From “Terminator” to “Poltergeist”, This Vintage Keyboard Provides

I stumbled upon the Kawaii PH50 Pop Keyboard while browsing Reverb. The seller noted the odd cinematic presets of the instruments and I got curious: Karate Kid, Halloween, Poltergeist all suggested more powerful sounds than similar sized boards of the time. Since it was cheap I ordered it and right after unboxing I was triggered by waves of nostalgia (which I usually don't fall for). It has presets that remind me of watching horror films on VHS and playing Amiga 500 games with my friends in the late 80s and early 90s. It sounds distinctly lofi, which makes it stand out today, but has very limited synthesis capabilities. According to the manual it shares the same synthesizer engine as the bigger K-series synths by Kawai, but you can't tweak anything except for layering up to four parts.
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[@Hainbach]

Free Decent Sampler Instrument of the PH50: www.patreon.com/posts/free-decent-hero-96471640

[@DirtyRobot]

Sounds like the K1 chipset

[@DarkSideofSynth]

Herzlichen Dank!

[@konskift]

Agree. I have a K1... some identical sounds @@DirtyRobot

[@eugenecanady5452]

the K1v VST that came out a bit ago also has this sound set available for it.

[@artunionall]

\\\\\

[@SisterRose]

The PH50 is so powerful it can just summon it's own backing dancers

[@SlightlyNasty]

Kawai made the right call with their early digital stuff by really leaning into that super-bright sparkly aliasing, instead of aggressively filtering the output like most of their contemporaries. It makes them sound so lively.

[@davidjazay9248]

Agree, always thought the K1 was special for that reason.

[@CuriousMarc]

Your ability to make good and interesting music with what most would consider bad or bland instruments never ceases to amaze!

[@Hainbach]

Thank you Marc!

[@dermitdrApe]

ha! lovely to see you over here, haha!

[@rachelar]

They're presets

[@80ssynthfan48]

Wouldn't say this was bland. Not compared to other "table hooters" of the time.

[@RCAvhstape]

A bad carpenter blames his tools.

[@mikolasstrajt3874]

I recognize those presets - those are Kawai K1 presets that were extracted from Kawai PHm modules. I like how Kawai brought these sounds to home keyboard scene and made it somewhat interesting by layering. I understand why there is no sound editing capabilities on this home keyboard model as sound editing on K1 is somewhat lengthy process of scrolling through many parameters. That being said I like K1 and even created some my own presets for it.

[@80ssynthfan48]

It's formally the keyboard version of the PHm.

[@aotmr1604]

Two minutes in and I was going to say these reminded me of the cinematic sound bank - but no, this is K1 hardware!

[@ZILtoid1991]

There's also the Nils Kawai K1 plugin if someone doesn't want to shell out to either a PH50 or a K1.

[@DarkSideofSynth]

Indeed, a great plugin @@ZILtoid1991

[@countachqv]

I was going to post the exact same think. This is a Kawai K1. I have one, and I love Visitors patch since 1993

[@ralphhathaway-coley5460]

I picked one of these up about 15 years ago at a carboot sale for £5. I knew nothing about it at the time and was amazed when I played it, pretty unique for a home keyboard. I put mine through assorted 90s multieffects units using serial and parallel processing for some even more incredible evolving sounds

[@endoflevelboss]

After you picked it up I hope you paid for it

[@jonirons]

It is truly a joy to watch your reactions to these surprising presets.

[@Hainbach]

Yeah this one made me so happy.

[@CKT1138]

I reacted like this when I got my Kawai K1, these Digital Kawai synths are wonderful!

