Yamaha n Series

[gurian1]

The pres are above average. You can pay more and certainly find better, I would call them very usable.

"Can't cry for you" Robert Moss ( Folk Rock Country)

Is a taste of only the yamaha pres.. used with all tracks, bass is via the hiz input

Rob

[Syncamorea]

Originally Posted by 58lespaul

I am also interested in this. How do the Pre-amps compare to other stand alone pre-amps as well?

I've had an n12 for a little over a year now and have gotten to know the preamps pretty well. I have not done any direct, side by side comparisons with any expensive units but I've compared it to the M-Audio Projectmix, the M-Audio Octane and the Presonus Bluetube into the Projectmix. The n-12 preamps are quieter through most of their range of operation. If you drive them really hard on low level signals, they fall apart pretty fast. I have realized recently how important it is to set levels very carefully, especially on hard transients like crash cymbals, kick drums, etc. I'm recording dynamic sources at -6 to -10dB and am getting great weight and clarity. Acousitic instruments like guitar and piano through an excellent condenser is amazing for a unit as affordable as the n series. By comparison, the Projectmix and Octane sound metallic and grainy - and they lack dynamics. The Bluetube sounds slow and loose in comparison.

Most of my work on the n12 has been ar 44.1/24 bit and I use Cubase 4. I need to give the Yamaha guys a call as I'm thinking about switching from XP 32 bit to Vista 64 and don't want any down time.

What I'd really like to see is for Yamaha to come out with an n20. I could really use 16 mic preamps. Has anyone here daisy chained an n-8 to a n-12? Advice?

[58lespaul]

Originally Posted by gurian1

The pres are above average. You can pay more and certainly find better, I would call them very usable.

"Can't cry for you" Robert Moss ( Folk Rock Country)

Is a taste of only the yamaha pres.. used with all tracks, bass is via the hiz input

Rob

I like the tunes, sounded great. I actually forgot that I was listening to it for the pre-amps, lol.

If that was recorded with the N12's Pre amps and converters then I think I will be all set in the quality department as far as pre's and converters go if I get the MR 816. Thanks.

[thesteam]

Hello All,

I hope this hasn't been answered already, I suck at searches in forums... I am using Vista 32bit Ultimate with the n12... and the |Tools for n 2.0. I now want to run Vista 64 bit. Do I need to again update the n12?
I.E. Should I install all the recommended software?

1. win_tools_for_n_v200x64
2. ssdm200w
3. n_Firmware_Updater_V103_win_en
4. IEEE1394_Firmware_Updater_V107_win_en

This is a new OS install on the computer.


Again, I apologize if this has been covered before.
Off Topic... where can I learn about how to use FORUMS?

[andrew caramia]

ok heres the deal...i didnt want to start with a n12 horror story but here we go...
the first n12 that arrived had 3 damaged channels, the frame was fine but the circuit board under it looked like it had 'dropped' or unattatched itself from its fixing, sliders stuck and buttons under the recess. probably a manufacture fault.
2 weeks later the new one arrives. after uploading all the new updates and a relatively smooth install, i thought id try and see how it sounds by playing a few reference wavs extracted from cd via windows media player.
all i get is clicks, pops and dropouts- with everything. ive tried all the possible configurations, buffer settings and sample rates, but still no difference.
ive had a lot of different audio gear (maudio fw solo and pci audiophile, mackie 400f, emu 1212m) and never a problem like this so im a little concerned at this point...
the only other thing i could possibly try is to buy a dedicated ti fw card (im currently using the fw port on my emu 1212m-'agere fw323-06'... i have used this port for the solo and 400f in the past) and reinstall the old drivers.
anybody have more suggestions?

gigagyte 775 mobo
xp home sp3
4 gig kingston ram
3.2 cpu

[mikeynyuk]

