This tasty birthday bite of synth celebrates the AN1x Control Synthesizer - released by Yamaha in 1997. Yes, it's hard to believe, but 2017 marks the 20th anniversary of the release of the AN1x Control Synthesizer!
With 10 voice polyphony, 2 oscillators per voice, ring modulation, wihite noise, on-board effects, an arpeggiator and a step sequencer - the AN1x was a remarkable instrument by 1997 standards and its specifications hold up twenty years later. One of the cool features in the AN1x was called FreeEG, a parameter recorder that allowed a user to record up to 4 parameter movements for up to sixteen seconds resulting in some cool dynamic changes during play.
Check out this nice demonstration of the AN1x from the YouTube user "RetroSound" - and check back for more synthbits to come!
Want to discuss your experiences with the AN1x Control Synthesizer? Join us on the Forum here.
Yamaha Synthesizer Product Specialist Blake Angelos has over thirty years of experience with music hardware and software. An expert in music technology, Blake has conducted numerous clinics, master classes and presentations throughout the United States, Europe and Canada. In his role as Product Specialist for the Synthesizer Department Blake appears in many product videos and artist interviews, writes many articles for YamahaSynth.com and co-hosts a regular Podcast called “Behind the Synth”.
Before his work with Yamaha, he taught music theory and jazz studies courses at Arizona State University; managed a technology-focused music store in Seattle and was a production supervisor at Microsoft, where he led a team that developed groundbreaking interactive music content for the Microsoft Network. Blake holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Northern Colorado and a Master of Music degree from Arizona State University. Blake currently resides in Bellingham, Washington with his family, and between his travels around the world for Yamaha, he performs as much as possible with several jazz and creative music groups in Bellingham, Seattle and other places in the Pacific Northwest.