The Yamaha SY85

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I have recently acquired a Yamaha SY85 for the collection. The synth was described 'In Excellent Condition and Fully Working'. Which is why I have been delayed in putting this video together.
The SY85 was the last of the SY85 Synths / Workstations to be issued by Yamaha. So here is an overview of where this synth fitted in the SY history and what it is capable of.
This is a discussion about the capabilities of the Yamaha SY85 and not a demonstration. As pointed out at 34:10 where I explain what still needs to be fixed on the synth.
Additional sounds and the factory reset disk can be found at themusictechguyuk.me/31bZDf5
The equipment mentioned above (if you can still buy it!):
Yamaha SY85 eBay: themusictechguyuk.me/3cAKR4O
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
00:26 Channel promotion
01:17 The SY85
03:02 The SY line
06:18 The odd synths
11:00 Last of the SY's
14:00 Basic stats
20:25 Tone editing capabilities
30:35 The sequencer
34:10 Why am I not playing it?
36:40 Rhythm patterns
37:50 MDR features
39:00 Summary
#yamahasy85 #YamahaSY85Tutorial #Yamaha #SY85
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The Yamaha SY85 - SMR - 2020-04-12

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9 июл 2024

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Комментарии : 60

@looneyburgmusic 2 года назад

My wife bought me a SY-85 for my birthday maybe a decade or so ago, it's a fantastic "bread and butter" synth, and even though I no longer use it, (have a Motif ES and XF), I'll never sell mine - the "look and feel" alone of the front panel makes the '85 a lifetime keeper...

@TheMusicTechGuyUK 2 года назад

Hi @looneyburgmusic Thanks for you impression of the SY85. With my SY77 and recently acquired SY99 I now have the Yamaha big boards from this era and like you I don't intend to part with them. Jon

@madness8556 2 года назад

Great history lesson that's really sent me down a trip in memory lane! The Yamaha SY55 and TG55 had no FM synthesis engine whatsoever. They used AWM2 as the basis for their synthesis. The SY35 was basically a slightly improved SY22 with more preset voices. Yamaha's AWM2 was IMHO more powerful than Korg's AI with its digital resonant filters and the ability layer up to 4 AWM elements at the same time. Korg's AI allowed only 2 oscillators per program and it's low pass filters had no resonance. Saying that, I much preferred Korg's overall sound and user interface, having owned a T3EX for over 25 years. If I remember correctly, the TG500 had twice the polyphony of the SY85? Both had fantastic factory voices that made the instruments sound much better than the older SY77 and SY99 despite the former instruments having FM synthesis along with AWM2 and the RCM synthesis allowing the FM and AWM2 engines to work together. B

@TheMusicTechGuyUK 2 года назад

Hi @Mad Ness Firstly thanks for the feedback and I am glad that the video brought back memories. Because of the numbering sequence many people think that the SY99 was the last in the sequence, but the SY85 takes that glory and also works completely different to the previous two (SY77 and SY99). Yes the TG500 did report 64 voices. I haven’t used one of these in more than 25 years so can’t remember if it was 1 patch that could use all 64 or 2 patches layered that gave you 64 voices (2x32). For me the versatility of the SY85 puts it above the SY77. But I do enjoy playing both. I will in the next few weeks fix the SY77 floppy drive so I can bring it back into use. Jon

@utuber13x 2 года назад

hello: nice show I have an sy85 I love it thank God it never has broken down like the others however I only played it maybe 50 time since after I bought it back in the years you spoke of I was 29 year old then but a bad recession dove me the become a over the road truck driver separated from my sy85, but now that I am local my interests are to use it and found this channel. Hope all goes well because I will probably one day will need to repeat your venture.

