Yamaha SU-700

Very intuitive to use once you have all of your samples loaded up. Endless rotaries allow you to quickly see and adjust all of your values. Great for loops and hands on control. Nothing in the price range compares.

Plenty of realtime control and the pad layout is very clever. Loops, percussive loops from one-hit samples and then 'punctuation'. This layout lets you create tracks quickly and on the fly. The punctuation samples only play wherever you recorded them in the song and are great for effects, short vocals

The swing and gate effects work very well on loops and can quickly transform a loop and even be used to cut most but the percussive sounds in a loop. With the gate time set short, it can be very useful for layering on top of other drums/loops. I find many of the effects quite usable and the scratch pad can produce some good effects and lots of fun. You can hold a loop back just like on a turntable and then drop it back and it will stay on beat. The realtime filter is also nice on drum loops. Realtime tempo adjustments of loops is fantastic. Can use either pitch or chop style similar to ReCycle to adjust loop tempo.

Better with the latest OS. Lost work a few times before that, but this box keeps me coming back for more. Only use it in the studio but have seen a whole live set performed on just two of these which made me go out and buy my own.

Contacted yamaha in Melbourne for the OS upgrade. Got a fast response and was able to order the part which stopped it from freezing up.

I have use an MPC2000xl also and they really complement eachother well. i use this mostly on loops and use it manipulate, filter and effect.

The worst thing about this box is how hard it can be to import and backup samples and songs. If this was released in this time, it would be an absolute hit. This is the main drawback, but if you give it a go it does what it does very well.

A PC can only talk to a SU floppy disk and therefore loading samples can be slow and painful. Really needs the scsi upgrade and external hard disk. If you have a later yamaha sampler that has scsi, then you are in luck. I connect a SCSI CD-ROM and SU700 formatted hard disk with my A4000 at one end and SU700 at the other end. The A4000 can read/write PC format Zip disks and CDs as well as the SU700 hard disk. Just make sure both don't use the disk at the same time! This allows large amounts of samples to be copied to the SU700 hard disk. That way you can chop your samples nicely on the PC.

It's pretty easy once you get your head around it. You sample, set it to a pad and that's it. The effects can get a bit confusing, as some work like aux sends, and some function like master bus inserts. It's not always clear which does what untill you set it up which is a drag. My biggest beef is the way Yamaha set up the sequencer. You have to completely forget everything you've learned about sequencing and start from scratch. The sequencer works more like a lighting rig. You Mute certain lights, and setup "scenes" except each light is an audio track. The way the pads function is totally different than any sequencer you've ever used. Fortunately, it does make the whole thing more condusive to live playing, but it can be very limiting if you're just producing tracks. (ie, a simple change in drum pattern takes up a whole new set of pads... this is retarded!)

It has plenty of effects, and they all sound pretty damn good. They're worth a couple of hundred bucks in themselves. The pads are pretty good, but they tend to double trigger on occation. The quantize function is a bit annoying as you must quantize on input, meaning you cant decide to quantize after you drop your bombastic beats. You must decide in advance whether you have crappy rhythm or not. It can accept a SCSI card which will run you the price of a whole other SU700, as well as an optional 8 out card which will run you the same.
It has midi, but other than basic MIDI locking, it's COMPLETE AND TOTAL GARBAGE. If you want to use it as a MIDI controller, you have to reset it up, every time you power it up which takes about 5 minutes. I tried to incorporate it into my MIDI rig, and gave up after a couple of days.
As mentioned before, the sequencer is GREAT if you're using it for live applications, but is extremely limited in its ability to programme sequences with the SLIGHTEST complity. ie:a different drum fill every 8 bars.... RETARDED!)

This unit is pretty much limited to basic looping. That's it. If you're into producing monotonous loops, than it will certainly get you there. Basic basic stuff.
The groove quantise fuction is extremely good. It has a great swing resolution which can be super fine tuned.
It has stereo sampling which is nice, and again the effects are great.

I've had a couple of problems where it would reject disks I'd saved on, but other than that, it's been great.

Havent needed it yet.

