MU80 Review Keyboard Reports, Keyboard Magazine, August 1995 Yamaha MU80 by Ernie Rideout Some General MIDI modules are stripped down to the bare essentials: plug them in and turn on the powerswitch. Others give you banks of extra sounds and MIDI control of everything except your Cuisinart. Some modules sound so good that they've made it into professional recording studios and onto stages. Onstage, though, you'll rarely see one without an accompanying sequencer to control it, not necessarily the most intuitive or spontaneous way to play live. With the MU80, Yamaha seeks not only to put a General MIDI (GM) module in the hands of gigging keyboard players, but also to "standardize' synth features that are beyond the capabilities of GM. In addition to a built-in MIDI/computer interface and a generous 64 voices of polyphony, it sports a stereo audio input for a guitar, microphone, keyboard, or combination of these. The external signals are routed through their own parts with full access to the on-board effects and mixing. Besides the sequence-playback modes, there are preset and user banks of four-zone performances, which can be controlled from a single-channel keyboard. The MU80 heralds the arrival of a new superset of the GM specification, Yamaha's XG format, which presumably will standardize high-performance features such as polyphony, effects, and MIDI implementation among future instruments bearing the XG logo. The XG format will definitely be of interest to sequence gurus, game developers, and folks who just love to probe the depths of registered parameters, system-exclusive, and other MIDI controller delights. Conceptually, there is a lot going on behind that big green, LCD. Of course, there's the quantitative aspect as well: There are a lot more sounds than the basic 128 GM fare, and the effects provide numerous possibilities that ordinary GM modules cannot. You know, kind of like those breakfast cereals that exceed all the RDAS, and taste good too. Compared with a generic GM module, the MU80 has a few surprises inside to boot. Ignoring the instructions on how to reseal the inner wrapper to preserve freshness, let's rip the top clean off and take a peek. Pass the milk, please. Fortified With 357 Sounds. In addition to the 128 GM sounds, 357 variation sounds (notincluding sound effects) are to be found scattered throughout the 126 variation banks. If variations exist for a particular sound, you can get at them by scrolling through the banks until a new program pops up on the LCD, or by sending a bank select message (MIDI controller 0, then controller 32) from your sequencer or MIDI keyboard controller. Sounds are not merely strewn about the variation banks at random, however. By glancing at the useful supplemental Voice List document, you'll see that not all sounds have variations, and among those that do, the variations are not necessarily found in the same banks. Each variation bank holds a specific kind of variation on the original sound, such as stereo, slower decay, brighter, darker, with resonant filter, detuned, doubled at the octave, in an ensemble, or with velocity cross-fading. Some sounds that require two oscillators have a single-oscillator variation, so you can use that sound but still get 64-voice polyphony. Banks 64 and above contain different samples than the original sounds. Thankfully, Yamaha has packed quite a few of these in, especially for those sounds that might interest a gigging keyboardist. in these banks you'll find several organs, basses, brass stabs, and string pads, plus a whole bunch of synth leads, pads, and other great synth sounds. Taking the variations and the basic sounds together, the MU80 provides a lot of depth and variety. Even if you never bothered to edit the sounds, use the effects, or delve into the envelopes or LFOS, you could crank out a great many sequences and never repeat yourself. Compared with other high-end GM modules, the sounds of the MU80 hold up very well overall, and in some cases excel. They are not without some limitations and clunkers, but these do not impair the module's utility. Whether you will notice any blemishes depends on how you use the sounds, since very few of them are particularly blatant, unless you solo the sound and let it decay. It's more significant that there is this much instrumental variety, and so many great sounds, within an $895 module. Take the Hammond organ emulations, for example. For most sequence work, the Leslie effect is adequate, and the variety of drawbar settings, percussion, and overdriven sounds is certainly enough for most casual and club gigs as well. The electric pianos are commendable, particularly the DX variations, and you're not likely to get bored with as many as seven variations on a single EP sound. The synth sounds are a real treat, with some really nice filter sweeps, basses, and leads, and there are tons of them. The MU80s filters are pretty darn impressive for an instrument of this price. Between the overdriven fifths and the velocity-switching electric guitar that brings in harmonics, you could piece together some ripping guitar solos. The basses are certainly adequate, although the fretless bass patch sounds more like an acoustic with the low end boosted. All of the string sounds are lush, and a cut above what you'd expect. The