Lofi Tip - Hidden Monosynth Mode on Yamaha pss-480 pss-580 pss-680 pss-780
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- čas přidán 21. 08. 2010
- Hidden Monosynth Mode on Yamaha Pss480 Pss 580 Pss680 Pss780
Another tutorial for this keyboard can be found here: • Pssing Acid Tutorial -...
Here's how you can make your yamaha pss-480, pss-580. pss-680 or pss-780 play like a monosynth. Its a great way to get yourself a super cheap FM monophonic synth for solos and basses.
Just to recap the work around works like this:
Hold 'Record' and press 'Chord 1-5' then turn off 'Rhythm'. Then press 'Start/Stop' and 'Start/Stop' again. Press the same 'Chord' button again and then 'Start/Stop' to run the recorded blank sequence. Turn on 'Duet' mode and your keyboard will play monophonically.
Yeay :D
The sound that i played in the video was created using pss edit software, but you can get these same basic synth tones by following this procedure. First select the Oboe preset, its 21 on the 480/580 and 36 on the 680/780. Turn off the vibrato. Then edit set the 'digital synthesizer' section settings as follows: 0-63 1-63 2-00 3-00 4-00 5-00 6-07 7-75. This should give a nice bright saw wave across the whole keyboard. By changing setting 4 to 02 you can get a square wave instead. These make great starting points as basic sounds to tweak.
EDIT: i forgot to mention that the chord sequence doesn't have to be empty so you can play in monophony over anything recorded into the sequence, as long as you record no left hand auto chord stuff.
It has highest note priority and it also fully retriggers it envelopes on every note so aviod mixing long attack and release times (on the front panel Sustain=Release)
To deep edit the internal sounds by accessing all the hidden parameters download 'Pss Edit' from the downloads section here: members.chello.at/bobby100/
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13 years later and I'm loving this video! This is where social media wins! Thank you, Chris!
Ha can't believe it's been that long 😄 glad you're enjoying this
The PSS keyboards are fascinating! Nice hidden mode! Thanks Chris for the presentation! :)
Nice informational vid.I picked up a PSS-680 today at a flea market for $40 USD. I bought it to relieve my youth(circa 1988:) I had forgotten how much synth tech. Yamaha had packed into those little beauties
Awesome This is what I've been looking for. Sweet monophonic bass lines on my pss-480. Thank you.
BRAVO - that’s GENIUS!
Love the “Cheap as Chips” line You used - I don’t get to hear it much in the stated, but wow this Video and your other 480 video were remarkable! Thanks!
Thank you. Yeah sorry there's not much sound from the keyboards in this one. Its a really old video, wouldn't do that now 😄
This is absolutely great.
Thanks for this!
@jorgealanisg Completely by accident. I was playing around with the built in mini sequencer recording loops and improving over them, caught the 'Duet' button by mistake and found this. I already liked this keyboard lots, now i like it even more.
I don't blame you. After watching this, I ordered mine of an online auction today! Awsome!
I bought one when they first came out! I can say that for the price, the unit was a great master controller and sound module!! the onboard 2 op synth was amazing to say the least!! Very much underated!! I ran it through effects and I and many others were blown away with the sounds you could create! Well the keyboard got crushed, but I was still able to use the unit as a great sound module. In 2013 the thing still is in my grooves! Nice Post :) The same sound engine is used in the PSS-680.
I've just picked a 780 up and your trick works a treat! That how I found your excellent channel. The sound you played on th 780 reminded me of the bassline in Altern 8 Activ-8, Top One Nice One.....
***** Ha yeah, i remember that tune, does sound a bit like that. I hope you enjoy your 780, i think they're one of the most underrated home keyboards. Multitimbral, programmable FM, basic sequencing and midi. Total wolf in sheep’s clothing. I was playing around with a 480 with the Volca's synced by midi the other day actually.
I finally understand how "monophonic" part of monophonic synthesizers work, and holy crap, it's awesome! I always assumed it was only able to play one note at a time, and I had no idea how how that would work...
Yes on a monosynth you can only play one note at a time, but you can only sing one note at a time, can't you? Brass and woodwind can also only play one note at a time.
Back in the day I had a 770 and knew of this top tip too. Loved that keyboard.
Sweet! Going to try this out now with my PSS480! :) Thanks
farking AWESOME, had this on the shelf for 12 years now
Thanks for uploading. I think I'm gonna try this on my PSS-780.