I have a love\hate releatinship with this thing. It does what it was designed to do well. But if you try to push it into slightly more creative territory, it will drive you crazy. I honestly think if yamaha had held this in their development stage just a little longer, it could have become a classic, but there are some really really stupid things about it (crappy MIDI, having to copy entire samples multiple times to make different rhythms, instead of just referencing the original sample etc.)
However, for live it is a great piece. I dump my tracks into it (very tediously) to render them performance capable. This always requires sacrificing any *wierdness* that the track has in its sequence. The issue with it being a live sequencer is that it takes about 60 seconds to load a disk. This can look pretty dumb when you're standing on stage with your thumb in your ass waiting for it to load. I might buy a second one to cure this poo finger.

Honestly I am too lazy to read manual. But step by step I did it. Mostly enjoyed of reading "Hints" some of `em are useful. SU700 is very intuitive. No troubles to sample/playback/add effects/ I have it for 6 months and still didn`t sort out all features and possibilities.
The manual is a white/blue book with a mark of the tea cup`s bottom on the front page seems someone had a breakfast reading it.

The rubber pads are fantastic, hit`em and don`t worry about reliability it is Yamaha. Go to setup, find "Pads action" and see what you can do.
Built-in effects are OK. I am even going to sell few rack-mounted fx units.
I don`t use MIDI, and never start Cubase since I bought this heavy 80`s-looking box.
40-tracks sequencer is the strongest side of SU700 it is very flexible and I really enjoy " roll" function

No instruments it is a sampler + sequencer very creative machine. Sample a sound of an empty rubbish bin, loop it any way you like, add some bass line, strange voices, noises and your own track is ready. Mind you have compression, delay, rotary etc for every track. Just rotate value.

You have to use to it before gigging.
Sometimes it takes a long time to load the "Volume" enough to have a cup of coffee.

No idea

How it could be lost if it is heavy? Stolen by whom? No chance to find another one in Moscow so I will look after mine.
Have a good time with SU700! IMHO it is the best purchase for last 5 years.

vres 1.03? the first hour i got this unit i sampled and made a short tune with it..(did not open the manual once!!!)
editing is dead easy, it has a grid editing system so you hit a button then turn the data wheel or knob above thesample pad...
manual is good, but the chapter 2 tutorial is way too long at 100 pages!!!

love the rubber pads.i had a js30 and those hard plastic pads suck!! this is vel sens.
the effects rock!!1 weird ambient noise and jump are my faves..
midi in/out only.
mine has no scsi or xtra audio outs.
seq is great just different to work with---each sample is a track,loop pads loop, and compose loop pads loop as well but in a short sequence.the free pads are nonlooping.
takes alittle getting used to but very easy to get used to!!!
i love this inut, very easy to use!

sampler.can get great sounds with the effects ans resampling.
i make spacet minimal ambient.this thing is great for that!!i had a "pansonic vs autechre" track the first day i got this!!realtime knos are the best!!and the ribbon controller is good for filter sweeps,ect(it is configurable)
vel sens..

mine is new mint , got it from half.com new in the box for 190$$
great when you consider an su200 goes for that!!1
would only gig if i got the scsi card.(which is still availble from a uk shop for 130 pounds which is 200$!!!!!)

yamaha has been good to me in the past

lost would def get another,but prob not at the price i paid!!
been making music since the 80's.
i had an es1,st224,esi200 and like this the best...
wish it had scsi.BUt the disk drive is not as bad as poeple say it is!!!i can store 8-10 samples PLUS and song on 1 floppy!!!!
very creative tool .have not been so inspired by something for a while!!!

this is a kick ass machine for loop music.. It takes a while to find out things (especially for this yamaha machine ), but when you take your time you'll find out that this machine is endless... it's so damn creative as other yamaha gear. This is a very special machine not like others.It feels great to play and work with it..it's solid and not so big. As said before, this is a unit for life performances as well for studio projects. Sample all your sounds and create your track..

It has a 40 track sequencer..an audio input and a master track. I actually never worked with computer program sequncers as qbase and all that..i took a few tries but this is much better.This is how i want to use equipment of this kind. The effects are great and of superb quality and has 3 blocks. you work with scenes like on a digital mixer which is very nice and easy to store and work out your song and breaks. I've got my su700 up to 36 mb and never had the feeling of needing more mb's..this is just fine to me. I got myself a scsi board which work fine with my 2 gig drive and iomega zip drive..never had any problems..the machine is very reliable all the time. It has a midi in and out which i actually never use..but you can sinc the machine with other gear. The sequences is great..you can make nice riffs and drum tracks..I like the roll function very much..especially for recording your song you can make nice rolls and all that. In the future i will buy an output board because i will finish some tracks in another studio. if you upgrade this machine to it's mx you'll have a very nice , powerfull, innovative machine..this is a master machine for techno, house, electro and other beat like stuff!!

