A3000

A3000 - Get a Grip on the Groove!

Realtime control knobs, intuitive panel design and operation, easy-edit voice architecture, specialized multi-effects and much more make the A3000 a truly unique professional sampler with a sound and style that's all its own.

Professional Breakbeat and Phrase Sampling

Designed from scratch for professional breakbeat and phrase sampling, the Yamaha A3000 sets new standards for ease of use and built-in versatility, providing the power to capture those lightning bolts of inspiration as they strike, plus a full range of handy sound processing tools and real time control features that let you "get a grip on the groove" and style your own personal pop signatures without resorting to racks of external gear.

Something for Everyone

An ideal workhorse for techno, jungle, hip hop - literally all tyes of modern dance music - the A3000 truly has something for everyone.

Easy Edit Functions

Professional musicians and sound designers will love its Easy Edit functions, cross-platform sound file compatibility and other time-saving features which help increase productivity in high-pressure composing and recording situations.

Features

DJ's will love its versatile sample mapping functions, original effects and real time performance features which provide an extra edge for keeping the dance floor hot and hopping.

Ease of Operation

Beginners will love the A3000's intuitive nature and general ease of operation which demystifies the sampling procss and permits great-sounding results with a minimum of time and effort. And everyone will love its irresistible price.

Style

With the A3000, everything you need is right at your fingertips, with all main functions printed in a matrix on the A3000's front panel. All parameters are instantly accessible through the quick touch of a Mode switch and function key or the simple twist of a control knob. A 40 character x 2 line LCD provides plenty of visual feedback as you do your thing. And that's just what's on the outside.

Substance

What lies within the A3000 is a 16-bit sampler with a generous 64-notes of polyphony, a standard 2 MB of RAM expandable to a whooping maximum of 128 MB via four 72-pin SIMM sockets, plus all the dynamic filters, multi-effects processors, EQ and everything else you need to realize virtually anything you can imagine - and even open up new doors of spontaneous creativity that you never knew existed.

Sample It

Recording a great sample is simple: Just plug in your stereo or mono source, set the record level and Record mode parameters, and go for it - at a rate of 44.1kHz, 22.05kHz, 11.025kHz or 5.5125kHz. (48kHz and 32kHz are possible from 48kHz and 32kHz sources if the optional digital input board is installed.)

Map It - Play It

Once you've recorded the basic sample, it becomes wave data which you can use to create individual samples, each with their own unique parameter settings, including mapping information such as note range, velocity limit, layer or split assignment, and MIDI channel, but all sharing the same basic wave data. This gives you the flexibility to make independent settings for each note for specific treatment of breakbeats and phrases.

Sample Banks

You can copy the individual samples into a Sample Bank for setting up multi-sampled instruments or drum kits. Sample Banks are also ideal for compiling related samples such as breakbeat patterns, riffs and phrases, normal instrument and other sounds used for a specific song, for example, mapped across a keyboard for triggering in a realtime performance. Sample Banks include parameters with common values which you can edit just as you would an individual sample. You can always access and edit the individual samples used by the Sample Banks at any time.

128 Programs in RAM

Samples and Sample Banks are used to construct Programs. The A3000 holds 128 Programs in RAM, each with effects configuration and Easy Edit parameter settings. Easy Edit parameters let you make quick adjustments to Sample Banks as well as individual samples.

Stretch It, Filter It, Control It In Realtime

The A3000 provides you with an enormous range of control over your sounds not only as you edit individual samples and set up and edit Sample Banks and Programs, but also in realtime during play.

Beat Change

For example, the Beat Change function provides time-stretching for adjusting the timing of a breakbeat or phrase loop, either faster or slower. This can be performed in realtime by turning a knob (or using an external MIDI controller) to adjust the tempo.

MIDI Input

In the same way you can use the knobs (or MIDI input) for realtime control of the dynamic filters including Lo Pass, Hi Pass, Band Pass and Band Eliminate types - as will as envelope and parametric EQ settings. What's more, control knobs 2-5 can be used as assignable controllers, and the 6 function keys can be used as sample triggers for internal sounds and MIDI out.

Hi-Fi, Lo-Fi, And Everything In Between

The A3000's high-quality DSP features three sophisticated effects blocks which can be freely configured, either as independent units or connected in series, for each Program. Individual parameters for all effects can be accessed and edited at will.

54 Effects

There are a total of 54 effects available including everything from Hall, Room, Stage and various other reverb effects, to Delay, Echo, Pan, Chorus, Flange, Exciter, Distortion, Pitch Chance and 3 Band EQ.

Collection of Original Effects

There are also a collection of original effects designed specifically for techno and dance music, insluding "AutoSyn", which makes any sample sound like it's been synthesized, "TechMod", which adds a ring modulation type effect to the sample, "Radio", a Lo-Fi type of effect which simulates the noisy sound of a cheap radio, and even "Turntable", which adds the clicks and pops of a vinyl record!

Song Sketchpad, Digital I/O Options and More

Versitile to the core, the A3000 features a no-frills but handy MIDI sequencer for quick and easy recording and playback of songs sketches as well as playback of SMF (format 0) and song data imported from a floppy disk.

Compatibility

Sound file compatibility includes the ability to load in files from popular samplers, as well as WAV (Windows) and AIFF (Macintosh) format files.

User-Installed Hardware Options

Include an optional AIEB1 I/O expansion board with six assignable outputs and coaxial and optical digital I/O

Auto Sequential Recording

Auto Sequential Recording permits continuous creation of isolated samples from an audio phrase sampling CD, and CD-ROM Drive Control for controlling a CD-ROM drive like an audio CD player.