Thank you so much, this video helped convince me to buy one of these keyboards, I really like having a mono mode so much. I don't know that much about synths but I think it's still not a "full" mono synth mode, but it's enough of one to have a lot of fun. I do note that if you hold down a key and then press a *lower* key the note won't play, but if it's higher you get the expected mono synth behavior, but for all I know this may be normal. In any case I really enjoyed playing around with it, in part thanks to you and this clever workaround.
Thank you. Yes they sure packed in the features when they made these, lots of fun to be had with these still 😁
hey. that is a brilliant tip! Thanks loads
I found something on my PSR-60 as well back in the day... there's actually an undocumented MIDI mode where you can play multiple instruments on different MIDI channels at once. Each MIDI channel controls one of the parts (solo, orchestra, bass, chords and drums) and has its own set of voices... the solo and orchestra voices are the ones printed on the keyboard, but bass and chord voices can also be chosen.
Oh cool, interesting. Sounds a bit like maybe they used inards from one of their other boards with all that spec buried inside. Just a guess though
Thank you Chris for sharing the tip. Good thinking! Also, the DATA + & - buttons contol Portamento speed, which I am sure you already knew. Cheers!
The first one shown is the pss-480 which is the smaller one yes. The pss-580 is also the same but with slightly different coloured buttons.
This is brilliant !
Thank you 😁
I have a pss-270, my first synth, and I recently bought it again at a second hand shop and was amazed with what I could do with the onboard sounds after about 30 years of keyboard experience between now and when I first had it. Some very modern edm and old school EBM and Industrial [I find edm a kind of dirty word and prefer the 80's.90's term EBM for Electronic Body Music as used to describe bands like Front 242 and old school techno stuff.]Like you and others have said, it's amazing what this things can put out.
Aye Yamaha in particular made some great bits of gear that are really cheap to get hold of and can really sing given the right treatment. Yeah, not sure where you are but I guess the EDM phrase came from the US and it seems a bit strange growing up in the 80s'/90's when that kind of thing was everywhere already.
Nice work.
Love my PSS480
Thank you. I've been impressed with them ever since I brought one back from a carboot sale.
That's true, i was lucky when i found the 480 on a car boot sale but ended up grabbing the other from Ebay at a premium on a local pickup thingy. And yeah, they do sound up to date if you program them right. That's the beauty of synth!
Good tip!
Id seen this vid a few years ago and forgot to try this on my 480 , but i will . Thank you , great tip . I like plugin these into a loop pedal .
redbird saraceno Thanks very much. Should sound pretty decent looped up with a few fx on I reckon.
@radionactive Unfortunately i don't own any of those keyboards so i can't answer your question. I'll be on the look out for them though, pretty much any 80's yamaha like these is on the list! cheers.
No problem. There are a few other things you could try thinking about it. The master volume slider might be knackered so if you know how to solder you could try soldering connections together to makes its volume max all the time and see what happens. Also try running an external midi keyboard into it and see if that works. Just trial and error stuff really.
@1svega I happen to have a copy of the manual so i had a look. The correct way to record is to hold the record button then press 1 or more you want to record to (you need to press more than 1 to record chords), then start to play. There doesn't seem to be a way of deleting, seems you're expected to record over anything you don't want. It will reset if left with no batteries for long enough though. I'm planning another video with this at some point showing some more advanced sequencer tricks. :D
Thank you so much! I appreciate your response. I'm having a lot of fun with
this and want to try and make something decent (for myself at least) Thanks
again! Do you know where I may find a manual?
Excellent!!
I just read through my old replies to remind myself, it was a custom patch that I made with pss edit software via mid, just a basic waveform. There's a link in the info panel if you want to try that. I'll have a go at getting as close as I can with front panel edits too, that would be useful for me too.
I don't own these yamahas but I think it's a very informative tutorial!
That's hot!! I wish it would work on my 470! I always dreamed of it being monophonic...lofi FM is great!
@RaedwuIf You sure can. Depending on your PC you'll need a midi to game port cable or a midi to usb cable. These keyboards won't send velocity though as their keys are non touch sensitive. You can also use your pc to play the keyboards internal sounds from a sequencer, with up to 16 part multitimbrality with 12 note polyphony. Great little keyboards really.
@errorspending You can edit tons more on the 480 if you have the ability to link it to your computer via midi and use Pss-Edit. There is a link to it in the info pane of the video. The software also allows you to save your patches into the computer for safe keeping. Great stuff!
Yeah there is. You'll need a computer and a midi cable to link them together, a midi to usb cable is probably the easiest solution. Then you can trigger a 'memory bulk dump' on the keyboard and record the output to a midi sequncer, playing it back into the keyboard will restore everything. Alternatively the pssedit software has some tools for saving individual sounds, there is a link to that in the info pane below the video. PM me if you need any help with that!
