Renoise vs QY700 for sequencing

Hey guys,

I’m curious as to how midi sequencing using a hardware sequencer like the QY700 compares to doing it via Renoise? I don’t have any outboard gear, so if I were to use it, all the midi-data would go straight into Renoise (where I have all my samples, synths etc.). Is it useful for doing sequencing and lots of modulations at the same time, especially step-sequencing (like the classic drum-machine approach)? Where does it win where Renoise fails and vice versa?

This may be a broad question and I apologize in advice, but I’d really love to hear an informed opinion on this.

Thanks in advance!

Cheers.

I’ve had my QY700 from new, and yes, you can do all of that The QY700 is basically a MIDI sequencing powerhouse with a built-in synthesizer and programmable accompaniment system.

Personally I don’t (and wouldn’t) use it the way you’re wanting to use it, but you can do that if you wanted to cause the QY700 can output upto 32 MIDI channels using 2x MIDI DIN outputs. It’s irrelevent to the QY700 what MIDI data is being transmitted to or from those MIDI channels, so it’s really more a question of why would you want to do that? If you crave the cutomisable accompaniment system of the QY700 and want to use it to drive Renoise, sure, you can do that. I’ve never actually done it myself, but I don’t see any reason why not. This is why I wanted to see RAS built-in to Renoise, it’s cause programmable accompaniment sytems are one of the most productive things you can have in a DAW, and personally, I hate hopping between hardware and software setups. My own QY700 is used strictly in my hardware setup.

Hidden in another thread here there’s a recent discussion about the QY700, not sure if you spotted it, but if you look for my first post in this thread, it pretty much goes from there:
https://forum.renoise.com/t/anyone-using-an-akai-mpc-500-can-you-share-your-experience-as-a-track/48085

Hey,

thanks for the info! I’ve realized that the QY700 may not be the right choice here. I am actually looking for a way to do xox-like sequencing within Renoise, but doing it with a hardware sequencer would be problematic when it comes to MIDI-Recording in Renoise. I’ve also heard that the QY isn’t really made for that kind of sequencing anyway.

To be honest, I haven’t a clue what xox-sequencing is, but yep, it’s really more at home being used as the centre of a hardware-based rig.
Anyway, good luck with your search.

x0x-sequencing is basically sequencing that emulates the behaviour of the step-sequencers of the old roland drum-machines and synths (808s, 909s, mc 202 etc). I’m currently using the HYSEQ-16x8 for something similar, but I want it to be more integrated into Renoise (for MIDI recording etc…but I don’t like Lauflicht or Duplex)…Perhaps I’ll just go and program my own. :yeah:

I always wanted a qy 700, only heard positive things from it.

They don’t seem so easy to come by …

I always wanted a qy 700, only heard positive things from it.

They don’t seem so easy to come by …

There’s one going cheap on Reverb.com if your interested, mind you it might cost a bit to get it shipped from America. https://reverb.com/item/6595348-yamaha-qy700?gclid=CjwKCAjwssvPBRBBEiwASFoVd_1rV6I27McHfgwjboXr7tDZrcBrabiWxPXcwTg4QhHZq29CxbRiuxoCLw8QAvD_BwE&pla=1

Just took a look out of curiosity, so as a heads-up for anyone looking for one of these, check-out the condition of this one for just over £200
Unfortunately it’s sold now, but it’ll give you an idea of the sort of condition you expect for under £250.

Whoever bought this one got a real bargain:
https://www.gumtree.com/p/synthesizers/yamaha-qy700-midi-sequencer-synth-huge-screen-for-editing-/1239679316

I’ve been seeing QY300s pop up quite often and they’re pretty cheap (around 100-150 €)…Isn’t that more worth it in terms of budget considerations? From what I’ve heard it’s the same as the QY700 just without the big-backlight-screen, isn’t it? And no editing functionality for the sounds (which are horrible anyways imo, so I wouldn’t mind).

A friend of mine had a QY700 a few years ago and only paid a similar amount. They’re certainly not worth more than 200€, imo. But perhaps people now think they’re cool as Squarepusher has been flashing his at gigs.

There’s one going cheap on Reverb.com if your interested, mind you it might cost a bit to get it shipped from America. https://reverb.com/item/6595348-yamaha-qy700?gclid=CjwKCAjwssvPBRBBEiwASFoVd_1rV6I27McHfgwjboXr7tDZrcBrabiWxPXcwTg4QhHZq29CxbRiuxoCLw8QAvD_BwE&pla=1

LOL , 200 euro shipping fee…

No no no, quite the opposite!

