The Dream Machine: How Yamaha's GX-1 Got Its Nickname 

“- Emerson broke his first gx-1” Yep, that’s about right

"Yeah-ma-ha"

Actually, the GX-1 was a production model, the flagship of Yamaha's Electone electronic organ line and that is the market it was primarily aimed at, the professional organ market. Permanent installations in sports arenas, churches and the like. That is why the instrument came with its own custom set of speakers (not shown in the video). At some point someone in the Yamaha marketing department figured out they might be able to sell a few of these to really rich rock musicians, and they did.

Fun fact: The Soviets built a replica of it. They called it Gorky Synthesizer. It took them 5 years of reverse engineering until they produced a kind of modernized version which was easier programmable. Sadly this was only the private project of some Russian Air Force general. One machine ended up in Eastern Berlin after the wall came down and was sold in 1993 by a soldier who thought it was just an old organ. It still survives somewhere in Europe I heard from a friend of a friend. Probably the only machine of that kind.

Fun fact: In a tour of RMVstudio, which houses the ABBA GX-1, the studio technician claim that GX-1 used by Led Zeppelin on their last album was actually Benny's, and they still have the Kashmir string sound saved on a memory card in the studio.

In Through the Out Door is my favorite Zeppelin album because of Jones's great synth tones and playing on that album. This thing was a trailblazer, and the warmth that comes out of it is killer.

The GX-1 will always be thought of by me as a preset synthesizer by me. If you wanted to actually create your own patch first you had to go unplug a voice cartridge from the back, hook it up to the external tone module setting box with the synth controls, then dial in your settings on the sliders. THEN you hooked up a programmable cartridge with 24 tiny flathead screws to the setting box. THEN you selected number 1 on a rotary dial and adjusted the screw on the programmable cartridge to it's corresponding number with nothing but a flashing LEFT or RIGHT led telling you which way to adjust. THEN you repeated this step 24 times. Then you finally plugged the cartridge into the back and hope that was the sound you wanted. Also the VCO section consisted of not just a choice of saw/sqr but actually: 1) Saw 2) Saw w/ bandpass 3) Sine 4) PW 5) PW w/ highpass 6) Tri 7) Noise All of these before the filter section. You could use one or up to all of these simultaneously, you could even attenuate the last three. To be honest that is the most remarkable part of the synth architecture, honestly it seems like the rest of the synth architecture is actually the same as the CS-10. Besides that I think that most of the cost really went into all the performance features (poly aftertouch, knee lever, 3 keyboards and a bass pedalboard) as well as all the electronic headache of trying to obtain polyphony without the use of a microprocessor.

The gx is POLYPHONIC. I see...

Was waiting for the aphex shout out

For how big and how rare the GX-1 is, it's amazing the number of musicians that got their hands on one. The video mentioned some and who were very important, but I can also add on Rick van der Linden of Ekseption and Trace, and Jürgen Fritz of Triumvirat. Rick recorded basically a GX-1 demonstration album in 1977 called GX-1 (what else!) and Jürgen used one on Triumvirat's Pompeii. I guess since Emerson was a big idol for Fritz that he decided to follow in his footsteps and purchase a GX-1. I'm not surprised to see those guys not mentioned given they're not a so recognized to the public in general. Much more recently Mattias Olsson of the prog rock band Änglagård acquired one and featured in his Roth Händle Studios. I believe his once belonged to Benny Andersson, which is hardly a surprise given both are Swedish.

Polyphonic, you're the real Dream Machine.

I had a temp job at Yamaha back in 1981 and ventured into the keyboard tech repair room a few times and saw this beast set up and didn't realize what I was looking at. I was more into their guitars at the time. Well anyway I was up close and personal with one of the ten made.

Both those pieces from 'All of my love' and 'Lay all your love on me' are always in my head and I used to hum it.. Such a valuable info guys! Thank you so much! Hugs!!! :)

Dude, your videos are pure gold 💗

It's incredible the high quality of your videos! Congratulations, it's awesome to see this kind of stuff on youtube these days!

Damn, this was a great video. Solid work, Mr. P.

I can't imagine how much work you must put in vidéos. Thx you for doing it!!!

haha.... he said YAMaha.....

One of my favorite new channels. Keep it up man!

Love your video essays man! Thanks for all the effort!