[@lemelstudio]

In 1991 (or 92?), I walked into a music store with no intention of buying anything. For some reason they had one of these little guys (the Kawai PH50 labelled version - they were also sold branded as Lowrey.). I had no interest in toy keyboards that day, but as I walked past, I absent-mindedly hit a few keys. The sound that came swirling out of the store's demo speaker setup stopped me dead in my tracks - a glorious D-50 like wash of digital lushness and quirky artifacts. An hour later, I walked out with one under my arm. It was only after I'd gotten it home that I discovered from the manual that it was also multi-timbral. That's right - you can externally sequence three (or was it four?) MIDI channels at the same time with a different sound on each channel. And even more - you can save 30 of these multi-track setups in memory...as well as saving splits, and stacked layers! Over time, I learned that essentially what you have here is lo-fi collection of Kawai K1 presets. It might not seem that big a deal now, but you have to understand - at the time no small battery-powered 'toy' keyboard sounded anything near this. And because of the external form factor, it kind of flew under the radar (but Keyboard Magazine noticed). Sure, the traditional sounds and drum patterns were cheesy, but the non-traditional sounds and pads…amazing! And I don't think there was another mini keyboard with MIDI on sale at all at the time, let alone multi-timbral! I eventually picked up a Kawai K1m, and decided to sell the PH50, yet here it still sits. Twenty years later I finally sold the K1m, yet here it still sits. I tracked down a Kawai GMega in an attempt to replace those presets without shelling out for an overpriced PHm, yet here it still sits. Last year I finally multi-sampled the PH50 for all the sounds I cared about, YET HERE IT STILL SITS.

[@Hainbach]

Thank you for sharing this! I was close to buying a K1 today but this confirms that the PH50 is the sweet spot

[@lemelstudio]

@@Hainbach haha! well, to be clear, the K1 with the same patches installed is definitely a better choice, especially the K1m desktop in my opinion. my point was that I can't really explain my own behavior with this object...both the way it came into my life and how it refuses to leave!

[@eugenecanady5452]

i still have the Lowery LSM-1 in my rig. Love the bass

[@ShallRemainUnknown]

Kawai had a relationship with Lowrey then, eventually purchased the company (and subsequently shut it down, poor sales). I believe Kawai synths were actually incorporated into some very expensive Lowrey organs. Do you remember how much you paid for Kawai PH50?

[@lemelstudio]

​@@ShallRemainUnknown that's a tough request. my hazy memory is returning $199 but I might be off. it was definitely less than $200 because I wouldn't have budgeted more than that for an impulse purchase at the time. I remember feeling like I'd gotten an incredible bargain because those sounds could not be had for less than $1k at the time. remember, this was before VSTs, etc., so if you wanted a sound, you had to buy an object, and then you were stuck with whatever that object could or couldn't do. P-Funk legend Bernie Worrell's PH50 sold at auction at Bonham's in 2017 for only $125, but hey, it apparently caught his ear at some point, too.

[@subterrene9196]

I found one of these on the side of the road, full of water and with extremely corroded batteries. I took it apart, cleaned the dirt off the circuit boards and contacts, made sure it was totally dried out with a hair dryer, and then put new batteries in it. It completely works! Kawaii may have cranked these out but they were still built with enough quality to take years of use & abuse.

[@andrewschroeder9502]

@12:31 A wild Hainbach Junior appears!

[@audiowanderer]

So happy to see the PH50 on your channel 🎉My first synth!! So dreamy, so weird, so unique

[@Hainbach]

I agree with you, it is so very good.

[@heliumtrophy]

Sounds like this keyboard has your daughter's seal of approval.

[@Hainbach]

Yeah when they dance to stuff I make I am extra happy

[@rthomas1031]

Wow. “Visitors” and “poltergeist” sound amazing for a synth like this.

[@PocketOperatorGuy]

That's a beautiful sounding machine. The sound patches are so full of shape and depth. The lo-fi artifacts and effects added to some of the voices remind me of dark indie games that have eerie background tracks in some of the levels. I would add that little machine into a few effects pedals and just get lost in the ambiance. You did an awesome demo with that machine. Nice track too!

