Creating the Intro music on a Yamaha PSS470

In this first episode, I walk you through how I used a vintage Yamaha PSS-470 keyboard to create the intro music for this channel. It was an interesting challenge! The individual tracks were recorded with Audacity and stitched together. The video was edited with Final Cut Pro.
Hear the music on soundcloud:
/ 8-bitkeys
Visit me on facebook:
theibookguy

[@jaykay18]

Only a skilled musician can take an "antique" kids toy and make real good sounding music come out of it. You have done that. I look forward to many more videos!

[@riso9059]

Its a very simple piece of music but it works

[@picapica201]

or perhaps it is a rather advanced kids' toy

[@bangerbangerbro]

@@picapica201 Yeah the PSS-470 is far from the most limited keyboard amateur keyboard. There are tonnes of keyboards that could have limited him more, with less sounds, more boring sounds, and no sound customisation. And I don't really like hearing "antique" attached to post-war things, it just sounds wrong to me even if technically true.

[@dominykaskruopis5126]

"This is not a masterpiece" meanwhile I'm wowing at how good this sounds.

[@Mik3l24]

This is actually a good piece of chiptune.

[@Mik3l24]

"Piano" part is my favourite.

[@Ditto-js1or]

I want to make a game with my brother but use this keyboard for every sound effect. It would give it a more old fashioned feel.

[@FinalBaton]

Same. the Piano part conveys a lot of tension, it sounds so cool

[@TheEmeraldMenOfficial]

Piano Dude the piano he used has at its core a YM3812 chip, also used in the Sound Blaster and AdLib sound cards! Those dominated sound on pcs for 15 years!

[@TransistorBased]

It's not chiptune. It's not using any game console chips, and isn't 8-bit (usually the main focus of chiptunes)

[@EYTPS]

Dude, "No Masterpiece," I FUCKING LOVED IT!! IT'S SUCH A CRIME THAT IT'S ONLY ONE MINUTE LONG IT'S SO GOOD!

[@AndyLifeInVideo]

00:42 - Damn, making me feel old for having this "antique kids keyboard" growing up... :'(

[@catsdgs]

Best intro song I have ever heard!

[@AlexeyFilippenkoPlummet]

Speaking of musical challenges. When I first started creating music on PC back in 1998 I didn't even have a sound card, so I routed my newly acquired FastTracker II into the PC speaker. It basically made every instrument sound like an electric guitar and volume control just didn't exist , everything was max volume (or making equally loud noise). All this trouble didn't stop me and I produced quite a few songs before I learned that I actually did have a sound card but needed Windows 95 and a driver to make it work lol. I'm still a musical producer up this day, and it's very fascinating to listen to my old-old tracks, start of the path, even thinking of making a remake for a couple of songs.

[@8BitKeys]

Yeah, the PC-Speaker was so difficult to do anything with.

[@dominykaskruopis5126]

WoW That must've been pretty sad to figure such a thing out... Luckily for me I wasn't even around when pc speakers were a thing. But i still had to use a computer that didn't have an ethernet port on the motherboard, S-video out, composite out and a some more old bulky connectors that were dead by 2005 or earlier

[@Skelldr]

Alexey Filippenko I saved up for months to buy my soundblaser 16 multi cd. The first time i loaded up FT2 and realized what i could do was soooo satisfying. Good times.

[@TheEmeraldMenOfficial]

Houdonical Guy same... my first PC was from 2003. The hard drive died in it Christmastime, so I'm trying to fix it and put Windows 98 on it when it was designed for XP.

[@penfold7800]

Ha! @discovering the soundchip on your PC (most of them were Ensoniq ESS -soundblaster 16 clones back in the day). It was like that with graphics cards too. I've often found that the onboard graphics chip (usually an S3 or TRIO) did a better job than the graphics cards people installed themselves. It was sometimes easier to buy a new sound/graphics card with its own installation disk than it was to get the original drivers. Made for some truelly hideous mishmashes of junk software and conflicting hardware that didn't work properly. It was easier to make a drum track with a wooden spoon and a bucket in those days. Lol. Kudos for persevering with making music.x

[@AllThoughts3rased]

"by no means a masterpiece" are you *KIDDING*

[@marcsm2008]

"It's no masterpiece." Nah man, you are wrong. This music IS a masterpiece!

