Yamaha RX11 One of the best drum machines ever made 

Anything this man demos. He makes it sound like something you need. Never heard the Roland 626 sound as good till his demo of it. Now the RX11 sounds like an afordable Linndrum here. Absolutely superb. We are fortunate to have this talented man on youtube. Putting the spotlight back on the great sounds of the 80s.

I bought the RX11's little brother, the RX21, to provide some drums to go along with my Casio CZ-101 and Atari ST as my first MIDI setup back in the 80's. The RX21 was a very scaled down version with 9 fixed drum sounds. The Cymbal is unmistakably the same sample. Today I took my RX21 out of the attic, set it on the kitchen table, plugged in some headphones - and time traveled back 3 decades for about an hour.

Russian band "Kino" has used it as well

The RX-11 was my first drum machine !!! Lot of memories !

Big brother Yamaha RX5 was one of the best drum machines ever made. Sound design capability was awesome. Similar sounding to RX11 but many parameters to edit which took it to another level. Plus individual outs.

The lead at 19:50 is superb! Your talent brings me to tears! Was an 80s teen. I need a time machine!

I had a RX 21 back in 1985/86 with a DX100 and a QX21 sequencer,. Happy days!

I had one of these in the 80's. It was part of my studio when MIDI was quite new. Great sounding machine.

That last live song was awesome man! I just bought a RX11 for 50 bucks and have been loving the classic 80s sound

Start video immediately skip to the middle only to immediately return back to that magical scene in the woods... Wow... What an intro!!!

Owned one of these in the mid-80's and did a LOT of recording with it... this was a nice trip down Nostalgia Lane for me.

I can't believe you have one of these. This was my very first drum machine and I LOVED it! I actually miss it.

First thing I ever programmed was the intro to the Pointer Sisters' "I'm So Excited". An easy exercise that got me started in drum programming.

So good memories. This was my first drum machine and I remember a friend of me had the Roland TR 707 and we used to discussed like crazy which one was best. Fun thing about this early sample drum machines you can usually pick them out imediatly if used in a track. the Rimshot always reveals the RX-11 and the horrible sampled Crash 😄

This made me so nostalgic for the way I recorded in the 80s. I’m gonna get my RX11 out of storage and fire it up! It’s Yamaha so I have no doubts that it’ll work perfectly after being packed away for a few decades.👍🤠👍

Yamaha drum machines seem to gave been underrated compared to Roland, thank you for demoing this gem from the best decade of all time! I have to say that I believe a good indicator of a good drum machine is how worn the drum pads are. The RX11 has those shiny, smooth spots that show its been worked hard!

This was the drum machine used by the Russian rock band Kino, on their most successful album "Gruppa Krovi" (Blood Type). This machine provided all of the drum tracks for that album.

I just bought an RX11 and I can't wait to use it :) Will look great with a DX7

I owned the RX-15, which is essentially the same unit without the card. I think the RX11 has separate audio outs. I loved it, but it was stolen In 2000 during a break-in at my house. It was great the way the pads were laid out, which made it good for jamming live.

Reminds me how I used to MIDI mine to a synth (usually my DX-7), with each drum or cymbal hit sending note info. The one thing that it took me a minute to figure out was that with the note data, the note off was sent very quickly, and if I wanted to have a synth note of any duration beyond staccato, I had to adjust the release time on the synth so it would sound (as well as with an appropriately short attack time). It was actually a pretty cool trick, especially for bass lines or accents of any sort, while working without a sequencer. It was the mid-late 80’s after all and I still hadn’t purchased my first sequencer, let alone computer.

Such a great early nineties AMIGA demoscene feeling with that song ! Excellent !

I recognize those sounds. My dad had that machine while I was growing up.

I have an Yamaha RX5 which is very similar. Love playing with the pitch and EG to make new percussion sounds.

Just snagged one for $100. Thanks for making this video Espen, it's going to be really helpful in my learning to use this baby.

Great video! Bought my RX11 within a year of it's release. Still have it in my closet - runs solidly - built like a tank. My fave drum machine (aside from Digitakt) - so far - is my DR660. Still amazingly flexible and programmable. Tons of tracks and live sets on it.

I nabbed an RX11 in February. Love it! It adds so much extra character to the tunes with its simplicity. Well done, Eben!

after watching this video I found one on craigslist for sale cheap ($80), it is indeed easy to setup and use. thanks Espen!

today my Yamaha RX8 arrived :-) and i decided to finish this evening my little cover of your song you made at the end. Its not an RX11 but has sth familiar. Thanks Espen. Thats one of your videos i like most and come often back to listen. Have a nice weekend!

