Repairing a FedEx damaged MIDI keyboard Yamaha PSR-36

I got this Yamaha PSR-36 on ebay but FedEx had damaged it. I decided to attempt to repair it, and here's how I did it.

[@00Klingon]

Our mailroom guy got fed up with packages marked "Fragile" getting crumpled by FedEx so he got a stamp that said "Bend Me NOW!" and suddenly our shipments were treated with more care... go figure.

[@berenmowrer740]

+Klingon00 LOL. I must try that...

[@BenTheTechGuy]

+Klingon00 lol

[@MRWALLFan]

Nice.

[@FindecanorNotGmail]

+Klingon00 Love it!

[@Evan420]

Lol I need stamps like that!

[@McRocket]

Your patience and thoroughness greatly impresses me.

[@enriquesoto2628]

Comes with age, Sr. You will get it.

[@McRocket]

@@enriquesoto2628 Sadly, I doubt it - at least in my case. I am middle-aged and I still could not remotely comprehend doing this. Maybe I have ADHD (adult version).

[@iXenox]

@@McRocket I think it has to do with his wish to take care and do a good job because he can (and wants to). Either that or he has always gone for the approach of noticing things and making them better ASAP (because others noticed/he wanted to do it this way). It's always nice when someone appreciates how much effort was put in. If you do it that way for a long time it'll stick.

[@alexblackburn2247]

Those performances you gave at the end were truly pieces of art and I got goosebumps from listening, really great stuff

[@alduswong]

Hi 8 bit guy! I have this keyboard. It is still activly working just like new, with an original stand. My family, in 1990 I think... brought this and attempt to play. But I only can play one song ever since in simple fingering, my mother, who almost did not touch it, took a course and did not practice after the first year. My father who was the only person capable to play, play that occasionally, once per couple monthes. We moved to an other country later in 1995 and my mother asked me to pick up the stand before moving because our new home will be larger and here it stay till now. Still nobody touch it normaly but it is always hooked up with a stereo amp (a cheap jvc) with a pair of speakers. Yesterday we had a family dinner and my father just take away the dust cover and play a song after meal. :) the same song in the past... many years. We all love it, just cannot play very well lol. I almost never listen to its sound like what you play. It is always with piano. XD

[@pvc988]

When I was buying my digital piano (Thomann DP-85) few years ago UPS (United Parcel Smashers) managed to break it in half (literally) when shipping it. I wonder how did they manage to do that. It's quite bulky device. And its box wasn't even creased or anything. But Germans did well and sent me a new one without any problem.

[@bland9876]

I think if the shipping company messes up they should be the ones responsible for giving you a refund not the person you bought from

[@pvc988]

Yeah. I wonder if people at Thomann got some of their money back. EDIT: But it shows how they care for their customers.

[@tomasbarros2384]

pvc988 Hey. I guess it's not quite the place, but can you tell me how good of a DP the Thomann was? We're the keys properly weighted and was the sound proper? Thank you so much.

[@pvc988]

Tomás Barros It's really not bad. Keyboard feels "just right" for me. Keys feel pretty heavy, which is good I think and they sound right as well. User interface buttons are all clicky mechanical switches. Samples vary, some are just perfect (piano, church organ, synth, trumpet, etc.) while others are not that great (like guitars, reed organ, higher octaves of saxophones). The LCD is "meh". Viewing angles are rather bad. USB MIDI works perfect on Windows and Linux. The only issue I had with it was that volume regulation potentiometer became a little bit scratchy so I had to clean it. Overall I am pleased with it and IMO it was worth every penny I spend on it.

[@straightpipediesel]

@@bland9876 No, the contract is between the shipper and the carrier. The carrier is only responsible to the shipper, not you the recipient. Shipping companies have a liability of usually $50-100 max. If you want more, you buy insurance. Large shippers usually don't buy insurance because it costs them less to self-insure, that is eat the loss of any damaged packages.

[@PhoenixWrong_]

Man that piano synth sound has seen better days.

[@8BitKeys]

+Phoenix Wright Indeed.. As with all FM synths, the piano doesn't sound very good. But it makes a ton of other cool sounds.

