yamaha PSS-480 User reviews -Page 6

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Average rating: 4.2 out of 5

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Chris Hickman a part-time user from USA writes:

Bought this keyboard second hand really cheap (It was mint..the original owner never played it) off Ebay, after reading some comments here. Used to have a Casio CZ101 from the same period and IMO this has far better sounds when tweaking. The organs,Funky Clav,Brass sounds are by far my favorite..you can tweak them with excellent results..as well as making some very deep and smooth bass tones. I use it in conjunction with My Roland Xp-50 board for hiphop production. It supports Basic midi which had to be pretty damn nice for a home board. In the end im impressed with my purchase it does everything i need it to do and then some.

Rating: 4 out of 5 posted Wednesday-Feb-22-066 at 13:42

Alex a hobbyist user from UK writes:

This is an fm based synth with a few pcm percussion samples.

It supports basic midi, has a basic sequencer, has a handfull of effects (reverb, sustain, vibrato, duet, portamento), and the ability to save three user patches.

I paid ten pounds for mine and it is worth the money. I haven't found mine to be noisey so is usable in recordings. It has crappy 3/4 size keys without velocity.

Apart form a couple of sounds the presets are as bad as you would expect, but programming, although basic, is quite fun and can produce some good results. Editable parameters include attack, decay, frequency, FB, Modulation and volume. The effects are useless expect portamento which has 5 settings.

I have been able to produce any usable bass sounds, and anything that sounds good in a low key will not sound good in the higher keys (and vice versa) but for the money second hand its okay. I found the music box and organ sounds quite good, and also the harpsicord is okay although not at all natural sounding

Rating: 3 out of 5 posted Friday-Apr-22-055 at 09:46

Jeff Phelps from USA writes:

I have two of these keyboards. I have a rack I built to hold the two where I could play one with each hand. I love it. I have much nicer keyboards but this is the one (err... two) that I play all the time. I've banged the heck out of these and learned to play on them essentially. I've had one of them for at about 15 years and maybe more. They just keep rocking though some of the buttons are starting to give out. I'd love to find another one or two so I won't be without.

I figured out that you could make 4.5 quadrillion different sounds with this keyboard. It's nice to be able to make new sounds though of course most of them are way too messed up to qualify as music. Still there are lots of sounds in there to work with. I can create a hundred new sounds a session with ease.

It isn't touch sensitive or anything and it doesn't sound particularly realistic compared to the newer stuff out there. But if you're looking for a genuine synthesizer this one is fun.

Rating: 4 out of 5 posted Tuesday-Dec-28-044 at 23:53

Fernando a hobbyist user from España writes:

what is this?...A lot of people who loves the pss-480... I played with the y. pss-170. This little and cheap thing sounds not realistic but really nice. It has PORTAMENTO, that's it... and it can made some sounds that inspires music. But i was dreaming of something with more features but such a sound: midi device,loops, synth, cheap, portability. The newest keyboards are expensive for the weak/thin sound they have and they can´t syntetize nothing and then i found a pss-480 used, that seemed to be the bigger brother of my little mate the pss-170 for 50 eur. :) I founded the manual in yamaha's site, and in another site, some programs (a zip called "yamaha 170407" i share it in the emule) to use the pc as an extension of this keyboard. With them you can save and edit everything from-to the instrument and, the greatest feature, is that you can operate in more parameters of the synth than those available in the instruments controls. I mean, with the editor program you can change parameters that are hiden: the wave form, depth of the vibrato, there is a tremolo... I'm impresed with the capabilities of this toy. I think i'm going to pay more attention to those small and old keyboards from the 80's

Rating: 4 out of 5 posted Saturday-Dec-11-044 at 17:41

Michael Graham a hobbyist user from UK writes:

Wow, I thought nobody had this keyboard. I gotta say it might not be the best ever made but it sure ain't the worst, and for its time it was brilliant! I'd always considered it somehow inferior and unrealistic compared to all the other keyboards i'd heard. But there's the advantage... My uncle gave it to me for my 4th birthday present (he used to be in a synth band, and didn't use it anymore). It's the first and only bit of midi gear I have, and I'm thinking of getting into techno music and making some of my own. I considered selling it before, but now I won't. The customised banks are a great feature - you can create new sounds, something you can't do with most of todays wavetable synths. FM has its uses (though analogue is better in many respects). I really dig the portamento feature. The thing that annoys me is that the memory banks are so tiny, so I multitrack analogically or on my PC.

Rating: 4 out of 5 posted Saturday-Oct-04-033 at 17:50

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