Yamaha MK-100 - rare pre-FM Portasound synth

[@charlesgarrett3283]

The mk100 is no toy. This is a very skilful composition from someone who really really knows how to get the best from their equipment.

[@alfonsemusic]

Thanks Charles. Yep, it's one of those keyboards from the 80s that transcends its size and appearance with plenty of potential for cool sounds.

[@kenzieprice6745]

You do a great job bringing these classic keyboards back into the light for people to gain interest in.

[@alfonsemusic]

Cheers Kenzie. I'm getting plenty of suggestions from people for keyboards to try, now, which is unearthing stuff I wasn't aware of myself (like this one...)

[@NLind]

It was because of this video and your video on the multi menu feature, that I decided to buy one of these for myself. Excited to get it.

[@alfonsemusic]

Nice purchase! Have fun with it

[@marcinmuller6367]

The second, "electro" part is really mad! 🤘🤘🤘

[@alfonsemusic]

Thought it was time to add a little grit...! :)

[@SunnyBear]

These are so much more than just showcase videos, they're musical, innovative and well made. Great job!!

[@alfonsemusic]

Thanks! . :)

[@Pedro_Pimenta]

Amazing demo, loved it, specially the second part. You really changed my mind about these "toy" keyboards. :)

[@alfonsemusic]

Thanks Pedro. That's great - yes, a lot of them have very useable sounds, it's a case of finding out what each one is best at.

[@f.d.3289]

"You really changed my mind about these "toy" keyboards." Hehehe, another one converted to the Truth Faith :D

[@w.richmond7747]

the entire production is awesome

[@lochanjaykar]

Oh! I wasn't the expecting the robots 😂😂👏👏👏 .. The music was so good towards the end, they had to join in !

[@alfonsemusic]

Making robot jams is always the goal! Thanks for watching :)

[@lochanjaykar]

When the AI's take over, we know what to play! 😎🤘

[@alfonsemusic]

@@lochanjaykar :D

[@aldeanblair9727]

Excellent! 💯💯💯💯🎹🎹🎹🎹🎹😍😍😍😍😍😎😎😎😎😎😎😎👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👑👑👑👑👑👑👑👑👑👑

[@alfonsemusic]

:) Thanks again, Aldean!

[@Thunder_Owl]

So well done... In both music and presentation :-)

[@alfonsemusic]

Thanks Juris! The robots had fun with this one....

[@nicolabelle1415]

Your videos are very necessary ! They show that it doesn’t matter your equipment as long you can go with creativity even playing with toy reputation that make them3rd choice for serious musicians, thx !

[@alfonsemusic]

Thanks. You can find inspiration in many places, doesn't always have to be 'professional' gear.

[@nicolabelle1415]

@@alfonsemusic absolutely ! That’s why I stop for a while economizing for expensive equipment and keep budget to collect minikeys like Yamaha pss360/ 460/390 for the moment until I find the one that really fits me after experimenting and playing, they all are quite fun to play and some have secret features to find👍

[@Gerald_Daniel]

Congrats! So far the best MK100 demo... Some years ago I vaguely remember having surprisingly read MK100's pre-FM sounds were generated more with analogue than digital components...

[@PocketOperatorGuy]

Always a big fan of your compositions. Good stuff! Nice tones out of that keyboard too!

[@alfonsemusic]

Thanks :) Yes, plenty of inspiration to be had from this keyboard. Fun drums, great layering potential, all good stuff...

[@BlueAngelo]

I love my MK-100 too!!

[@arterelax6419]

Brutal !!! el concepto creativo esta por encima del nivel!!! el concepto no es la marca ni la generación sonora..........el concepto es un giro linguistico!!

[@AiOinc1]

Beautiful performance I quite like mine as well

[@Egress.]

Simply beautiful. Great demo somg!

[@alfonsemusic]

Thanks Marco :)

[@fremax6946]

Excellent, as usual !

[@alfonsemusic]

:) Thanks!

[@johnnydekock]

Wow awesome as usual. You really have great talent and creativity. Love your channel.

[@alfonsemusic]

Thanks again Johnny!

[@Napalbe]

very very cool!

[@demokid2000]

Great demo, great sounds :D

[@alfonsemusic]

Thanks Magnus!

[@f.d.3289]

Yay, another great one :) It's always great to see what you get out of these lovely little beats. The MK-100 beats are just marvelous (I had loads of fun with that primitive realtime drum sequencer). And the pop organ is lovely too, I'm missing it a bit here :)

[@alfonsemusic]

Thanks :) yep, a lot of fun to be had from this. I tend to gravitate towards more synthy sounds wherever I can, so the organ didn't make it this time around. I've been doing another track with this keyboard, though, and it makes for a good bassline on that.

[@luishernandez-gp9ww]

fantasticcc!!!!

[@bobsburgersfan4205]

Holy crap hes back

[@alfonsemusic]

:D Couldn't stay away...

[@dobroslavtyrkas2423]

I LOVE this song so much, it's one heck of a serious fun! That SYNTHE / SAX patch sounds almost like a CS01, so typical for years around 1980.

[@alfonsemusic]

Thanks :) I've had my eye on a CS01 for a while, so that's good to know

[@CreateAlive]

Woo! Just pressed play...

