Yamaha GX-1
| Yamaha GX-1 | |
|---|---|
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Yamaha GX-1
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| Manufacturer | Yamaha |
| Dates | 1973 - 1977 |
| Price | $60,000 |
| Technical specifications | |
| Polyphony |
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| Timbrality | 4 |
| Oscillator |
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| LFO | 3 |
| Synthesis type | Analog Subtractive |
| Filter |
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| Attenuator | 2 envelope generators |
| Effects | 2 x spring reverb |
| Input/output | |
| Keyboard |
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| External control | None |
The Yamaha GX-1, first released as Electone GX-707, is an analog polyphonic synthesizer organ developed by Yamaha as a test bed for later consumer synths and Electone series organs for stage and home use. The GX-1 has four synthesizer "ranks" or three manuals, called Solo, Upper, and Lower, plus Pedal, and an analog rhythm machine.
The Solo rank features a 3-octave keyboard with 37 keys that are full width but shorter than standard. Directly above the Solo keyboard runs the Portamento keyboard - a ribbon controller which can be used to play continuously variable pitches roughly corresponding to the Solo keyboard note below. The Portamento keyboard overrides the solo keyboard if used simultaneously. The Solo rank has only a single oscillator, but has a dedicated low-frequency oscillator (LFO), pitch envelope generator and ring modulator.
The Upper and Lower ranks each have a full-sized 5-octave, 61-note keyboard. They are both 8-voice polyphonic, with two oscillators per voice. Each poly rank has a dedicated LFO, and there is a common "random" modulation generator. The Upper rank also has horizontal aftertouch which can be assigned to pitch, volume or filter, and a polyphonic glide function.
The Pedal rank has a 25-note pedalboard. It is monophonic, with three oscillators but no LFO. Performance controls include a "swell" pedal with footswitch, and a spring-loaded knee controller.
All four ranks use a common voice-card design (called a tone generator in Yamaha parlance) to produce their sounds. Each voice card features a voltage controlled oscillator with multiple waveforms, 2-pole high-pass and low-pass voltage controlled filters, and two envelope generators for filter modulation and VCA control. There is also a variable band-pass filtered sawtooth wave, and high-pass filtered square wave on each card. There are a total of 36 voice cards in a GX-1, containing 36 oscillators, 72 envelope generators, and 144 filters. Due to the extensive use of epoxy-potted sub-modules, a complete set of GX-1 voice cards alone weighs more than a Polymoog.
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Wikipedia