VECTOR SYNTH! The Yamaha PSS-790 is still original

[@doordedeur]

Back when the QY-10 came out, Yamaha was still using FM synthesis in it's keyboards. So the QY-10 sounded very impressive with its PCM sounds. I wanted a keyboard with the sounds of the QY-10. With the PSS-790 that dream came true.

[@kimthompson5871]

Wow I’d love to find one of those ! Haven’t seen that one before! Sounds great , great review of the functions !

[@seasondyes1990]

This video is exactly what i have been looking for, thanks mate!

[@gearfacts]

Glad I could help!

[@easytoassemble54321]

Just picked up a 790 off the back of this demo. Love vector stuff (recently picked up a TG33 also) because of the dynamic washes and pads you can get from them. Something you can't get, even from the best LFO setups. Really enjoying your videos, as it's hard to find decent demos of these old Portasounds that showcase the weirder aspects of them. It's (pretty much) your fault I've now picked up 4 different PSS's. lol.

[@gearfacts]

Glad you liked the video and yes I agree with you. This idea (along with many others) should have been explored more deeply by Yamaha!

[@barrosmartins7123]

I have mine bought in 1990 still ( bought it in Paris in that time) still working 100% 💖💖💖

[@gearfacts]

They last for centuries :)

[@ababababeebababa]

I bought one of these new (back in the 80's) and LOVED IT so much. The song sequencing is actually quite easy ... just total song memory is limited. I probably have 2 entire tapes of songs I made on this classic. It also worked great as a MIDI controller for PC basic music. The onboard sounds a good for the time and vector synth is powerful, as is the ability to change octaves on sounds ... you can create even more sounds!! The drums are very fun also. I think I kept this over 35 years ... and already regret selling it!

[@gearfacts]

Yep I think FUN is indeed the important word here. How synths should always be!

[@AutPen38]

I had one of these. I never really used the vector synthesis joystick, but I quite liked the multitrack sequencer for building up whole songs before I hooked it up to a MIDI sequencer and an Atari ST. The two main things I remember are the gated reverb snare (which sounded horribly clichéd at the time, but now I love the '80s revival sounds so it gives me nostalgia) and the note-stealing when sequencing multiple tracks. Due to the limited polyphony, playing chords would make some notes completely disappear when you played multiple tracks at once. It was a really fun keyboard for me though, and I learned the basics of melody, harmony, and arrangement by trying to make some demo tracks using its rather cheesy sounds. It was far from ideal for the house/techno I wanted to make, but real synthesisers were way out of my price range, and I still think of it fondly.

[@ladaga85]

That's amazing, samples sound usable even today I guess. And that strange tricky thing like a plastic knob tentacle is unbelievable. What a creativity to invent it. And independent buttons for percussion!!! Gosh finally!!! Nice review as always. Thanks Glynn. Ps: just to let you know, thanks to your groove educational videos about Yamaha PSR e 463, sexy time wins the battle against ek50. Thanks again for your huge job

[@gearfacts]

Yeah I think some of those swirling pad sounds are quite moody :) #Gearfacts

[@LittleRichard1988]

I have had my PSS-790 since the early 1990s, I recorded hundreds of backing tracks with it in the 90s-early 2000s. Although a little dated by today's standards many of the instruments still sound like what they are supposed to sound like. The Vector Synth enables you to either create your own variations or even create pad sounds. Also if you use the pitch bend wheel on the drums it changes the pitch of each drum sound so you can have hiphop drums on it.

[@gearfacts]

Yeah I think some of those vector synth sounds have really nice affectations

[@AutPen38]

Oh yes! When I got bored of the drums, I would hold the pitch bend fully up or down to make some "new" sounds.

[@dj2bklyn]

what people don't realize is that thru midi the keyboard can do the vector synth to external midi channels the vector synth uses midi channels 1 2 3 4

[@1980belo]

Are you sure? I think it does not transmit Midi CC message? Did you try it?

[@dj2bklyn]

@@1980belo yes it does

[@josemorales5117]

I have one o those yes!