once you sampled your sounds all the fun begins.. the filters are excellent and you will find out that the machine is so creative that once you tweak the knobs and fx's the idea's keep comin' it happens all the time when i have an idea and time ..so many idea's and scene's are made that i can make 20 different songs out of 1 original idea..this machine keeps me awake!!!!

you always can depend on this machine.. i took it to so many gigs and never had any problem! you should take a backup with you but that's because that is a musicians rule.. it can't do anything without a disk with songs but it never will be this machine saying sorry i won't load or play.. more something like a broken disk or harddrive..

i would definetly buy another in case it would brake or be stolen.. it's worth every penny! i own a rm1x , su700, rs7000, ms2000, alpha juno1, alesis quadraverb GT, mackie 1402Vlz.. but i never leave home without my su700. Anyone who buys this fellow won't regret..Take your time to figure out how it works..i read comments which are so poor saying that it's a hard machine and it can''t do this or that.. that means a crap comment to me.. this is power looping with all the stuff you need...cool fx's , goods soundquality ( low, mid, hi ) you can make loads of tracks using the su700 ..and live.... you rock the house 4 sure with this mate.. go get one fast all you looping freaks out there!!!

This machine is really easy to use - my grandma could get her handson this thing and be a wizard in sampling in one day. all functions are really hands on to navigate. Especially the effects and lfo tweaking and stuff - ideal for live things. They could leave out the ribbon tough. As if someone was going to use that on stage...
Trimming and cutting the sounds is a pain in the ass tough - but hey - thats why we have stuff like soundforge thease days...:)

well - it suppose to compete with the mpc and such machines but i dont think anyone could be serious in such pretentious talking. the su 700 is a good sampler. Good for beginning samplists into dance music and other loops oriented musicians. You can do miracles with your sounds really fast and with lots of fun. Unfortunately there is a reason why su 700 never succeded - it doesnt read .wav ......
The sequencer is also a total joke. Never heard such untight seq in my life (i m running and mpc in my rig as well)

the efx are really good. But then again - it's a nice sampling machine.

the sound is like a yamaha - soft and warm. Near analog i'd say. God thank that this machine doesnt have presets.
As said earlier - the onboard efx are good - as well as modulation of sounds. It's a really good machine for intuitive live sampling. Also a great efx processor. Just run your synth signal through the audio in and modulate them through your efx - the same goes for your vocals..
this machine is made for electronic dance stuff

never had any problem. Definitly good for live performance

never dealt with yamaha - just respect you machine like your dick and it'll respect you in return

if it was stolen i d get it back - but i still dont like the sequencer - its worthless. Also the design of the machine is really ugly. The new rs machines look way better.
I love the machine for it's handson work, fast intuitive editing and modulating, run a signal from your synth,and sample any sound within seconds, also good as an efx machine - again it is good for any techno musician or similiar. Within my rig i'd proboubly add an asr 10 or a kurzweil but thats personal choice.

I am a guitar player integrating many different sort of grooves and sounds in performance oriented towards the nu-jazz things. The SU700 is a beautifull instrument. I see at it like a guitar or just another instrument wich I play manipulating any signal I feed in to it. It accepts whatever you put in to it and it can twist the sound in a really deep way!

I think it is easy to use but unless you are not a programmer or engeneer aspect to invest some time in to learning, just as you would with a "conventional instrument". Well that is for me anyway.

Live it offers a lot of real time controll over performance and I don't know if there are other machines which let you do that as easy as the Su700. I used to use a sp808ex and I prefer the Yamaha. Really, I was disapponted to begin with becouse I was used to the 808 but after a period of circa 1 year I understood the almost unlimited possibility of the Su700.

Over all it is a great inspiring instrument not only for djes but for who ever wishes to add colors, sounds, voices or what ever to theire performances. Great also in the studio especially with the digital-optical i/o options wich I have together with SCSI and extra RAM.

Manual is very fine for me.

Planty! There are certain things I wish it had like more memory and much faster loading time, live sampling-looping... like everyone else on this rewieves is saying and a very few other things but....if you learn how to use it, you would likely be able to express yourself with it. It is as I just said an instrument. Guitar is not a tabla and it has its limitation but a real lot of expressing power with its 6 string and its neck-body and stuff. So is the SU700. A limited instrument with great power if you are willing/able to find it. I think I did and are open to new discoveries....