Awesome video, as usual!!! Greetings from Brazil!!!

I absolutely love your channel man! So well written and produced. It's entertaining and educational. Love it. How do you feel about modern metal/metalcore/screamo type stuff? My favorite band of all time is Underoath and I truly believe that Aaron Gillespie is an individual worth talking about!

Polyphonic has done it again! I learned something. Thank you

damn this channel is sooo good

Keep making these!!

You deserve so many more subs man :) great channel, keep it up!

Nice video keep it up👍

Why not play GX-1 sounds as background music...

So that's how they got that 🎺sound on All of my Love! Great channel btw.

Yes, the Zimmer one was ELP's one. My friend was drooling on it. If you need a GX-1 repair, he's the one you need ^^!

My guitarist used to own a Yamaha SK-50. It was a fun keyboard to play. You could definitely get GX-1 type sounds on the SK series keyboards because they share similar circuitry, that is if you're looking that sound but with a far cheaper alternative. We definitely didn't find much use for it in what we did musically. Otherwise we would've kept it, but it's certainly a super versatile polysynth.

What Aphex Twin did with the GX-1 was SICK!

Dude thank you so much for this awesome video .

"Emerson broke his GX-1..." That's apparently a bit of an understatement. According to Wikipedia, it got ran over by an "out of control" tractor. I'd really like to know the story behind that.

Would've liked to know how it works and why it is so unique in a more detailed way, instead of just you telling us who used it. But that's just my opinion, keep up the good work :)

Cherry Audio has recenty introduced the GX-80 softsynth. This is a CS-80 clone that also includes many GX-1 extra features. So if you're dying to own one, than $50 will get you a pretty usable version of it. That's what 50 years of technology can do.

It was called the "Dream Machine" not just because it had three keyboards that allowed you to layer sounds on top of one another, but the nickname also came from the fact it was so heavy to lug around (especially with its available accessories) and thus too pricey (at $60 grand in 1976!) for most musicians to think of buying. Consequently, only less than 100 were known to have been made. If anyone finds a GX-1 today, expect to pay over $300,000 for one in good shape.

The guitar effects on ‘Fanfare For The Common Man ‘ were in produced by Greg Lake’s Alembic 8 string bass .

It will always be about Fanfare for the Common Man and Keith for me. What a titanic sound he made with that thing. The other guys are awesome too, of course, as is the music they made with it.

The thing you have to realize is that the GX-1 was incredibly advanced for the time of its creation.

Great video! It's hard to estimate how many were made given the fact that individual instruments changed owners more than once. There is a GX-1 in Yamaha's museum in Hamamatsu, I heard there is one in Tokyo too. Gordon Reid ownes one and I happen to know what he paid for it. I can tell you it was much less than 60 grand. The Shah of Persia had one (or was that an HX-1?), Cat Stevens used one but I don't know if he was the owner. You forgot to tell that it had a rhythm box. A very decent one. Listen to it on Rick van der Linden's GX-1.

cool video ! it was all new information for me. never heard of that thing before.

EXcellent ... thanx for the class.

I bought the Tuss album by Richard D James back when his label was still insisting it was someone else, but because he used that synth and he was one of the few people to own one people knew it was him. Now that record is worth like $300, so Id like to thank the dream machine for that one.

Keep it up man this some good ass content

The synth is even more influential than the video notes, since it contained not only a CS-80 but an early version as well of the DX7.

It was also called the "dream machine" because of just how expensive the beast is!

Incredible video 😎

Was hoping you'd mention RDJ, great vid :)

Great, informative video

Amazing lesson 👏 bravo

What can you say Yamaha make great synths. There was so many good synths made in the 70s and 80s by Yamaha,Roland,pro one, emax,wasp etc. They was the best time for synths.

If you want to get your hands on one, get the Arturia version of the CS-80. You'll love it! Of all the Arturia virtual synths, their CS-80 is my favorite.

Your channel is goiing to blow up

I recommend doing a video essay on The Velvet Underground

“Yeah-MaHa!” “Vye-braato.”

i got goosebumps at abba ...i love your videos please make more

Love that Stevie Wonder story that opens this video! :)

I don't even like Aphex Twin, but I'd be damned if I said that dude wasn't creative as hell with everything he did

Nice video! Do one on Zombies Odissey and Oracle!!