Originally Posted by andrew caramia

ok heres the deal...i didnt want to start with a n12 horror story but here we go...
the first n12 that arrived had 3 damaged channels, the frame was fine but the circuit board under it looked like it had 'dropped' or unattatched itself from its fixing, sliders stuck and buttons under the recess. probably a manufacture fault.
2 weeks later the new one arrives. after uploading all the new updates and a relatively smooth install, i thought id try and see how it sounds by playing a few reference wavs extracted from cd via windows media player.
all i get is clicks, pops and dropouts- with everything. ive tried all the possible configurations, buffer settings and sample rates, but still no difference.
ive had a lot of different audio gear (maudio fw solo and pci audiophile, mackie 400f, emu 1212m) and never a problem like this so im a little concerned at this point...
the only other thing i could possibly try is to buy a dedicated ti fw card (im currently using the fw port on my emu 1212m-'agere fw323-06'... i have used this port for the solo and 400f in the past) and reinstall the old drivers.
anybody have more suggestions?

gigagyte 775 mobo
xp home sp3
4 gig kingston ram
3.2 cpu

I had that problem, upgraded the firmware and it went away. Some people have had luck trying different firewire cards. You on a PC, what OS? If its XP, I think you need to make sure there is a certain patch installed which I believe came with SP2. Do a search on this thread and youll find it, Geosync suggested it to me a couple of months back on this thread,

hope that helps
Mike

oops, just saw your specs at the bottom. You should still check for thaqt patch but it seems less likely if your on SP3

[andrew caramia]

update
i tried uninstalling the new drivers and trying the older software. resulted in no sound whatsoever. tried to reinstall the new drivers now the same result...no sound. also tried hard reset at startup.
i also think the daw remote control isnt being picked up in cubase ai- so i think i can now point the finger at the firewire port on the emu1212m. my belief that it has an agere chipset could be wrong, more likely a custom creative/emu job. still odd considering my other gear worked fine but maybe not with a fussy n12. if a new fw card, removal of the 1212m and a complete pc xp-reformat doesnt do the trick, i'd be lost and would probably consider it a dud unit.
firewire cards with ti chipsets are very rare in australia, looks like i have to hunt for an agere or suffer the wait of buying online from the states...
cryin' in my beer

[grame99]

i tired using my N12 on the emu 1212m firewire input but it didn't like it one bit...

[AndyRoid]

Hi people, I'm in a bit of a confused state . I have an N8 which I want to set up for the first time with drivers/firmware etc on XP. I 'm confused as to what I should install & in what order - if anyone can give me a simple guide on this I'd be most grateful - I'm confused as to whether I need to install the stuff on disc that came with the N8 & then update the firmware/drivers etc off the website or what - sorry - new to all this stuff. Please help if you can. Many thanks in advance. AR

[tungchihyu]

Hi all, I am not so much of a tech guru, so I have question to ask here.. I would be really appreciated for any helps..

I am using a n8, I have 2 hardware synths connect to the stereo channels of n8 (5/6 & 7/8). I am thinking of adding more hardware synths, but of course I have used up all my stereo channels, is there any way to expand the stereo channels of my current setup?

Thanks !

[sirthought]

Originally Posted by tungchihyu

Hi all, I am not so much of a tech guru, so I have question to ask here.. I would be really appreciated for any helps..

I am using a n8, I have 2 hardware synths connect to the stereo channels of n8 (5/6 & 7/8). I am thinking of adding more hardware synths, but of course I have used up all my stereo channels, is there any way to expand the stereo channels of my current setup?

Thanks !

No other option for stereo channels, unless you connect another n-series unit.

[sirthought]

I'm surprised we haven't heard from Geosync's successor at Yamaha.
Anyone know who it is?

Perhaps not everyone is cut out to be a message board resource?

[tungchihyu]

Originally Posted by sirthought

No other option for stereo channels, unless you connect another n-series unit.

apart from getting another n-series, is there no hardware exists that will extend the stereo channel?

or is there any alternative ways to extend it ,.. say adding more mono channel in pairs? is there anyway to make it happen?