same goes for the saxes and brass, which each have several variations to choose from that are great for a variety of solo styles. The woodwinds are less convincing, and we wish that some ensemble woodwind patches had been included. The drums and percussion are all punchy and bright, with the concert snare standing out in particular. For kicks, so to speak, the MU80 has reverse kicks, snares, toms, and cymbals. A nice touch, for sure. If you have greater ambitions for a sequence than the stock sounds can help you achieve, then with a little familiarity with the MU80's MIDI parameters, you can come up with some absolutely wild versions of the existing patches. For example, tweaking the brightness of a sustained synth sound creates an excellent filter sweep. Making drastic adjustments to the pitch envelope can turn flute into a siren. This is capability you'd expect to find on a full-blown synth, not on a GM module. The MU80s limitations occur primarily in the upper register of a few sounds. For example, the otherwise excellent grand piano sound has obvious multisample mismatching above F5 that introduces a mechanism thump, and the decay loop is very thin-sounding above F6. Similarly, EPiano1, a basically fine Rhodes patch, exhibits some harsh artifacts above F6, which is dog-howl range anyway. Some other electric piano, DX, vex, and string samples have loop problems that crop up only in the highest registers, say F7 and above. The 'Steel String' guitar patch has a different problem, being quite sharp from G#2 on down. This does make for rather realistic open chords, too realistic, in fact. A couple of the electric guitars, Clean Guitar 2 to name one, have an audible timbral change after the initial attack that sounds like a filter closing down suddenly. There are only a few sounds that we can really fault the MU80 for. One vox/piano variation called Dream has a vex loop that makes a rather unwelcome percussion sound from C5 on up. A couple of synth pads, such as CC Pad, have really loud loop clicks that make for a seemingly unintended percussive effect when played as single notes in all registers. Played as a chord, these pads are unusable in any range. Several of the ethnic sounds, such as Shakuhachi, Bagpipe, Gamelan, and Tabla, while of good quality, do not resemble any instrument of those names that we've heard before. Effects Facts. The MU80's effects are outstanding, both in quality and in implementation. Reverb and chorus algorithms are applied globally, with each part having its own send levels. Each chorus algorithm in turn has an overall send to the reverb algorithm. Reverb time can be as long as 30 seconds. EQ can be applied to all parts globally, with five distinct, editable configurations of five bands each to choose from. So far, so good, but what if your requirements are more sophisticated? What if you simply must have two different reverbs simultaneously, on different parts? No problem. The MU80 has two categories of 'insert" effects. One of these lets you apply distortion, overdrive, or a 3-band EQ to individual parts in addition to the global effects. These can only be applied to one part at a time. The other category, the 'variation" effects, is almost an entire effects device unto itself, with 39 algorithms to choose from. The effect you choose from this group can be inserted on one part at a time, or it can be applied globally. Besides a full selection of reverb (including gate and reverse gate), delay (including cross and stereo), chorus, flanger, distortion, and phaser effects, you can find an aural exciter, compressor, pitch-shifter, and rotary speaker algorithm among the 'variation" effects. The range of editable parameters for all of these is impressive, with delay times up to 750ms, adjustable ratio up to 20:1 on the compressor, and tunable pitch-shifting with feedback gain, just to mention a couple. Stays Editable, Even in MIDI! Following the procedure implemented by some other GM modules, the MU80 doesn't let you edit the sounds themselves. Rather, you make edits to the "part" a given sound is assigned to. In the MU80, however, these editable parameters are numerous and afford a lot of synth and effects power; they include amplitude attack and release times, pitch envelope levels and times, tuning, portamento, effects insert settings, and note and velocity limits, among other things. In multi mode, the mode that gives you 16 or 32 parts (depending on your system), these part settings are retained after you turn off the power. They also apply to any new sound you assign to that part, whether the settings are appropriate or not. In multi mode, therefore, the way to work is to save or insert the part settings and the program change numbers of the associated sounds via MIDI in a sequence - a simple dump procedure, or a fair number of continuous controller messages to input. Within multi mode, there are three submodes to choose from, depending on what instrument most of your sequence data has been created for. If you've got a clean slate, you'll use XG mode, which takes advantage of Yamaha's superset of GM (see sidebar, "XG, GS, GM, Golly Gee!" on page 86). If you have recorded a lot of data for Yamaha's TG300 module, select that mode, although the manual states that the data may not play back as well as on a TG300. If