[@Magikarpador]

+gir489 Or you could use a piano.

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

+8-Bit Keys The piano synth isn't too bad to me, but then I probably nostalgic for that sort of sound

[@hydrochloricacid2146]

+Phoenix Wright yeah , and fedex is horrible at handling stuff

[@tgpholly]

+Phoenix Wright I love cosmic tho

[@amessman]

It's unfortunate how they simply don't care. On the plus side that eBay seller is awesome for giving you a half refund and offering full!

[@padmad3k63]

In a way it is his fault for not sending it in a proper keyboard case. Usually when you buy synthesizers from people they will send it in a keyboard case, which is placed into the box with Styrofoam protection.

[@mikeebrady]

@@padmad3k63 Yea, the seller should have refunded the full amount.

[@drzontar]

Moving the repaired keys to the upper end of the keyboard was very smart. Great job.

[@vwestlife]

"Cosmic" reminded me of Swinth on the C64. :-)

[@8BitKeys]

+vwestlife I actually plan to play Swinth on this keyboard at some point (actually the song is from stationary ark, but most people know it as swinth)

[@MaximNightFury]

Heyo vwestlife

[@AB-Prince]

8-Bit Keys the "piano" sounded more like a clavichord

[@boic2038]

Me Too!

[@secretcommenter5720]

Yaa it dose o and ya love your chanel

[@ShahriarTaherkhani]

Hello *8 Bit Guy* ! Thanks so much for uploading and sharing your talent, skills and passion on all home keyboards specially on PSR-36 ! I own and love a PSR-16 and would love to buy a PSR-36 and PSR-41 They are awesome ! I am a musician and play Electric guitar and Synthesizer. I bought mine at Goodwill : ) 4 years ago I never thought I will be in love with it ! I have a few expensive synthesizer at home, but I get more inspire by my $14 YAMAHA PSR-16 ! .... It is more intuitive to me time to time ! P.S. I really enjoy your videos, your video shows how accurate you are in every thing you explain ! The way you detail from the start to the end are absolutely great ! Very clean and brilliant ! Please keep up the awesome work ! My best regards to you. Greetings from: LA, CA

[@mtbevins]

I love it when you take something that is junk and bring it back to life. Probably my favorite thing I see you do.

[@swordsmasher200]

lol. when he tests out the keyboard, the cc says "The 8-Bit Guy plays some music". well thanks for clearing that up.

[@calciumrods1779]

3:55

[@MrWombatty]

Not even sure why a deaf person would be watching videos about keyboards anyway!?!

[@JackLaverne]

i keep them on because of the funny stuff the caption authors write

[@gymnasiast90]

Plenty of reasons. Like having English as a second language (like I do), being in a noisy environment, struggling with accents, loud background music, or even being a little bit hard of hearing.

[@maninthecrowd5076]

@@MrWombatty to be the next Beethoven

[@Runicen]

Really nice to see that keyboard given a new lease on life. Congrats on the success!

[@8BitKeys]

+Runicen Indeed. If I had sent it back, it would have likely ended up in a landfill.

[@Runicen]

+8-Bit Keys It's the kind of thing that keeps me up at night to imagine all of the vintage computer equipment and synths in landfills already.

[@iLife64]

This video hit me in the heart. As a kid I grew up with a PSR-36 (and still have it but in bad condition, works great as a midi in FM synth) I only knew this keyboard as a toy, playing the William Tell demo over and over again and just missing around with the keys. Watching you play beautiful songs on it is amazing because I never guessed it could sound so amazing. I love YMXXXX based FM chips so much

[@Halterung01]

Kudos to the very nice seller. Hope he got a good feedback rating at the end of this

[@dominicracca6955]

This channel makes me want to buy a keyboard again. I had a Casio something when I was a kid and I taught myself what I could but never quite got the chords down.

[@Michirin9801]

Oooh yes! 4OP FM is MUCH better than 2OP, the sound is just so much richer and more intricate! Simply beautiful!

