Yamaha Introduces SU700 Loop Factory

January 28, 1999 -- Yamaha Corporation of America, Pro Audio & Combo Division, is entering a brand-new market area with the introduction of the SU700 Loop Factory at Winter NAMM 1999. A member of Yamaha's "24/7" line of products for the DJ and Dance production markets, the SU700 is a powerful, multi-function music production center which is a hybrid combination of a sampler, sequencer and drum machine.

"The SU700 is specifically targeted to the new breed of producers and musicians who are creating today's cutting-edge dance tracks," states Athan Billias, marketing manager, Digital Musical Instruments. "We're coming into these growing market areas capitalizing on Yamaha's strengths. The Loop Factory combines the pattern-based music production approach that we've developed over the years and incorporates sampling and loop playback features into a powerful table-top unit."

Features of the SU700 include 4 MB of sampling wave memory, a large assignable ribbon controller, 12 real-time control knobs, 10 trigger/trackpads with four banks and separate audio-in and Master pads (providing a total of 42 virtual triggers). Options include a SCSI interface or output expansion board featuring six analog outputs and digital I/O. The unit will begin shipping in January, 1999.

"The SU700 is going to be popular with DJs," adds Avery Burdette, DMI product manager, "plus it can be incorporated into a production studio so top professionals doing remixes will definitely want to add the Loop Factory to their set-up. The unit's sampling, looping, ribbon controller and multi-effects processing capabilities make it naturally suited to the lo-fi/vinyl/scratch approach used by Hip Hop music."

"With the unit's sampling features you can easily sample from an audio CD (or import sounds from a CD-ROM), and once the audio information is in the SU700 you can change the tempo without changing the pitch or change the pitch without changing the tempo. Basically, you can chop it up, slice it and dice it-any way you want," says Burdette.

The SU700 is totally loaded with functions and features. Its sequencer features 42 tracks, has an adjustable tempo from 40.0-299.9 BPM and a timing resolution of 1/480 ppq. Its AWM2 (Advanced Wave Memory 2) based sampling engine features 64-note polyphony, adjustable data format (16- or 8-bit linear), sampling rates ranging from 44.1 kHz 16-bit stereo down to 11.025 kHz 8-bit mono and 4MB of sampling wave memory expandable to 64MB.

Georgie Porgie performing with the SU700 and RM1X

For the easy loading and storing of samples, a 3.5-in. 2HD/2DD disk drive has also been included. This drive can also be used to access samples stored in .WAV, AIFF and Akai formats, providing users access to a massive and ever-expanding library of sounds.

The SU700 also includes a trio of powerful effects processors, greatly expanding the unit's sonic palette. Effects can be applied to output signals as well as signals being sampled into the SU700. In addition, the SU700 can sample its own output, including effects.

The SU700's ribbon controller adds an additional level of power to this cutting-edge sampling package. The ribbon can be assigned to control various parameters including filter cutoff, amplitude and "Scratch", which allows users to manipulate the playback direction and speed of a sample, much like a DJ spinning a turntable. All data generated by the ribbon controller can be recorded and played back using the SU700's internal sequencer.

For more information, visit Yamaha's web site at www.yamaha.com.