Yamaha GX1
Encyclopedia
The Yamaha GX-1, first released as Electone GX-707 It's rumored that when Yamaha realized the model number shared the designation of Boeing 707
aircraft, they changed it to GX-1. Note the basic design of GX-1 followed the Electone EX-42 released in 1970., is an analog polyphonic
synthesizer
developed by Yamaha
as a test bed for later consumer synths. The GX-1 has four synthesizer "ranks" or manuals
, called Solo, Upper, Lower and Pedal, plus an analog rhythm machine.
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
.
Preset sounds are stored on "tone modules" - small cartridges which each contain 26 fixed value resistor-dividers. These produce voltages which drive the voice cards, each resistor controlling one parameter of the sound.
The tone modules are installed in compartments on the top panel of the synth.
An optional "tone board" programmer could be inserted in place of a tone module, providing a full set of knobs, switches and sliders to control the parameters of a tone manually. Tones created this way could then be "programmed" onto a variable tone module using the Tone Module Setting Box.
The Upper, Lower and Pedal ranks all have a dual-voice structure, where a different tone is assigned to each of the two voice cards per note. A set of hidden "wave motion" controls allows the second tones of the Upper and Lower ranks to be de-tuned.
In the Pedal rank, the second tone is doubled on two voice-cards, both of which have a separate de-tune control.
The GX-1 console weighs 300 kg. The pedalboard and stand add 87 kg, and each of its tube-powered speakers
, four of which can be connected to the GX-1, weighs 141 kg (Which together equals a total of 951 kg, or 2096 lb).
The GX-1 cost $60,000 (compensated for Consumer Price Index inflation, that price equals $295,555 in 2010), and was premiered in the US in 1973 at the NAMM convention. The exact production number is unknown, but thought to total fewer than 100. At least 13 GX-1s are known to exist outside Japan, the remainder are presumed to have stayed in Japan.
, John Paul Jones
of Led Zeppelin
(who later sold his to Keith Emerson as a spare instrument), Stevie Wonder
(who is said to have bought two, one of which is on display at Madame Tussaud's in Las Vegas
), Benny Andersson
of ABBA
(this GX-1 is now located at Riksmixningsverket, his studio in Stockholm), Hans Zimmer
(who bought Keith Emerson's old GX-1), Jürgen Fritz
of Triumvirat
, Rick van der Linden
of Ekseption
who did an entire album on it, entitled GX1, and Richard D. James
(Aphex Twin) who acquired Mickie Most
's GX-1. Stevie Wonder in particular described it as "the dream machine" because of its three keyboards that allowed him to layer different sounds simultaneously. Rick Wright of Pink Floyd
allegedly owned one for a brief time, but it did not make an appearance on any recordings.
Boeing 707
The Boeing 707 is a four-engine narrow-body commercial passenger jet airliner developed by Boeing in the early 1950s. Its name is most commonly pronounced as "Seven Oh Seven". The first airline to operate the 707 was Pan American World Airways, inaugurating the type's first commercial flight on...
aircraft, they changed it to GX-1. Note the basic design of GX-1 followed the Electone EX-42 released in 1970., is an analog polyphonic
Polyphony (instrument)
Polyphony Instruments that are not capable of polyphony are monophonic.-Synthesizer:Most of early synthesizers were monophonic musical instruments which can play only one note at a time, and are often called monosynth as opposed to polysynth...
synthesizer
Synthesizer
A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
developed by Yamaha
Yamaha
Yamaha may refer to:* Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese company with a wide range of products and services** Yamaha Motor Company, a Japanese motorized vehicle-producing company...
as a test bed for later consumer synths. The GX-1 has four synthesizer "ranks" or manuals
Manual (music)
A manual is a keyboard designed to be played with the hands on a pipe organ, harpsichord, clavichord, electronic organ, or synthesizer. The term "manual" is used with regard to any hand keyboard on these instruments to distinguish it from the pedalboard, which is a keyboard that the organist plays...
, called Solo, Upper, Lower and Pedal, plus an analog rhythm machine.
Overview
The Solo rank features a 3-octave, 37-key keyboard with full-width, but shorter than normal keys. 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 over-rides the solo keyboard if used simultaneously. The Solo rank has only a single oscillator, but has a dedicated 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
Polymoog
The Polymoog is a polyphonic analog synthesizer that was manufactured by Moog Music from 1975 to 1980. The Polymoog was based on divide-down oscillator technology similar to electronic organs and string synthesizers of the time, and this led to a certain lack of flexibility compared to later...
.
Preset sounds are stored on "tone modules" - small cartridges which each contain 26 fixed value resistor-dividers. These produce voltages which drive the voice cards, each resistor controlling one parameter of the sound.
The tone modules are installed in compartments on the top panel of the synth.