The QY700 has one of the best XG ROM’s I’ve heard, it’s one of the main things I like about it. Trouble is, I reckon most people who have used or own them aren’t even aware of how to access the XG sounds, and only make use of the General MIDI soundset. Just about every demo I’ve heard on YouTube appears to use the General MIDI soundset, and even then, they appear to be leaving the sounds very ‘dry’ instead of making use of the effects processors. There’s nothing wrong with the General MIDI or XG sounds, it’s all typical high-end Yamaha waveform data in there, it’s just that they’ve not washed them out with over the top reverb and DSP by default like they do on other models.

It’s like I explained to Vic in that other thread, the QY700 isn’t designed to be ‘glamourous’ with flashy sounds out of the box, it’s aimed at a more general, professional market, so coming into contact with one for the first time will feel very plain, subdued, and formal. You have to learn how to use it before you get the sounds you want out of it. Bear in mind that it’s main purpose is a sequencer, so they formatted the sound ROM out of the box in a way that would work especially well for MIDI sequencing. There’s serious power hidden inside, but you have to learn how to use it, and even if you read every page of the manual ten times over, there are still things you will not understand until one day, you do something and realise, ah, this all makes perfect sense now, I totally get why they did it that way. I’ve had mine for ten years now, and I was still discovering stuff just a few years back!

Me, I even use the QY700 as a sound design tool, but you think a QY700 is only worth £200. Well ok, but I know how to use a QY700 inside out, so I know what it’s capable of and what it’s really worth, and to me a QY700 in the condition of that one shown on Gumtree is worth at least £400. I would never want to be without a QY700, put it that way, and that one was in very nice condition.

Think of it like this … a QY700 is basically a box of tricks that you put your own mark on. The amout of magic you can pull-off with it will relate directly to the amount magic you learn to conjure-up with it. You could be the biggest prick on YouTube demonstrating the QY700, or you could be the biggest QY700 genius ever where people say, that’s amazing, how the fuck did you do that?

Like I said though, she’s not for you, she’s not your type. She’s a bit like the hottest hooker on the street. People keep picking her up, prodding her, but ultimately give-up on her cause they fail to see the refined woman inside. But all of those who stick with her know they are dealing with a true “Pro”. She knows all the tricks and can work wonders for your output if you push the right buttons :smiley:

I don’t have an xg compatble module , the only amaha I have is the A4000s sampler .

Yamaha awm2 engine is indeed verrrygood sounding , 18 filter types , multiple ilters possible …don’t know if the qy has this .

I only need it for seq. duties …just bought an integra 7 …I forgot how good the roland PCM engine was … more options then yammies awm2 …but the yammies awm2 filters sound more organic.

No no no, quite the opposite!

The QY700 has one of the best XG ROM’s I’ve heard, it’s one of the main things I like about it. Trouble is, I reckon most people who have used or own them aren’t even aware of how to access the XG sounds, and only make use of the General MIDI soundset. Just about every demo I’ve heard on YouTube appears to use the General MIDI soundset, and even then, they appear to be leaving the sounds very ‘dry’ instead of making use of the effects processors. There’s nothing wrong with the General MIDI or XG sounds, it’s all typical high-end Yamaha waveform data in there, it’s just that they’ve not washed them out with over the top reverb and DSP by default like they do on other models.

It’s like I explained to Vic in that other thread, the QY700 isn’t designed to be ‘glamourous’ with flashy sounds out of the box, it’s aimed at a more general, professional market, so coming into contact with one for the first time will feel very plain, subdued, and formal. You have to learn how to use it before you get the sounds you want out of it. Bear in mind that it’s main purpose is a sequencer, so they formatted the sound ROM out of the box in a way that would work especially well for MIDI sequencing. There’s serious power hidden inside, but you have to learn how to use it, and even if you read every page of the manual ten times over, there are still things you will not understand until one day, you do something and realise, ah, this all makes perfect sense now, I totally get why they did it that way. I’ve had mine for ten years now, and I was still discovering stuff just a few years back!

Me, I even use the QY700 as a sound design tool, but you think a QY700 is only worth £200. Well ok, but I know how to use a QY700 inside out, so I know what it’s capable of and what it’s really worth, and to me a QY700 in the condition of that one shown on Gumtree is worth at least £400. I would never want to be without a QY700, put it that way, and that one was in very nice condition.

Think of it like this … a QY700 is basically a box of tricks that you put your own mark on. The amout of magic you can pull-off with it will relate directly to the amount magic you learn to conjure-up with it. You could be the biggest prick on YouTube demonstrating the QY700, or you could be the biggest QY700 genius ever where people say, that’s amazing, how the fuck did you do that?

