@@craigie13 I love the stickers idea. I’d pretty much have “As reviewed on Bad Gear” stickers on almost everything in my studio haha. That’s gotta add substantial value to each!
Well, whoever lived in these years when this synth was released must understand that enormous joy and excitement these machines produced in every young musician who was raising along with the technological development of keyboards. Musical trends strongly followed those novelties, pop-groups introduced many iconic instruments almost immediately in their brand new songs and young keyboardist like me watched very carefully what gear they use in videospots and live tv-shows. I owned Yamaha DX21, replaced it with Kawai K4 (very good synth), Yamaha V50 and additionaly I purchased SY77 that I posess even today. The main point is that almost every keyboard of middle class price, so to put it, can be very useful in hands of creative player who has time enough to dig and explore capacities of sound synthesis. Clever musical thinking in line with elementary production skills can make unbelievably a lot using nonexpensive equipment, low entry keyboards and cheap second-hand digital multitrackers, all you need is time for organizing the job and a bit of planning making music.
I used to be a volunteer Youth Services Worker and our department held travelling music workshops for 12-24 year olds around the county I live in. We had an SY-22, along with an Alpha Juno 1 and a Kawai K1 that we took on the road and the SY-22 was the most popular keyboard with the kids because it attracted their attention with the joystick and got them interested in learning more. It could in the day perform well and was surprisingly rugged on tour (sometimes kids got over excited using it!)
The synth I learned on in the 80s (after school workshop) had a joystick AND a matrix. Beat that! On the other hand it didn't have a keyboard, so you had to work a bit for "that sound". Melodies? What's that? Yes, it was the Synthi-A :)
The Kawai K1 is such a brilliant synth. A programmer guy in Europe had time on his hands during lockdown last year, and created a plugin and made a blog on how he did it; he desoldered the chip from his K1m to read the sample data from it to his PC. He later released his Nils' K1v VST plugin July 2020 and is still updating it now. Absolutely fantastic job and just about perfect simulation.
I have the TG-33 and it pulls off a very good Solina String machine sound with it's samples, detuning motion and effects. Definitely more than the sum of it's parts. Being Multi-timbral is a big bonus. I wish more modern synths would include this option. With a Seaboard, I can pull of some great individual note poly pitch bends playing the same patch over several Multi slots. Very expressive.
My first synth!!!!!!!! 💕❤💕❤💕❤ I was so happy in the 90s playing with this joystick, didnt even know what FM was.. And I am a Skinny Puppy fan and never knew they used one!! Would have never sold it!!
A thing that gets overlooked a lot with the SY-22/TG-33 is that the joystick defaults to the same CC numbers as a Wavestation, so you can pair it with a Wavestation SR and control them both at the same time with a single joystick, plus use it to program vectors in the SR. So the SR fills in a lot of the shortcomings in the SY/TG's multi mode and the SY/TG helps make up for the SR not having a joystick. EDIT: Also the joystick works in multi mode on the TG-33, but only for one patch at a time.
Dude. The SY-22 was radical AF in it's time. That live vectoring was really unique and hella powerful. Had that nasty 12 bit grit. Run it through a multi fx pedal and you were The Zone, brutha. My dirt bag industrial freinds and I loved the dang thing.
If you're into joysticks, the Korg Sigma had _two_ back in 1979. Pioneers. 😜 On a serious note- The SY22 is interesting because Yamaha acquired Sequential, asked them what they'd build and then let them go and built it without them. Quite an odd one.
For what i understand the Yamaha SY22 is built without any help of the old devteam of Sequential. I talked to someone from the old sequential team and he said they first saw it when it was released. But also the Wavestation was not how they wanted to build it at all. They first tried the sequential chips, then Yamaha chips before going for the Korg chips. They wanted to make it so the user could load it's own samples he called it a "re-synthesizer". "The idea of wave sequencing was that instead of using a huge sample you can take slices of it, and Crossfade between those slices as the note progresses. You could also add modulation to change the Crossfade points. During the note this gives you the accuracy of the sampler with the flexibility of the Synthesizer." But the memory was too expensive and Korg decided it could not be done coz they needed a certain selling price to become successful. Funny coz you could say that the WaveRex add-on for the Wavestation is actually closer to the original design!