[@sirbyron007]

Awweessssooommmmee! Love the 80's!!! I had a PSS570 back in the day and recently purchased a PSS470 to recreate the memories! Thanx for this!

[@PlayExe-jl5fi]

This is one of my favorite channels. Been a fan since the ibook guy! Im also in Texas!

[@pfontaine23]

That was lots of fun! I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with various 80's keyboards.

[@youwantmeh456]

3:54 i love the twang when he says by meh self lol

[@DanLoudShirts]

I've only recently discovered this channel and to my utter delight the theme is done on a PSS-470 which I still own! I got it as a birthday present 32 years ago today! Lovely and nostalgic. Loving your work!

[@sudoscoobs1373]

Twas this video that got me into these keyboards. I thank you now, as I own a Yamaha PSS-460. One of the best purchases I ever made. If anyone is wondering, shop goodwill is your friend. thats where I got mine.

[@squishygaming545]

Sudoscoobs a

[@diablo666morgan]

As someone that was born in the 80's it is great to see tech from that time still being used today GREAT WORK

[@wereldvanriley7]

been watching 8bitkeys for about 4 and a half years almost and have always wondered where the intro originated from. Scrolling through and came across this vid. Nice

[@scambroselauntrellus3681]

I've been binge watching this channel and now this jingle is stuck in my head.

[@gideonwaxfarb]

This was my very first synth back in the day. In fact, I got this and the NES the same Christmas, which was one of the best Christmases ever :) Hearing those sounds is quite nostalgic for me.

[@devoicedmusic]

this is the sound of my childhood! My brother and I played around with this a lot. We had some book with keyboard songs and would always learn a few christmas song for the holidays…After 10 years of making music with actual instruments now…i recently rediscovered this thing. hooked it up to some effects pedals: great source of lofi/retro sounds. this channel was great find :)

[@timwood8773]

I loved this episode!! I used to have a Yamaha PSS470! I LOVED using this keyboard, however I just didn’t care much for the mini-keys. Listening to your intro-music will not be the same!! Thank you so much for your channel! I am enjoying it so very much!

[@bangerbangerbro]

At least it has a fuller set of keys than other keyboards. There are a bunch of Casios with much smaller and less useable keys than the pss-470, though I admit the pss sized keys are still a bit difficult.

[@kyoudaiken]

YM3812 is the GOD of synthesizers!! I LOVE THE SOUND! It's internal sampling rate is still higher as any CD or DVD audio!

[@kyoudaiken]

ProCreeper 2000 It actually is. It's FM synthesis. You need high rates.

[@kyoudaiken]

ProCreeper 2000 Yeah the sound even tops at 40 KHz. But you can't hear it. :D

[@kyoudaiken]

ProCreeper 2000 Unlike CDs, DVDs hold 48 KHz sampled audio. PCM (uncompressed), 5.1 DD (A/52 aka AC3) or MPEG Audio Layer 1 or 2 as well as DTS. Everything 48 KHz. CDs have this odd rate because they wanted to fit a symphony on one disk. The open source audio codec OPUS offers 48 KHz only (only for music part of the codec called CELT).

[@kyoudaiken]

ProCreeper 2000 Both is wrong. The actual audio frequency of CDs is 22.05 KHz and for DVDs 24 KHz. #NyquistShannonSamplingTheorem

[@kyoudaiken]

ProCreeper 2000 Correct.

[@anslyto]

I had this keyboard in 1994, i learn to play on it. i have a lot of gratitude toward it.

[@dronespace]

I'm now the proud owner of a PSS-470 thanks to your great videos. I was doing a lot of reading beforehand to see how I could best emulate the classic Adlib sound, and discovered it was essentially down to the YM3812 sound chip

[@honestlyidk2585]

Amazing piece of musical art

[@LilyRoseTerraharuka]

Oh man, I have this keyboard and my sister and I used to play that Yamaha PSS470. Memories!

[@marsmediapro]

Wow I just discovered this channel. I've watched your other channel over the many years. The song you played just now it actually sounds pretty good!