Thanks!

[muso36]

Originally Posted by andrew caramia

update
i tried uninstalling the new drivers and trying the older software. resulted in no sound whatsoever. tried to reinstall the new drivers now the same result...no sound. also tried hard reset at startup.
i also think the daw remote control isnt being picked up in cubase ai- so i think i can now point the finger at the firewire port on the emu1212m. my belief that it has an agere chipset could be wrong, more likely a custom creative/emu job. still odd considering my other gear worked fine but maybe not with a fussy n12. if a new fw card, removal of the 1212m and a complete pc xp-reformat doesnt do the trick, i'd be lost and would probably consider it a dud unit.
firewire cards with ti chipsets are very rare in australia, looks like i have to hunt for an agere or suffer the wait of buying online from the states...
cryin' in my beer

Hi Andrew, On page 18 of the Emu 1212m manual it says about the firewire connection, "this port does NOT support Firewire audio".
I had to buy the "exact" pci firewire card that the Yamaha support guy was using to get my N12 working without audio dropouts. I bought mine from Inta Audio (they told me its the only one they fit to their own built computers - not sure where you would get it in Australia)? Google this...... pcc-fwc-belpci400

Check my other posts to see that I had the same problems before I did this. It will all be worth it if you do this! Regards, Bob

[Vivalarte]

Hi I just want to say thanks for newest drivers [ win tools for n_ v 200 ]
Install went smoothly. [ just have to follow all the steps in given PDFs Everythink works perfectly.
I had few serious problems with mLan drivers on my set. Now they all gone.
I run Yamaha n 12 along with
Tyan Mobo with 2 Xeon- Win XP 32. Cubase AI4 updated fuuckThanks.

[andres_feret]

hello i am working since a few days on this mixer. i like the pres and the converters the sound and the concept is great but i only have this problem: when i move daw to aux know on the top right side of the mixer it seems that it is not working because i did't hear anything from it. perhaps something is wrong with my setup, everething else is working fine my driver is mlan 1.4.0 and mlan tools 2.0 version 1.3.3


thx for your help

[andrew caramia]

Originally Posted by muso36

Hi Andrew, On page 18 of the Emu 1212m manual it says about the firewire connection, "this port does NOT support Firewire audio".
I had to buy the "exact" pci firewire card that the Yamaha support guy was using to get my N12 working without audio dropouts. I bought mine from Inta Audio (they told me its the only one they fit to their own built computers - not sure where you would get it in Australia)? Google this...... pcc-fwc-belpci400

Check my other posts to see that I had the same problems before I did this. It will all be worth it if you do this! Regards, Bob

update 2-
theres a card on its way from inta audio. boy what a hassle it is to get this thing working.
firstly, i managed to source a firewire card locally with a ti chipset (supposedly backwards compatable), however the sunix 800 1394b tsb81ba3 chip wasnt picked up at all, no audio and 'data overflow' warnings....
so, another purchase of a card with the via chipset was bought on a hunch while i'm waiting for the belkin card to arrive from the u.k. this produced a lot less dropouts but is still unstable.
i'm really surprised yamaha didnt provide more warnings about the firewire situation with this board, if the belkin card works its a warning to everyone who wants to purchase this product to be aware that a compatable card may be hard to come by and it has to be very specific.
im even suggesting yamaha should provide a card with the product or have some available as an accessory on their website.... jeez for them it would amount to 2 bucks a card to produce and everone would be happy.
but besides all this, the n12 appears to be a fantastic product and very proffessional considering what it can do. a godsend for those that take pride in audio production, and with the right no-how, combined with decent outboard, highly underrated in my opinion.

[Lemontree]

Originally Posted by sirthought

I'm surprised we haven't heard from Geosync's successor at Yamaha.
Anyone know who it is?

Perhaps not everyone is cut out to be a message board resource?

