, or just a few tracks for simple arrangements or to add a few details to accompaniments created using the QY100's accompaniment features, the sequencer offers the creative control and expressive power you need to get your musical message across.

The sequencer tracks can be recorded in real time using the "replace" or "overdub" recording mode. In the "replace" mode anything you record will replace (overwrite) any material that was previously on the same section of the track being recorded. The "overdub" mode, on the other hand, lets you add new material to a previously recorded track without erasing the previous data. This lets you build up a track bit by bit without having to play the entire part all at once. Another option is the "step" record mode in which you can enter notes one at a time to create extremely fast or complex passages that would be difficult to record in real time. The "step" mode is also useful for adding finishing touches to tracks recorded in real time. Finally, there's a "multi" record mode in which all 16 sequencer tracks can be recorded simultaneously – a great feature for transferring MIDI data to the QY100 from another sequencer.

We're not kidding when we say that the QY100 sequencer offers total creative control. All of the features you'd expect in a full-blown sequencer are there – plus a few extras. The "jobs" available for processing sequencer tracks include everything from must-haves such as quantization, to innovative functions like automatic crescendos and chord sorting. And if you need to work on individual notes or events, the edit mode makes every detail available for precise adjustment.

The QY100's built-in tone generator is a high-performance sound module in its own right, with an expanded wave memory that has made it possible to dramatically improve the quality of all voices, and the drums in particular. It offers a range of 547 voices in a complete range of instrument categories (sound effects included), as well as 22 drum and percussion kits. The tone generator section is fully GM and XG compatible so you can actually use it as an independent sound module driven from an external sequencer or computer-based MIDI music system. There's even a range of editing controls for the voices and drum kits so you can customize the sounds to ideally complement your music.

Yamaha is famous for the quality of its reverb and other effects, and the QY100 is no exception. The built-in effect system provides top-quality reverb, chorus, and variation effects (including modulation and distortion) that you can use to refine and polish your sound. Each sequencer track has individual send controls for the reverb, chorus, and variation effect stages, so you can apply effects separately to each track as required.

Settings, sequences, and patterns can be saved to and loaded from standard memory cards for convenient, high-volume storage and portability. Memory cards are also a great way to back up important data so it can't be accidentally erased or lost.

If you have a personal computer – PC or Macintosh – you can use the supplied QY100 DATA FILER software to transfer QY100 data to and from your computer for convenient management and storage.

Inspiration can strike anywhere, and at any time. The QY100 will always be ready: use an AC adapter indoors, or create with battery power outdoors or on the road. 6 AA alkaline batteries will keep the QY100 running for about 3 hours of continuous use.

* Memory card access may not be possible when the batteries begin to run low.