[@NihilQuest]

As an Amiga user and 80's horror fan I love this. So much character in this thing! Few months ago I did a soundtrack for a fake 80's slasher movie that plays inside of the video game Paranoid and this was exactly the sound I wanted. Using a real thing was out of the question, but there's Nils K1v VST which seems to have the same presets.

[@ShakaCthulu]

Dungeonsynth-In-A-Box

[@amtsgedicht]

absoluter hammer was du da rausgeholt hast - ich schaue mit viel freude deine podcasts, herzlichen dank!

[@Hainbach]

Ganz lieben Dank!

[@therichardexp5875]

This has been incredibly therapeutic for me. Thank you so much for sharing.

[@QUANTUMprojection]

Hainbach..YOU ARE AN AMAZING VOCALIST!!Keep them coming

[@Hainbach]

Thank you! I am very shy about my vocals, but I have promised myself to get more confident this year.

[@tezeta3725]

​@@HainbachIve been loving the songs you've been putting out with vocals. This one is probably one of my favorites youve made. It kinda reminds me of Bowie

[@SisterRose]

can't believe it was Hainbach who composed the opening music of my favourite 1991 Horror flick

[@adamandlorraine]

I had this in the UK. It was rebranded as a lowrey ls50. I had those 4 parts working with my atari ST!

[@scattystormborn]

This review turned into the deleted scenes from Flight of the Conchords

[@RobinPalmerTV]

What a gorgeous powerhouse of a keyboard! Those sounds are incredible.

[@808v1]

Hainbach! Super enjoyable video - loved it. Also that first song was great :) very melancholy and atmospheric.

[@DubMasterFish]

Ohh! Nostalgia! Got that as my first keyboard back in the late 80s or early 90s. Lots of memories with that one! 😀

[@Individual_two]

Excellent video! You did a great job making interesting music using this home keyboard. Well done!

[@pianokeyjoe]

Ah yes, the unicorn of home keyboards. I have tons of keyboards and synths and to this day I still do not have the Kawai PH50 pop keyboard featured on QVC back in the early 90s!

[@greigclement9081]

Loved you how put the inspired song with what you had played with so far, in the middle of the video. You made something great with the few sounds, and a couple of tweaks. Great creativity and imagination.

[@Hainbach]

Thank you very much!

[@noisetheorem]

When I was in one of my first bands, we had one of these and Ensoniq mirage. I also had a Yamaha TG33 and a Casio. This was around 1993 or 94. Your delight is bringing back memories. Some…not so good, LOL

[@szalaylama]

the rave dance part surprise was such a nice vibe !

[@ChrisLodyMusic]

That's an impressive amount of control for a home keyboard, sounds great for a home keyboard too. I own the Kawai K1 and K4 but I still want one 😅

[@K-ORA]

Omg, I had this as a kid! Totally forgot, until now. Now, I want it again lol. Thanks 😅

[@markymark627]

11.12 piano / pads reminds me of the korgis everybodys got to learn sometime , great vid

[@thedeepblueskys]

Impressive lofi synth. Price just went up on Reverb after this video dropped lol

[@RussSmith]

it got 'heinbached'.

[@thedeepblueskys]

@@RussSmith lol

[@boombap28]

Found one and bought it because of this video. Much thanks!!

[@DavidHilowitzMusic]

love the song! sounds great

[@Hainbach]

Thank you David!

[@Xaero188]

It legit sounds like something you can fully make a redro indie game soundtrack on.

[@ringsystemmusic]

Oh man this thing sounds phenomenal. I may have to try and find one.

[@kikkirow]

Omg you took the most low quality sounds and turned them into gold ❤

[@ipainthouses3084]

This is crazy , makes me wanna keep a eye out for it. Love these type of things they made in 80s and 90s. Gues the era of computers made them absolute

[@juno6]

Great video! I´ve a similar Kawai keyboard called MS-710 which has the ability to make your own patches by combining two waveforms and editing their envelopes. I did beautiful sounds that reminded me of my Emulator ll.