Maybe there isn't one

[grame99]

Originally Posted by Lemontree

Maybe there isn't one

it's all of us - he made this clear just before he left. now we're riding without stabilisers.

[Geosync]

Originally Posted by Lemontree

Maybe there isn't one

It was never official. It was all on my personal time. I could slip in during the day because it was work related. Now I have completely different responsibilities but I read the posts and often forward to customer support just to make sure none of you are dangling in the breeze. You guys are doing great, keep it up !

[ally]

Hello to everyone.....I'm new here and I spent a few hours reading about this thread. I just got my n8 and I also have Cubase 5 32 bit under Vista 64 bit. I followed every steps (downloading and installing all various updates and drivers) I read every PDF on how to proceed. I do the proper devices in the manager:

Yamaha Steinberg n series FW
Yamaha Steinberg FW Bus
Yamaha Steinberg FW WDM Audio
Yamaha Steinberg FW WDM Midi

I selected the Yamaha Steinberg FW Asio in Cubase (sound is coming in and out OK). In the midi devices I activated n8 remote in and out. When I start Cubase 5 nothing lights up....I have no control. If I press stop, play, rec, ff and rec I do see that Cubase is receiving a midi signal in the transport control bar in Cubase interface. If I press on identify in the Steinberg FW Driver I con in the tray....the cubase ready blinks 8 times and shuts off. I tryed to activat just for the fun the Yamaha 01x in the remotes control settings in Cubase and I have basic function (stop, play, rec, ff and rewind) but nothing else and no lights.

What are the files installed and where so I can check if installer put it in the coorect location.

Thank you for taking the time to respond to this

[Groberts]

Over 124,000 posts in this thread. Mostly driver related issues getting the Yamaha N8/N12 recognized and working. I am baffled. Clearly its a great product at a great price point with great sound. But man ....is it me, or is this the only thread on GS with over 124,000 posts, mostly driver/issue related? Just asking.

[ally]

Originally Posted by ally

Hello to everyone.....I'm new here and I spent a few hours reading about this thread. I just got my n8 and I also have Cubase 5 32 bit under Vista 64 bit. I followed every steps (downloading and installing all various updates and drivers) I read every PDF on how to proceed. I do the proper devices in the manager:

Yamaha Steinberg n series FW
Yamaha Steinberg FW Bus
Yamaha Steinberg FW WDM Audio
Yamaha Steinberg FW WDM Midi

I selected the Yamaha Steinberg FW Asio in Cubase (sound is coming in and out OK). In the midi devices I activated n8 remote in and out. When I start Cubase 5 nothing lights up....I have no control. If I press stop, play, rec, ff and rec I do see that Cubase is receiving a midi signal in the transport control bar in Cubase interface. If I press on identify in the Steinberg FW Driver I con in the tray....the cubase ready blinks 8 times and shuts off. I tryed to activat just for the fun the Yamaha 01x in the remotes control settings in Cubase and I have basic function (stop, play, rec, ff and rewind) but nothing else and no lights.

What are the files installed and where so I can check if installer put it in the coorect location.

Thank you for taking the time to respond to this

I've located a few files:

C/Program Files/Common files/Steinberg/Project Templates....with all n8/n12 templates..(shouldn't it in Cubase 5 templates folder in the program files x86 folder ?)

C/Program Files/Common files/Steinberg/Shared components/yamaha_n_u.dll (is this the extension file ? should it be in the components folder in the Cubase 5 folder ?)

C/Program files (x86)/Yamaha/FWDriver....many files from the installation and the drivers folder (is this the correct location ?)

In Cubase 5 in the midi devices section I see that n8 remote in and out are active but only the regular midi in and not the out. I can't find the way to activate it.