[@klistarf]

I bought one in late '90/early '91 (the latter i think). Loved it, but she 'crashed' many years later. I then bought a PSR 350 (floppy disk drive anyone?) in about 2002/2003 which i still have and is still going strong. And now, just today, i have ordered a PSR SX900 which should be fun. But this bad girl here, is where it all started for me. Good memories... \m/ (:o)

[@gearfacts]

PSR-SX900, I’d love to review that one :)

[@josemorales5117]

Still had mine i. Mexico City, will get it this coming xmas will give some bucks to my niece for keeping it safe

[@gearfacts]

Ahh it's great to get kids involved with synths

[@jthorpe4droid]

Cool, Love this keyboard I still have this setup in my living room for my daughter to play on, I have mine set to Synth Chorus, Synth Flute 1, Synth Flute 2 and Synth Pan

[@gearfacts]

Very cool! Yes I think it still sounds good and it's very fun to play with.

[@duanekimball]

I have one of these...I bought it in 1990-ish. Fun machine to goof around on.

[@gearfacts]

Great music cometh from mere goofing

[@PorchBass]

Lol at having the whistle sound on the joystick. So 90s

[@BigHairyKev]

*Yep, still use mine!* ⭐😃👍

[@goldenlady8333]

Lovely Rock Hammond sound. Thanks for the fine review

[@gearfacts]

Thanks so much :)

[@boimesa8190]

Awesome!!

[@Everyman777]

Thanks for this excellent review. I found the 6-track sequencer incredibly useful for sketching out arrangements. Do you know of any modern keyboards that have that same easy functionality? I used to take mine out and work on stuff in dressing rooms between sets. Can't do that with a whole DAW. Once again many thanks.

[@gearfacts]

Thanks for the message, Jim. Id recommend giving the Yamaha PSR-E463 a go for decent sketchpad sequencing. I made a tutorial video about this exact task actually. Might be ideal for you: kzbin.info/www/bejne/pKmQZqJuZamKe8U

[@ababababeebababa]

the Roland JD-Xi sure reminds of the PSS-790 ... similar sequencer and layers can be turned on off. I also found using the octive shifts you can make whole new sounds on 790.

[@Viczarratt]

Did you know there is a hidden sound in there? If you plug the pss-790 and control it from a computer, you can find a beeping vox continent ish sound and the 790 displays C2 on the sound select panel. 😉

[@gearfacts]

Interesting! I've heard that there are more parameters that can be edited through a computer, too.

[@bestrickie2]

Not a bad portable keyboard released during 1990 and of course as you know, there is a PSS 590 the model below. I went through phases during 1991 I wanted a PSS 790. However, the fact you could not create your own a compliment styles and a lot of the a compliment style on it difficult to know what to play along to. I also found the on-board recorder sequencer very basic and you couldn’t really get much data on it as I knew a good late friend of mine who bought one and he loved the sound engine on it And clear stereo quality, he was disappointed with your compliments and recording features. Having said that if back on them days, I had a computer program or other sequencing capabilities via midi and or somebody could help me set it up, I may well have bought it for the sole purpose of mainly recording multi tracks from my own creation including using all the stunning sounds, drums and vector synth. Using an advanced sequencing recording program, at least I would be able to quantise and add stunning effects including reverb, chorus et cetera et cetera then yes, it’s likely I would have bought one of these as again, the sound quality is very good though very limited on its own. It would have also tempted me greatly had I known you could put something via midi to create arpeggios this too would have been fantastic.

[@TheCliffzone]

What a fantastic instrument! I certainly regret giving mine away in which I shouldn't have.

[@gearfacts]

Yeah me too :( haha

[@user-uu9ih6gp9r]

How to remove the style sound while recording?

[@m4niac123]

Mine is as old as me but its still usable today. I use it as MIDI controller in Hauptwerk and FL Studio.

[@Drinkyoghurt]

I noticed that yours also has a pretty high noise floor when being played. It's especially noticeable when using the reverb and goes away as soon as the note dies. This makes the keyboard only usable for lofi stuff where you want some added noise. Have you maybe found a way to fix this? BTW, if you connect a midi controller to it you suddenly get Velocity sensitivity, it's just that the mini keys don't have any. Also, voice 40 with vibrato on 2-3 and a bit of reverb really reminded me of a song: A Touch of Class - Around the World (La La La La La). It's pretty much spot on when I play along with it.

[@gearfacts]

Yep it has a certain buzzy noise to it. Not everyone's taste but I like it :)

[@Swenglish]

I don't think you can get rid of the noise in the keyboard itself (given that it's probably a bit depth thing and not some kind of static), but what you can do is isolate and remove it after recording. It might be a little complicated given that it's not a constant noise, but it should be possible.