[@ancientmartianunderground]

That tune is epic!....new respect...I will check out more of your stuff...thanks from another synth player in S.F. California

[@Hainbach]

Thank you!

[@rupertkingsley]

First track had a very "Air" feeling to it. Wonderful!

[@alastpicturefromvoyager]

Wow I am fascinated by the TOP 10 Chart potential of the composition you made at the middle of the video. With the perfect touch of "cliché" 😊

[@-solidsnake-]

This thing does sound great, I love how breathy many of the sounds are. My friends mom found one in the og box on the side of the road. Beautiful thing

[@xofluap]

Your pullover rocks hard dude.

[@V3nom7]

Huge YELLo Drive/Driven vibes here. I find funny how considered crappy romplers from the past become highly seeked expensive instruments now.

[@kaitlyn__L]

Heck, last I checked some Yamaha PortaSounds are going for as much as a microKORG on reverb. Nostalgia, and increased scarcity, sure do a number on people’s perception of things.

[@Mizzdr111]

really nice presets. I'd spend hours putting all those layers together, even if I had ALL the free plugins. Excellent job Heinbach Sir!

[@ungetuem]

unexpected awesome duo!!!

[@Ismail-cf6xu]

We love guest appearances!

[@matsewunderlich]

beautiful - the choir sound reminds me on the "Aaah" Preset from the Kawai K1

[@dr.rabbitfoot7421]

This video was so much fun thank you

[@AllanGildea]

Great stuff! Thank you.

[@orincat10]

The free plugin Nil's K1v has an emulation of these sounds if you look under the PHm bank.

[@zloboslav_]

I wanted to comment the same! It's one of my favorite vst synths! :)

[@keyhoarder]

I always wonder why other home keyboards had only the same generic presets, and there were only a few exceptions in last 30+ years, or just some "add-ons" about 1 or two different presets in General MIDI based keyboards. I think many early 90s kids, including me would choose this Kawai PH 50 over any Casio/Yamaha home keyboard. So much fun.

[@Hainbach]

I love your username "keyhoarder" ❤️

[@DjDoggDad]

You would have to pry my casio from my cold dead hands.

[@ShallRemainUnknown]

Have you seen the UMPTEEN vids by sizeable channels here where all the guy does is essentially compare electric and acoustic piano presets of top synths/workstations from Yammy/Krog/Noland/Kurzy etc., totally glossing over any and all interesting/atmospheric synth sounds. I've even sought out non-PCM-based synth vids from such channels, thinking to myself "let's see how he's gonna handle THIS ONE", and, lo and behold, it's like he's got no comprehension of anything being EPs/APs, and similar, will gravitate to only sounds in that vein. It's incomprehensible to me, but some just want that refined white bread and McDonald's "butter" ONLY. Sizeable channels(s), too, and guy's technically excellent player (no imagination, though)...

[@keyhoarder]

@@ShallRemainUnknown well i think you should look out for "all presets" vids

[@keyhoarder]

​@@Hainbachhaha thanks! Btw have you ever encountered the Casio VA 10? I i would love to see your thougths about this little gem

[@synthchilla]

Awesome sounds

[@EduardoRohdeEras]

I wasn't expecting such a fun video to watch and such a great track you produced in the middle! By the way, your voice is so beautiful... the track got some vibes from Pink Floyd to Hammstein 😂 But for sure, the tiny girl dancing was the funniest and cutiest part! Best video of the day!

[@wolfunplugged]

das ist echt hochinteressant, mir war nicht klar, dass kawai in dem marktsegment der kleinen homekeyboards mitgemischt hat...aber nicht schlecht! danke für's vorstellen und samplen!

[@mvoproject]

Oh, that home keyboard just blow my mind with it's sounds! Some of them clearly reminds me the fantastic compositions/soundtracks by the incredible Christopher Franke!! Yes, I'm about those JD-800-ish sounds with a high pitched breathy sweep. Me really like the sounds based on the different noises. But of course there are lots of very interesting sounds to experiment with one. The string pads sounds close to the prophessional models K1/K3. Very cool and inspiring video, Hainbach! Thanks and keep it up - you do it great =) Cheers and Peace!