Are ther 2 different versions of the extensions ? mine is the 64 bit version:
yamaha_n_u.dll
1.5.0.2
274 Kb

[ally]

:idea: ....I got it working by installing also the 32 bit version on the extension....If you're under Vista 64 and you download the 64 bit version of the Tools for n it will not work with the Cubase 32 bit. After installing the Tools for 64 bits you have to download the 32 bit version and run only the extension installer.

[andrew caramia]

Originally Posted by andrew caramia

update 2-
theres a card on its way from inta audio. boy what a hassle it is to get this thing working.
firstly, i managed to source a firewire card locally with a ti chipset (supposedly backwards compatable), however the sunix 800 1394b tsb81ba3 chip wasnt picked up at all, no audio and 'data overflow' warnings....
so, another purchase of a card with the via chipset was bought on a hunch while i'm waiting for the belkin card to arrive from the u.k. this produced a lot less dropouts but is still unstable.
i'm really surprised yamaha didnt provide more warnings about the firewire situation with this board, if the belkin card works its a warning to everyone who wants to purchase this product to be aware that a compatable card may be hard to come by and it has to be very specific.
im even suggesting yamaha should provide a card with the product or have some available as an accessory on their website.... jeez for them it would amount to 2 bucks a card to produce and everone would be happy.
but besides all this, the n12 appears to be a fantastic product and very proffessional considering what it can do. a godsend for those that take pride in audio production, and with the right no-how, combined with decent outboard, highly underrated in my opinion.

update 3-
i suspected my mobo might be faulty. to eliminate all possibilities, i replaced it with a gigabyte ep45-ud3... with firewire ti 400 chip onboard. also replaced the hdrive to be sure, and xp pro reformat. power supply also replaced. all the new drivers and updates were completed successfully.
first the good news- pops and clicks are gone.
the bad- still the occasional dropout! sample rates and buffer sizes were played with. general windows stuff like playing back cds and browsing the same.
all i can do now is wait for the belkin ti fw card to arrive... if it made a difference i'd be pretty surprised, as the onboard fw shouldnt be much different?

any ideas guys?

xp pro sp3
4gig ram ddr2
nvidea 6200gt silent
1t samsung hd
3.2ghz 775cpu
corsair 620w power supply
liteon dvd/cd
ua uad-1e

[MusicJohn]

I am really pleased with using and integrating the Yamaha N12, 01x and AW2400+mLan16 and really do hope to keep this kit together longterm as the quality/routing/sound/usability is fantastic.

I am however now really concerned though that Yamaha are not apparently committed to ever bring out newer mLan drivers to 64bit along with updating 01x tools/GPatchbay/Studio Manager software to support 64bit OS.

I know this question is not Yamaha n12 specific and realise that you can now flash the firmware of n12 to go across to the Y/Steinberg driver that does support 64bit OS.

However as I also have older mlan equipment I would like to know if Yamaha can also please bring mLan up to 64bit? XP64bit is not really an OS option as no-one supports DAWs/Software under this OS.
Yamaha, please we need mLAN Win7 64bit, Vista64 & new MacOS 64 bit drivers & software.

George if you are out there - will this ever happen or officially not so I know whether I do need to dump my old mlan gear if I wish to use more than 4GB of memory?

[muso36]

[QUOTE=andrew caramia;4221705]update 3-
i suspected my mobo might be faulty. to eliminate all possibilities, i replaced it with a gigabyte ep45-ud3... with firewire ti 400 chip onboard. also replaced the hdrive to be sure, and xp pro reformat. power supply also replaced. all the new drivers and updates were completed successfully.
first the good news- pops and clicks are gone.
the bad- still the occasional dropout! sample rates and buffer sizes were played with. general windows stuff like playing back cds and browsing the same.
all i can do now is wait for the belkin ti fw card to arrive... if it made a difference i'd be pretty surprised, as the onboard fw shouldnt be much different?

any ideas guys?

