Why does Yamaha not care about making soft synths?

[AnX]

maybe they dont have the coding staff for gettin the job done

What about the ones who code the software in the hardware

[thecontrolcentre]

Wouldn't that mean they would be competing with themselves (steinberg)?

[AnX]

Probably have to give themselves a C+D

[EvilDragon]

The real money is in hardware, not software. Also, considering Yamaha is much larger than Roland and Korg combined, they might really not deem it necessary to invest in software plugins.

Yes, since it's been so many years that they have ignored soft synths, I can only come to the same conclusion that they have run the numbers and they have decided that it's simply not worth it for them perhaps.

This is my assumption too. To properly develop plugins, you need to have a good framework (ok, JUCE exists, but it's not the only way one could go), and then there's actual DSP to do (if you're talking about emulating one of their vintage analogs), or rewriting the DSP code (in case of their chips which do the heavy lifting in AN1x or EX5 etc) to work on x86 and ARM platform... this is investment on the order of millions, so they would look at a suitable ROI, and considering piracy and whatnot it just might not seem worth it to them all that hassle.

[Teksonik]

I don't care if Yamaha makes VSTi's under their own brand. In fact if we think about it that would probably mean a subscription service or high prices etc.

All I want them to do is not object if someone else makes an SY77 or FS1R emulation.

[iPlogger]

Many years ago, Yamaha made some very nice iOS apps. Most were for controlling hardware, but they had a fairly neat AN1x app. It was fun to use and had some nice sounds, but super limited. It was free, I think.

All of their apps were really promising, but I'm not sure any of them got continued development.

Perhaps they decided against continuing after that.

[Dalle]

The frustrating part is that they already have the code! The AN1X and FM Essentials apps sounds absolutely beautiful, but the synths are locked inside their dumb crippled apps with a completely useless drum loop launchers and other dumb stuff. To use the FM app you need to own their hardware or visit a music store (ugh just let me buy the app), and it works as a plugin but is limited to one instance! Beyond stupid because the sound is top notch.

[CrystalWizard]

I’d like to see them use some of their PM tech or at least lease it to someone who will.

[chk071]

The real money is in hardware, not software.

Looks like it, unfortunately. Otherwise we'd surely have seen something new from Novation, Waldorf, or maybe even Access Music in the last years.

Roland is one of the few which really do it, and, they're pretty pricey. And they sill didn't make an emu of one of their most sought after digital synth, the JP-8k.

[Stokely]

Forget softsynths, there's enough of those (I have many).

I shall give Yamaha one small and focused target for their hardware, because I still use hardware live:

a decent leslie sim. That's it.

They *finally* came up with an organ engine like the other manufacturers, but saddled it--last I checked at least, apologies to Yamaha if they've fixed it--an awful leslie sim.

If they get that down, then move on to soft synths. Hire away whoever programmed B-3X from IK (just kidding, but at least maybe take a clue on how to do it right.)

And maybe a (non sample-based) synth engine for their hardware as well, they have experience with it in the past. I do give them credit for putting in FM engines in recent keyboards. I also commend them for adding audio interfaces to various keyboards (as does Roland) with separate volume control that combines that audio with the internal audio. That is a really killer feature for a hardware keyboard IMO.

[muki]

iirc they did have a soft synth version xg back in the days (loooooong ago...)

S-YXG50

https://veg.by/en/projects/syxg50/

[Arashi]

iirc they did have a soft synth version xg back in the days (loooooong ago...)

That Bryce background takes me back!

[glokraw]

If they could do it back then, then they can surely make some soft synths if they wanted to today.

Problem is, there is no "they". Coders create softsynths,
not boards of directors, presidents of departments, or
personnel directors. If the head of Yamaha wakes up tomorrow, and wants his company to produce and market a soft synth, it will begin either a long chain of events in the corporate bureaucracy, or a few personal phonecalls to industry insiders,
to see which great coder they want to entice with fame and $$$.

More likely the head of Yamaha will wake up tomorrow with a dozen great burdens to oversee, and be more likely to listen to some stress reducing music, than to launch a new product to make more of it.
Cheers

[PAK]

iirc they did have a soft synth version xg back in the days (loooooong ago...)
S-YXG50

They did more than that. (See here https://indexarticles.com/business/busi ... processor/ )

So the "upgraded" version, the S-YXG100, could host a POLY-VL addon. Which, as the name implies, was an 8-voice polyphonic synth based around the Yamaha VL series. It may only have been officially sold in Japan btw (?) Plus it required Win9X. By the time people had figured out it even existed the world had moved on to Windows XP!

As for the present, supposedly the next HALion 7 may feature an FM synth component. So it'll be interesting to see if that pans out and how much (if any) cooperation Yamaha themselves gave Steinberg, and whether it's careful not to "tread on the toes", of the Montage series and its spin offs, should it venture in that direction.

Another thing, to look out for, is whether they give any official blessing to a V4 Arturia CS-80 update, or whether (as Roland and Moog subsequently did) they reserve certain trade dress for themselves. If they don't do that it indicates they're still probably not planning to do software synths themselves..

Anyway, I'd say the update cycles Yamaha have imposed on Steinberg haven't really been good for the quality of their software, and have lead to new version justifications (aka feature bloat) and a failure to address core issues. But, with the M1 shaking things up, alongside the ditching of the dongle, it's probably now or never in terms of taking all the old code and updating it to something they can use in the coming years. Though given such "yearly upgrade, no matter what" attitudes, I'm not sure the softsynth world is missing out on much, unless you want another subscription model.

[Ah_Dziz]

I'd be happy with an an1x plugin. It was my favorite hardware synth I ever owned aside from the Nord modulars. I'm guessing if they haven't started by now then they won't anytime soon.