Nice trick. Thanks for sharing.
@LeonDigz In midi mode 99 It's 16 channel multitimbral with 12 note polyphony! Only 5 of those channels can be your own sounds but hey, that's pretty good. I know that when editing the pss with pss edit it can send a single sound without having to send everything else. Editing it from an SL would be great. I had no idea that would be possible.
Excellent.
Nice! I've given away an old 480 to a niece of mine about a year months ago... Guess I'll have to break into her little room at night sometime soon wearing a ski mask and retrieve that thing. I miss it.
Fantastic!
Harvey Rothman Thanks. There will be a new tutorial video on my channel for this keyboard soon, or whenever I find the time anyway.
forgot how to do this and found this vid again, nice one man
No problem. Thanks for watching
Wow, very cool, thank you.
Interesting vid. I've got 1 of these and I really like some of the sounds it makes when the voice edit is altered. Is there a way of storing these settings when the unit is switched off, when there are no batteries installed? Thanks for uploading.
Hi thanks for the response, I will double check when I get the chance but I did a factory reset so it should be a c00
@LuckyButtonPusher They are well worth looking out for. Cheers.
@mickmelon No worries, hope you find it useful. Cheers.
@GitaneMan By the sounds of it its xp only as that's all i've ever used it on and i have no vista to test it on.
@squeakD Thanks man, i wonder if anyone else found this since the 80's when these boards came out.
May be a Yamaha engineer/programmer created this trick and told someone about it... which told someone else etc until it came to you >20 years later ^_^
Hi. This is a long shot but have you checked the keyboard is in the right midi mode? If you press the midi mode button the display should say c00. If it says c99 press the +/- buttons until it changes to c00. Other than that i can't think what could be wrong other than some sort of hardware failure.
Great tip, thanks :)
What voice is this dirty bass? Or did you edit a preset?
amazing!
Success! If you use the Oboe preset as a starting point and edit from there you can get some lovely basic synth tones to work from. I'll put the details in the info pane below the video.
@ChrisLody That is pretty sweet, this synth is kinda a wolf in sheeps clothing! I picked mine up from goodwill last nite for $6, wasn't working but I opened it up today to find a broken trace on the dc plug. Yeah, in regards to the remote SL, it let's you create templates (patches) for what the controllers output, normally it's is midi cc or nrpn/rpn, but it can also be sysex. Great for synths with limited midi cc implementation, or to give yourself a hardware editor for synth patches.
Very nice...I think these simple 2-op yamaha fm synths sound great. I'm surprised this synth is multi-timbral as well, how many parts can it do? Can this thing be edited by single sysex
@ChrisLody I got the 480! it's awesome, though I wish you could edit it a little bit more! I'm surprised the vibrato/reverb/sustain aren't editable like the portamento is...
That monophonic sound seems realy up to date.I had one of these K/boards over 20yrs ago & some of the sounds I created were amazing. I no longer have it but they"re hard to find now unless you pay a packet on ebay.
@schnoot It was a custom patch i made using Pss Edit which is just a basic waveform. If you'd like i can send you the patch data for it and some other voices. Send me a private message if you're interested.
@tekkentool That's a good idea! I don't own one but that's never stopped me before, i'm thinking a plastic pipe+plastic cone+speaker+amp would do the trick.
Ha, interesting! Thanks mate!
@rhoggard76 Maybe time to dust of that old Yamaha then? Thanks for all the comments by the way. Cheers.
oh i need to put this thing back together and get it into my studio for recording
@tekkentool Yeah i just had a quick look around and some people have come up with some nice easy ways to isolate the speaker. all i need is the pipe. Its not something i'e ever used so should be fun.
No problem man.
@errorspending Hmmm, tough call. I had the 580 first and really enjoyed improving on it on the sofa because its nice and small. The 780 adds a pitch bend, an extra octave of keyboard and midi thru, but is quite a lot bigger and has an annoying high pitch whistle. If i could only keep one it'd be the 580.......i think? :D
Cool trick I stumbled on to ad pitch bend to a keyboard without pitch wheel. Analog delay pedal for Guitar. Works better than pitch wheel.
@1svega I do as it happens. Luckily Yamaha keep all their manuals online in an archive. Just search for 'Yamaha Manual Library' and type the model number into the search thing on the right. Brilliant really. Hope you have fun!
I have a pretty basic question - I just received this is in the mail today. I ordered it for fun, I have absolutely no experience with music and I'm just wondering if there's a way to erase songs from the Song Memory. I was just trying to see if everything worked an accidentally recorded some stuff. Also, what's the correct way to record? Do I press record and then the number? It seems like sometimes it works and other times it doesnt?