Found myself, quite literally, lol'ing with this one a few times. Also, I honestly loved the tones and textures this synth delivered. Really ballsy bass tones too.
"If you grew up playing this [shows image of Atari 2600 console] you need to schedule a colonoscopy." Thank you for keeping Safety First, AudioPilz! ;-) (No kidding: i've just scheduled my first physical exam in a few years and came back here to comment. As silly as this is, i really do appreciate that reminder as i'd been putting it off for a while.)
I had this little goldnugget back in 2009 and till this day i think it has one of the most impressive church organ sounds. It also felt a bit like it wanted to be a digital version of the CS80 and there was even a preset on board which i often used that had this CS80 kind of swelling brass Vangelis sound. Playing with the vector stick and making pads become alive and in motion, was really fun. This thing made me wanna get a Roland D50 and when i got it i sadly had to part from my SY22 for space reasons but i still look back at it very fondly :) It also had an amazingly playable keyboard. I liked the keyboard on the SY22 a bit more than the keys on the D50.
@@AudioPilz LOL maybe some other time. If you still have it around, record some of it for a later video when it comes to comparing such sounds from Romplers of that time :)
Am in the uni library (just went back to school) and I FULLY forgot it was friday until the notification. No even watched yet and am jazzed :). thanks as always man!
Had the 33. It sat in a mix in its own space nicely. It could do some really dark stuff if misused creatively. And thank you to all the saints that make free midi editors for the elderly boards.
Great episode! I did so much damage with a TG33 and an Ensoniq EPS in the 90's. Was my go to for many years. You nailed the blends on those jams! That vector knob was so handy back then especially when we couldn't afford the Korg. Well done as always and the jams were awesome. Have great weekend!
From 2.23, "the stuff that 80s soundtrack film students dreams were made of" is exactly me in 92.That sound... Echoing on, like a Sylvian ambient intro/extro blew my mind and had me serenading my then love interest over the top. Like the dream it sounded, it couldn't last....
The SY22 was my first Synthesizer in 1990/91 after Yamaha pss780 and Kawai MS20 Portable Keyboards. I liked it very much and used it later in combination with my Wavestation a/d . Thank you for showing ,I find more and more gear I had in the 90s when watching your Videos :o)
Wow! I must say that I came here because of the topic (SY22 was one of the first synths I touched), but stayed because of this kicking ass editing! You rock! That was AWESOME :)
Hey The Kurzweil K2000 is still a great keyboard to me. I used it alot in the early 2000s when a friend of mine let me borrow it. I liked it so much that I bought a K2500s 3 years ago for $190 US. Now that I love. I just got a SY77 for $100 mint. Couldn't let that one pass by.
This beauty was smiling at me in my local music store for YEARS. Never had the money, never did any research whatsoever and kiddy-me always thought that this must be the ultimate synthesizer. Joystick, vector-synthesis, awesomeness. Now i'm a bit happier about not buying it then. Not that it sounds bad at all, but totally not what mini-me had in mind that it would be :) The finale-jam could easily be the themetune to some sciencefiction-show from the 80's. Pure grit!
