Yamaha CX5M Music Computer

In 1986 I must have been one of 25 people in the U.S.A. who had this thing, because nobody I've ever spoken to has ever heard of it. It was an MSX system computer, a 1980s Microsoft based computer platform developed in and popular in Japan with the idea of standardizing hardware manufacture. But it was a total flop in the U.S.A. The CX5m came out way before the MAC or PC had great options for sequencing and MIDI composition. The main competition was the ATARI.

And this computer had a built in multi-timbral FM synthesizer. That sounded good to me. It was only 8 voices, and they were not dynamically allocated. The composition software did the job with actual musical notation entered on a staff, which was pretty cool, if you knew how to read and write music (those 5 years of classical piano and theory classes finally were paying off). Other software, on plug in ROM cartridges, included a 4 track real time midi sequencer, which came out later, (but didn't work with the internal sounds!) a voicing program and a librarian. Other stuff too like art software and word processors and such.

It was interesting to have exact control of your music using standard notation as input for the sequencer. The results tended to be a little rigid, unless you went nuts inserting dynamic markings, tempo shifts, time signature changes and individual 64th note rest measures etc., to make it sound more organic. Not easy. I began to appreciate what a conductor did and the flexibility of organic musical human creatures.

The real-time 4 track midi sequencer was an improvement in terms of getting the feel of a human being into your tracks. But like I mentioned, it didn't work with the internal sounds! I actually sent this back to the factory for a MIDI upgrade, which gave it a midi out so that I could use it with other gear. It was buggy though, tending to add a small delay between patterns.

The sounds themselves were of the clean 4-0perator FM synthesis variety, like the DX-100, or the FB-01 and other Yamaha DX synths below the level of the flagship DX-7.

When it came down to it, the CX5M was an FM-Edsel. Yes it had the clear as bell dx piano signature sounds and pretty twacky metalic bass slaps. And it was very crisp sounding. After layering synths on a cassette four-track sequencing straight out of the box sounded amazingly clean, if somewhat sterile.

Soon I got a PC XT and Voyetra sequencing software, which was much more powerful. The Yamaha computer ended up in my niece and 2 nephews' basement after a few years, and I think it's still there. All three went off to Ivy League schools, two of them to study math and computers. I'd like to think their career choices were inspired by working with that CX5M.

Nah.