@TheMusicTechGuyUK 2 года назад

Thanks for your comments. Given that the unit has been in storage for so long I would definitely look to put a new battery in it before you try to use it in anger. I am actually impressed the battery is still functioning after being in storage for so long. There is a video on the channel covering this if you need reference. Jon

@artsolomon202 8 месяцев назад

Btw thnx for the great video!👍

@TheMusicTechGuyUK 8 месяцев назад

Hi @artsolomon202 Thanks for the feedback. Jon

@CyanSix 2 года назад

Taking me back in time. Im in Hampshire to Isle of Wight

@TheMusicTechGuyUK 2 года назад

Hi @CyanSix com Happy to oblige on your time slip. You are not far from me then. Jon

@CyanSix 2 года назад

@@TheMusicTechGuyUK Are you in Portsmouth? or Southampton? I was watching because you repair synths and im about to have a go myself. Im not a electrician

@TheMusicTechGuyUK 2 года назад

Hi @CyanSix com I am located A3 not M3. But not in Portsmouth. Jon

@TheMusicTechGuyUK 3 года назад

For less than the price of a cup of coffee, support the channel, join the TMTG community: themusictechguyuk.me/Community

@xp50player 3 года назад

I overlooked the SY-85 at the time. Seemed like a low-rent version of the SY99, with no FM. Nice layout, more similar to the JV-80 than the Korgs of the time. Other weird cross-pollinations like the SY22/TG33 being the 4-op FM Korg DS-8 and 707, released around the time Yamaha acquired a short-lived controlling stake in Korg.

@TheMusicTechGuyUK 3 года назад

@xp50player. Since I did the videos on the Yamaha SY85 I have been surprised by the number of people that have go in contact. A lot of people have sited that they stopped using it because the disk drive went kaput. And then there seems to be another generation that have acquired on. The number of SY85 Factory disks I have sent all over Europe and the US. I think many pigeoned holed this board as another of the SY77/99 line. But it was a different beast. Since acquiring mine I can see the difference between a synth that uses FM and AWM as its basis and the SY85 which uses wave data. Jon

@freestate6200 3 года назад

No, it's never a SY77,99,,,,it is more of a mix of a Korg M1 and Prophet VS as there are only 4 Oscillators active in the upmost possibility of performance. (One per voice). But you can manipulate with 8 sliders, instead of one joystick in the Prophet, a lot of mixes between the elements and some more. M1 was deaf on that ear.

@TheMusicTechGuyUK 3 года назад

@Free State. Great additional information and insight on the SY85. Jon

@mouradferrad3276 3 года назад

hi brother i have sy 85 yamaha i ve a problem with ddrive when i try to load data in disks the synthe stucks i am obliged to trun it of and switch on for second time and eject the disk can you help me please if nessary i will send you a video in my tube to explan it probme in FERRAD MOURAD THANK YOU

@TheMusicTechGuyUK 3 года назад

@Mourad Ferrad. You wouldn't be the first person to report disk issues. If the disk sounds like it is trying to spin but when you put a disk in it changes sound then it could be the belt. See ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-dl3-J-dYQ4c.html. The drive couple be an issue and you might need to replace. This guy has the replacement disks: ebay.to/2D95ZjF. and this video shows you how to do it: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-eNDwRT-AI9I.html. Jon

@joeqiokata1102 Год назад

How to transpose key on sy85

@TheMusicTechGuyUK Год назад

Hi @Joe Qiokata I see that you have spotted that there is no key or key combination on the keyboard to allow you to transpose the patch. And to be honest I had to think about how you do this because it is not obvious! For some reason, known only to the designers, this function is buried in the menu structure. And again known only to the designers they call it Note Shift which will allow you to transpose a voice in a layer. But because this is a +63 and -63 you can move layers up and down +/-12 entire octaves or several. The transpose function is actually a sequencer function to move all the notes in a track up and down. And to be honest neither of these are particular useful if on the fly you need to move key! Now as I said, why this synth has been designed in this way is a mystery as most synths / keyboard provide you with the option to transpose the keyboard up and down. Hope this provides a bit of light on this function! Jon

@freestate6200 3 года назад

Getting there. I hope U got that machine running smooth. I had to put a new belt into the floppy drive, to make it work again. This was though a round belt, different from the flat belt, which the SY99 uses. Floppies should be formatted on the SY85 itself! If U use samples, U must always reload them after switching the SY85 on again, when U don't have memory expansion installed. Best way to load new samples is with AWAVE. Interesting this Sequential ditty: If the SY85 sports a Joystick, it would be a super Prophet VS. U could emulate that with the sliders instead though not as quickly