"One of the most important synthesizers ever made"........well, yes and no: It was technologically important in the sense that it paved the way for other polyphonic synthesizers but it was too expensive and too rare to be of artistic importance. Even though Emerson, Wonder, and Anderson used it frequently it is still only a very small fraction of the 1970s synth scene.

Yes Hans Zimmer did buy Keith Emerson's rebuilt GX-1. He doesn't have it anymore. Did a bunch of samples then sold it.

mad props for the aphex twin reference

Hey, great video! I would love to see a video on Vangelis or Jean Michel Jarre one day.

This shit be lit yo' Keep it up dude!

Can you do a video about atomic platters? I feel its a genre of music everyone should know about.

h yes, the album "The secret life of plants" is full of those GX1 strings. Lovely.

Stevie!!!

Great video man! The retro visual effect when songs played was a bit too prominent though

It was really a development on from the equally legendary EX-42 electronic organ. You’ll find some vids demonstrating that here on RU-vid (e.g. Miguel Kertsman’s channel). What was a “synth” and what was an “organ”? Yamaha, being the consummate maker of musical instruments that they were, blurred the boundaries ...

I look forward to your video on The Doors.

Love your vids. So much Canadian goodness Yeahmaha

Thank you for a great video! Next time though? It's YA-MA-HA, not JEM-aha!

Jesus, now I actually NEED to experiment much more with my Cherry Audio GX-80 virtual synthesizer...

There was a replication of this synth in Las Vegas at Madame Tussauds inside Venation Casino. It was maybe 2007 and The Stevie Wonder wax figure was displayed sitting on the synth.

He would go to collaborate with Ray Kurzwiel in developing the first Kurzwiel keyboard the first attempt at sampling

In 1980s I have noticed the name 'Electone GX' on certain album's description; now only I realize that it meant Yamaha GX-1.....

what a nice expression SynthSoundScape is

The tuss is my absolute favorite

Was it also one of the first programmable synths? The buttons up top looks like they can recall saved voices? That would be a HUGE asset for touring musicians of the day!

Keith Emerson dubbed the GX-1 the roadies nightmare as it weighed over 600 lbs and was stressful to move.

How does these suggestions pop up, but you had me at all the keys, switches, buttons, and knobs.

The way you pronounced Yamaha makes me think of Fargo. "Go Bears"

John Paul Jones used the GX-1 at Knebworth, but on the 1980 Tour Over Europe, he used two Fairlights. Jonesy sold his GX-1 to Keith Emerson.

Greg Phillinganes brought me here! Shout out to the Quest Love Supreme Podcast!!

Great!

Impressive you managed to make that without saying the word Electone or mentioning that its an organ lol

Just listened to ELP's Fanfare for the Common Man.. And that keyboard instrument sounds so "warm", so "real". I don't know... like it was an actual musical instrument of some kind. Nothing that came after it to this day has the same musicality, breathiness, ooomf. I don't know how else to describe it.

A friend of mine had a GX-1, he bought it at a garage sale. (No joke!) Somehow the Yamaha store here acquired one & it was 'supposed' to eventually be sent back to Japan, but never made the return trip. My friend bought it & sat on it for 20+ years. Eventually decided to offload it & ended up in negotiations with a relatively unknown synth-nut named Pete Townsend!! Sadly, Pete found another one closer to home & didn't buy my friend's unit, but it was eventually sold to an anonymous U.S. collector.

Could you put a list of the albums, songs, and artists mentioned in the description of the video? That would be super helpful, thanks!

I recognized this thing in the Kashmir music video

YAAAM-aha

I found one of these in a japanese trading warehoue near my place,,, they sold it for $500 and it still works,,,, it was hidden deep within a sea of many other old yamaha synthesizers. couldn't buy it tho cause it's too big

Richard has recently given his GX1 to Colin Fraser, the guy who created the CIRKLON sequencer. Nice gift. Goes to show how much he fucking loves his CIRKLON...

It's Ya-ma-ha not Yam aha ! Great vid though!

What is that percussive sound in the right channel that can be heard in the entire video?

I'm pretty blown away by my Vsynth and Karma

The patches it makes is so way ahead of it’s time. Even the preceding synths can’t match up to it

i get to play one of these later this year when the repairs are finished. a guy a couple towns over has one and i reached out and It’s Happening???

I think you should do a video on the Prophet 5!