Yamaha RS-7000 problem???

Hoping someone can provide me with some info on this problem we are having with our RS-7000

we're trying to use it to provide backing tracks for our band; set it up to provide a whole set of tracks - i.e. program our set list into it, and let it run during the performance, one tune after the next, to accompany us during the performance.

the problem is, it seems to only want to hold 3 songs in it's memory so we can't load, say, 10 tunes in a row, and just let it run continuously for a whole set list worth of tracks.

i've read some reviews and others have said there does seem to be some mfg isssues with "memory card is full' type problems.

I can't tell if this is a bug in the mfg of "all" RS-7000 models, or if it's just our particular unit that is broken in some way.

can anyone shed any light on this?

thank you- !

well.

just read all the RS7000 threads here and no one mentioned this. now am wondering if it's a matter of getting a new OS, or adding memory.

maybe it's not really a bug at all, and our electronics wizard just isn't as good as he thinks he is.

Probably the memory.Those things shipped with hardly any memory...but are you saving to a memory card?

I forget what the default internal memory capacity is, but you can add more, up to a total of 64MB. You'll certainly want to do this.

The external storage options are SmartMedia cards (the RS7000 will recognize card capacities up to 128MB), and SCSI drives including CD-ROM drives.

Given these options, you should be able to figure out a way to get your set done. I know many people have successfully used the RS7000 for live performance.

SmartMedia cards are getting harder to find (and thus more expensive) these days. Fortunately, there is an adapter that lets you use XD cards (much more plentiful) instead.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820163403

Yup, it's less than $5. If you own, or are even thinking about owning, an RS7000, this is a no-brainer. Buy one before they run out. I had a friend add one to his PC parts order to avoid paying for shipping. No sense in wasting my money on a SmartMedia card when I finally get an RS7K.

You can load 10 songs or whatever if you want. The catch is you can't be using a lot of sample Ram. If you just use the internal sounds and sequencer, you can load a ton of songs, but if any of those songs use samples in Ram, then the amount of songs the RS will hold will decrease. Longer samples will take up a lot of memory and take more time to load. That's one of the things I hope Yamaha will fix if they release another RS.

Increase in (Ram) samples used = Decrease in songs

Great for MIDI sequencing. But as if with any other piece of dedicated hardware, the limitations are maddening. It's time to forget hardware and get into the world of Reason 3 (soon to be 4). All of your problems will be solved!

How would Reason solve my problem of wanting an RS7000 and not having one? Furthermore, does it give investment advice? Does it stay crunchy in milk?

In milk, I think it goes snapp, krackle and *pop*

1. By getting Reason, you won't want or need the RS-7000 anymore. Problem solved.

2. The investment advice you would get from Reason is to not waste time with dedicated and antiquated hardware. Invest your time in Reason and forget the rest.

3. Crunchy in milk? Do you mean retaining desirable distortion characteristics while smoothing out undesirable artifacts. Yes. Anything like that is possible in Reason.

hmmmmm but will it stay crunchy in soymilk... now THAT is the 64-dollar question.....

we're not really electronics fiends, we're a steel band... so we don't need much bells and whistles, but yes we definitely want to be sampling live steel drums - whole tunes worth, for real-time accompaniment when we're down a person sometimes.

so - i guess we'lll need more memory from what i'm reading. i'll have to ask them about how/where they're saving, if it's to the mem card or what.

thanks everyone!

now I get the avatar!

Since you are talking about real-time looping of a live instrument, you might also consider going with one of those looping guitar pedals, such as the Boss series. My personal favorite is my Digitech Jamman. I can store up to 99 loops on a 2 GB Flash card. That's over 6 hours of loop time. You can even import WAVs and MP3s.

It also has a mic XLR input. Perfect for something like steel drums. You can pick one up for around $275 new.

The Boomerang is another great looping floor unit!

I went to a motivational retreat in high school and the "Leaders of our Journey" also played music and sang songs about how wonderful we are.

They used a Boomerang.

That trip sucked.

hey swardle that's a great piece of info, thanks SO MUCH. that's a great inexpensive idea for us.....

well now idiotboy, i'm impressed - you're not really an idiotboy at all..... almost nobody ever has a clue what my avatar is - !

and since this is my thread i can go OT to tell you that i am the Melvin of my office (and geekily proud of it too, LOL). I've carried my trusty ancient 10-pound Swingline through 4 companies so far and it's STILL going strong.... unlike those cheap crap plastic staplers they give you that jam the staples and rip your papers. EEEEE hee hee heeeeee. when i saw that movie i about peed my pants ROFLMAO - !

i usually trim my sampled beats down to just the parts bein used... ive loaded approx. 25 beats on the RS with the max memory 6min 20sec sample time.

da relic

Those things do work (I have one which I have used with both a Motif and a Triton) but you still need xD cards of no greater than 128MB (larger ones won't work) and those are getting scarce now too though at least they are still far cheaper than SM cards.

The RS7000 comes out of the box with only 4MB of internal sample memory, for about 45 seconds of 44.1/16 samples. Maximum is 64MB, that allows up to 6:20 of samples.

If you are using really long samples you will have to reload them frequently from multiple memory cards or use a SCSI drive.