I have this and the TR707. It's a killer underrated machine. Also used by New Order, Asylum Party and on the Nightmare on Elm Street soundtrack

I just got me one of these. It was in a pretty bad shape but after some cleaning and soldering, everything works! I love how easy it is to make patterns in real time. And the sound fits my bad 80-s keyboardplaying perfectly. Thanks for the demo, it got me up and running in no time! I will also read the manual of course ;-)

Love my RX11. And for you vintage arcade game fans out there this machine lent some of its samples to Sega’s OutRun cab, especially the Hi Tune 1 snare.

Excellent video! I used to own one of these "back in the day." Another cool thing about this (and the rx15) is you can select which MIDI note each individual pad transmits on. I'd program the drum track, dump that to my sequencer (at the time an Indus MIDI DJ 2 - track floppy disk recorder) and then change the MIDI channel, set the note numbers for each pad and program my bass lines and such.

I was born in 1984. This is my machine and hole 80's Funk, New Jack Swing, Miami Bass etc used this. Fucking awesome

This was the first drum machine I ever used. I loved it.

It has its limits, but it shines so bright just being what it is (especially if it’s in good condition). It has some cheap build quality going on, but I’ve never seen a broken one. It’s easy to program a pattern, and having assignable outs is nice. I love the shaker and the toms so much! I found mine for $70 Canadian which is a fair price for something like this. I’d have even paid a bit more. If you like these types of sounds, I highly recommend the rx11!

I used a friend’s (Glen) Yamaha drum machine once (I can’t remember the model and I haven’t been able to find a picture online of the model I used). The friend is dead now and he sold the machine long ago. This was in the early 1990s. Funny story: Glen wanted to buy an electric drum set, but the current market price was high. Roland had the best pads (some things never change) and Yamaha was believed to be the most natural sounding drums. So he got the triangular Roland pads but the drum brains being made were limiting and one trick ponies. The salesman suggested Glen buy a drum machine and a midi interface separately to hook all the pads to the machine. Then he’d have a drum brain and a machine to program songs (musical instruments). After having it at his house for a week or two, he suddenly showed up at my place. (My living room is basically a studio) Glen showed me the new equipment and said he was having problems programming the pads through the midi interface and he didn’t understand how to write songs on it …because drum brains are simple, drum *machines* are complex musical sequencers. (I’ve had 2 drum machines myself) He left his setup at my house so I’d hopefully figure out the problem. (I’m a local wiz with music/electronics stuff) I found that the drum machine could only be used for 4 drums/pads at a time. He was using real cymbals so at least it was somewhat usable…but within a year, he sold them and got a Simmons kit (sound quality downgrade😂). Funny note: Glen left the stuff at my house for a month or so, long enough for me to figure out how to program songs on it. It was way better than my current drum machine (lots of musical instruments and dynamics!). I started kicking @$$ with it, wrote several songs, really cool stuff! I could tell Glen was getting jealous that I was playing with HIS toy. 😂 one day he came by and quickly took it away. I never saw it again. I asked him if he’d written any songs with it. He said he did but I never heard anything. I think his aptitude wasn’t cut out for such things. I wonder if he ever erased my songs or did he play them for other people (probably did) and say it was his creation? Some friend, huh? 😮

Your tutorials are fantastic. Please never delete your videos. :)

i was using the RX11 to sequence my home studio 25 years ago, it worked :)

I had one for a while, and sold it. I even had one extra cartridge. It was cool but after a while if found the sounds to be so limited. I had just about every vintage drum machine and now of course I wish I still had them, but at the time it was a good idea.

I must be getting old, I used this kit circa 88/89 with a few friends, yet totally forgot until now. One guy (Bluey ... Brett A) had meticulously programmed classic Australian hits that made his duo a money maker. The (possibly) earlier manifestation of a guitar/keyboard duo playing "anything" whilst sounding studio legit.

I remember lots of acts on the UK social club circuit using these in the 80's. Usually solo artists and duos often synced to a sequencer. They almost always had DX7's or Casio CZ's also. The memories :)

I had that when it came out. Wore it out! Many many songs made with that and my Fostex cassette 4 track recorder.

Saw one of these in a shop the other day and thought about picking it up, but left it. Kind of regret it now. Nicely demonstrated as ever. Keep doing what you're doing!

I use the Roland R8 and am very satisfied with it...since 20 years ;-)

NSA HQ just acquired one of these thanks to Espen's video. 1984 here we come.

