The Yamaha RS700 adds a sampler and sample manipulation, which really does just about make it ableton-in-hardware, from the looks of it. The RM1X is much cheaper though. I believe the QY300 and QY700 have the same sequencer as the RM1X? The QY300 looks a little smaller. The QY700 has a larger screen.
Looked at them for a long time. Also thought about their little pocket calculator predecessors (QY8, QY10, QY22, QY70, QY100).
«Certainly, his methodology is unique. As we sit on his hardwood floor, Tricky shows me his primary instrument: the Yamaha QY-22, a black device about the size of a volt meter. “I put together most of the album on this,” he says. "The whole bass line on ‘Christiansands,’ most of ‘Tricky Kid,’ the strings from ‘Bad Things,’ ‘Lyrics of Fury.’ " He uses this audio Powerbook to program tracks and create noises that he can play either on a keyboard or by downloading straight to tape. “It’s a drum machine, a sequencer, it’s got bass, piano, strings. You can’t sample, you can only write, but I like that. I read this article that said Tricky doesn’t play any of his own music. Well, this is the instrument I play.”
This audio sketchbook, seemingly designed to provide only the most basic skeleton of a studio track, seems to fit Tricky’s freestyling, graffiti approach to music just fine. “I work fast,” he says. “It’s too hard thinking about stuff like, ‘Should we have a break here.’ I’ll just build a fat spliff and put the music up really fucking loud and mix it all live, freehand.” Later he shows me one of his tattoos, a “psychic drawing. A guy smokes a spliff, starts a line and you tell him when you want him to stop,” he explains. “It’s the most painful tattoo I’ve ever had.” I wonder how deeply this aesthetic runs through Tricky’s life.»
http://www.moon-palace.de/tricky/spin96-1.html