Can you tell me what voice list number you used on the PSS-480? I think the voice styles are on the list to the left of the display. I just can't seem to get the sound right.
Hi, I have one of these but I can't seem to get it to make any sound, all the buttons seem to respond, the internal speakers don't work and the audio out doesn't work. Any help? I've taken a look inside and can't find anything wrong with it other than the adapter plug needs to be replaced. The 1/4 inch out seems to be soldered in alright, that is the extent of what I can do without help. Man my mouth is watering up, it powers on and everything I just can't get sound!
does anyone know how to turn midi thru off on 480's? anything received via the in is immediately re-echo'd back out the out. Wish I could tell it not to. It doesn't do it in the other midi mode, but then you lose the portamento stuff.
No problem :)
@mickmelon Unfortunately i don't think its possible to stop this which is a shame.
Awesome Sounds. A very underrated keyboard. Would you consider uploading some more demo's and tutorials?
Chris Matthews Yes I certainly will but can't say exactly when. I'm working towards a series of classical music played on synth which this could do via midi bit I'm still working on getting the pieces right. Also there are a few other tricks it can do like looped sequences
Great. Iv'e just brought a Yamaha PSS 680 off ebay. Only $20. It arrived in the post this afternoon. Not tried it out yet. I know it's a very under rated keyboard. Have seen people use guitar effect pedals with some keyboards and synthesizers and created some awesome sounds so I may give that a try in a few weeks time.
Chris Matthews $20 is pretty good I reckon. They're a nice little sketch pad on one level with editable synth sounds, editable drum rhythms and the sequencer meaning you can work up whole songs on one. Then once you combine them up to a full midi sequencer you can do even more with them. I wish Yamaha still made home keyboards like this!
Sorry, it was £20, not dollars. Still it was a steal. A lot of people say this keyboard is little more than a toy, but from what Iv'e seen on youtube I'd say there's a lot more to it than just that !!! I think they are becomeing a little rare and sought after. Maybe people are discovering that you don't have to save a small fortune for a leading brand like moog or korg. I'll try it out and have an experimental play around with it later this evening. Would like to get a few cheap guitar effect pedals off ebay and amp it - see what it can really do!
Chris Matthews Oh, yeah I'm UK too but talk to quite a lot of Americans on here! Yeah do seem to be getting a bit thin on the ground, pss380 and pss390 similarly so which I why I keep hoarding them :) They are a toy in terms of build and looks I'd say but the feature set and spec is way beyond what they needed to have built for the job. A wolf in sheep's clothing. Yeah grab a cheap digital multi effects pedal and whack a bit of distortion and delay on it and it'll come to life.
Hey quick question how do I record something and then play it to listen too???
that was nice! can you use an external midi controller to "control" the digital synth? I mean: Can you assign for example the attack rate or decay rate to a knob or fader. Thanks in advance!
Unfortunately not. The synth will respond to cc64 for sustain, cc1 for vibrato on and off and pitch bend but other than that there is no room for tweaking. Wish there was, would've been useful.
ChrisLody Pitch bend! That’s nice!
May be it works with SYSEXcapable machines...
Ha, yes! I do that too seeing as the memory is so damn unreliable, sometimes loosing it when the batteries are full and then retaining it when there are no batteries in it at all!
Sure, both midi and audio. You just need the right cable and things for the computer really.
Wonder if this works on a psr 180
Thanks. I would love to have had one when they first came out, i think it would have been a great unit to start with. Took me many more years to get into synth.
Which one is your favorite out of the series?
...strings or do you need to send the whole patch? Wondering if I can build an editing template on my novation remote sl
hey which version of the keyboard is the one in the video? I am after the smallest of the bunch, which I presume would be the 480... but just checking
@interweboscar I don't think it does. I've never owned a 460 but i had a very similar model once and it had no portamento. Also just checked out one on google images and didn't see a portamento button so i guess not.
Very clever.
Thanks very much. Nice of the yamaha engineers to leave this little nugget to find.
