The instrument
Like the QX7 and QX21, the QX5 was an affordable version of the QX1, Yamaha's first MIDI sequencer from 1984, and the improved QX3 from 1986. The devices belonged to the digital X series with the synthesizers DX1, DX7, DX7II and DX9, the keyboards KX1 and KX5, the rhythm machines RX11 and RX15, the music computer CX-5M and the sound generation system TX816, all based on FM synthesis. The QX sequencers do not have their own sound generation system, but store music sequences in the form of MIDI data on floppy discs and play sequences to control MIDI-compatible musical instruments.
Details
In principle, the QX5 had similar capabilities to the large QX1 and QX3. It is equipped with 8 MIDI tracks and has been reduced to a significantly smaller memory and double assignment of all keys. It has four operating modes - recording, playback, input and editing - and a built-in 3.5’ disc for data storage. The data is recorded polyphonically on 8 independent tracks and stored up to a maximum of 20,000 notes on 32 macros. Recording can be done in real time or in step-write mode, which is quite complicated to handle. The tempo and beat can be changed. The playback function is used to transfer the recorded MIDI data to control a sound generation system. The DX5 can be connected to the DX7 synthesiser, the TX816 sound generator and the RX11 drum machine at the same time. (Source: amazona and Yamaha manual)