[@glenesis]

Hi Glynn! Great demo. These are so loveable :) I don't have this one yet but my PSS-590 has a hidden Sine Wave patch above the listed/documented program numbers. You might find some Easter eggs in these units that don't quite have 128 listed patch numbers. Cheers matey!

[@gearfacts]

Cheers G, yeah I've heard about that hidden voice on the 590. Haven't had one in the studio for ages though so can't try it out.

[@cesaravendano9703]

AWESOME review!!!! *********************

[@gearfacts]

Thanks Cesar :)

[@cesaravendano9703]

I just got mine and I am VERY happy. 💯 Thanks a lot for this. It helped me make the decision🙏🏼👌

[@ypesh]

Love this keyboard, thanks for the video. Does anyone know where to get replacement keys please?

[@gearfacts]

Well I can suggest is to search on eBay. I found it’s pretty good for obscure spare parts. Often overpriced unfortunately.

[@germandiaz7331]

Hola!! Escuché un sonido a portamento, tiene portamento??

[@jdxijames]

So my 795 has a broken key. Do I get a replacement octave, or for fun make a 795 module?

[@LittleRichard1988]

Don't wreck it further just use another midi keyboard to control it. Or buy another PSS-795 or 790 and make one good keyboard out of the 2. Or if you want a module equivalent get a TG-33.

[@nasiranwar9776]

A good friend gave me one of those in the early 90's. Yours is in excellent condition. Do you know how to save songs created on the 8 track? When I switch it off and plug it in the next day, everything I created is gone.

[@gearfacts]

The only option is to save to another midi device, or keep batteries inside it all the time.

[@nasiranwar9776]

@@gearfacts Thanks for the reply . Much appreciated.

[@siriusmicromaniac]

You can export everything saved in the song memory to any device which can record MIDI 'Sysex' information and send it back into the keyboard any time you like. I co-wrote a utility to do this which ran on the Atari ST, which I still use, but there are no doubt similar Sysex 'librarian' programs for a great many other PC OSes and other systems. I can actually use my Systex recorder program on a Raspberry Pi running the Linux version of 'Hatari', the Atari ST emulator. Just add a USB to 5-pin DIN MIDI interface cable.

[@thestreetman5284]

tolles Instrument

[@richardsmith4992]

Looks ripe for modding - that "joystick" could be made to do filtery stuff...if only I knew anything about electronics!

[@izzzzzz6]

Is the 790 the same on the inside as the PSS 51?

[@gearfacts]

I don't think so

[@romiromera8411]

Hello Gearfacts! I'm thinking to buy this pss 790 or maybe the pss 480,but i dont know wich one i have to choose i was thinking on this casuse the joystick...Are they have similar sounds?

[@gearfacts]

They have very different sounds. If you want real classic FM, go for the 480. The 790 is more like a modern keyboard with PCM sounds. Personally I prefer the 480 - if you're going to have an old keyboard you might as well have one with a unique sound :)

[@romiromera8411]

@@gearfacts Thanks for the tip! I will go for 480 :)

[@jdxijames]

The 480 will allow you to create simple loops. Still got mine from 1990ish.

[@siriusmicromaniac]

Probably worth mentioning that the PSS-580, 680 and 780 are essentially the same instrument as the PSS-480 in increasingly larger packages with the 780 being the largest. I have a 795 but I had equal amounts of fun playing with a PSS-790 (with updated firmware) and a PSS-680 - they are quite different instruments, the x80 series are 'real' FM synths and they let you create your own sounds, the 790 / 795 has mainly fixed sounds, quite a few of them decent, but lets you swoosh around between any four of them using the joystick, as demonstrated to great effect in this video.

[@benjaminmaldonado3476]

it's worth having now?

[@gearfacts]

It still has a few worthwhile sounds, but I prefer the PSS680 which has a better synth brain even though it's a lower model in the series.

[@benjaminmaldonado3476]

I agree with that. My last question: How are the pss 680 and 780 different?

[@spatcherw.keyboardsandbaby8586]

Hi, if I may ask, what would be a good amazon reasonable priced midi to usb dongle for windows 10 using this machine? I have recently gotten into soundfonts with sforzando and TW16X. Nothing serious or pro, just fooling around. Thaks in advance.

[@gearfacts]

I’ve seen perfectly effective midi to USB adapters online for as little as $10 US

[@damienhill6383]

Hello, is the PSS 51 a restyle of this ? It came out in 1994 and looks similar ...

[@gearfacts]

I haven’t seen that model number before so I couldn’t say. Sometimes Yamaha issued similar model numbers with the only difference being the color of the buttons.