@@AudioPilz I barely have room for my midikeyboard ;) I once had an entire room with an awesome desk full of 19" synths, some synths with keys, some drumboxes and FX. Now that room is filled with pink unicorns, cuddly toys, a rainbow-lamp and a 6-year old girl asleep right now. I miss synths once in a while, especially after watching your show evert friday, but still: best trade i ever did ;)
I bought one new in 1990, @ £800! The keyboard playability is WAY better than 90% of the competition. Roland could learn a lot from Yamaha. It was a decent basic digital synth. The random patch generator is a great feature. The joystick just made it more fun. Together with a 1040ST & an S900, it was an essential part of my setup. I eventually replaced it with an SY77, but still have fond memories of the ’22. I’d buy one just for the nostalgia
Thanks to this video I'm making a multi hour roadtrip across Germany today to buy a SY 99. Used to have the SY 22 but I had a girl visiting who spilled wine over it. Always wanted a SY 99, but I haven't thought about it for a long time. This video reignited my desire. It's my birthday next week and you gotta give yourself a nice present at least once a year.
Epic episode! I bought an sy22 last winter and this episode breaks it down so well lol It's a fun piece of gear but definitely has its shortcomings. But compared to some of the other gear out there, the sy22 is still very usable, especially in a production setting.
Bad gear? Hardly! The SY range is legendary and for good reasons. Sure the SY22 was the entry level model, but it was great value for money at the time. I went with the SY55 because the SY77 flagship was too expensive for me as a 20 year old in 1991. Still got it along with all the wave expansion cards etc, and added a TG55 to double the polyphony and card slots.
AudioPLz 2021: " The presets still have _some_ virtue." 17-yr old me pleading with the keyboard player, ~1989: " *wHy* woN't it fooKing *MINI* - MOoooooG !!??!!"
I had one and used it everyday for 20yrs ,It had great piano but you could control the envelope of the sound,not on modern boards.Lovec it bring it back
Despite all this “bad gear,” you always manage to create some really amazing music with it. That should be a good point of reference to other people/artists out there who think that they always need to have the newest and best pieces of gear in order to make cool and interesting music. It all boils down to creativity and finding the strengths in each piece of gear and using those, in the end. For example, I still love my Roland MC-303 and 505. Not only do they still work great as a “sketch pad” due to their 8-part sequencers, but they also have built-in arpeggiators and feature some really nice sounding classic drum samples that are still highly usable today. I bet if someone were to compare the kick and snare samples of the 808 and 909 on those units to the newer TR-08 and TR-09 releases that they would actually sound pretty darn close.
regular friday viewer here, always love it but this week's episode was immeasurably better for not cutting into the advert immediately at the end of the main demo track. keep up the excellent work, and many thanks for all the vids
The SY22 was my first synth and was the limit of what I could afford back in the day. I sold it to buy a Korg X5, which in retrospect wasn't really an upgrade. The SY22 was built like a tank in comparison and had aftertouch, which the the X5 didn't. Feeling nostalgic for it now.
Also worth mentioning it had an upgrade a couple of years later in the form of the SY35 which, if the internet is to be believed, used 16 bit AWM samples over the SY22's 12 bit AWM and had more presets. I lost a lot of my early tracks made with my SY22 to time, but Soundcloud has one cringeworthy example still.
Das Video ab 7,58 Min ist genial, genau mein Stil! Habe alle Yamaha SY Synth's, SY22, SY35, SY55, SY77, SY85 und das Flaggschiff den SY99 inkl. unzähliger Soundkarten und Sounddisketten!
@@AudioPilz Solltest dir mal einen Yamaha QS300 (Raver's Babe) zulegen und ein Video machen... wäre sicher auch interessant! Ein etwas verkannter AWM Synth und Ideenlieferant wie ich finde, wenn man sich damit beschäftigt! LG
Love the very topical intro! I have a TG33 for years now, love it - there's a sysex editor called SY-Edit that lets you access all of the FM parameters, so you can actually squeeze a lot out of the 2 ops. I run the TG33 through a DSI Evolver and it sounds amazing with the filter and delay :) Nice vid yet again, thanks!
Muad'dib!!! LOL Selling this thing for over 600 bucks is almost something like humor :D Back then i paid ca 200 euros for mine and that was a good price. Would never really pay more than that. Too bad the Editor wasn't around for it back then. I only saw commercial programmers so i really only did some painful preset construction on the Synth itself but mostly relied on the preset library. The breathy flute & voice sounds are really oozing late 80s and early 90s mojo :)
@@AudioPilz Yeah it really makes me consider getting one again because i really liked it. if only i had the space for another fullsize keyboard ;_; And i am not a fan of expanders but always prefer instruments with keys.