Great! you can manipulate subtledly or deeply. Effects are very interesting and some very uncommon. One can even use external fx of what ever brunch via digitals in/outs and midi time sync for time based fxs if you like. I sample from whatever source I find interesting included cd's, instruments, minidisk mic recording and more.

Dependable for me...freezed couple of time while I was confused and pushing twisting too many things at once I guess. Don't mess with the SCSI cable while operating this may also lead to mulfunctions. I lost a lot of done work by doing this once before I saved!!! aaaaargh!!!!

Not enough help for users of this dicontinued machine. Unfortunately even though I think there may be now an independend site for su700 users. Take a lok with google or something. I wish to know for instance if there is a faster way to store-load samples than using the floppy (I never do anyway-it is a joke) or the ZIP. Please e-mail me if you know how it works with external HD.

I will try to get a repeater soon and have it side by side with the SUE maybe syncked. I think that will be a fine match...I will see. I raccomend this unit over the sp808ex and the other smaller sp things if you are a musician needing to manipulate sampled sounds live or in the studio. Well the sp is also a very inspiring instrument but I see it like something trying to do everything half well. The Su700 does what it does Very well. My 2 cents worth opinion.

You can't possibly figure this unit out in one night, maybe in a month I will know everything about it, but this is a definite plus. Many unseen capabilities. The manual is kinda of hard to understand, but should be a good read. The SU sample that comes with the unit sounds pretty fat, and I was pleased right when I heard some of the sounds.

Has a sequencer, just try to find one with atleast 36mb worth of mem. Amazing effects. I would have like mine to come with the expancsion SCSI, but in time i will just purchase this and add it. 54 effects I believe and I believe you will spend many many many late nights hashing out amazing sounds with this machine.

Sounds like a winner to me. This thing can put one hella of a song together. Mostly used for my loops of fury, but I will be throwing in some random guitar songs and tweeking the fuck out of them. Very good sounds.

No probs yet, and hopefully none.

lets hope we don't go here in the future.

This machine is a producers wet dream. I'm sure if you wanted to pay 3 grand you could buy a nifty sampler, but this little box will do just as much, if you bought a nice mixer and a nice digital recorder along with this baby, you would never have to leave home. I am super impressed already and I've only had this for 2 days. The only complaints would be jack inputs, which suck. Oh well, its analog. Also it is a little confusing at first, but just do some reading and you will see that the possibilities are endless. I would buy another one if it were stolen. Buy this sampler, you will not be dissapointed.

This lil' guy is pretty easy to use...I was looping samples my first day and was able to do sequences fairly easy...It was the first piece of real gear that I ever had, so I've never know any other system. That being said, I've come up with some pretty serious shit on this...The manual is good, no probs here

The polyphony is wicked..i've done everything from hard house to dnb on this and never hit a brick wall, unless I run out of sampling time...The pads are ok, but the nobs can get screwy sometimes...I like to really tweak the shit out of my knobs, and this had led to a bit of internal damage methinks...However, i've done complete productions on this, mixed it and everything and it sounds really dope....Just get it mastered and the track is ready to go. The filters are kinda crap, sos if you wanna do that deep house filter thing then maybe go akai. This sampler isn't really good in a pro set up, but its a good place to start to lay sown ideas

This thing is really expressive...for real. YOu can fuk with the sounds sooooooo hard. Really warped shit on this thing fro sure....I've done killer experimental stuff, but not a lot of loop stuff....Its not very good for sampling and cutting up breaks though, so junglists might wanna look elsewhere

never had a problem with it freezing up...never. I used it for about 12 gigs and it never once froze up on me...The only problem with using it live was loading the samples. I don't have the scsi interface so everything was floppys. You can't seem to load more than one song at a time, and for me this really sucks...

never had to deal with the company

If it was lost or stolen I don't think I'd buy another one...Its a great way to get tits into sequencing and sampling, but I've found that it can be really limiting. Its a good first piece of gear, coz if you want to do really pro stuff, I don't think this is what your looking for. I love the tweak ability of this guy though...I'll sample shit like buzzing patch chords, lfo em up, eq em and throw some efx on it and whammo, I've got a fierce bass sound...or I'll sample a keyboard line and piece around with it, resample it a few times and you can get some seriously tripped out shit wit' it...If you are a hobbyist who wants to sample, write, mix and make complete trax get this..its all in one this guy...But after having it for 2 years, I gotta move on...Pro sampler, midi controller and software sequecing...

