Yamaha QY22

Although it offered a GM mode, Yamaha's QY20 Walkstation was not a true General MIDI instrument. With the release of the new fully GM‑compatible QY22, have Yamaha rectified the shortcomings of the previous machine? Derek Johnson finds out.

What would you say if it was possible to walk down to your local music dealer and pick up a General MIDI sound module, 8‑track MIDI sequencer, and drum machine plus keyboard, all crammed into a package the size of a video cassette, that can run off batteries, for less than £500? If your response is, "Oh, Yamaha must have released a new QY‑thingy", then you've obviously been a regular reader of this magazine for a long time! And you'd be right: the latest entry to a family spawned by the QY10 back in 1991 is the QY22 Music Sequencer, which fits nicely into the current range as a sensible alternative to the seriously entry‑level QY8, and the seriously serious QY300.

Actually, QY‑watchers amongst you will have instantly spotted that the QY22 looks uncommonly similar to the now‑discontinued QY20, released a year or so after the QY10 (and reviewed in January 1993's SOS). The two machines are physically identical, and internally there's not much to choose between them either. Both offer a portable, battery‑powered, 16‑part multitimbral, 28‑voice polyphonic sound module, 8‑track sequencer, auto‑accompaniment facilities, and a 2.5‑octave squidgy keyboard (apart for the lack of a disk drive, the QY22 is virtually a workstation!). In fact, the only real difference between the QY20 and QY22 is in the sound department: whereas the QY20 had 100 preset AWM voices that used a slight fudge to become General MIDI compatible, the QY22 is the real thing, and offers a full 128 GM sounds, plus eight drum kits. There are also a couple of changes in the preset pattern department, but nothing major.

Operating Modes

Briefly, the QY22 operates in three basic modes: pattern, song, and voice.

• Pattern Mode
  One hundred basic patterns are provided, made up of drums, bass, and two chord tracks. Each pattern features six variations, such as intro, normal, variation, and so on (that's a total of 600 patterns), and these form the core accompaniment patterns.They offer instant gratification if you're not too demanding, or are after 'sound‑u‑like' backing tracks. You're also provided with 100 user patterns, which you can define yourself — these are basically 4‑track sequences of up to eight bars in length, with virtually any time signature (1/16 to 8/4). One track must be a drum track, but apart from that, you can record what you like, in real or step time.
• Song Mode
  In song mode, patterns are chained together to make a complete piece. Using the preset patterns, the various styles and their variations could be chained to make instant backing tracks in any one of several genres. It is also possible to define chord progressions, using any of the 25 available chord types (major, minor, diminished, 7th sus4, and so on). Song mode also provides you with an additional four 'sequencer' tracks, where you can overdub any other material you like. That makes eight tracks in total (four used by the patterns and four added in song mode).

The sequencer is really quite sophisticated, and offers full event editing, similar to that found in many software sequencers, not to mention a good supply of basic global editing tools, such as quantise, transpose, modify velocity and gate time, and so on. If you record parts with an external sequencer, it's even possible to record velocity, pitch bend, and mod wheel (sorry — no aftertouch).

When choosing the chord sequences to be used by the accompaniment tracks, operation is rather like PG Music's Band In A Box software, where you simply fill in squares with chord names and types (plus altered bass notes, if you like). Alternatively, Yamaha offer their so‑called ABC (Auto Bass Accompaniment), where any attached MIDI keyboard becomes an instant home keyboard: any 3‑note chord played in a pre‑defined area of your keyboard is analysed by the QY22 to generate harmonies based on one of the 25 available chord types.

• Voice Mode
  Voice mode offers an attractive graphic mixer page, where you can change a given song's voices, alter level and pan positions, and generally have a little fun. You can also mute/unmute individual tracks — but why no solo?

Sounds

The QY22's voices come from Yamaha's established AWM (Advanced Wave Memory) library. Versions of this technology feature in rather more sophisticated form on more up‑market instruments, such as the SY85 and W5/7. Here on the QY22, AWM takes the shape of an adequate selection of samples that often show signs of being trimmed to the bone — samples are too short, loops buzz, and multi‑sampling is not quite as common as it could be.

The quality of the on‑board sounds varies tremendously, from very playable acoustic pianos (one or two strange samples aside), to unbearable distorted guitars. The drum kits are a mixed bag, too, with some very short samples being used. The built‑in patterns don't actually help, and successfully conspire to make the QY22 sound like the most average of auto‑accompaniment home keyboards — however, a little careful playing when recording your own sequences goes a long way. Treat the QY22 as a phrase‑based plus overdub sequencer with built‑in scratch sounds, and you won't be disappointed.

In Use

The QY22's user interface is, for the most part, quite friendly — the controls are generally self‑evident, although the display does occasionally seem crowded, making spotting the cursor difficult. Unlike some similar products, the cursor rarely overshoots its destination, or misfires — readers who are familiar with the Alesis HR16 and MMT8 will be nodding in agreement here.

Some aspects of the operating system can be obtuse, with one or two functions requiring seemingly endless (but actually five or six) button pushes to access. But these few shortcomings are easily countered by friendly features, such as the event edit list in pattern and song mode.

An important shortcoming for me is the QY22's lack of effects — voice editing wouldn't be expected on a product of this type, but effects would have gone a long way towards improving the overall impression of the sounds, and would have been useful given the use of effects by many commercial MIDI files written for other GM sound modules.

Conclusion

Summing up the QY22 is tricky. Firstly, there's the question of the QY20 — quite why it couldn't have been properly GM‑compatible at the time of its release is a mystery. However, releasing the QY22 has given Yamaha the chance to get it right, and also to re‑promote what is basically a worthy machine, albeit at an £80 premium (the QY20 retailed for £399, while the QY22 weighs in at £479). Certainly, there's been a year or two of inflation and crashing sterling, but equally, Yamaha have had a couple of years to recoup R&D costs on the original machine. These points aside, there is enough to recommend the QY22. It's hard for me personally to take auto‑accompaniment instruments seriously, and I have reservations about the quality of some of the sounds and the lack of effects, but there are many for whom the varied selection of preset styles here will be ideal. The gigging club musician, who perhaps specialises in covers, and is looking for a quick way to assemble backing tracks, will probably find the QY22 a good buy. For the more individual musician, the choice may be more difficult, though the QY22 still has plenty to offer as a totally portable, all‑in‑one ideas machine.