@TheMusicTechGuyUK 3 года назад

@Free State. Thanks for the information. As you can see from the series of videos that I did about this keyboard. Not only had the belt perished, but the drive didn't work after the new belt was installed. So I put a more modern direct drive unit into the keyboard and had the connector modified to the ZIP connector that it required. Works like a dream. I know a number of other community members have followed the same route and all reported that the replacement drive works well. That is a good question that you make about AWAVE. It would be interesting to understand what other community members are using? Leave comments below. Apart from that nugget on the Sequential purchase, there is very little information available 30 years later that states where other sequential DNA ended up. So you could very well be correct. Jon

@freestate6200 3 года назад

@@TheMusicTechGuyUK Which belt did you then in your first attempt use? The round or the flat? I'm busy with restoring some Korg's as well, which have then the later SY85 round belt floppy drives

@TheMusicTechGuyUK 3 года назад

@Free State. It was the round belt. I looked up the part number and then found a supplier in Germany that was selling that specific part number. The initial issue was that the original belt had perished so the drive wasn't spinning the disk. After the belt was replaced the drive wouldn't read a disk. So I tried formatting a blank and this also failed. The replacement drive cost $50. So it was a choice of trace the fault through the existing drive or put a new direct drive unit in and save hours of hair pulling. I still have hair. Jon

@mouradferrad3276 3 года назад

CAUSE I BOUGHT IT WITH FAULTY DISK DRIVE AND WITHOUT PRETS SOUNDS IVE BOUGHT ON EBAY A NEW DISK DRIVE BUT THE PROBLEM STILL NO SOLVED HELP

@TheMusicTechGuyUK 3 года назад

See other reply. Jon

@blackmetalmajesty9756 2 года назад

For some reason mine doesn't make any sound at all, not even with the headphones I got specifically for it. Idk if it is because is damaged or because Idk anything about synths. I got it from ebay.

@TheMusicTechGuyUK 2 года назад

Hi @Black Metal Majesty97 It could be damaged components. Are you sure you have sounds loaded on the sounds. I.e. someone has let the battery die, which will remove data from the keyboard. This needs to be reloaded. Have you tried reloading the factory sounds? If you can't find them you can get a disk of them here: themusictechguyuk.me/31bZDf5. If you have sounds loaded and it is still not making a sound then you might have to open it up and track through the circuitry. Jon

@blackmetalmajesty9756 2 года назад

@@TheMusicTechGuyUK I just reset it and is making some sounds. I will everything you told me here,thank you. I highly appreciate it

@blackmetalmajesty9756 2 года назад

@@TheMusicTechGuyUK I do have a disk but everytime I put it on it says "ERROR" probably because the thing where you insert the disk fell of the synth.

@TheMusicTechGuyUK 2 года назад

Hi @Black Metal Majesty97 Is the disk actually spinning. It could be that you have knocked the heads out of alignment if it has been dropped. If the disk is not spinning it could be the drive belt. This video talks about replacing it ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-dl3-J-dYQ4c.html Jon

@snoolee7950 6 месяцев назад

Made it to 27:00 in the video, still haven't heard the synth.

@TheMusicTechGuyUK 5 месяцев назад

Hi @snoolee7950 Thanks to the feedback. @34:10 I explain why I haven't played the synth in this video as it was still undergoing repairs at the time. Jon

@shizzyshawn412 2 года назад

I got 8 megs in my SY-85!

@TheMusicTechGuyUK 2 года назад

Hi @Shawn Manuel Are you including the 6MB of ROM (Read Only Memory) in that figure? I didn't think you could get that much RAM into the synth. If you take the 512Kb of on board memord and add in 2*1Mb of normal RAM and 2*SYEMB06 512KB modules you get a total of 3.5Mb. Would love to understand your configuration to get 8Mb. Jon

@squishmusic 3 года назад

The Tee deserves a Subs straight of ::D

@TheMusicTechGuyUK 3 года назад

All subs welcome lol Jon

@joshuamuwanguzijoshkeys9418 2 года назад

The sustaining pedal is doing the opposite how can it i change it

@TheMusicTechGuyUK 2 года назад

Have you subscribed? :-) Hi @Joshua Muwanguzi. The way I read this is that you peddle is holding the notes until they are released. If this is the case the peddle is wired in reverse from the FC-07 peddle. The Yamaha SY85 does no allow you to change the polarity of the peddle within the keyboard. You may need to get another peddle. Jon