[@mr.gamer7837]

Is it just me or is this guy AWESOME at playing the keyboard I’m mean killing it at the end there

[@bobbobson4069]

What a stupendous restoration! 10 out of 10! Live the 'cosmic' patch

[@user-yo2lt8ch7v]

I only just found this channel 5 days ago, and I subscribed (I'm not even into keyboard, but I do like watching people mod and repair retro gear)

[@AzureOnyxscore]

I literally got goosebumps when you played a song from Cosmic

[@HunterZBNS]

Those poor keys! Awesome job getting it working again. It's got a nice rich sound.

[@joshdevdoss9041]

I used to own a PSR E-203 back in 05. While moving, the movers dropped it from the top off a flight of stairs by accident. The Surface near the LCD screen was scratched and some of the buttons seeped into its hole, but it still worked! It continued to work for 5 years after I finished school when I didn't need it anymore. Yamaha keyboards are tough.

[@MysticRixel]

Really amazing, shows the true love you do have with those Yamahas. I would love to have some space to put pianos and learn. Keep the amazing work! Also so nice of the seller of wanting to take the charges of the damages.

[@NivenGe]

Wow the Fantasy instrument sends chills up my spine, by far the best sounding one out of the 3 shown.

[@jessica23claire]

I just found a PSR-2 at Savers! It was in amazingly good condition - worked with an adapter and with batteries and it wasn't damaged at all. I played keyboard a bit when I was a kid and I was keen to hunt down an old cheap one just to learn on. So I spent my Sunday afternoon taking a leaf out of your book and giving it a clean (rubbing alcohol and q-tips!), and trying to read sheet music on my laptop. Oh like that's abnormal :P

[@TheTony1596]

Just putting it out there, through a car repair video from a guy over there in Texas I found out about a product that is used to "weld" plastic back together and is available to the consumer market. From what I see on most of your videos it would really come in handy so you wouldn't have to sacrifice your working stuff for other cool things

[@infraviolet]

I borrowed one of these from my middle school in 8th grade and i really wish i could have kept it. It wasn't the best keyboard I had, I own a DX11 and did at the time as well, but I really loved the kind of sounds this made, and the simplicity of making sounds with it. I hope to find one someday.

[@pprophet]

Not gonna lie I was genuinely impressed by that pink panther theme

[@folk112]

I Love this so much, goosebumps on me arms. There is something very delicate with you repairing the keyboard and then make it pump out some gorgeous sound. THx, keep up good work! IF I Wastås unemployed you would have my financial support for full time you-tubing.

[@Kumodot]

I miss the videos of 8-Bit Keys. I just got a PSR-36 and would like to know more about it, but it's weird i could not find THAT much over youtube.

[@Anonymous-xn2xh]

It was actually you who got me into old Japanese synthesizers and play them to YT

[@BarryWarne]

cool vid - and great repair demonstration. Plus, I learned about yet another PortaSound - so many of them .... a few with great features for low, low price.

[@BarryWarne]

you should probably replace those black keys eventually ... sacrificing from some other PSR donor keyboard

[@rawr51919]

Or have them 3D-printed somehow. The finish I have no idea how you'd be able to recreate.

[@jacobedwards83]

Man I could watch you play for hours. thanks for the video

[@kingsleywong4863]

I love those sounds from the past, it was so awesome

[@trabantfreak2370]

I really liked the bit you played with Cosmic it sounded really herioc in a retrofuturistic way.

[@scottmitting1671]

Nice! Thanks for point this channel out from your 8-bit guy channel! I'm currently working on getting an FM chip (YM2612 used in Sega Genesis) into a eurorack modular synthesizer. I'll be watching this channel for sure!

[@GaMMERKitten]

I love the song u did with the cosmic sound on the keyboard.

[@DRSDavidSoft]

I was born in the 90's but I loved this.

