Why does Yamaha not care about making soft synths?

[cryophonik]

I’d love to see an official FS1R soft synth. I loved the sound of mine when I owned it, but programming it was a PITA with its 1U interface. A synth that deep and complex really needs a good UI.

[v1o]

Yamaha were there very early on in the VST plugin market. I think they decided it just wasn't worth it, they're a huge corporation with big overheads. They had a vocal pitch correction plugin back when the only other option was Autotune. The Yamaha one sounded better with less artefacts than Autotune. They still have a couple of old plugins for sale over at the Steinberg site, including the only plugins to be approved by Neve.

The An1x iOS app is also excellent.

[zzz00m]

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.

Kind of wondering about Arturia's emulations of the Yamaha CS-80 and DX7. They appear to use the trademark name for the original product, with all of the original synth parameters.

They didn't use funky alternate product names like UVI, IKM,Traction, or Cherry Audio did with their emulations of vintage synths.

Did Yamaha endorse the Arturia effort, or just look the other way? I think it would be cool to see more Yamaha gear added to the V collection, especially some of the more modern stuff.

https://www.arturia.com/products/analog-classics/cs-80v
https://www.arturia.com/products/dx7-v/overview

[Teksonik]

Did Yamaha endorse the Arturia effort, or just look the other way? I think it would be cool to see more Yamaha gear added to the V collection, especially some of the more modern stuff.

I don't suppose we'll ever know which. The CS80 has been out for so long you'd think that if Yamaha didn't give their blessings they would have taken action by now.

I know a lot of people aren't too fond of Arturia emulations but if they did an FS1R or SY77 emulation I would certainly be a potential customer based on the final results of course.

[felis]

Why does Yamaha not care about making soft synths?

For the same reason they don't use release velocity in their hardware keyboards - they don't know how to do it?

I'd find that difficult to believe, so I think it's more like they're in their own little bubble and don't care what people would like to see.
They seem to be trying to be trendy and hip and focus on iOS stuff, and ignore what people use.
I've been waiting for years for a pc editing program for my DTX-M12, even though one has been available for pads or phones or whatever.

I don't really focus too much on them anymore because I've given up on them.
I still have my EX5-r, and I'll keep that around until I find something else that can do per note fx. They used to be innovative, but I got that piece over 20 years ago.

[cryophonik]

I know a lot of people aren't too fond of Arturia emulations but if they did an FS1R or SY77 emulation I would certainly be a potential customer based on the final results of course.

Same, although I'd much rather see someone like Synapse do it.

[Chrisk-K]

There's no money in soft synths. Yamaha is dominant in HW workstations (almost every church has a Motif or a Montage), digital pianos, acoustic pianos, guitars, basses and drums, each of which is more profitable than soft synths.

[zzz00m]

Did Yamaha endorse the Arturia effort, or just look the other way? I think it would be cool to see more Yamaha gear added to the V collection, especially some of the more modern stuff.

I don't suppose we'll ever know which. The CS80 has been out for so long you'd think that if Yamaha didn't give their blessings they would have taken action by now.

I know a lot of people aren't too fond of Arturia emulations but if they did an FS1R or SY77 emulation I would certainly be a potential customer based on the final results of course.

Well Arturia was rather cagey with their naming of the classic Roland synth emulations for Jun-6 V and Jup-8 V. No Roland trademark infringement there!

[felis]

There's no money in soft synths.....

I think Native Instruments, Arturia, and many others would disagree with this.
But I'm sure you mean not enough money in it to not have to give two hoots about what people think.

[Teksonik]

I know a lot of people aren't too fond of Arturia emulations but if they did an FS1R or SY77 emulation I would certainly be a potential customer based on the final results of course.

Same, although I'd much rather see someone like Synapse do it.

Well yes if I had to choose between the two it would be Synapse. But since Arturia has already done some Yamaha emulations maybe they have some special connection.

[Teksonik]

There's no money in soft synths.

Odd thing to say at a website where a bazillion plugins have been sold over 20+ years.

[Chrisk-K]

There's no money in soft synths.

Odd thing to say at a website where a bazillion plugins have been sold over 20+ years.

Arturia's annual revenue is about $35M. NI's annual revenue is about $90M. Their soft synths sales probably account for no more than 50% of the revenue. Yamaha's annual revenue is about $4B. From Yamaha's perspective, there's no money in soft synths.

[Teksonik]

Arturia's annual revenue is about $35M. NI's annual revenue is about $90M. Their soft synths sales probably account for no more than 50% of the revenue.

The key word there is probably. Neither you nor I or anyone else here for that matter know anything about any company unless we have the spreadsheets right in front of us and we do not.

Yamaha's annual revenue is about $4B. From Yamaha's perspective, there's no money in soft synths.

You mean there is not enough money for them to bother. To say there is no money in soft synths is inaccurate. To say there is not enough money to interest a major corporation might be accurate.

But again there can be nothing but speculation here unless one of us sits on the Board of Directors of the companies in question and I'm going to go out on a limb here and say none of us do......

[VitaminD]

A VST version of the Motif would be excellent. Now that would be an excellent Omnisphere.

Maybe an updated CS6X to boot.

[Tj Shredder]

A VST version of the Motif would be excellent. Now that would be an excellent Omnisphere.

But there is Omnisphere already, no need for a soft Motif… People use the hardware for more reasons than just its sounds.
I guess they don’t see the need. The only interesting antique synths that have not been emulated yet are SY-99, FS1R and VL-1/7x… And as they cover the technologies mostly in newer workstations, there is not so much nostalgia hype to be expected…