you have Roland MT-32-compatible sequences, select C/M mode. The MU80 departs from the GM pack with its performance mode, which, although limited to four parts all on a single MIDI channel, allows you to save all edits and sound assignments to a user bank. This alone turns the instrument into a programmable four-zone synth, even if your keyboard transmits only on one channel. It's a pretty quick way to set up layers, splits, and velocity splits. It also adds two assignable controllers, to which you can route filter, envelope, or effects controls. Program changes sent to the MU80 while in this mode do not change the sounds assigned to the parts, but select a different performance. Drum kits are not accessible in this mode, but individual drum sounds are, as separate programs. As with multi mode, there is no blank performance template; to create your own, you must begin with one of the 64 factory performances and either go with the part settings or alter them. This can be a real pain if the performance you begin with has some less-than-obvious parameter settings that yield surprising results, such as a reverse amplitude setting that shuts down your sound just when you wanted it to get louder. The editing environment of the MU80 is very friendly. The enormous LCD provides a lot of information at a glance, including a nifty icon for every type of sound or performance. The icon even shows what setting the host (computer) switch is set to when you move the switch, eliminating the need to peek at the back of the instrument - a major neck-strain saver! Each part is shown as a bar graph that indicates the settings of any selected parameter. The bars function as level meters in play mode. Volume, expression, pan, and effects sends are also displayed. You can edit parts individually, or many parameters can also be set for all parts at once, with the bar graph serving to show the settings for all parts simultaneously. This bar graph approach also comes in handy when editing the overall instrument EQ. For you power sequencers, all parameters can be controlled via continuous controller and/or system-exclusive messages, a mind-bending range of possibilities. With such programming, you can change everything about the MU80 in real-time during sequence playback, from sounds, tuning systems, and effects to filters and envelope settings, and even what the display looks like. Borrowing an extra-cool feature from its predecessor, the TG300 (see Keyboard Report, July 1994), the MU80 will display the sysex string for any selected parameter, including the checksum. The parameter value changes in real time as you make edits, so you can hear what the setting sounds like before you type it into your sequencer. This is a major time-saver for serious sequence programmers. For a glimpse of the power behind such programmability, see "Sound Canvas Hot Tips" (Keyboard, Feb. 1994). Surprise Inside! Other high-end GM modules have provided inputs for mixing external analog audio signals, but the MU80s implementation is a step ahead. With the single stereo 1/4" input on the front panel, you can connect two audio sources and control their volume, panning, effects programs, and effects sends from within the MU80s MIDI-controllable system. Yes, you can even watch the signal levels on the bar graph! The two input channels have a variety of preset effects that accommodate the signal levels of mics, guitars, or keyboards. Guitar-oriented effects include amp simulators, phaser, flanger, pitch-shifting, and a couple of reverb types. The options for vocal include several 'karaoke" algorithms that are mostly slapback with different reflection times, and a pitch-shifter that'll take your voice up or down two octaves. For a keyboard instrument, in addition to the chorus, phasing, and reverb algorithms, you can select a rotary speaker simulator or a velocity-sensitive filter wah, among others. On a more practical level, you could run the combined audio output of your analog signals and MIDI sequences directly to a cassette recorder, and have an instant low-budget recording setup. This -could be a boon to home studio owners with small mixers, and educators with nothing more than a cassette recorder at their disposal who need to record quick demos or document student progress. Send Away Today For Complete MIDI Interfacing. In addition to its synthesizer and effects features, the MU80 has a built-in computer interface and two MIDI in ports. Both the computer input and the dual MIDI inputs can access the 32-part multitimbral features. Trouble is, your setup may or may not have the capability to access all 32 channels. You can use all 32 channels if you hook up the MU80 strictly as a tone module and use both of its MIDI in jacks, as each jack provides access to 16 channels. This would work in a computer music system that uses something other than the MU80 as the MIDI interface. We're betting, though, that many folks who are in the market for an under $1,000 GM module would rather save money by using the MU80 itself as their interface. To use the MU80s built-in computer/Midi capability with an IBM-PC running Windows, you need to obtain the Yamaha CBXT3 driver diskette from your dealer, or directly from Yamaha (available at a nominal shipping charge, we're told). Second, you'll need to purchase a