[@toberkitty]

Major props for making the whole song on that keyboard! I really like the synthesizer section on it.

[@AurojitDas]

Hey you are a awsome guy. .I like all of your videos.....keep going..

[@Claydood]

I have so many hours put into playing this keyboard, this brings me the feeling of nostalgia.

[@NPrescott]

This is episode 1 of 8 Bit Keys! I have never seen this and I have been watching you since ibook guy :D

[@D2SProductions]

I used to have one of those keyboards. I miss it. I loved using the synthesizer settings to create my own sounds.

[@Zack-xz1ph]

just picked one up on ebay for 20 bucks (USD), can't wait

[@bangerbangerbro]

@@Zack-xz1ph I just got one for 4 GBP from a car boot sale. Had obviously wrong PSU with it so it was a gamble if it worked or not but it does, albeit with a bit nosiy output. If yours was CIB or something you beat me though.

[@SugarBeetMC]

Challenge: Play your intro song on floppy drives!

[@SlavTiger]

I could do that for you if you can provide the song in midi format

[@jacksong6226]

the floppytron!

[@authorlilhyz7121]

@@jacksong6226 opp marble machine wintergatan

[@moonlover5544]

Floppotron? :D

[@SharpblueCreative]

So good hearing those old sounds. Definitely reminds me of the DX era. Now re visited by the Reface series, so now you can get classic DX synths for little money (though I think they aren't that great). Nice to see this channel.

[@aristoshd]

It is very good channel. I am currently going through all of the episodes. Keep up good work!

[@NealMiskinMusic]

I would love to see a series on the history of DAW software. I think there is a lot of interesting history in the world of digital audio software. How, for example, Pro Tools and Logic started out doing completely different things, but gradually evolved to the point where they both pretty much do all the same things. There were a whole set of interesting problems to be solved in order to make digital audio a reality. There was a time when MIDI worked pretty well, but even though the sounds were generated by computerized synths and all controlled by a master computer running a MIDI editor they were still recorded to analogue tape. Digital sound synthesis preceded digital sound recording by a decade or so. Stuff like that could be super interesting... at least to me.

[@sheilaolfieway1885]

i don't care what anyone says, this is good and reminds me of old games on 16 bit systems. and even some earlier game music.

[@MarcusTDM]

I’ve literally just found this channel after comment on another keyboard video. Shows KZbin’s recommendations work sometimes! Great stuff am going to start watching all of your vids. I have a Yamaha PSS780. Is quite a cool keyboard. Bought of eBay for about £40!

[@minnescanada]

I really enjoyed this. and look forward to seeing and hearing what you can do with old keys.! Well done!

[@asdcdweadasd]

This song is so frigging awesome! I love how lively it is

[@TeaAndFloppyDisks]

This is a masterpiece! I will have this stuck in my head for days. Awesome song!

[@ssupertutorial]

I really like this music 2:45 ; you are the best!!!!!

[@vksasdgaming9472]

At 3:43 we can admire face of exhausting concentration. Only complete focus and control creates such expression on human face. impressive song as well. True master knows how to make limitations his focus.

[@sadrhogollsodia9505]

Hearing this piano brings me back in time. I use to love messing with the different attack and decay sliders. Pretty cool stuff for a "kids toy". Maybe more accurate to call it a child sized(or small hand) synth.

[@pappachook]

My first ever keyboard back in the day. Great to hear some of the sounds again. 😃

[@guitarsinger7382]

The Chimes at 3:10 reminds me so hard on the Dragon Ball Z Intro!! 😂💪

[@megax5000]

That was a great song. Good work! Love your channel.

[@jewishzombie]

One word: Neat. Request: Music to Sonic the Hedgehog 2, specifically the intro and first zone.

[@tanynsansom4306]

I was the 600th person to like. Your videos are awesome.

[@Minecraft101ToonLink]

Oh. My. Goodness! This piece is AWESOME!!! You do have some AMAZING music talent!!! 10/10! And you say it's not a masterpiece? IT IS!!! This is AMAZING!!! 😅 Edit: I managed to play the Funksynth melody part in GarageBand on iOS. And half a year later, this song is still amazing! I even love the remixed version, too!