An optional "tone board" programmer could be inserted in place of a tone module, providing a full set of knobs, switches and sliders to control the parameters of a tone manually. Tones created this way could then be "programmed" onto a variable tone module using the Tone Module Setting Box.
The Upper, Lower and Pedal ranks all have a dual-voice structure, where a different tone is assigned to each of the two voice cards per note. A set of hidden "wave motion" controls allows the second tones of the Upper and Lower ranks to be de-tuned.
In the Pedal rank, the second tone is doubled on two voice-cards, both of which have a separate de-tune control.
The GX-1 console weighs 300 kg. The pedalboard and stand add 87 kg, and each of its tube-powered speakers
Loudspeaker
A loudspeaker is an electroacoustic transducer that produces sound in response to an electrical audio signal input. Non-electrical loudspeakers were developed as accessories to telephone systems, but electronic amplification by vacuum tube made loudspeakers more generally useful...
, four of which can be connected to the GX-1, weighs 141 kg (Which together equals a total of 951 kg, or 2096 lb).
The GX-1 cost $60,000 (compensated for Consumer Price Index inflation, that price equals $295,555 in 2010), and was premiered in the US in 1973 at the NAMM convention. The exact production number is unknown, but thought to total fewer than 100. At least 13 GX-1s are known to exist outside Japan, the remainder are presumed to have stayed in Japan.
Popular music
Some of the people to use it extensively were Keith EmersonKeith Emerson
Keith Noel Emerson is an English keyboard player and composer. Formerly a member of the Keith Emerson Trio, John Brown's Bodies, The T-Bones, V.I.P.s, P.P. Arnold's backing band, and The Nice , he was a founder of Emerson, Lake & Palmer , one of the early supergroups, in 1970...
, John Paul Jones
John Paul Jones (musician)
John Paul Jones is an English multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, composer, arranger and record producer. Best known as the bassist, mandolinist, and keyboardist for English rock band Led Zeppelin, Jones has since developed a solo career and has gained even more respect as both a musician and a...
of Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...
(who later sold his to Keith Emerson as a spare instrument), Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...
(who is said to have bought two, one of which is on display at Madame Tussaud's in Las Vegas
Las Vegas Strip
The Las Vegas Strip is an approximately stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard in Clark County, Nevada; adjacent to, but outside the city limits of Las Vegas proper. The Strip lies within the unincorporated townships of Paradise and Winchester...
), Benny Andersson
Benny Andersson
Göran Bror "Benny" Andersson is a Swedish musician, composer, a former member of the Swedish musical group ABBA , and co-composer of the musicals Chess, Kristina från Duvemåla, and Mamma Mia!...
of ABBA
ABBA
ABBA was a Swedish pop group formed in Stockholm in 1970 which consisted of Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Agnetha Fältskog...
(this GX-1 is now located at Riksmixningsverket, his studio in Stockholm), Hans Zimmer
Hans Zimmer
Hans Florian Zimmer is a German film composer and music producer. He has composed music for over 100 films, including critically acclaimed film scores for The Lion King , Crimson Tide , The Thin Red Line , Gladiator , The Dark Knight and Inception .Zimmer spent the early part of his career in the...
(who bought Keith Emerson's old GX-1), Jürgen Fritz
Jürgen Fritz
Jürgen Fritz is a German musician. He was the keyboard player in progressive rock band Triumvirat.- Albums :* 1972 – Mediterranean Tales by Triumvirat* 1974 – Illusions On A Double Dimple by Triumvirat...
of Triumvirat
Triumvirat
Triumvirat was a German progressive rock trio that formed in 1969 in Cologne, Germany. The founding members were: keyboardist/composer Hans-Jürgen Fritz , drummer/lyricist Hans Bathelt, and bassist Werner Frangenberg....
, Rick van der Linden
Rick van der Linden
Rick van der Linden was a Dutch composer and keyboardist. Van der Linden first gained fame as a member of Ekseption, but played in several other bands including most notably Trace, as well as solo...
of Ekseption
Ekseption
Ekseption was a Dutch progressive rock ensemble with changing membership, active from 1967 to 1989, growing out of the bands The Jokers and Incrowd. The group started out playing jazz, pop and R&B covers...
who did an entire album on it, entitled GX1, and Richard D. James
Aphex Twin
Richard David James , best known under the pseudonym Aphex Twin, is an Irish-born electronic musician and composer described as "the most inventive and influential figure in contemporary electronic music"...
(Aphex Twin) who acquired Mickie Most
Mickie Most
Mickie Most was an English record producer, with a string of hit singles with acts such as The Animals, Arrows, Herman's Hermits, Donovan, Suzi Quatro and the Jeff Beck Group often issued on his own RAK Records label....
's GX-1. Stevie Wonder in particular described it as "the dream machine" because of its three keyboards that allowed him to layer different sounds simultaneously. Rick Wright of Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...
allegedly owned one for a brief time, but it did not make an appearance on any recordings.