[@GillamtheGreatest]

videos where he gets visibly excited are the best ones

[@BrentStewart]

Absolutely loved the track you dropped in the middle of the video. Felt like I was about to step into a new episode of Tanis or The Black Tapes podcast.

[@Hainbach]

Thank you very much!

[@CyanTiger]

Love that this gives off some Legendary Pink Dots vibes!!!

[@jasonmd2020]

Oh God this was my first keyboard! The nostalgia is through the roof!

[@andrewmcgee1001]

I was so surprised when I saw the thumbnail of the PH50! I still have mine from around '89-90? Cool little keyboard and with some effects (mainly Alesis Microverb at the time and maybe chorus) and you could do some interesting 6-7 part productions on a Fostex 4-trk. It really brings back memories writing/playing/recording home demos.

[@ThePrestoPrestissimo]

The Joystick alone makes this sound really different than what it looks like

[@Hainbach]

It is super fun! I might just buy the K1 too, of which this is an even more cut down version.

[@ThePrestoPrestissimo]

@@Hainbach The more the world changes, the more things stay the same

[@neilpatrickhairless]

That's the core feature of this thing, shame that its getting tougher to find these in some places with a joystick that works / isn't broken off

[@ThePrestoPrestissimo]

@@neilpatrickhairless should fixing a stick not BE a small problem nowadays as repair parts can be printed?

[@cyberyogicowindler2448]

​@@ThePrestoPrestissimo The joystick is AFAIK the only part sticking out of the flat case top and so may snap off easily if handled roughly. (I own dozens of strange tablehooters and store them vertically (like books) in large cupboards.)

[@neglectsound]

the Pop keyboard is so rad, i used it a long time ago and it was really cool

[@richsackett3423]

What an awesome toy. Hours and hours of amusement.

[@jakkobdjmaul2837]

Amazing tunes!

[@thewesterj]

Wow ! Kawaii has some true gems. I might get this for a score Im doing . I really try to use very few plugins especially synths.

[@thebreakfastmenu]

There are many of these same presets on the more expensive Kawai K1, which I have. This little guy seems like an affordable way to get the same sounds. Pretty neat!

[@j.wilcox3547]

I'm going to keep my eyes open at goodwill for one of these.

[@marcandreas88]

As a young lad growing up in the 90s, I had inherited a number of 80s keyboards/synths from my dad and they heavily inspired me to compose my own music. I did not have this particular keyboard, but I did have another Kawai synthesizer with a surprising number of the same presets as this one. (I think it was the K1?) Watching your reaction to them was both endearing and highly nostalgic. It was one of my favorite synths.

[@dracoony]

Some of the presets remind me of various Amiga game soundtracks. Even the "lo-fi-ness" from the Paula chip is there! Very nice!

[@Hainbach]

Yes! Shadow of the beast

[@ERYKJACKNIFE]

I have a ph50 I found for $25 during covid. It’s the love of my life. 🥰 I don’t think I’ve seen hainbach smile so much, I think I know why. I feel there something special about old synths from the 80s and 90s it’s like they time traveled from back in time to be with us. I also get to play synths that Id probably never ever know about. I love this little synth. I made two songs last night.

[@kerzwhile]

Quite reminescent of a D50 in ways. Kawai was deff a slept on brand over the years! 😊

[@oscillationcommunications709]

Nice! Sounds like it has many presets from the k1. Prob similar synthesis under the hood. I love old Kawai stuff.

[@soulextracter]

I need to get a new one of these. This was the synth I grew up with. Dad bought it sometime at the start of the 90s, and us kids were always plonking away on it. None of us knew how to play though, so it sounded even more terrible than the already tinny sound from the cheap speakers. Sadly, our Kawai stopped working, because of solder joints cracking. We fixed it once, but then it stopped working again, so I bought a new Casio instead. Good memories!

