Yamaha QY10

Possessing a MIDI sequencer, a tone generator and a tiny single-octave keyboard, the portable and battery-powered QY10 enables a musician to compose music while traveling.

In response to its design, the music technology press coined the term "walkstation", a portmanteau of the words "Walkman" and "workstation".

With two octaves of full size velocity-sensitive keys, the MM10 overcomes a significant limitation of the QY10: its lack of a proper keyboard.

The QY10's sequencer data is maintained by an internal back-up battery, but it may also be stored externally by transferring it to a suitable device, such as a MIDI equipped computer.

However, unlike other sequencers in the QY series, the QY10 cannot auto-harmonize its backing tracks to chords played on an external MIDI keyboard.

Another application is as a general purpose MIDI sequencer, controlling instruments with far superior sounds than those available from its own tone generator.

It has also influenced the physical design of many of Yamaha's subsequent devices, for example the MU5 sound module, the RY8 drum machine and the SU10 sampler.