[@chordpop6259]

glad to see this. I have a rare baldwin explorer keyboard as well as a psr36. they have many physical/sound similarities. I think yamaha may have made it for baldwin. the drum sounds and the jack configuration in the back are the same. the build is almost identical except the baldwin is champagne color. it also has a different feature focus/button layout but a couple of the sounds are the same. the sounds are more complex on the Baldwin but sound like they have the same generators. the baldwin lets you layer sounds too. but.. it slid out of the back of my van years ago and has the same dipped center with keys clanking on the frame. am totally going to do this repair on it. thanks

[@FatticusBat]

I found one of these keyboards fully working at a thrift store for 10 bucks! I must say I am glad I picked it up, :D

[@wildchurch]

Those Yamaha keybeds are very solid and the contacts very reliable. It looks the same as the one used in my CBX-K3 MIDI controller - still going strong after 25 while more recent products crap-out within a couple of years. Also have a PSR-6300 which I suspect has the same or similar keybed as the DX7 - still working flawlessly too. Cheers for the great videos!

[@joeh773]

Kuddos to you for dumping so much time on it, excellent job! Sounds good too, can't wait to see vids with this one. And looove the pink panther. Happy holidays!

[@vicr123]

Love the piano at the end :)

[@calebwilbanks2871]

Same thing happened to me. I ordered a 2007 Mac pro and it was shipped though FedEx. The case was badly damaged (it was mostly the sellers (a company of all things) fault because they wrapped it in a SINGLE, yes single, sheet of bubble wrap and shoved it in a cardboard box and thats it), but it still worked just fine after I reseated the ram. I contacted the seller and they refunded me half of the price although it should have been all or the guy who packed it should have been fired or docked pretty good because it was not a cheap computer.

[@OpenKeith]

it worked FINE after you did one thing. you really expect them to refund you for the FULL PRICE if you HAVE the computer and it WORKS. you sound like the guy all the retail workers anonymously complain about on tumblr

[@thatroom]

your playing is getting better. awesome :) love watching your repair vids

[@harukatakahashi8822]

If their was a Otaku or a retro café, I will love to listen to the 8 bit guy playing music and taking requests to play a song from the fans :3

[@qazwert007]

your dedication is unbelievable!!!! Congrats!!!

[@nucularity]

I love those kind of videos you knwo why ? Cuz there is so much effort in them ! First of all, you wanted to repair it so it takes a serious ammount of time, and secondly, the editing is great ! You are showing everything in this keyboard so we can't miss anything in the process of repairing. Subscribed. :'D

[@AmyraCarter]

I love the Pink Panther theme... Yay for a working Plan A!!! :)

[@Aquatarkus96]

I own one of these. As far as toy synths go this has a very nice feeling action. I actually prefer to use it for Hammond organ parts, the action is so light and the waterfall keys make palm glisses a joy to do.

[@henryjohnson1071]

You need to perform the Futurama theme song in its entirety. Anyways, keep up the good work. Love both of your channels! -Henry

[@8BitKeys]

+Henry Johnson I've already toyed around with that song.. but I need to find the proper sheet music for it. I can't figure out how to play parts of it.

[@sonicisnotasimp675]

8-Bit Keys i actually found it if you want it :)

[@superlegendary]

@@8BitKeys It's been 4 years... have you been able to figure it out yet?

[@zookatone]

Those people at FedEx sure put some effort in bending that keyboard

[@PocketOperatorGuy]

I like the sound of that synth. It's got a nice sawwy low end. It's awesome. Make some sick trance with that machine.

[@daeone1514]

psr 36 is one the best keyboards every created!! I'd love to have another one!!!😍

[@scinorandex]

That seller is cool. I would read him a bedtime story and give him a warm cookie and a glass of milk.

[@DanWoodTomwoodson]

As a music lover, great video. As a FedEx employee, not so much. :) But you still get a thumbs up. In my defense (as an employee) I do my best to treat peoples stuff well, I always think, what if this was mine. The people in my section are pretty good too, but I can imagine that not everyone is conscientious, and the comments here confirm that. Sorry about that. In any case, keep up the good work.

[@kandahar74]

Hi there, David: I don't know if you already knew it or have mentioned it in some of your videos about keyboards, but Yamaha use to have a combination of keys while switching on the keyboards to enter into a test mode in order to check all the keys, including function keys. On my Yamaha PSS-595 it is holding press the last two keys of the keyboard and swithing it on. Great videos. I like the ones i've seen so far. Good luck.

[@esteebangus]

You're like Bob Ross, but your specialty is fixing piano keyboards.