special cable to hook up the MU80 to one of your PCs com ports, since the cable does not come with the instrument. Our local Yamaha dealership did not have the drivers or cables in stock. In fact, Yamaha had not informed them that these were necessary, or that it was their responsibility to provide them. Talk about delayed gratification. Even when you get the cable and the driver, you won't be able to run the MU80 in 32-channel mode under Windows (although Yamaha tells us that an upgrade driver is in the works). Once you have the cable and driver, connect the MIDI out of your controller keyboard to MIDI in B (not MIDI in A!) on the MU80 as shown in a diagram (but not explained) in the manual. It took us several days to figure out why the MIDI out port worked fine, but the MIDI input didn't. That's what we get for not scanning the schematics. If you want to use the MU80 as a MIDI interface with a Macintosh, you'll only be able to address its 32 MIDI channels if your software itself is capable of 32-channel operation. Otherwise you'll be limited to 16 channels. We were able to achieve 32-channel ecstasy with Mark of the Unicorn's Performer and FreeMIDI, but not with Opcode's Vision and OMS. OMS refused to be tricked into seeing two separate MU80s and addressing them on 32 channels. If 32-channel operation is a necessity for you, we suggest testing the MU8O with your brand of Mac sequencer in a music store before you buy. Sugar Bomb or Health Nut Granola? The MU80 has many things going for it. It's inexpensive, has a solid basic palette of sounds, and is easy to operate. Its effects are way above average, and with the analog ins, it can do double-duty as an effects device. The extensive parameter control gives it the potential to realize very expressive sequences. The performance mode is a nice added dimension for live playing. The computer interface limitations, though, will make it impossible for some users to access its full 32-part abilities. If your system can help you get around this, great If not you're stuck with a 16-part tone module, but at least a good one. The main competition for the MU80 is probably Roland's SC-88 Sound Canvas, which retails for $300 more. The sound of the two modules is comparable overall, and the multitimbral and polyphony specs are the same. The SC-88 has RCA stereo analog ins, but the signal is not controllable internally, nor can you apply effects to it. The SC-88 also lacks the performance mode user banks of the MU80. So the price is right, and the box is packed. It could easily provide a healthy balance of sequencing, gigging, and fun for you, even if it doesn't quite meet the U.S. Recommended Daily Allowance of interface connectivity. YAMAHA MU80 .................................................................... PROS User storage of performance configurations. Excellent effects. Effects, levels, panning of incoming analog signals controllable through MIDI. Excellent MIDI control of voice parameters. ........................................................................ CONS Limited access to 32-part operation. Windows driver not supplied. Poor documentation re- garding use as computer/MIDI interface. ........................................................................ BOTTOM LINE Great for expressive sequencing, and conve- nient for Casuals, too. YAMAHA MU80 ...................................................................... DESCRIPTION Multitimbral General MIDI sample playback sound module and computer MIDI interface with analog audio input and built-in effects. ..................... MEMORY 8Mb waveform ROM. 128 General MIDI ROM programs, 357 ROM variation programs, 52 ROM variation sound effects, 9 XG mode drum kits, 1 0 TG300B drum kits, 1 C/M drum kit, 2 sound effects kits. 64 ROM perfor- mances. 128 RAM performances. ...................................... VOICE ARCHITECTURE Multi mode: 16 MIDI parts (32 with dual port or two-host interface access), each with set- tings for volume, expression, pan, reverb send, chorus send, variation effect send, key shift, filter cutoff frequency, resonance, 3- stage amplitude envelope times, 2-stage pitch envelope time and level, vibrato rate, depth, and delay, detune, mono/poly mode, velocity sensitivity, note limits, portamento, velocity limit, pitch-bend, and modulation depth. Performance mode: 4 parts on a single MIDichannel. ...................................................................... FEATURES 64 voices of polyphony. Up to three simulta- neous effects from 12 reverb algorithms, 10 chorus algorithms, 44 "variation" algorithms, and 3 distortion algorithms. Analog inputs with expression, pan, and effects settings. Built-in MIDI interface with serial connection to Macintosh, IBM-PC, and NEC computers, ...................................................................... INTERFACING 1/4" UR stereo main outs, 1/4" TRS stereo analog in, 1/8" stereo headphone out. MIDI in A and B, out, thru. Serial port. External power supply. ...................................................................... DIMENSIONS 8-5/8" x 8-1/4" x 1-3/4". 2 IbS, 14 OZ. ...................................................................... SUGGESTED RETAIL PRICE $895. US CONTACT Yamaha, 6600 Orangethorpe Ave., Buena Park, CA 90620, (714) 522-901 1; tax (714) 522-9301. .