#yamaha synth

[winner-takes-all]

[alfonsemusic]

Yamaha PSS-140 demo

Best features of this keyboard? Super-portable, runs on 6x AA batteries, has some great FM drums playable via 5 drum pads and, top of the list, in amongst the standard home keyboard sounds there are a few unusual voices (Reverse, Popcorn, Gurgle, Fireworks) that implement some interesting synthy effects. Also, the volume control is digital, so you get strange grainy artefacts to the sound when it’s set low. At £8, this was my best bargain yet. You never quite know what condition these things will be in when they turn up after a successful online bid, but this one was in pristine condition - had probably barely been played or come out of the box in 30 years and the output was clear and noise-free.

[alfonsemusic]

From the Live Room 4

Live jam featuring Ian Bostic on drums and Alfonse on the Novation Bass Station ii, as well as the 1988 Yamaha PSS-680 FM mini-synth. The two tracks of customised Yamaha patches were overdubbed later, with effects provided by the Boss DD7 digital delay and CH1 Super Chorus pedals. Some additional reverb was added to the synths at the mixing stage.

Music (C) Copyright 2019 Alfonse and Ian Bostic

Download the track at: https://alfonse.bandcamp.com/album/from-the-live-room

[alfonsemusic]

Yamaha Portasound PSS-580 FM keyboard demo - "Limes”

The PSS-580 is a relative of the 480, 680, and 780, with basically all the same chips and most of the same features in common. The 680/780 boast drum pads and extra drum sounds, as well as a pitch-bend wheel and a stereo chorus effect, but the editable FM synthesizer parameters are common to all these keyboards, with control from the front panel of the keyboard over attack, decay, frequency, feedback and modulation for 2 operators.

Music: "Limes"   (C) Copyright 2019 Alfonse

[alfonsemusic]

Yamaha Portasound PSS-190 keyboard (1990) 

All sounds you hear in the track were made using the PSS-190 and enhanced with some digital production tools. The PSS190 is a "high-performance electronic keyboard" according to the manual, and certainly packs a lot of sounds into a small package. Many of the voices sound like PCM samples of the FM sounds on the PSS-680/780/480/580 keyboard range, but there are also layered and split voices to play with.

Thanks to Ed Bettella for the loan of this little beast, plucked from obscurity in a loft somewhere...

Music: "Whistleblower"   (C) Copyright 2019 Alfonse https://alfonse.bandcamp.com/track/whistleblower-pss190

[alfonsemusic]

Yamaha Portasound PSS-680 MusicStation FM keyboard (1988) 

All sounds you hear in the track were made using the PSS-680. Individual drum hits were sampled from the drum pads and processed (the 680's kick drum is horrible, so that needed some attention for a start...), to allow fresh beats to be built, rather than using the rhythms found on the PSS-680 itself. 

The 680 has a 2 operator FM synth on board, which can be edited via the Digital Synthesizer parameters on the front panel; there are limited editing options, but enough to get a cool range of sounds. It also has Midi In, Out and Thru, allowing for plenty of cool connectivity with controllers, computers and other hardware. It's basically identical to the PSS-780, aside from some different coloured pads and other parts, and has the same sound chips as the PSS-480 and 580, which were the next rung down in the product line.

[digitalia-regalia]

[winner-takes-all]

I want them to be friends.