I have three SY-22 in the studio (one broke). Just because they are cheap and, they vector motion pads sound good. I love the drums, they are perfect 80ies ;-)
For that used price, this one is a no brainer for retro stuff, and you can definitely crank out some modern tunes with the right effects on top. Shame about the lack of proper FM action!
Yes I agree. Bought one a year ago just because of the price and paired up in the DAW of your choice running through Waldorf 2 pole Filter Plugin and Valhalla Reverb it is a great SciFi machine. Totally recommended plus it also has a random patch function and the joystick sends Midi CC
I bought this for 120 euros. The buttons were not working too much, but I repaired them with a pencil on the sensors (it's easy to open and clean). If you download the Midiforge SY35 you can start programming it and unlock the other 2 FM operators, which brings you to 4, which gives you the power of any FM synth of the time (SY77-99, which sell for more than triple the price). 4+2 Samples = 6 !!! The Keyboard is one of the best that I have ever played, it's real quality - a great use for MIDI. Finally, with the vector and the random patch generator you can produce sounds never heard before. Really. I would strongly suggest anyone to get this synth, for any kind of dark music especially. I'm recording black metal with this and an SH-101 as bass. It's great fun. By the way, while on a search to buy the synth through the ad I became a fan of your channel, which is also amazing. thanks !
What a nice surprise this week! Lovely thing I actually thought about buying this week 🤯🤯🤯 I really love these Synths wich seems kind of “basic digital”, but all have some special functions. But the most important thing for “Bad Gear” Synths: a special name for how they work (vector-, linear-, control- or performance-synthesiser). Niceeeee! Little idea for another Bad Gear Friday: Kawai K4 (it has more haters than users I think) (whisper: and it’s cheap)
@@AudioPilz yeah. It was the very first degree in popular music (and sound recording) in the UK , and I started the second year it had been running...and they were DESPERATE to prove that it was a serious course, and not just kids mucking about in bands ...so they went completely over the top with the amount of work they set us. After I left they had to completely reassess it and cut down on the workload as it was insane. “There you go, here’s a King Crimson track. Please score it out in full, by ear”. Overall I loved it though, as I’d been spending my year off after failing to get into art college working at an insurance company working out pensions every day. Awful! I hated synthesis for ages as a result of that SY77 experience...which is ironic, as now I run one of the main Eurorack modular synth shops in the UK. I didn’t let that SY77 horror beat me...
I love the SY35, I recently got one that is basically brand new with the original box with no damage including the Yamaha Manual and all the original packing inserts and foam (It was originally sold in Canada and imported to the US), an oldschool Edirol USB to Midi adapter, the original PSU and some 5 DIN Metal ended midi cables, and I payed $150US for it! I've always been a fan of the vector synths and I've search for almost 20 years to find one in pristine condition, I think it should be on the list of synths from the 90's that you have to own at least once (if not have in your collection permanently), once you get into programming this thing (and recording vector movements), it really shines, and the Windows editor for it is absolutely awesome and works great, cheers!
My SY35 is one of my earliest pieces of studio gear. I will never part of it. For some reason, it always cuts nicely through each mix. Great synth. The new editor is great.
Awesome episode! Been really curious about this thing since I started listening to Moby as a teenager. Looks like the joystick is a cool feature, and the strings are rad. Can tell from this vid however that that's probably all he used it for as well
The vector movement recording with the lo fi fm and pcm makes this a unique synth. nothing else does that as far as I know. but it's a big keyboard for what it does for 2021. the module version TG33 is the one to get.