Just got one for 6.00$ American. Thanks Goodwill!!
dope
Thanks 😁
I've just acquired an unwanted PSS-580. I gig a PSR-550 several times a week and play various other organs and pianos. Although the 580 is 25 years old it still has some features comparable with the 550 and I particularly like its compact size. The 5 synth voice bank memories and the 5 melody and 5 chord memories seem to be retained even with no power or batteries. Does it have "flash" non-volatile memory for those? The melody and chord mems are like the 550 multipads. The bank mems are like the 550 registration mems. I do have the manual but yet to learn about all of the features. I like the potamento effect (not on 550) and your advice about making it a monosynth. Its main advantage would be to carry it to gigs where it's not possible to take the larger 550 due to travelling on a motorbike or bus (the 550 is ok in the car boot or on a train as they have luggage racks) mainly due to its size. SO, I'd like to explore it further. For instance, do you know if is there any way of saving and loading the memories to/from a laptop or other external advice. I appreciate that there is no USB socket. I do also have an old Yamaha TG-100 tone generator box which i think I could plug in via the MIDI connection to give even more voices. Any further comments greatly appreciated.
Yeah they're certainly great little boards for portability and have some pretty deep functions when you get digging. I've had some problems with the memory in my 580 and 780 with them sometimes ending up empty even when the batteries, but then the opposite is true with them retaining information without batteries for days sometimes. I doubt they'd have flash ram inside, judging from the age my guess would be normal volatile ram with a capacitor powering it while its unplugged. There is some great things you can do with midi. If you grab a usb to midi cable you can use the dump feature on the 580 to save its entire contents into a sequencer or something like midi-ox. Alternatively there is a sound editor which is also a good way of storing and editing patches. That's called PSS-edit and there is a link to it in the info pane below the video. And yeah it'd work with the TG-100 so you could have a nice mini setup there. Happy to help btw.
ChrisLody Lost Data prevention: Avoid playing the Demo as the last thing you do before switching off, doing so can mess your memory up more times than not! The best way to keep your memory intact for months on end is to use mains power to run the keyboard on but also have batteries inside the thing for holding data when it's off, loosing data from this can also happen although it will be static related as to why so you must do everything possible to reduce any static. Always put the volume slider down to zero and leave your keyboard a minute before switching off so the speakers don't pop. Also note, Turn off all Amps, External Speakers & Mixers first leaving the Yamaha PSS until last as the device you switch off! That way any power surges from the other devices being switched off will not upset the PSS. Once the PSS is switched off then unplug the power adapter from the mains and let the batteries do the rest. You can leave the adapter plugged into the keyboard when it's off.
Turing everything back on, make sure the PSS is the 1st thing you turn on, making sure the volume is down low. Replace batteries once a year! Taking care and doing the above you may lose data a couple of times a year with regular use.
If for any reason you think the PSS is playing up or just want to wipe the memory then hold Normal & Fingered auto accompaniment buttons as you switch on.
Could you make a video explaining the features and functions of the PSS 480? i found one for free on somebody's lawn and have been trying to teach myself what i can; I've been reading the manual online and am still having some trouble with the recording features. Nobody else has made such a video and it would be a big help.
Free on a lawn? Score! I'll add it to my list of videos to do in the future. I'm not sure when I'll get time but I've been thinking of doing something like that for a while as its actually possible to create loops on it and even tweak the sounds realtime for a sort of pseudo-acid sound.
To do this on the pss-480, push play on the Custom Drummer section. Make sure its programmed to be blank, no drum sounds. If the tempo light is blinking, it's playing. Then turn on the Duet button. Switch to Single Finger or Fingered in the Auto Bass Chord section. It should work. Only problem is the Rhythm Section starts playing if I hit a key designated to trigger it in the lower key section.
+rxz4140 Yikes, I'm sorry, the model I was talking about was the PSS-460. I do have a question for anyone who may know the answer. My Stereo Symphonic button introduces a static sound when activated. Any solutions?
Can this keyboard be connected to a PC? thanks.
Do you know if 460s have portamento?
@SadBunnyNL Heh heh, it'll be worth it!
Thanks for sharing How can I get this to work on my pc? Does it have the ability ? I have a Yamaha interface midi
frafri Yes it will work over midi as the 480 and 580 have midi in and out, the 680 and 780 also have midi thru. You just need to hook it up as per the instructions of your midi interface and set it up in whatever software you've chosen to use it with. The instructions will be specific to your chosen hardware and software so difficult to describe beyond that. if you need instructions for the keyboard then they'll be online at yamahas online manual repository
Sweet, much better tone, now run it through decay!
v cool.
how did you found out! :O
Is this any different than the Yamaha Portasound PSS-480 ?
No difference no, exactly the same bit of kit.
Is there a way to do this on a PSR-18? It doesn't have a record function.
To be honest I've no idea because I've never owned one, but if it doesn't have record it seems unlikely as it rules out his method completely.
Does it have midi? If so then it might have a chance because the the sounds that came with it are horrible.
It does have midi yes. It’s programmable via midi and on the front panel too
super-hans?
...or for realtime tweaking....most midi sequencers will record sysex automation.