The Yamaha Story

[ton37]

For those who are interested to know more about 'Yamaha' history.

Yamaha Digital Pianos & Keyboards: The Definitive Guide

In this article, we'll be diving head first into the Yamaha product line to learn the ins and outs of what makes Yamaha such a trusted name in music.

https://www.pianodreamers.com/yamaha-digital-pianos/

[Joe H]

Here's the full story of Torakusu Yamaha (founder of Yamaha Corporation):  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKGu54YKkSE

Joe H

[ton37]

Hi Joe, in that article one can find that vid. too when scrolling down, named as 'The Yamaha Story'

[mikf]

Another interesting fact is that one of Torakusu Yamaha's neighbors was the Kawai family. Young Kawai was taken in as an apprentice by Yamaha, and later when Torakusu died he went off to establish the Kawai company. So two of the most prolific and advanced keyboard companies are based in the same town. That town must truly dominate the world keyboard business.
Mike

[andyg]

It does. Ironically, when I toured Japan for Kawai, I never got to go to Hamamatsu. It was planned but we were in typhoon season and most of the travelling was by train rather than plane. Just ran out of time.

Back in the day, employees of both companies would meet up in an establishment colloquially known as "Mac's Bar". I wonder how much 'cross pollination' of the two company's products occurred as a result of a few drinks!

[Joe H]

Hi Joe, in that article one can find that vid. too when scrolling down, named as 'The Yamaha Story'

Sorry about that.  I looked at the beginning of the article and wasn't interested in pianos (though I used to own one a long time ago).  I'm getting ready to sell my Yamaha Acoustic Piano plug-in card (PLG150-AP) because I never play it.  I'm currently only interested in synthesizers.  I will keep my 3 synth cards... VL, AN and FM and 2 PCM sample playback sound modules... Yamaha Motif Rack XS (with arpeggiators) and EMU Proteus 1000 upgraded to the v2.26 OS (with arpeggiators) and installed XL-1 Lead and PK6 ROMs.

If anyone here is interested in the rare (hard to find) AP plug-in card send me a PM.



Joe H

[alanclare]

There are a lot of uTube videos about the company and its products. I like this one, and it tries to explain the presence of Yamaha motorcycles as a separate trading company in the overall structure...

https://youtu.be/OTco_4S67-U

...and it fails.

Alan