Yamaha EX5R

[Ismellelephant]

Anyone have any experience with the Yamaha EX5R Module?

[arcaxis]

I've got one, really like it, it does have some issues (slow SCSI for one) and if you really want some great info head over to:

www.ex5tech.com

This has a searchable forum which the folks there are as helpful as they are here. Also there is available quite a collection of patches from users. Have you already bought or just at the thinkin" stage ?

[Ismellelephant]

Just bought it yesterday on Ebay for $405.01. I did come across the ex5tech site while researching and yes theres a lot of good info there. I won't be sure until I get the module what OS it has or if any of the memory upgrades have been done. I am not into sequencing at all so I'm not sure if the OS will be a issue if it has never been updated. What can you tell me about the OS? Is yours the lateset OS? Do you have the SCSI interface? I have a SCSI card on my PC and I also have An Ext Plextor SCSI Burner so I am guessing I may want a SCSI Interface. Is there any EX5 PC software editors available? I downloaded the manual but I am a bit confused about the flash memory upgrade. Without it, are your samples lost after shutting down? Sorry for all the questions.

[arcaxis]

I am by no means an expert with the EX5, but I'll try and answer what I can. I did kick up the memory to 16M. I had this amount laying around and so far it's been adequate for what I'm doing. What you'll find is that loading up files that contain large samples via the floppy will take alot of time. Loading from a SCSI drive (ZIP is what I've been using) speeds things up, but not lightening fast mind you. I'm not sure of what OS I presently have installed. I lost track of the upgrades that were being done. I did one which corrected some bugs. This was a freebie from Yamaha. I don't know if you can still get the upgrades or not. I don't think there had been editor developed. Someone on the EX5Tech site did something in Java, but I think it was more of a librarian than editor. I never did much programming on it. I think we all get these things with great intentions of creating wonderfully new sounds, but it just takes lots and lots of time to dig into the guts of a beast like this. I've been happy with sounds from others and usually find something close to what I'm looking for. Yup flash memory retains the samples you load. Nice feature, but was pretty expensive when it first came out. Dunno if it is still available or not.
I'm hearing a few things around that the EX5 is liked better than the current Motif that Yamaha is producing. Head over to EX5Tech and get a little more up to date info than I can offer...

[Ismellelephant]

Thanks for the info. Brown truck is coming tomorrow so I'll see if I like it or not real soon

[fonts]

Originally posted by Ismellelephant
Thanks for the info. Brown truck is coming tomorrow so I'll see if I like it or not real soon

...brown is good...hmmmmm...speaking of brown ...

[fonts]

...well, did brown show up yet?...