[@exoticcar5482]

That's why you're mistaken in calling it a masterpiece. Because you're not a musician. Being a musician myself, i can tell you any average musician can easily create music like this by just taking a simple repetitive chord progression and adding a melody on top of it. It only sounds like a masterpiece because it's catchy. A true masterpiece would take tons of time to compose. He threw this together much faster than that

[@Minecraft101ToonLink]

ElevatorMan5482 ElevExperiencing Productions - Well, since you're a musician, you might have experience in that profession, but since I'm not, I just listen to music and see if I like it, or not. But there's no denying that this is one of the greatest pieces I've ever heard. And this is just my opinion. Everyone has opinions. It's just natural.

[@sam64evo]

I love your new ish channel it illustrates that you don't have to go and buy something expensive I have an old bass guitar always thought it was crap an old bass player who is professional played on it I thought my bass guitar sounded amazing most of the time it's not about the age the instrument it's how you play it I always thought that old keyboard sound like crap and didn't sound realistic enough I thought midi was the way but you have opened my eyes old 80s keyboards are the best you know how to get the best out of a keyboard next time I see a 80s second-hand keyboard I'm going to pick one up :) all thanks too you opening my eyes and making me realise that you don't have to fork out loads of money to get a realistic sound or use a MIDI keyboard

[@octoberride]

Thanks, I learned more about basic music composition watching this then all other KZbin composition videos put together!

[@GrantNors]

Been waiting for a vid! Pretty cool so far!

[@le5tat58]

Very relaxing channels btw. If I just have enough of those "how to play solo from Holy Wars" and be fed up with the overflow of those viral funny action loud videos, it is very relaxing to just watch a guy with a calm voice just doing what he likes and doing it good.

[@alexgochenour8740]

What a first episode! Great music, too.

[@TehPolishPanda]

Really, really cool! That tune reminded me from something straight out of old school runescape!

[@DanelonNicolas]

awesome dudde! I love 80s/games music, great work!

[@twicethemegapower3995]

I have that same Slurm shirt! I love it but wish it wasn't pre-distressed. I still own all my band tshirts from the 90s and none of them actually wear out the way 'pre-distressed' clothes are designed. Real tshirt ink cracks and flakes overtime and looks way more badass. Anyway, love your channels and content. Your crossover episode with Techmoan brought me here

[@NickSilverstein]

This is such a cool idea for a channel! I love it!

[@ephraimwarrior6766]

Sick I fill like I'm playing old Nintendo games when I was a teen in the 80s nice music brother

[@SPEEDTRIBESAKURA]

That was awesome dude! I love this kind of music so I can't wait for what else you guys have to offer! :3

[@Sandra-zu4ff]

Love this! You’re so talented and this was super entertaining. Sounds great!

[@joshuasprucie8933]

wow mate. You are really talented. I can't wait for the next episode :)

[@zacharykondas9787]

Love your videos I had this keyboard handed down from my mom I used it all the time.

[@echristopherson78]

Great song, and I really enjoyed seeing this particular keyboard, since it was my first. I got it for Christmas in 1987. I still have it in my closet, so I had to look and verify it was the same one. I remember writing down various custom waveform values I had come up with in a notebook. Sadly I never became a famous player or composer ;)

[@Audiojunkk]

Nice one man! Look forward to more vids. Cool shirt too! :-)

[@seppa340]

Amazing song! It fits your channel very well. I like it a lot! ;)

[@benharyo]

It sounds very good..I once played PSS680 Yamaha to perform Rush's 'Subdivisions' in the 90s, on a band meet event.. 2-Op FM sounds good when used properly 🙏🙇‍♀thank you 8 Bit Guy🙏🙋‍♂

[@calculatingenius_gaming]

cool intro music for the channel! nice going dude!

[@davidlr97]

I wasn't sure if I was interested in your keyboard channel, but this is neat

[@AlphaSquadZero]

Thanks for the soundcloud links, I am going to have to listen to all of these songs now.

[@mcramp20]

Your videos of the PSS470 has me wishing I had recorded the suff from the eighties I used to play like The Final Count Down

[@ceejayszee]

You are a genius, David!