[@diablo666morgan]

Awesome video man and great job playing , Im looking forward to more content from you on this and your other channel

[@MysticRixel]

Hey 8-Bit Guy, could you please activate the "Contribute subtitles" mode? I'd love to translate to Spanish most of your videos! Thanks a lot.

[@8BitKeys]

+MysticRixel OK. I didn't realize it was off. I have fixed it. That would be great to have Spanish subtitles.

[@TheMrzucker21]

Im from Peru, and would be great!

[@TheMrzucker21]

Me encantaria que los tradujeras, me encantaria mostrar estos videos a mis compañeros de universidad!.

[@MysticRixel]

TheMrzucker21 Traduje un par, dejé de hacerlo por cuestiones de tiempo. También este video no me lo ha aceptado. Cuando tenga un rato libre lo seguiré haciendo. Gracias por recordarmelo!

[@TheMrzucker21]

***** Genial, gracias!. que videos estan traducidos?

[@UnrelatedAntonym]

I worked in a UPS facility, the automated systems for moving packages around aren't exactly advanced... I've seen plenty of packages get pinned, bent, crushed, etc. just by the machines and large packages flying down slides after fragile packages. Combine that with management wanting more work out of less of a work force and other issues, we get this "quality" service.

[@SoleaGalilei]

Cool that you fixed it! You made it look easy.

[@Petertronic]

Watching exactly 4 years later :)

[@TheBlueCoyote]

after hearing the Fantasy sampling, all i can say is : you'd make a great composer for any Final Fantasy (NES) ROM hacks

[@luqasxXX]

"Cosmic" reminded me about the midi sound which was used in "Sweet Ballad" performed by Zooey Deschanel to the movie "Yes Man".

[@EdwinNoorlander]

Cool nice work. I am looking for a defect keyboard to fix. Because I am making a homemade synthesizer. Great channel 👍🏻

[@MrArpSolina]

The Yamaha FS1R is an 8-Operator FM synth, and has Formant Shaping Synthesis too.

[@liamcatterall212]

This guy has a really good talking voice.

[@SenileOtaku]

This sounds like having to fix my daughter's Casio LK-280 after she "decorated" the keyboard with a magic marker, then decided later to "clean" the marker off with a spray cleaner. I had to dismantle the entire unit, and wash the keys, buttons, etc. Didn't help that the keys (molded in sets of 3-4 keys) were sticking to the felt bumper. Wasn't so bad until one of the aforementioned molded key sets broke at the very-thin flex point. I tried ordering some replacement parts, and Casio said it would take then 3-4 **months** (yes, months) to get me parts. I ended up doing a repair using strapping tape, epoxying it on both sides of the broken flex point to re-attach and reinforce it. Shoddy construction all around on the part of Casio.

[@commentman7446]

Wow. Great work, FedEx.

[@Kuzo53]

I own this keyboard, got it st Goodwill for 10 dollars. 10 dollars!!! I run it through my line 6 and filtered through the effects and some delay you can make some pretty textured pads with it. Not to mention it syncs up with my Korg Monologue via Midi, which is surprising. I love this thing!

[@ElectoneGuy]

Yamaha's Electone HX-1 from 1987 had 16-operator FM synthesis and AWM sampling.

[@arthurhenriqued.a.ribeiro2078]

I love the Pink Panther theme!

[@chrislane4637]

I love yor music that you put together in your videos

[@ajl9491]

Great channel and great job making lemonade from lemons!

[@ZILtoid1991]

Most higher end Yamaha were 4 operator only, but some later models utilized other waveforms than the standard sine-wave.Also all digital FM synthesizers are based upon the Phase Modulation technology as it's mathematically equal and easier to sync the oscillators. This also lead some manufacturers to use Phase Modulation for their synths, like Casio (under the name Phase Distortion in their CZ series, they sound a bit like the DX series only even colder) and Creative in their later soundcards as a replacement to OPL3s (under the name CQM or Creative Quadrature Modulation, standalone chips sounded colder than the original OPL3s, integrated ones have poor bass response and distorted highs).

