Yamaha

84
Reviews | Yamaha Reface YC
Y
amaha made some
interesting YC-badged
transistor combo organs back
in the ’70s and the Reface
YC is a throwback to those heady times!
This time round, however, despite the
Reface YC being red like its older
relations, the sound generation is based
on Yamaha’s well-respected AWM
sample-based synthesis rather than
using transistors and complex wiring.
Using the marvels of modern
technology, the tiny 2015 YC features
not just Yamaha organs but all the
classic organ types you could want
including emulations of the legendary
tonewheel Hammond (H) and transistor
organs such as those from Vox (V),
Farfi sa (F), Yamaha YC-45D (Y) and the
vaguely-named Japanese Transistor
(Acetone) organ (J).
Build quality is solid and like the
other Reface models, the YC features
speakers, USB, MIDI, and an Aux input,
plus a surprisingly playable 37-key mini
keyboard (three octaves). The action
feels like a miniaturised Motif-series
synth-action keyboard (which is what it
is!) and my sausage fi ngers had no
problem playing it, though I would have
preferred a four or fi ve-octave
mini-keyboard like those found on the
DX100 or Portasound PSS-680. To
keep things authentic, the keyboard
isn’t velocity sensitive when controlling
the internal engine, but velocity is
transmitted over MIDI which is great for
controlling external instruments.
Also, while on the subject, the YC
makes a decent mini MIDI-controller as
all the front panel sliders and switches
send and receive MIDI CC information
– if you’re looking for a compact MIDI
controller with plenty of front panel
control, the YC is therefore worth a
serious look.
Authentic sounds
There’s a versatile set of organ
emulations onboard, however for this
review I’m going to focus mainly on the
Hammond Tonewheel emulation as I
dare say for most folks, it’s going to be
the most-used model. First off, the
basic sound (without the onboard
rotary-speaker emulation engaged) is
solid and nicely authentic, though
defi nitely on the clean side as there’s no
options for adjusting key-click or
tonewheel leakage. As you would
expect, there are nine ‘footage’ sliders
(like drawbars on a Hammond) enabling
you to fade in harmonics to fi ll out or
thin out the sound on the fl y. These
sliders all feel solid and the short throw
helps you to make adjustments quickly,
though unfortunately there’s no way to
store your sounds onboard once you hit
upon a great sound (though you can
connect an iPad or iPhone and use
Yamaha’s iOS Capture App).
The rotary-speaker emulation is very
usable, reminding me a lot of the
emulations onboard the Motif-series.
However, while the emulation sounds
authentic at slower speeds (and it’s
great that there’s a ‘stop’ function too
which allows you to have the dry rotary
sound without the spinning of the
rotors), the fast speed sounds a little too
fast/wobbly for my liking and also the
acceleration from slow to fast is quite
abrupt, with no way to adjust the
ramp-up time.
Effects-wise, the percussion sounds
very authentic (and it’s great to have a
variable length slider for the decay) and
the reverb sounds very nice too, adding
some welcome musical ambience and
atmosphere to the dry sound. The
distortion sounds fi ne and does a nice
job of grittying things up, though unlike
a real Leslie the grit does tend to sit on
top of the sound rather than blend with
it naturally. Finally, the vibrato/chorus
sounds nicely authentic on the vibrato
setting but on my review unit, the
chorus setting sounded virtually
indistinguishable from the vibrato!
Hopefully this can be addressed as
soon as possible via an update, as
chorus is an integral part of the
Hammond sound and it’s sorely
missed here.
To sum up, the YC is very handy if
you need a decent portable organ for
touring/gigging and for travelling light.
It’s battery-powerable and not too pricey
at a street price of £289. Currently, the
chorus emulation lets it down but for
solid, staple organ sounds, it does a very
respectable job indeed.
Yamaha Reface YC | £347
It’s red and specialises in organs… Dan ‘JD73’ Goldman sees if the YC is
all cheese, or the bees knees!
WHAT IS IT?
Reface series organ
featuring several vintage
organ emulations,
‘drawbars’ and effects
CONTACT
Who: Yamaha
Tel: [phone]
Web: www.uk.yamaha.com
HIGHLIGHTS
1 Well built, with nicely
playable mini-key action
2 Wide range of organ tones
available onboard with
plenty of hands-on control
3 High-quality reverb
onboard, plus distortion,
vibrato and percussion
SPECS
37 mini-keys
128-note polyphony
Engine: AWM
2 x 2 Watt speakers
Battery life approx 5 hours
(6 x AAs)
MIDI in/out via USB and
breakout cable
5 Organ types: Rotary
Speaker, Distortion, Reverb
and Percussion
Pedal Volume Input
Dimensions:
530 x 175 x 60mm
Weight:
1.9kg
INCLUDES AUDIO
l
vault.futuremusic.co.uk
VERDICT
BUILD
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VALUE
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EASE OF USE
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VERSATILITY
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RESULTS
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A solid organ emulator with handy
effects; works well as a general
MIDI controller and for travelling.
FMU298.rev_reface_yc.indd 84 10/7/15 9:27 AM