[@Fluteboy]

Piano with vibrato creates this lovely Fender Rhodes type sound. I used to play that sound and try to sing like Paul Carrack!

[@aeonicbutterfly9662]

Finally, thank you! =3 It's funny. My sibling picked up a PSS-470 a few months ago, no idea about what it was, just a basic programmable FM synth. Now we're psyched to use it.

[@GavinRemme]

Cool! I'm thinking about maybe getting one of these and trying this!

[@BBBrooksNerdsauce]

This is good! I hope to see more!

[@peanutismint]

Great first episode!

[@jadeanderson9651]

I enjoyed this, good job on that piece of class there

[@EVRLYNMedia]

this is a MASTERPEICE! your a lot better at creating music than i am...

[@ANSWERTHECALLOFJESUSCHRIST]

That thing with a Strymon BigSky would sound EPIC!

[@crasheffort]

Great tune, and inspiring video. I picked up a pss560 and psr36 because of your other video about this famly of synths. I love the tones and sliders. They really shine routed through fx. I have been recording with them in addition to two Casio SK1 samplers, a Yamaha RX5 drum machine, and a big ol' Yamaha DX7 synth. I love that crisp FM tone. I also really want some of the entry level Casio synths from the period that use the FM-like phase distortion synthesis.

[@comradeurod9805]

its sounds awesome and familiar somehow

[@evilwarcow]

I wish I could go back in time and give you as a child ALL the keyboards that you have reviewed here on this channel. And have your current self taken back to interview your child self. I'm talking about age 9 or so.

[@ErinIsBlueBlue]

I love this keyboard ! I use it with huge reverb, bit crusher, phaser etc. It's a bit of kit i won't part with. I love to mix it with more contemporary and expensive gear. Sometimes i'm asked «how do you did this sound ?» or «Cool, DX7 hu ?»... «Nope ! Pss-470 my friend !» I love how you did it raw, your score sounds excellent ! Well done !

[@EgoShredder]

I had the model above this the Yamaha PSS560 (also PSS570) which had a lot more PCM drum samples, and the Auto Bass Chord section for choosing accompaniment variations on. Great starter 2-op FM keyboard and compared to what was around at the time in 1986, it actually did not look like a toy.

[@randyharrigan4790]

Just found this synth at a flea market for 15$ and it's clean and works perfectly!

[@yeahman5551]

I love your other channel but this is my favourite channel

[@davidosolo]

Back in 1987, as a kid, I had the the Pss-570, it came out shortly after the Pss-470 had been released and was an improved version, but very similar. These weren´t considered kid´s keyboards at all! Actually, you can make the Pss-470 and 570 with their editable FM-synthesis and onboard effects section sound rather great, if you want. Despite the mini keys, It wasn´t cheap back then and only the more serious musician would consider buying it.

[@MurrayPearson]

Cool stuff! Here's a challenge for you: take an old toy synth, maybe one with a defective keyboard, and build an Arduino-based MIDI interface for it to bring it back to life!

[@fnersch3367]

Wish I had a solo piano arrangement of this. Great piece.

[@255Masak]

This is really interesting, it would be cool if you made guides on how to play keyboard. You have a nice voice for teaching and i think it would be awesome :)

[@exoticcar5482]

There are many tutorials out there already so i don't think he needs to

[@DerAlfredman]

I love the Flute in this Song, really.

[@tterbo128]

Great Futurama reference with that Slurm shirt. :)

[@oldnewandretrotechandosss2876]

I like how it sounds

[@lancecombes]

I love this song!

[@tdgamertcd]

I think that was a really nice tune good job

[@pianoandwhisky]

Yamaha FM synthesis 👍 PSS were like the poor man's DX-7 in those days .. 😅 I had the PSS-680 which had a built-in sequencer and drum pads.

[@raydeen2k]

My favorite synth family from that era was the Casio CZ series. Similar tech to the Yamaha FM sound, but used what Casio called 'Phase Distortion' which to me always had a bit more grit. My first keyboards were an SK-1 (sampler) and a CZ-101 (synth). Still have both and fire them up from time to time.

[@manuelfirpo]

hahaha awesome. I used to have one of those when i was growing up. I didn't know how to play but sure had fun with it.