By February 1986, the British music press was previewing Yamaha’s RX21L as the RX21’s Latin-percussion counterpart. Its sixteen sampled voices gave the compact MIDI rhythm machine a distinct percussion ensemble. The preview documents an announcement, rather than a first retail delivery.
The machine in the record
Akira Jimbo / Perfect Live II.
A published equipment record reports the Perfect Live II concert insert listing Akira Jimbo’s Yamaha RX-21L. The original insert still needs inspection and no audible part is allocated, so the page presents a reported concert-gear connection rather than a settled performance credit.
Read Yamaha RX21L — Akira Jimbo artist-use record ↗More records in the archive
The machine keeps turning up.
Various artists / Paradise Is a Frequency / The Style of Life
The Style of Life lists Yamaha RX-21L among its compilation-wide instruments.
Read The Style of Life — various-artists compilation ↗
Virgil Work Jr. / Ease Into It
The track equipment list names Yamaha RX-21L Latin Percussion.
Read Virgil Work Jr. — Ease Into It ↗
Paradise Is a Frequency / The Style of Life
Paradise Is a Frequency list the Yamaha RX-21L Latin Percussion in the record’s instrumentation.
Read Paradise Is a Frequency / The Style of Life ↗In the market
- 1986-02: GBP 249 — British news retail quote. RX21L Source ↗
- 1986-06: GBP 229 — Review prose; conflicts with price box. RX21L Source ↗
- 1986-06: GBP 269 — Review price box; conflicts with prose. RX21L Source ↗
On record
- Akira Jimbo / Casiopea — Perfect Live II concert. A published equipment record reports that the Perfect Live II insert lists Akira Jimbo’s Yamaha RX-21L among the concert gear. Source ↗
- Vincent — The Style of Life. The Vincent archive includes Yamaha’s RX-21L Latin Percussion in the A Work Of Art Labs setup, giving the overlooked companion box a place in a specific, lived-in cassette studio. Source ↗
- Virgil Work Jr. — Ease Into It. The track equipment list names Yamaha RX-21L Latin Percussion. Source ↗
- Paradise Is a Frequency — The Style of Life. Paradise Is a Frequency list the Yamaha RX-21L Latin Percussion in the record’s instrumentation. Source ↗
The Latin counterpart
Sixteen sampled percussion voices turn the RX21L into a small ensemble: bongos, timbales and congas sit beside claves, cowbell, tambourine, paired agogos and cuicas, and two whistles. Trevor Gilchrist’s June 1986 review particularly enjoyed the agogos, cuicas and whistles, with reservations about the tambourine and cowbell. Those are his listening judgments.
A particular collection of voices
Start with a factory rhythm, alter it and build a longer arrangement. The review counted fifty pattern locations, initially containing twenty-nine factory patterns, and four song memories sharing 256 pattern entries. Cassette storage let a player preserve patterns before rewriting them. MIDI gave the percussion box a place alongside another rhythm machine.
Small, programmable and on sale
The printed British prices varied. February’s One Two Testing news item quoted £249. The June review gave £229 in its text but £269 including VAT in the price box; a dealer advertisement in that issue also listed £249. These are quotations from different pieces of period print. They leave the player’s small, focused percussion machine in view without supplying one settled worldwide launch price.
Shredder ↗ Yamaha RX21L Drum Machine ↗ Yamaha dealer advertisement ↗
Sources
The visual archive
Further visual evidence.
Sources for images shown earlier (3)
- Yamaha RX21L Drum Machine ↗
- Various artists — The Style of Life ↗
2024-12-06 · Cover painting by Stan Solomon · Official Bandcamp release-page artwork (Open Graph image) - Virgil Work Jr. — Ease Into It ↗
2024-08-30 · Virgil Work Jr. / release artwork via Bandcamp · Official Bandcamp release-page artwork (Open Graph image)
Additional visual sources (3)
Original publications and related image sources.
- Yamaha RX21L — Period review and product photograph ↗
1986-06 · Electronics & Music Maker / Trevor Gilchrist · Printed p. 30 = PDF p. 32 - Yamaha RX21L — Owner manual and panel drawing ↗
Imprint 86 03 3.0 CR · Yamaha / Nippon Gakki · 49 PDF pages; printed pp. 1–2 = PDF 2–3; printed p. 45 = PDF 46; imprint PDF 49 - Shredder ↗
Feb 1986 · One Two Testing · Yamaha RX21L Digital Rhythm Programmer with RX21L model marking clearly visible.