@mouradferrad3276 3 года назад

IM WATING FOR YOUR RESPOND THANK YOU

@TheMusicTechGuyUK 3 года назад

See reply to other question. Jon

@lawrencel1668 3 года назад

Had a 35 and still have an 85. The 35 VS never really convinced me in terms of making a usable noise

@TheMusicTechGuyUK 3 года назад

Hi Lawerence Both the SY22 and SY35 were funny editions to this range of synthesisers. The SY22 was the last synth developed by Sequential before the company was acquired by Yamaha and I think was released as the SY22 to get it out the door with no thought for the lineage of the SY range. The SY35 was also interesting in the fact that it came after the SY77 but before the SY99. It always seemed like a stripped down SY77, but the user interface was reported to be hard to use. Which is why I think many stopped using this keyboard as they just frustrated with it. By all accounts based on the specification it should be a powerful keyboard. But if people can’t program it then it gets a bad reputation and doesn’t sell. Jon

@BigJohn5662 3 месяца назад

Still got my Sy35 owned it for about 30 years now

@TheMusicTechGuyUK 3 месяца назад

Hi @BigJohn5662 👍 Jon

@stickyfox Год назад

I always assume anything on reverb is about three grades crappier than advertised.

@TheMusicTechGuyUK Год назад

Hi @stickyfox Reverb does not have the range that circulates on e-bay. But you can get some bargains on there. I always find Reverb in general to be more expensive that the other channels, possibly because it is frequented by people that say have done a little more research. On the flip side as a seller the fee structure is better than E-bay but the audience is more limited. Jon

@jamdonut7692 3 года назад

15:21 i think you meant 1992 buddy lol

@TheMusicTechGuyUK 3 года назад

@Jam Donut 1982 opps. You're right I did mean 1992. 6Mb in 1982 would have bought you a house! Cheers. Jon

@beazely94 3 года назад

When you first took it apart did you notice a strange 'burnt' scent? Yet there's no evidence of any burned damage inside... I just bought one and noticed the scent when I took the back off to change the disk drive. Hoping it's just a fluke and is what motherboards and such smell like 🤔😂

@TheMusicTechGuyUK 3 года назад

Have you subscribed? :-) Hi @Karl Harrison. These old machines do have a certain smell to them. There is probably nothing to worry about as often that burnt smell is dust that has accumulated on the parts of the keyboard that dissipates heat e.g. around the power supply. However if you are concerned, put your nose right into the machine and see if the smell is stronger in a specific parts of the instrument that others. As I said the power supply is where I might start with troubleshooting. If the capacitors are on their way, they may not exhibit the classic signs of bulging or liquid on the board. But if they are going then the voltage regulators will be working harder to stabilise the voltages in the machine, which generated excessive heat and possibly burning. As a preventative measure I might be tempted to change the capacitors and voltage regulators. PS don’t but kits from e-bay for this as they tend to be inferior components, get them from somewhere like mouser. Hope this helps. Jon

@beazely94 3 года назад

@@TheMusicTechGuyUK I sure have subscribed ! Thanks for your reply. I've just had a very good suggestion for what the burny smell was - SMOKE MACHINES! The synth had been gigged in clubs etc, which I'll take assurance that it's purely smoke machine odours. Ive had it switched on a few times this weekend so far, can't notice the smell on the outside anyway and the synth doesn't seem to get hot at all really. Checked all the caps and everything looks pretty prestine inside, especially the power supply unit. 👍

@TheMusicTechGuyUK 3 года назад

@Karl Harrison Smoke machines do have a very distinctive odour. It's like a sweet smoke smell which is very different to an electrically burning smell which I would say is more plastic and gets right to the back of the throat. Glad to hear that it sounds like your smell has been identified. Jon

@beazely94 3 года назад

@@TheMusicTechGuyUK Haha I don't trust myself handling these machines sometimes 😄 I wired a new plug on one of my other old keyboards and was abit hesitant to plug it back in incase either me or the board got fried 🤦‍♂️

@TheMusicTechGuyUK 3 года назад

@Karl Harrison. Ensure you have a voltage trip device. Hopefully that will kill the power before you do any damage! Jon