[@LittleRichard1988]

The PSS-51 is the successor and it was one of the last Yamaha PSS series keyboards. The PSS-51 is effectively a mini PSR-500 as it has the exact same sounds and rhythms. The PSS-51 also has sound effects. The PSS-51 actually came out in 1992 but I believe it was discontinued in 1995.

[@dj2bklyn]

My Keyboard I miss it so

[@erpunketo]

I have this one!!!!!

[@gearfacts]

It's cool, I really like it :)

[@egemencamlibel]

I have a PSS-790. Can I connect it to the sound card with the converter?

[@gearfacts]

Which converter, like an audio interface you mean? Or midi to USB? Either of those should be fine

[@egemencamlibel]

Gearfacts I will use midi to usb

[@gearfacts]

@@egemencamlibel Yes that should work :)

[@egemencamlibel]

Thanks a lot

[@Carolina-mw4po]

odd... mine had harmony instead of reverb on that button.

[@gearfacts]

Odd indeed!

[@rizkybudi8763]

what is the meaning of bt chn from the piano

[@germandiaz7331]

En el minuto 7 escuché un efecto de portamento??

[@gearfacts]

I don't remember a portamento effect on this one. Sorry it's been a long time since I sold it :/

[@user-lw8dr6xx8i]

Casio version of Yamaha vector synth SY22

[@gearfacts]

Yep, I actually had quite a lot more fun with it than I did with the SY22

[@brilliantbells]

Can it play weezer or the rentals type of synth?

[@gearfacts]

Yeah, I think it would be ideal for that kind of thing

[@Danieltoritomayor]

Hi....do you know wich is te diference with tue PSS-795 ?

[@gearfacts]

color of the buttons

[@Danieltoritomayor]

@@gearfacts Thanks.

[@ruscular]

I just notice that on the PSS795 instead of the vibrato button it is called the sustain button. I don't see a way to add vibrato, altho it does have the same voices including the Tremelo Organ. I suppose if you use the PSSedit, you could control vibrato in that editor. Which would you have prefer? sustain or vibrato? lacking a foot pedal to control sustain, I think I would prefer the ability to sustain.

[@BuickGeek24]

Sounds about the same as the PSR-300

[@artoflife6328]

Can we connect midi cable with this piano

[@gearfacts]

Yes

[@artoflife6328]

@@gearfacts how we can connect I didn't sawany port here for MIDI

[@AutPen38]

From memory it had full-sized MIDI in and out and possible thru as well. Back in the day, I used it to enter notes into a sequencer on an Atari ST, which famously had a built-in MIDI interface.

[@gearfacts]

@@AutPen38 Atari ST = revolution in music!

[@AutPen38]

@@gearfacts The funny thing about music technology is that I get more MIDI lag plugging a keyboard into my PC via USB than I used to get with just a MIDI cable into an Atari with a much slower processor than what we have today. We never had to mess around with buffer sizes and complicated routing. The Atari just *worked*.

[@thestreetman5284]

top

[@gearfacts]

Classic gear imho :)

[@dj2bklyn]

Hes wrong it doesnt quantize

[@AutPen38]

Yeah, as a teenager that could barely play in time, quantisation was something I would have liked. I used to just set the tempo quite low when recording a sequence, as it would sound bearable when I speeded it up. You could punch in some little bits for a few bars too, but sometimes I'd try and play the same drum pattern for a whole song!

[@bestrickie2]

Not a bad portable keyboard released during 1990 and of course as you know, there is a PSS 590 the model below. I went through phases during 1991 I wanted a PSS 790. However, the fact you could not create your own a compliment styles and a lot of the a compliment style on it difficult to know what to play along to. I also found the on-board recorder sequencer very basic and you couldn’t really get much data on it as I knew a good late friend of mine who bought one and he loved the sound engine on it And clear stereo quality, he was disappointed with your compliments and recording features. Having said that if back on them days, I had a computer program or other sequencing capabilities via midi and or somebody could help me set it up, I may well have bought it for the sole purpose of mainly recording multi tracks from my own creation including using all the stunning sounds, drums and vector synth. Using an advanced sequencing recording program, at least I would be able to quantise and add stunning effects including reverb, chorus et cetera et cetera then yes, it’s likely I would have bought one of these as again, the sound quality is very good though very limited on its own. It would have also tempted me greatly had I known you could put something via midi to create arpeggios this too would have been fantastic.