Like I said though, she’s not for you, she’s not your type. She’s a bit like the hottest hooker on the street. People keep picking her up, prodding her, but ultimately give-up on her cause they fail to see the refined woman inside. But all of those who stick with her know they are dealing with a true “Pro”. She knows all the tricks and can work wonders for your output if you push the right buttons :smiley:

I judged the sounds based on what I heard on the youtube videos (and they sounded quite shit), but ofc, I don’t have an informed opinion on the real scope of it given the fact I never used it. x)

In terms of the price, I said that it’s “worth” less because I was already interested in them a few years ago and they used to be in that cheaper price range, so I wouldn’t go for anything higher than that, really. And it shouldn’t become more expensive just because it’s older now (I really hate the idealization of old, retro-ish gear…). In terms of how much it really “should” cost, I really can’t judge that. Every time I use Renoise I feel like it’s almost criminal that it’s so cheap. It’s almost like I’m robbing them, lol.

I certainly believe that the QY700 is a very powerful tool once you learn it inside out, same as with Renoise. Squarepusher’s stuff is enough proof of that (and he’s been using it for over 20 years now). The main reason why I opened this thread was to get an of whether or not it would be worth to surrender some of my Renoise abilities to dive into the QY700. Basically, whether or not I’d come out the other end “richer”. I don’t know the answer to that though.

You’re making the decision harder for me now :D, because on the one hand, it would probably complicate things, but on the other hand, you’re making it sound really appealing…Basically, I want to use it only as a MIDI-sequencer and I wouldn’t really dig into the sound-design thing, because I’m still doing most of that in Renoise and feel like there’s still so much to explore (wanna master that first). And after that, I’ll probably start getting into things like Max/MSP or whatever, so I got that covered for now. But if I were to use it as a MIDI-Sequencer, it would complicate things in the following way:

I would use the QY to sequence samples and modulate parameters in Renoise, but Renoise isn’t really good for recording MIDI, so I would need to send that over to Reaper. So it would be QY700 => Renoise => Reaper. I don’t want to get into the specifics of how I would sync up Renoise and Reaper (lots of Rewire-nonsense), but you get my point.

Still though, what you told me about mastering it reminds me of something that Squarepusher himself said:“I’ve tried Cubase and Nuendo, but I don’t see any need to make the shift. For a start, I’m super fast on the QY. I know what it can do and I know how to make it do it. There’s also a very definite feel to working on it. You press this button and it does this, you turn this knob and it alters that. With Cubase or any of the other sequencing systems, you don’t get that. You get infinite possibilities. I look at a blank computer screen and think ‘Where do I start?’”…“The QY has limits. I know exactly where those limits are and - as I’ve always done - I try to exceed those limits. With a modern sequencing package, I don’t get any boundaries. I get four pages of snares, a hundred kick drums and a giant computer screen. I’m sorry, but that’s my idea of hell!”

Have you used the QY300? There are no QY700s available right now where I live, but a very cheap 300. How do they compare?

If you’re interested in Squarepushers stuff, he’s really pushed the limits of that thing on tracks like this (lots of FM-synthesis):https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X02l2Kzm_3Q

I also recommend checking out “Go Plastic”. Still, to this day, one of the best electronic music albums ever made. All sequenced on the QY.

Now you’re really confusing me. x)

Using a QY700 to drive Renoise would only give you an advantage if you were making use of the programmable accompaniment system it has. But for everyday sequencing I don’t see any obvious reasons why a QY700 would be better than just doing it in Renoise.

But then:

So personally, I’d wait a bit longer and get the king of hardware sequencers, AKA the Yamaha QY700.

Just buy one in good condition, master it, and make awesomeness with it, become a QY700 master B)

You seem to be just as unsure as I am. Like me, you’re basically saying “yeah, wouldn’t make sense to use it, but use it anyhow!” :clownstep:

edit : deleted

hush

Whats the point of using QY700 to sequence samples in renoise?

Different workflow, fresh air, a few of the other reasons mentioned before etc. It’s not like the QY700 is just another tracker, the differences are considerable enough, I think, to try it out. Still though, considering the price, availability etc…it may not be a good idea.

I’ve been seeing QY300s pop up quite often and they’re pretty cheap (around 100-150 €)…Isn’t that more worth it in terms of budget considerations? From what I’ve heard it’s the same as the QY700 just without the big-backlight-screen, isn’t it? And no editing functionality for the sounds (which are horrible anyways imo, so I wouldn’t mind).

A friend of mine had a QY700 a few years ago and only paid a similar amount. They’re certainly not worth more than 200€, imo. But perhaps people now think they’re cool as Squarepusher has been flashing his at gigs.