I had an RX15, OSCa, DW600, Jx8, Moog. Was fun. Will be a Korg Wavestate later this year. Love the ending Demo's

Damn you Espen! You made me fall in love with this drum machine and drove up the prices all in the same video. I had been searching for a reasonably priced one since this posted. People want crazy prices for it. I finally found one on EBay for $164.00 after tax and shipping. it was listed “in Good Working Order” alas is was not, half the buttons did not work, the other half made horrid machine gun sounds. Darn, I really wanted this drum machine. A google search later I found some videos on cleaning the contacts in the buttons. I found out about replacing the internal battery. I had never done anything like that before so - Hold my Beer! I had to purchase some proper soldering and desoldering gear, a multimeter, some deoxit d5 contact cleaner and F5 fader cleaner/lube. I opened her up and got to work. After cleaning a new battery and a hard factory reset she is working like new! I do love her; now she needs a name. Thank you Espen

BTW I just done my very first track with this machine. Uploaded it acouple of days ago. It is called just music. Love the heavy snare especially. Just perfect for me. Looking forward to using again.. noticed if you add just rhe right amount of reverb to the snare it can sound pretty amazing.

The first drum machine my father bought back in the 80's was the RX15. I knew that machine inside out! A few years ago I purchased the RX11 and I couldn't remember how to program it - lol. I had to crack open the manual for a refresh. It's a great machine, though.

I had a RX11 back in the 80's was pretty good, upgraded to a RX5 later

I love my Yamaha RX15. It's the RX11's little brother; a few less features, but mostly the same. The drums seem limited to the basic sounds, but you can MIDI this to a General MIDI source and specify which pad plays what sound. I use it today because I've long ago learned to program complex songs with it. I keep notebooks of the songs I create-- a flow chart, so to speak, of the programs in order for each song. I record backups of these files on my computer through the cassette audio output-- works the same on a computer, so long as you record in mono-- stereo throws it off for some reason.

LOVED this drum machine. It was just so "sexy". Had the "X" aesthetic Yamaha was going for in the early 80's with all their electronic professional instruments, but mostly it just sounded GREAT! AND it was easy to program. We used this quite a bit for gigging AND recording. That's quite a nice specimen, Espen!

at that 14:56 mark ... the amazing bassline of so many songs from early Depeche Mode (See You, Work Hard, Everything Counts etc... ) thanks Espen now I know where to find that bassline...

Yam's best drum machine in my opinion .... As you say Vince Clarke moved on from the Linndrum to the RX-11 for the first two Erasure albums ... I still play with the RX-11 today. For me it's an unsung gem and more so, so reliable, the Japanese builders are the finest in electronics!

I'm pretty sure the drummer who recorded these sounds for this machine and it's siblings was Jeff Porcaro. If so (which I think is correct), every song who used this had Jeff Porcaro play on their track-ish :)

This is a great sounding drum machine. Almost sounds like a Linn. I have these sounds for my Akai MPC. Now I want one. Great video. 👍👍👍👍👍

wow love that 80's sound who looks like laserdance

Perfect! Love the song too! Found this drum machine for 40 euros. I think it will help me a lot.Have a great day Mr. Espen!

Blood Type (Album 1988) by the Soviet group KINO

I had goosebumps from that pad at 18:50🔥 And DW-8000 is a beast too!

My favorite band, They Might Be Giants, used this machine on their first album.

I regret getting rid of this machine, so easy to use!

the Yamaha RX11 is definitely one of the drum machines ever made

Authentic realtime jam at the end.....very cool!! Hat's off to you!!! p.s. A coworker and I programmed the Toy Piano sound on the original DX7 Rom Cards. We were at the first FM synthesis education seminars held in Portland Oregon back when Yamaha first introduced the DX line of synths before shipping them out. While we were in a training session we tried to program a string patch but it came out just as you hear on the Rom Card. They saved the patch on the spot and included it in the original set of patches. History is strange!

I have the RX5 which is a beast. Individual outputs with sliders to set the volumes for each output.

found an RX21 in alley today.. Wish it was an RX11, but i'm not complaining, since it was free..

I also miss mine !!! Just in case it was not mentioned by ESPEN ( i have not seen the full video yet ! ) ....well this machine is velocity sensitive for programming with more dynamics, but it accepted velocity ONLY if you used an external MIDI pad or any velocity sensitive keyboard (aka keyboard controller) !! That way the patterns were very drummer alike !! These on board pads only played the sample at a full 128 velocity ! Thanks Now days I only use a Boss DR-880 drum machine or any computer VSTi drum plugin

Very grateful video before buying drum machine.

Espen, those snares are so punchy. Sounds like some New Order snares I’ve heard before. Great video & keep up the good work.