Hi Andrew, I can only sympathize with what you are going through at the moment - its almost the same as the situation I was in. Having researched purchasing a motherboard (Gigabyte ga-ep43-ds3) with the correct fw chipset it seems illogical that a pci firewire card with the same chipset should function perfectly when the onboard firewire was giving so many audio dropouts, I can only hope that the new fw card works for you as it did for me. Dont give up hope just yet! Regards, Bob

[HAHA]

Hi all!

My first post here. I have just read the entire thread and that took about two days...
I come from a slightly different perspective than most here. I got the N12 primarily for use as a live mixer. I know that it isn't really designed for such use but I tried anyway. I got tired of bad sound and decided to replace all hardware we used in the band. I was a little nervous that the extra AD/DA would corrupt sound compared to a 100% analog mixer chain but the N12 blew our previous mixer out of the water. The main attraction was the built in compressors and ease of use. Getting the same functionality and quality out of traditional euipment would have resulted in a rack full of compressors and a larger investment. This is so easy to use and considering the permanent lack of time for set up and sound check on gigs, this is much better in practice.

However ...

For large gigs, I need to use up all the N12 channels just for the drum kit. The drums can really use the compressors so it's very convenient to allocate the N12 for this. I really only have one stereo input to spare, which means two channels of external mic preamp. I don't want an extra desktop mixer so I need rack mounted equipment. (One expensive, custom built rack case for the N12 is enough - thank you.)

I could go with some external micpres + rotary rackmixer and bring the analog signal into N12. (suggestions?)

Then we have the MR816, which is intriguing.
Being anal about sound, I would prefer not doing AD/DA more than once. However, using a computer during live performance is a big no-no unless it is strictly for recording. I can't say I fully understand what MR816 can do standalone without a computer. It seems to remember the settings so perhaps it could be setup once (with a computer) and be wired together with N12 to get me the extra inputs.

Will it route sound digitally over FW to N12 in standalone mode ?
Is there a clever solution to getting faders etc. on the MR816 channels without using a computer?

[terence]

Originally Posted by gurian1

Not much action on the Yamaha thread..must be working well! How are the new drivers working for everyone? Great here!

Rob

Hi Rob,

You'll see from my older posts that the new drivers work well, except for a slight weirdness where I have to re-start Cubase 2-3 times to get the ready light up on the n12. No change there, just living with it and waiting for the next updates.

-Terence

[soundrage]

Originally Posted by HAHA

Hi all!

My first post here. I have just read the entire thread and that took about two days...
I come from a slightly different perspective than most here. I got the N12 primarily for use as a live mixer. I know that it isn't really designed for such use but I tried anyway. I got tired of bad sound and decided to replace all hardware we used in the band. I was a little nervous that the extra AD/DA would corrupt sound compared to a 100% analog mixer chain but the N12 blew our previous mixer out of the water. The main attraction was the built in compressors and ease of use. Getting the same functionality and quality out of traditional euipment would have resulted in a rack full of compressors and a larger investment. This is so easy to use and considering the permanent lack of time for set up and sound check on gigs, this is much better in practice.

However ...

For large gigs, I need to use up all the N12 channels just for the drum kit. The drums can really use the compressors so it's very convenient to allocate the N12 for this. I really only have one stereo input to spare, which means two channels of external mic preamp. I don't want an extra desktop mixer so I need rack mounted equipment. (One expensive, custom built rack case for the N12 is enough - thank you.)

I could go with some external micpres + rotary rackmixer and bring the analog signal into N12. (suggestions?)

Then we have the MR816, which is intriguing.
Being anal about sound, I would prefer not doing AD/DA more than once. However, using a computer during live performance is a big no-no unless it is strictly for recording. I can't say I fully understand what MR816 can do standalone without a computer. It seems to remember the settings so perhaps it could be setup once (with a computer) and be wired together with N12 to get me the extra inputs.

Will it route sound digitally over FW to N12 in standalone mode ?
Is there a clever solution to getting faders etc. on the MR816 channels without using a computer?

Why not just get another n12?