I had the latest ROM version 1.03 It was very stable, never crashed on me in the year that i had it. Manual was broken up consicely, and was easy to read. You wont need to bury your nose in it too far though.

The SUe's features are probably why i bought it instead of the MPC2000 or the Korg ES-1. The SUe's features are probably why you are looking in to it as well. The Polyphony is as good as most samplers 64. It's got the nice big pressure sensitive pads. Crazy effects. Everything is easy to use cause there are no menus to scroll through. All you have to do is push one button to any effect or filter
and just twist the knob corresponging the the desired pad. Thats it. And thats why i suppose people are intrigued by the SU. IT has probably the most amazing tweakability out of any other sampler. One thing though. The knobs' movements are funny. I have a MC-505 and a Korg EA-1 and the knob movement on both those machines is smooth. The SUe's knobs are senistive to speed. If you twist them fast the parameters are changed fast. You have to twist them slowly to get a nice sweep. I guess thats my main complaint. The knobs have absolutely no 'analog' feel to them. I also never once incorporated that Ribbon controller feature into any of my songs. It was cool to play with but not to use in a song. MIDI capabilities are basic. But most people will buy this machine for its live capabilites and not its baisic sequencer. If you want a great sequencer buy an MPC.

I will say the same thing that everyone who writes reviews on samplers say. The sounds are only as good as what you put into the machine. What types of music does this sampler work well for? Any type. I wrote some great ambient stuff as well as a couple of rocktronica tracks. Its a sampler, there are no rules.

I used mine for a show once. I had no problems. I even had it slaved to my Boss DR-6 and had no midi problems. Rock solid when syncing to other gear. ROCK SOLID. Buy a case for it though. It gets scary lugging it aroung in the same car as the rest of your gear.

I never needed to contact customer support so i dont know. I didnt need to get an upgrade either cause mine came with the latest ROM update, which is also the last update if you ask me. Yamaha has definitely stopped with any type of upgrading for this machine now that the RS7000 came out. If you get a SU with an earlier ROM version and want to upgrade. Yamaha only sends you the ROM chip, you gotta install yourself, which means pulling the chip in your machine and installing the new one. You'll need a pair of chip pullers. Sounds hard i personally wouldnt do it

I got it at ZZounds.com priced matched over the net from some other site that had it for 699. Zzounds beat the price and i got a good deal. I sold my SU700, so no i wouldnt buy it again if it was lost or stolen. I will tell you why. I own a lot of drum machines. Mostly Boss and Roland. I was so used to writing in patterns and then chaining the patterns to make songs. This is the way most people work. But the SU doesnt work like this. Its mostly linear when working with loops. You move the music forward by muting and unmuting pads. The Composed Loops pads are the only pattern based pads but you can only write one pattern per pad. The Free pads are linear and are the only pads that dont loop. Its weird getting used to coming from pattern based machines. It did hinder my creativity in the sense that i wasn't writing songs that sounded like the stuff i normaly write, but i guess thats good in some way. Also what bugged me was the slow floppy drive. I hear Yamaha has the slowest transfer and reading rates around. This actually bugged me alot, i didnt have the SCSI card so i used the floppy to save songs. Each song generally took about 5 or 6 disks, and waiting around while the SU loaded the songs was definetly a hinderence. Also if you made a little change to the song and wanted to save it, you have to wait while the machine writes to all those floppies. If you are going to get this maching get the SCSI card and get a Zip drive. But i hear even the zip drive transfer rates are still slow, but faster than the floppy of course. Well for all of you who were or are choosoing between the SU700 and the MPC2000 or the Korg ES-1 and want features get the SU700. If you want to be able to write a song like the way you know how and want better MIDI editing capabilites get the MPC. I sold my SU and am getting the new MPC2000XL with the built in zip drive. I am listenting to DJ Shadow right now as i type this and thats definetly the direction i want to go. The MPC may not have all the bells and whistles but it has the a hell of alot of research and development behind it, nostalgia and twenty plus years of momentum. i just want the say that the SU is a great machine but it just didnt work for me. Hoped this helped.