Hi Espen, I hope you are doing well. I don't think I ever commented on this video. I actually have the Yamaha RX21, and I have it hooked up to my monitor speakers which is also playing the audio from your video. I can tell you, by playing the drum pads as the same time as you are in the video, this RX21 has the same sampled drum sounds as your RX11 has and is close to the same mid-1980's manufacturing date. I bought this unit used for $50.00 back in the very early 1990s and I know that the RX21 was made as a more affordable version. It does not have the programmable bar function, but it does have the length and quantize functionality. It also only has 9 drum pads / sounds. It's been a real great piece of gear that I still use for recording. Just using some small amount of reverb and compression on the recorded track really makes it pop more. Have a great weekend and stay safe over there. Mr Tom.

still have mine - many dozens of tracks over the years. bought new - with Japanese manual. Apparently I'm good at deciphering pics and diagrams - LOL!

Finally somebody who's not from an English speaking country who does not have a zany accent. Your voice/YT channel is actually worth a serious listen to. :-)

Great video! By sheer coincidence an RX11 came up on eBay for a great price after I watched your video so I grabbed it. Thanks for sharing the review and your music!

The fourth lost member of a-ha in action?You are so 80:s and great of showing that off,much to love here Espen!

Kind of a cool jam at the end. Definitely some Synthwave potential there. Thanks for such an informative and descriptive video. Always a fan of yours.

Cool retro machine and vid... I had a Kawai R50 years back ...it was a superb machine ..

Sweet! The RX11 sounds great! Very well explained + I love the song at the end of the video! A great combination of sounds!

The beautiful song you made at the end got a similar vibe to Ivory Tower from Moroder, I really like it.

I never owned one of these, I had the later RX21 which was a good bit of kit and served me well. I sold it and got an Alesis SR16 in 1992. Still have that to this day :)

I will be picking one up today, thanks for the review!!

I used this to learn how to use my Yamaha RX7. Practically the same settings, give or take a few features.

Amazing! I happen to have both a RX11 and DW8000 at the moment. This video will help me very much. Thank you!

This just gave me so many ideas 💡 thanks 🙏

The sounds of RX11 later appeared in Yamaha PSR-SX900 keyboard under the "80s Pop Kit" patch

Nice, I just bought what looks like almost brand new one on Reverb for $180, should be fun

that tune at the end was great

Hi Espen, I noticed one of the keys of your Korg above the RX 11 is chipped off on its underside. I’ve repaired a few vintage synth keys that have the same problem- get a white bread clip (from a standard supermarket loaf of bread), cut to fit and glue it on the inside of the key, not the outside. Use Araldite glue so it will dry as you hold it. Make sure as little glue as possible spills out into view because the glue turns yellow with age. Sorry, but it’s one of my pet hates. If it doesn’t bother you then disregard this. Thanks for your vids.

my ears was happy hearing the 80's sound

Rx11 also used on some New order songs around subculture time

The DX7 and the RX11 bring me instantly back to the 80s and of course, there are a lot more great gear outhere, but these two are still one of the best at all! By the way, your video helped me to gets quick fit with the machine! Greetings from Germany, keep going!✌🏻+ ❤

I had RX-11 in the past and remember its really advanced programming functions such as accelerandos and ritardandos, D.C. to Coda and various and nested patterns repetitions inside a song. All in all I regret having sold it in the nineties but, at the time, I thought that its internal sounds and samples were a little out of date and a sampler would have been more versatile. What I didn't take into consideration was that a real drun machine is more straightforward to program and can drive a sampler. There's pros and cons in everything, maybe creating a drum track with a MIDI/audio sequencer and a generic sound source is not as satisfying as on a real drum machine (that can be synchronized with the sequencer or can act as a master source).

That end track is legit. Thanks for the videos!

I've been searching for those snare sounds. I think i will try to get one. I haven't been happy with modern snares. I like those warm thick snares. No tuning of the pads is probably a good thing; a waste of time.

Thank you so much for making this! I want to learn how to use my RX11, but the manuals I got with it are all in Japanese.

ah that shaker! when i first listened to saltnpepas push it...i needed to know where that shaker was from (the web told me decades later it was from a rx5)

Just ordered one from Japan.. Just need to hope I don't get hefty customs duty charge. I am sure I will get one just how much is the question. I really like this drum machine sound. I am not so into the 909s heavy kits, the 808 is nicer for me than the 909 but I can honestly say I like this even more, probably becuase I love the 80's and grew up in the 80's so want to hear those kinds of beats with my music. 😂 P. S I meant to say I bought this machine because of this video 😂

The RX11 goes from average to fantastic when reverb and EQ is applied. Just Listen to Erasure's 1st album, Wonderland and New Order's Bizarre Love Triangle.

also used by New Order I bought a rX11 and a SPX90 back in the day..later i sold the RX11 and upgraded to a RX5

Драм-машина Виктора Цоя и групп "Ласковый май" и "Мираж", да и не только! 😉

Hey Hey Espen I use a rx7 and a ry30 lovely underrated drum machines like most Yamaha stuff .