I ve got the TG33. Fun Fact, it's gone quiet. They all have a fault in the capacitors. Micro korg also has this issue and I own that too. Ditto Juno 106 oscillators. "Why do the birds stop singing and why do great synths have a part that fails?" 🎼
@@rachelar I just got a second hand TG33 yesterday, and this is the first thing I noticed after plugging it in. do you have any links explaining the issue in further detail? or do I just need to replace all of the electrolytic caps?
Dude, your compositions with this keyboard were awesome. Perhaps it's a feeling of nostalgia but I loved what you produced for this video with the SY-22.
I think you liked it! I think it sounded pretty good. My fave synth of that time is the 01W/FD... it's still legitimately good-sounding. Would love to see you try one out sometime.
I love my SY22! Use it a lot on my songs. And as far as I know it was developed with the help of Dave Smith after his company Sequencial Circuits became bust. It effectively was the successor to the Prophet VS.
I used to own a SY-35 and I totally agree with your review ! Being lightweight and with decent keybed, it was great for taking to band rehearsals. The FM part is indeed a bit limited (I ended up selling it it for a SY-77) and the "no vector, no filters" indeed make it sound a bit dull, the 16 polyphony is quicky eaten when using 2FM/2AWM mode, but the SY-22/35 does have something unique to offer. Great video !
How much blacker could that t-shirt be? NONE MORE BLACK. Also: a brilliant video as always, but this one made me laugh out loud more than usual. Well done and thanks for always making Fridays better!
Big fan of the SY series, having owned the 22, 85, 77 and 99. Still own the last two, since the 85 is basically the AWM portion of the 77 and 99. I liked the 22, although I thought the joystick was a bit of a gimmick, probably the best introduction to FM synthesis given the cut down nature of that portion of it.
@@freestate6200 The 85 had a lot more sampled waveforms than the 77 if I recall correctly, and you could load your own. Once I had the 99, I could also load my own samples which I do a lot for drum sounds. I only really use AWM2 as a "virtual analogue" by starting with the simple waveforms, so having an 85 and 99 was a bit redundant. The 85 had much better presets than the 77 or 99 though.
Dude, it's going to be his masterpiece. Not that Blade Runner wasn't one. I agree, Lynch's Dune was really good as well, but I'm a sucker for Lynch. :/
Another awesome review that woke up my GAS and now, thanks to/because of you I wanna get my hands on a SY22, even though I have a DX100, DX7 and SY77 already :D
I cut my teeth on this keyboard. It is the first thing I ever bought on credit; and I paid it off by working at Subway. I paired it with an Alesis QS8, and had a lot of fun making song arrangements. My dark secret is that sometimes my public performances included the keybed turned off and everything was coming from the sequences, but I acted like I was playing. This was a fun video to watch. Thanks for taking the time and uploading it.
I kind of like it to be honest, i nearly bought one back in the day. A few years later i got a Roland jp8000 and kind of forgot about other synth's for a few years. But i think it's a nice bit of kit.
I had a Pss 790 which had the vector joystick and 5 octaves of mini keys, although not velocity sensitive. . No fm though just awm, but it had an 8 track 8 song sequencer onboard. Along with midi in out and through. But all in all for under 200 pounds new it was a great unit.
@@AudioPilz most of the PSS range were aimed at children. Although they also did a few that has a built in FM synthesiser, but I think they were only 2 operators. But the 790 could also bulk dump sysex, so you could store the contents of the sequencer to a hardware sequencer or computer, I used the Atari STFM for that purpose. You could also use the pitch bend wheel on all the drum sounds, and set it to reverse so bending down raises the pitch and vice versa.
@@kentaccordionist The PSS-790 was my first serious keyboard, my other main keyboard back then was a Casio CT-700. I also recorded song covers by connecting my keyboards to a 4 track cassette recorder. Using the pitch bend wheel on the drums was one way to get tighter hiphop drums typical of 90s dance music. Or if I took it to after school club I could make people laugh by making the gimmicky 1 2 3 4 voice sound like Pinky and Perky.