More similar as QY300 (its without Sound Edit Page) are the small Yamaha QY70 or Yamaha QY100 (better Rom-Sounds as QY70) to Yamahas QY700

With enough free Space at Home take Yamaha QY700, great Machine and second Hand cheaper as never before

For my Ears sounds the older Yamaha Gear, Yamaha TG500 - AWM or Yamaha TG77 - AWM + FM (both can be upgrade with Sampleram) better as XG, its not so clean

@ renoised.

I can see that you have edited out some of the offensive stuff that was in your earlier posts.

Now you can take on the air of victimhood and try to convince everyone that it was me who was in the wrong.

a bit like the hottest hooker on the street. People keep picking her up, prodding her, but ultimately give-up on her cause they fail to see the refined woman inside. But all of those who stick with her know they are dealing with a true “Pro”. She knows all the tricks and can work wonders for your output if you push the right buttons :smiley:

Honestly, what?

You are an obvious troll with your pet shop boys, a-ha and robbie williams in the “what are you listening to at the moment” thread and your bullshit chordpad thread. Now you are attempting to troll using some random old yamha sequencer whilst including some weird shit about prostitutes.

Its not the first weird shit you have come out with either. WTF was all that shit about church organs and beating people up…please.

Dont post drunk. Check yourself

More similar as QY300 (its without Sound Edit Page) are the small Yamaha QY70 or Yamaha QY100 (better Rom-Sounds as QY70) to Yamahas QY700
With enough free Space at Home take Yamaha QY700, great Machine and second Hand cheaper as never before

Yeah, I’ve heard about those, they look like little pocket calculators. x) Right now I’m just gonna be patient. I’ll get an e-mail in case a QY700 pops up somewhere, until then I’m gonna continue focussing on Renoise.

@ renoised.

I can see that you have edited out some of the offensive stuff that was in your earlier posts.

Now you can take on the air of victimhood and try to convince everyone that it was me who was in the wrong.

Honestly, what?

You are an obvious troll with your pet shop boys, a-ha and robbie williams in the “what are you listening to at the moment” thread and your bullshit chordpad thread. Now you are attempting to troll using some random old yamha sequencer whilst including some weird shit about prostitutes.

Its not the first weird shit you have come out with either. WTF was all that shit about church organs and beating people up…please.

Dont post drunk. Check yourself

I don’t think he’s trolling , he just loves his qy700 like most people who own one.

The qy is not some random yamaha seq. it was top of the line at that moment, far surpassed the roland mc80.

YOu had the qy 300 before the qy 700 and simpler qy 100 /200 etc…pocket sequencers after that .

And then the daws took over …cubase vst audio ( around 1997 ) iirc , where the vsti standard got introduced .

Lets not compare renoise with a dedicated H.W. ,both have their advantages .

Atm am looking out for eiher a Q700 or get me squarp ,just to get away from the computer once in a while

Its typical alt right / fascist cuck troll white supremacist behaviour all the way from renoised.

The insults, the dirty subject matter, the editing out followed by denial, the victimhood, the multiple accounts, the overuse of emoticons, the accusations of mental illness every time someone disagrees, the ridiculously long irrelevant posts.

Great, you can attach an image of a halloween bear or something. oh the eyes…

As for the yamaha QY series, I breifly owned the QY100. Seemed like it was going to be good for the portability. But no, it is shit. sorry. Renoise sequencer is far better. Maybe you should check out the yamaha forums?

Different People / Different Workflow

Renoise have a clear interface and it is Pc-Keyboard Shortcuts foccused, fast workflow, great but Renoise is also under Line only a Stepsequenzer (with a working Midi Clock) thats a strength (fast) but also a weakness (limited)
Thats not for me in every way better as a Midi-Sequenzer, with scalable Bars (4 16 32 and so on with the same Bpm) Piano-Keyboard foccused as the good old Yamaha QYs have inside.

I see you are even more remarkable than your reputation suggests.

It appears that the status of the Yamaha QY700 is a rather delicate matter.

Have you been experiencing difficult emotions?

Your pomposity has a tendency to steadily gather steam throughout the course of discussions.

In many respects you have been displaying a rather pugnacious attitude.

May I suggest that if you are properly attentive whilst sharing your thoughts on the forum there will certainly be potential to allow for the resumption of harmonious relations between those concerned? Of course, the ultimate responsibility lies with you.

I will continue to take a balanced and coherent approach to address the evolving challenges posed.
The outcome of these discussions will be closely monitored.

Now if you’ll excuse me…