[@DerekPower]

That track you made in the first half sounds like a down-tempo Depeche Mode song. Sehr gut =] I wish that was the keyboard I had as a kid (instead of the Yamaha PSS-130). Instant vaporwave 😁

[@museumofnow]

Great diamond in the rough synth and a wholesome family dance moment? Hainbach always delivers.

[@Jefflantern483]

That keyboard sounds super gnarly & fantastic sounds fantastic & will make a gnarly Lp of great tunes Hainbach! 🙂🎵🙂🎵

[@cjcurcio]

Great track!

[@daeone1514]

This is crazy to be a basic keyboard. It's over my head. I got to get one of these. This is just crazy

[@mmaxfit24]

Nomads is a 1986 film with Pierce Brosnan. I only saw it once and that was years ago so don’t remember much about it other than it’s a suspense/thriller that’s a bit like a nightmare. Great idea to name the presets based on movies.

[@RegebroRepairs]

Heh, they just went all in on that selection of sounds. Fun!

[@adrianoconnor3020]

That visitors preset is excellent 😊

[@kingcognito]

AAAaamiigaaaaa!!! Did you ever make music with Amiga? Protracker and mods, perhaps? :) Cool synth and video, Thank You!

[@user-cq7zx1sq1q]

That was really cool.

[@GraphicEqulizerProductions]

We dig this so much

[@PlantMusicLife]

Hey Heinbach! I recommend doing a video on the Yamaha PortaSound PSS-380. I found one stored in my parent’s basement many years ago and it’s still my favorite vintage synth in the world. The sound possibilities are endless.

[@artisan002]

Oh my god. That was the best cameo. LOL!

[@chikoavena3407]

The fly preset is goated

[@matthiaswilhelm9813]

Danke HAINBACH! Du hast meinen Tipp erhört💖💖💖 Das alte PH50 haben vor vielen Jahren Muttis in die Mülltonne gedrückt,deren Kids nicht Klavier lernen wollten! Es wurde denke ich in Deutschland sogar von Quelle und Neckermann vertrieben und hat trotz des Primitiven Stolen Hammersounds an Board.Synths,Kawai Sounds,Strings,Organs,synths,rauchige Sounds,Bells,sfx,eine Stolen B3 mit Perc.MFG Matthias

[@vanilla_milkshake]

you could make so many Dungeonsynth albums with that keyboard

[@Jonas-bn8gp]

Love it! Such a good track..I'm asynth nerd too. Hehe

[@AudioPilz]

If you enjoy this definitely check out the Kawai K1 (if you haven't already). Many of these aliasing-ridden lofi samples mixable with a joystick. I can send you mine if you want;)

[@Hainbach]

Nice will have a look at your video! Thanks for the offer

[@til2003]

Toll. Dankeschön!

[@teamphil]

A pleasant Sunday morning surprise

[@this_connor_guy]

It seems like consumer grade Kawai K1. I know the Terminator one is a patch from that synth. Great synth too! :)

[@kidwho3110]

came here to say just this! The patch names definitely sound very familiar, as do the component waveforms of the presets

[@irradix213]

oh cool, some of these are on my K1R, i use the 80s rack units for string, piano, and bell presets usually but had just starting checking thru these kind of sounds in that, the Yamaha TX81z, and the Roland D110 to accent some pieces done primarily on Minitaur and Pro-one

[@tonoormusic]

The song and especially the singing was great!

[@Hainbach]

Thank you, and don’t answer that telegram scam bot I just banned.

[@tonoormusic]

Would you consider doing an LP/EP with vocals? Maybe you already did at some point and I missed it.

[@Hainbach]

Check Rotopops on Bandcamp with Look Mum No Computer - there I sing 😃

[@tonoormusic]

I will!@@Hainbach