NAMM Update – The Yamaha MX49 & MX61 Workstation Keyboards

At the 2013 NAMM ShowPhil Clendenin of Yamaha gives a quick overview of their new MX49 & MX61 workstations.

The Yamaha MX49 & MX61 workstations offer sounds from the company’s MOTIF series, 128-not polyphony, 16-part multi-timbral capability, DAW control and USB Audio/MIDI interfacing in a portable design.

See the Yamaha site for details.

28 thoughts on “NAMM Update – The Yamaha MX49 & MX61 Workstation Keyboards

  1. crap controller keyboard with a crapper synth built in, better off with a good controller keyboard and pretty much any current VSTi on the market- probably about half the price and far better. More belf from dreary yamaha. They lost my business when I had to ditch my treasured o1x when they didnt write a windows 7 driver for it, never forgiven them for that. Losers.

  2. Yamaha and computer integration. What a joke. Its not 2001. Way overpriced and no mind blowing stuff here to see. Also I dont use cubase so i dont use yamaha? Is that the way its going to be now?

    yamaha drivers always take forever to update or never come out. I love motif series but that was like 10 years ago.

  3. The guy in the vid said the sounds are from the Motif XS, their flagship…. What about the XF???

    Yamaha has really fallen behind lately… I remember when they made inspiring stuff like the CS80, DX7, rm1x, AN1x, SU700, and RS7000… Nowadays, all I see are products designed to squeeze as much cash out of their Motif engine as possible.

    The whole Cubase thing annoys me as well. It’s a great DAW, but YAMAHA is ignoring a huge number of potential customers with their mindset.

    I wish they would join in on all the fun and profit and start making making synths fun again. They could learn a lot from KORG, Moog, Access, and the whole modular community.

    1. That’s because all their “lite” workstations are derived from the XS. The XF remains their flagship…it has some (great) extra sounds the XS doesn’t.

      And it’s ridiculous that they felt they needed ANOTHER lite Motif workstaition, when the MOX is still there (Motif XS rom, by the way).

      But yeah, this NAMM for Yamaha is an incredible disappointment. I don’t know why I even bothered getting my hopes up.

  4. I was more inspired by the blonde behind him with the low cut… Way sexier than this keyboard. It’s like everyone with a touch of artistry has left the building.
    Big fan of the company, spent many $$$ with them and still have 2 20+ year old modules from them, but….

    Sad Yamaha… Sad

  5. Early Yamaha gear was great .I am just waiting on getting a dx 11, I had an fs1r,that promised a lot with formant filtering , but that was one really shit machine.
    But they gave us the cs range didn’t they…..cs 15 stunning analogue synth.

    1. Recently bought at TX81Z, which is a 4-operator/oscillator multiple wave (and multitimbral!) FM synth that’s similar to a DX11 in rack-mount form. I really like it! Nice sounds, great FM character, and you can save and load data on cassette tape – retro-tastic! I do have FM8 (which is full 6-operator and sinewave only like the DX7) and Rhino and other soft synths that do FM, but somehow I end up playing the TX more. 😉

  6. It sounds like it was designed by a committee. It has no strong selling point at all, and by the sounds of it the thing is spreading itself too thin. For £500 you can get Reason and a nice 61 key controller and it’ll probably outperform it in just about every area. Come on Yamaha, wow us!

    1. THAT’S right! I dont know what are they thinking about ? Todays DAW’s sound several times better that this MX shitty peace of YAMAHA. I think they would be much more appreciated if they just launched a very good DAW controller with enough pads and knobs to call it a controller. Man 4 knobs! Now SEROUS?!?!?! Sounds are outdated and sound so 90’s.

  7. For example Yamaha’s Tenori-On and Synth & Dr Pad are both nice apps that I enjoy using. Yamaha seems to have the app skills – I wish they would go the Korg route and release software versions of FM and vector synths like the DX and SY series!!

    1. Have you checked out IYM2151? It’s a full-on FM synth (with even a DX-like color scheme) made by Detune, the Japanese company behind Korg’s iPad (and Nintendo) apps.

  8. I’d guess that making a rig at that price point might charge up their coffers for some new development. Heck, I’d have been happy to see a BC4. Would be nice to see them do a next-gen FM rig.

  9. Maybe they change their mind now as Korg is running forward to get the crown in music industry.
    Two words on Yamaha/Steinberg. Two updates a year, one major for 250€ and one minor for 150€. Thats how moneymaking works. Not to mention that Yamaha/Steinberg threw a buggy Cubase 7 to the market. I never felt so cheated, as the great and mature Cubase 6.5 was only some months old. I’ll learn from that, believe me! @Charlie Steinberg

