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Average rating:
4.6 out of 5
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had mine for years, still use it as a main part of my set up, visit www.geocities.com/viralwax/ to hear some of my work. also i would like more sounds so please email some if you have some. cheers luke
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The SY85 is one of the unknown great keyboards of all time. I've used mine for years now and still find something new every time I use it.
I'd guess it's common knowledge by now that you can actually put 2 x 4Mb SIMMS into it to give you 8.5Mb of sample RAM. Takes ages to load and save the ALL file with this much RAM to be shovelled out to 720k floppies.
Soundwise, it's astounding. With sample RAM you can load pretty well anything you like in and get totally new sounds. The inbuilt waves are showing their age a little, but are still useful for the meat and two veg sounds every player needs. Remember, for every "Spaceship arriving with two carrier bags full of glitter" type of sound you use, there are many more strings, pads and organs that will fit more easily into tracks.
There are a few niggles. The eight sliders allow amazing editing of any sound, but you cannot then store the edits. Live only, I'm afraid. And they get a little scratchy without regular cleaning. When in need of cleaning, you will find that parameters in sounds junp spontaneously to wierd values. Could be intermittent contact of sliders, I'd guess.
Effects are the best of all the SY range. Quiet, easily accessed and easy to edit.
The sequencer is getting a little long in the tooth now, but it's perfectly OK as a scratchpad to throw ideas together fast. You can always export to MIDI file for editing on something else once the idea has taken shape.
Th word Workstation really does say all there is to say about this. You can quite reasonably expect to put complete tracks together on it.
Still worth buying. In fact, I'd quite like to get the module version to beef up the polyphony a bit. 30 voices seems a bit niggardly these days.
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Been using SY85 for years, no faults, no hassles at all apart from support as mentioned in other emails, I have quiet a few disks with extra sounds if any one wants a copy. Yamahasynth.com Classic corner has some very good sounds and samples available. These have been very usefull to me. Give them a go. Also good WAV to SY85 sample converter for PC/MAC to download. Does any one know where i can get some non volitile memory?? I have some 1 meg memory modules which work well if any one wants to buy one. I put 2 in and now have 2.5meg . Ive got about 10 spare. Have fun Darren
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Just picked up one of these again. Had one when they came out. Still find it an excellent keyboard to control other modules with it. As everyone else is saying: yes, effects are great. But if you take the time to dive into the editing features, you could end up with some really ass-kicking, excellent patches and that is the really power of this synth.
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I just had to add my compliments to the page. I have been using my SY85 for over 10 years now and the thing is as solid as a Tank. The sounds are beautifull landscapes, and rich textures. Honest opinion - the K2000 came out around the same time and over-shadowed the SY85. Because of this, support for the Yamaha went out the window. To this day, I cannot find another synth with a more realistic Piano. As for the interface, Yamaha is still the king of ease while still offering a competitive menu of waveform editing options. Everything in the Yamaha line is arranged like a "multiplication table" or a graph. This allows you to mentally picture the layout of options even before they show up on the screen. Everyone raves about the effects board which is basicly a SPX900 built in. I'd have to agree. I have gone through a slew of outboard effects processors, all of which were as noisy as hell. Even the "quiet" ones. Obviously, this is due to the fact that it is sourced internally, but beyond that fact, the processor itself (enhancers - eq's -verbs etc.) are quiet. I don't know about the rest of you, but I have never really wanted your "basic" effects i.e. chorus, delay, verb. I wanted to get a really warped sound i.e. a slightly distorted pitched drum, or a chorus on the delay of the synth. The effects board on the SY85 is comparible to the tightest of outboard effects processors of today. The sequencer can be limiting. But considering that it was competitive in its day, I'm not complaining. There are, however, so many editing functions with physical interfaces (buttons, knobs, faders etc.) that editing and sequencing is cake. When someone watches me edit or sequence, it's like I'm typing. Here's the breakdown:
Ease of use: 100% (They could not have made it easier).
Documentation: 90% (In making it easy, they leave out some of the repetitive info that may be good for advanced users).
Support: 10% (It sucks...for all you Yamaha SY85 users: help me by making some patches and computer editing interfaces).
Quality of sounds: 95% (Most of the choirs are beautifull and airy, but can be very hissy - I'd suggest eq'ing out the high-high end).
Selection of sounds: 90% (Great overall selection, again considering the time period).
MIDI functions: 95% (They added in support for some of the top-of-the-line functions: MSD, controls etc).
Feel of the keys: 100% (For synth-action, these spring-loaded keys aretop-notch! Everyone who has touched them has been absolutely amazed. They're kind of a hybrid of semi-weighted and synth. Perfect for piano, lead, anything...truely a unique feel!)
User interface: 100% (The only complaint is the standard-sized screen, but the layout of the interface is excellent! The SY85's nemesis would be the Roland ummm.... pick one....anyone).
I'm thinking about adding a Triton to my rack...yes, yes...I know...it's a simple synth, but I like the sounds and its cheap! I am also thinking about the K2500...but...$$$$$ Support's good though.
If you have any questions that I have not answered in this book e-mail me!
keoki@traskenterprises.com
If you're selling a brand new SY85 e-mail me. I need to replace mine.
If you want to hear music made ONLY with the SY85 and no other synths visit:
http://www.mp3.com/keokitrask
Get one, have fun!
Keoki
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