[@dearmingsacayanan]

Also have a psr 300 that needs care trying to change the casing. had fun watching your videos. tnx for shareing sir

[@warrie_pl]

I would like to see extended versions of the instrument demonstrations you've performed in this video!

[@kilesengati]

The US is a weird, consumer unfriendly place. Deutsche Post/DHL in Germany and most other parcel services in Germany offer a free insurance of packages up to a certain amount of money when it comes to you in a damaged state. Cool that you managed it to repair it. I wonder if it would be possible to replace the keyboards with others.

[@javierzubizarreta2933]

A review of the PSR-36 would be cool.

[@eeyore6532]

I luv the Pink Panther theme. I used to have a Pink Panther arcade Pinball machine.

[@michaelberman9666]

That cosmic sound reminds me of 80's music.

[@nathanspeer3128]

I particularly like the sound of 4-op. I own a DX21, which of course is quite a bit more kit than this toy piano, but it's not a 6-op like the DX7. Some prefer the sound or will at least admit it's capable of making great noise. The 4-op is related to the Yamaha chip in the Sega Genesis, so if you like some of the crunchy and distorted sounds some soundtracks make, you'll probably love these 4-op keyboards. If you just want to fool around with 4-op FM, there's a free Android app called "Common FM Synthesizer", and even supports MIDI inputs (connect a USB --> MIDI DIN to a USB OTG dongle), so if you have a MIDI keyboard lying around, and an Android phone, you can fool around with a 4-op FM synth!

[@TheMumbaGames]

Did sound really cool! Nice job on the repair too!

[@ryandupuis5860]

man that keyboard sounds awesome

[@CadillacDeVilledElegance]

I used to work at a FedEx hub facility in North Georgia and I can confidently say that no one who works there cares about your packages. Managers dont care about the quality of packages but the quota of how many packages are processed. Most workers will often chuck packages outside the trucks and they disregard all packages saying "handle with Care" or "fragile" or "glass", all packages are just packages to FedEx. Often times while unloading trucks I would see squashed packages from across the country, so I can confidently say every location is like that for FedEx *Ground*, FedEx Express and Air I can't speak for, but I would assume they are better handled. Regardless, it was pitiful and an eye opener into how packages get destroyed. If you guys got any questions about FedEx lemme kno cuz I worked there for a year and a half.

[@padmad3k63]

Yamaha keyboard and synths are always a pain in the ass to open since they have the opening from the bottom. Roland always did it much better, always opening from the top thus easier to work with. Also in all Rolands equipment they have a multi voltage region transformer, just with one switch it will run on 220v instead of 110v, while in most Yamaha equipment of the 80ties you had to swap out the transformer for the proper voltage.

[@Bismuth09]

I love the cosmic sound the sound is at 4:01

[@SVSky]

I realize the background music for the old show Airwolf was played on this thing.

[@taffowst]

4:25 that midi piano took me straight back to Day Of The Tentacle and Sam & Max Hit The Road :D classic Lucasarts

[@ChoboUnjeon]

I love the intro of this video.

[@keselekbakiak]

the genuine power of fedex

[@LotoTheHero]

Good that the seller reimbursed you, but FedEx should have. That's awful. You should definitely feature this keyboard in a future episode, I really love the sound. It unsurprisingly has a bit of a Genesis flavour to it's sound. :D ***Edit again*** I see you did use it already. I think I already watched that episode, but I didn't realize it was the same keyboard. I'm rewatching it now. :D

[@egs-zh3dt]

Looks like that keyboard was sent on a plane that crashed and was stuck on an island for years... until a FedEx employee took it back but lost his volleyball

[@d_vibe-swe]

I guess this was basically a Yamaha DX100/DX11/DX21 but with speakers. Although there were some stereophonic action on your keyboard which I don't recall the previous mentioned synths have. I like your work! Keep them coming :)

[@reddreemurr4254]

"this is the 8-bit guy and ill see you guys later" this is your main channle not your second channle my boi

[@marcopenicholi6186]

Great! Yeah Fedex destroys everything!

[@JonathanCruz95]

Crafty man. I would have been so mad in a situation like this. Looks like nothing even happened.

[@minnescanada]

Great video, Have a great Christmas my friend!