  10. OH MY GOD! After pimping the Motif XS to the Motif XF I really hoped that YAMAHA will launch the major new flagship keyboard. ANd what happened? Instead of this YAMAHA downgrades their flagship into MOX6/8 and finaly downgrades the MOX6/8 to MX46/61. DAM!
    OK this keyboard has about 1000 main sounds from their Motif XS, NO vocoder capability, and slimmed down arpegiator capabilities.
    AND the “GREAT” thing is that it can remote control your DAW. Big deal. Every MID keyborad can remote control your daw. And with few knobs and cheap look I really am disappointed. But ok,..lets say we are musicians and the sounds matter for us and not the looks. Lets be honest. The sounds are now on the market for over 2 decades with minor motif upgrades trough xf/xs. This sucks big time. The sounds are so 90’s and the look is so 80’s!!! Did you hear this “boosting explosive party-like dubstep” background to this video? Come on yamaha. Even rookie hose music production beginners make more juicer sound than this! Now really? Sounds like a grandpa tried to simulate dubstep to be able to sell this low-cost board to kiddy’s. So fucking amateur-like. I am a YAMAHA fan, but with this non inovative old school sounding strategy; I really have to look to their neighbors at KORG and ROLAND.

  11. WOW !! I AM AMAZED AT THE NEGATIVE COMMENTS CONCERNING THE NEW YAMAHA MX LINE. I BOUGHT THE MX49 RECENTLY AND I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT..THE FACTORY SOUNDSET IS JUST SO SO…IT’S WHEN YOU DELVE IN AND TWEEK THAT IT REALLY
    SHINES…THE EFFECTS ARE STELLAR..NEARLY 1000 ARP PATTERNS…DUAL ARPS IN FACT!
    1100 SOUNDS ..SURE SOME FILLER THERE…BUT ALSO SOME REALLY FINE SAMPLES…COMPUTER APPLICATIONS…ALL FOR 5 TO 600 DOLLARS… I JUST WANTED TO SAY SOMETHING POSITIVE ABOUT THESE SYNTHS…AN INCREDIBLE VALUE!

  12. I’ve disliked Yamaha ever since 1987, after what they did to Sequential (Circuits).

    I wouldn’t touch their miserable synths, or any other items in their catalogue, with a barge-pole.

  13. I just bought one of these mx 49s. It was dirt cheap since no one was really buying Them. The price is right for around 400. This would be an amazing board for 300. Vsts sound awesome but are very costly and time consuming for me to use. I prefer dedicated hardware. It’s more inspiring.

  14. C’mon, man! Not all of us have a grand or more to spend–musicians don’t make money like we used to. This keyboard is well worth the price.

  15. In India ,Yamaha mx61-priced Rs:74000.accompeined with Cubase AI6.still I could’nt activate this DAW due to so lenghty process.I want to Cry !!!!No sequencer,no multi patch,so Plasticy,not eligent ,.It would be better …..just add some ammount(Rs:5000)approx and get a KORG KROME with all the features and offcourse with good sounds.I’m feeling guilty why rely on the name of YAMAHA……SO disgusting…………………………………………………………………….THank you Yamaha for making More $ more MONEY……………………………………………………………………..YOur’s A sad music lover.

  16. This setup is a joke, mx49 not even a good flotation device. Long time keyboard player, first time trying to use midi keyboard controller and computer music software set up, so i clearly picked the wrong setup for a beginner. mx49/cubase ai 8 configuring was for me a pain in the ass, confusing at every turn. Why the hell does anyone even record under midi track project if theirs no audio or you have to separately configure an audio track when you could just use multiple instrument track!!. All the features and voices of the “beefed up” mx49 are useless to me because of this, cause I had to shut off local control in the keyboards utility setting so i wouldn’t hear the sound coming from the mx and the sound coming from the vst synth at the same time. Don’t even get me started on that stupid elicenser and failed plug-in dowloads. I’m still trying to figure out if they over did it or failed miserably with the user friendliness on this one. I’ve had several yamaha and casio keyboards and this is the last time I will EVER buy another of their products. {yeah casio gets thrown under the bus too}. Hey in the future why don’t you jackasses try less gimmicks better compatability and working integration with software, uh better voices, drop the cheesy ass drum beats and sounds(from mx and cubase} and maybe make some better more specific easier to understand videos in your cubase getting started hub for people who… you know are getting started.

  17. Funny how upset so many of these commenters are. Clearly, this was not made for you. For me, this was my first workstation, and I got it because it did what I needed — just what a basic workstation should do. OK, I did quickly find 49 keys limiting enough to trade for a 61, but that was it — and it’s been five years. Since then, it’s remained my most-often used keyboard, even as I bought others which did some things better — even a bigger workstation. I don’t doubt that I will outgrow it, but until then it has proven its worth for ease of transport, ease of use, and variety of useful applications. It’s not a techno monster or a sound designer’s dream: it’s meat/potatoes everyday keyboard use. When I need something else, I use something made for that other use (e.g., sequencing, monosynth, sound design, etc). And the MX covers the bases — so well, I sometimes prefer it to machines which are arguably better (e.g., the Hammond sounds mix better in live band than my dedicated clonewheel). I don’t care about the drum sounds, I don’t use Cubase (or any DAW), I’m just a hardware guy and this thing works. I did buy it secondhand (basically getting a used MX61 for the same price as a new MX49) so that’s part of my satisfaction. FWIW that was before the color change with FM upgrade; I assume those changes only make it better, but don’t actually know.

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