Yamaha PSS-80

[ne7]

Hey all - this my first post here...

Just got one of these lovely beep machines in the post today - superb sounds, no phono jack so i'll have to solder one on - whats best way to do that - straight onto the speaker connection or is there a better way?

By the way - I tried ye'olde yamaha test mode (hold last two keys on the keyboard whilst switching on) and found that the drums sounds are individually mapped and triggerable via the Clarinet, Trumpet, Piano, Accordian, Vibraphone, Rock Guitar, Mandolin sound selection keys... Really nice for sampling

You can just about drum out a slowish beat on em' (the keys are not super responsive *grin*)

Here's whats mapped where:

Clarinet (Snare)
Trumpet (Bassdrum)
Piano (Hihat closed)
Accordian (Hihat open)
Vibraphone (Clave Hi)
Rock Guitar (Clave Lo)
Mandolin (Snare roll)

Have not heard about this before so I thought i'd mention it

Has anyone modded one of these beasties ?
I've only found one oooold long gone ebay auction for a modded pss-80... and nowt else info...

Cheers,
ne7

[Circuitbenders]

By the way - I tried ye'olde yamaha test mode (hold last two keys on the keyboard whilst switching on) and found that the drums sounds are individually mapped and triggerable via the Clarinet, Trumpet, Piano, Accordian, Vibraphone, Rock Guitar, Mandolin sound selection keys... Really nice for sampling

Thats news to me.

[andy_wheels]

i think i have a pss-80 upstairs somewhere... it's got a few bends on it but i can't remember what they do. i'll dig it out...

i do remember loving the touch selection keys on the front though. it's soooo 80's. lovely.

[ne7]

Thanks for that!
I'm just about to break out the soldering iron to stick a output jack into it... Any info is greatly appreciated!
Its such a funky little machine! I love those sound modifier buttons too, superb tone...

[andy_wheels]

just powered up my pss-80. i have added a real volume control pot on there (the volume buttons do something other than line level control... it's weird. like reducing the bit depth...), a distortion and a high pass filter. there's also a switch which messes up the drum sounds somewhat.

i reckon there's a lot more to find on it though. my bends are a bit rubbish and i know i didn't spend that much time working on it... i might well give it another bash.

it is a nice sounding synth. like a more hifi version of the hin hon.

i'll snap some photo's of the bends and post them on here once the camera batteries are charged! d'oh!

[andy_wheels]

ok, here are a couple of pics. ORANGE wires are for volume, BLUE wires are high pass and RED wires are distortion.







the pink wire in the second photo is an unfinished bend. no idea what it did...  i'll have to investigate again...

i'm also not sure what value of pot i used for the high pass filter. whatever it is, it isnt low enough. maybe a log pot would work better for this?

hope that's of some help. let me know if you find any more bends. i don't think i did a great job experimenting on my pss80 so i bet there are more!

[ne7]

thanks loads for those pics!! Really useful - i'll let you know how it goes once i am done messing with some weird vehicle sound toy in the shape of a steering wheel from poundland haha - it even has extra holes in the casing covered by stickers... madness - already found body contact pitch points

[ne7]

Phew
Finally had a mo' to put an output onto the PSS80 ... damn it sounds awesome thru my amp - tried it thru a bit of chorus and it kicked hard...

I think i can see why so few of these get bended - getting to the topside of the PCB is bitch!! It's a little terrifying how its connected via those pesky fragile ribbon cables hehe...

gonna do some sampling then going to have a fiddle and see what i can find inside once i've added the stuff from your pics

For the real volume bend did you just desolder the 470 resistor at the back of the pcb and wait for it to drop out? or..?

i was thinking: it must be possible to find the vibrato (used only on the trumpet) and apply to any of the sounds somehow..? also interupting the rythm's and auto accompanyment would be fun - i actually found a accomp bend accidentaly earlier lord knows where it just started parping to me on its own haha

[ne7]

also has anyone wired out the silly beep on selection keypress thing that the pss-80 does?

[ne7]

hmm not had any luck with this one at all - it does sound AMAZING thru the amp tho...

[bluetomgold]

Hello all.

Been playing with my PSS-100 which is standard apart from minijack out. This is basically the same as the PSS-80 as far as I can tell. Thanks for the two keys at power up tip - works on the 100 too - great to get the drums on separate pads ("Digital Recorder" buttons in this case).

I've been poking around inside for bends but can't find much that would be useful musically. One short seems to subtly alter the filtering of the overall tone and a few others make a nasty scream. Has anyone got anywhere with bending the 100?

What happened to the photo of the pss-80 bends? Seems to have disappeared, could be really useful for messing with the 100.

Thanks!

[bendboy]

listen alll...to kill the "KEY BEEP" on the PSS-80 (and PROBABLY PSS-100)
just unsolder pin FIVE(5) of the big CPU chip.
Thats it! (I found that one myself!) Beep........Beepeee  (GAG!!!!)    silence!!!!!!

You can all thank me later.......

[ne7]

wow thanks for that info thats really rather cool

[ne7]

just added a volt crash to the pss80 (1k pot on power +) - can make some nice weird effects with the drum loops and the keyboard detuning slightly - but its V. sensitive... when used in conjunction with the proper vol pot it can make some nice stuff but u have to mess around quite a bit. Still rather cool tho hehe