[@cristianvelasquez7680]

Excelente!!!!! Gran aporte los robots bailando!!! Felicitaciones!! Saludos desde Chile!! 👏👏👏✌️

[@alfonsemusic]

¡Gracias! The robots were ready to hit the dancefloor...

[@Lhenndyn]

Wao impressive !

[@CreateAlive]

"demo" is amazing as always. Robots doing the robot is bonus. Fanks guv!

[@alfonsemusic]

'appy to oblige, squire! :D I need to find me some more robots, they're popular...

[@chrisjunosmusic]

👏👏👏 Fantastic !!

[@alfonsemusic]

Thanks :)

[@squishmusic]

I've now secured myself a funky Music-Klavi (MK?) 100 synth just to have it sit alongside my PSS-580 and YS100 FM synths :D :)

[@alfonsemusic]

Nice move. That's a good combination.

[@Retro_Tommy]

Nice graphics

[@crasheffort]

It's a real banger. This is my favorite portasound track you have done yet. Do you post the audio for download? I would play several of your songs in my DJ sets if I had access to them.

[@crasheffort]

I see your bandcamp now, i'll be sure to pick them up.

[@alfonsemusic]

Thanks :) That would be cool if any would fit in your set. Let me know if there are any in particular you're after

[@squishmusic]

hey we ALL wanna hear and see that DJ set! =) VideoRecordMode-ON* :D

[@t55a2]

I have the same Yamaha chorus pedal it’s a good one

[@alfonsemusic]

Yes, I really like it - works well with keyboard sounds

[@kenzieprice6745]

Cool track. I think you should make small albums, like the channel "Keen on Keys", as there is more to explore before you let go of these boards you get.

[@alfonsemusic]

It's a good idea - coincidentally, I made another track with this keyboard which I'll put out in a few weeks, but you're right there's more mileage to be gained from some of them. Having said that, there have been a few where finding enough to inspire even one track felt like a miracle...

[@kenzieprice6745]

@@alfonsemusic I'm sure you could use a good challenge!

[@squishmusic]

Robo-Dance middle 8 - OUTTA THIS WORLD - great cute idea :D

[@alfonsemusic]

They were ready to be let loose... :D

[@WeeMuseUK]

Definitely an underrated and not particularly well known synth this one. Probably Yamaha’s best pre-fm mini keyboard? ... and also allows saving of patches to tape. The space saving multi menu is pretty unique also. Not bad for early 80’s. What was you favourite thing about this keyboard Alfonse?

[@alfonsemusic]

Definitely a hidden gem, with more hidden gems in that multi-menu - I've got another video coming up in a couple of weeks with more about how the menu system works. I'd say the best thing is the effort they put into making the sounds customisable in multiple ways, meaning there's plenty to explore before you feel like you've fully heard all its tricks. Those phasing layered "saxophone" and "synthe 2" patches were my favourite sounds, but I still kept finding more to play with right up until I sent it home... ;)

[@WeeMuseUK]

@@alfonsemusic Shame. ha ha ha. You will have to write a letter to santa! ;)

[@Alinktome]

was not that keyboard the rolls royce of all small keyboard in 1983?

[@squishmusic]

@Alfonse - anychance you can do a Jam on the YS100? I have one you can borrow...if you can get it from me, in Scandiniland :D

[@alfonsemusic]

Would love to - I'll have to keep an eye out, but I get the impression they're rare aren't they? Probably won't be passing your way any time soon, sadly, but appreciate the offer! :D

[@squishmusic]

@@alfonsemusic They are quite rare, and like all rare things, suddenly two show up at once. So I took TWO :D

[@alfonsemusic]

@@squishmusic nice work! :D

[@mia_stimpel]

May you can help me. I have a mk-100 and when i turn it on the led‘s are on, i turn it on and i have no sound. We tried headphones but nothing works:(

[@rocco8460]

hello can you connect the yamaha mk-100 with yamaha fb-01 sound generetor?

[@alfonsemusic]

Hi Rocco - no, it doesn't have MIDI, so there would be no way to make it play the sounds of the FB01.

[@squishmusic]

well IIRC there is a tape-loop in/out on the MK100 so you could in theory feed some audio through this...not sure if you can add the chorus to it. I think this was for adding external FX to the MK sound..

[@keyhoarder]

@@squishmusic i think it was for dumping the SEQ data, but not 100 percent shure

[@squishmusic]

@@keyhoarder from muzines: [[Tape Interface i/o enables you to store sounds, rhythm patterns and chord melody sequences on ordinary cassette tape. . A tape recorder can be connected to the MK100 via the Tape In/Out jacks on the instrument's rear panel, and four of the Multi Menu push-switches take on the functions of Save, Load, Stop and Load OK respectively. Information takes about 80 seconds to be loaded, and LED indicators provide visual ]]- I havent tried but it but i wonder if it could also allow audio in/out and thus connect a external FX

[@lecliche8849]

Very cool. Where do you keep all those keyboards!!?

[@alfonsemusic]

I'd love to say I have a keyboard lair somewhere with them stacked high to the rafters, but truth is I only keep a few of them long-term - and this one was a loan from a nice bloke called Chris...

[@WeeMuseUK]

...But only@@alfonsemusic could make them sound that decent. ;).

[@LunaOfTheStarsMusic]

Call me crazy (or stupid), but I kinda wanna see what you can do on either the DX7 or the CS-80

[@alfonsemusic]

Would love to get my hands on a CS-80...

[@engahchay1659]

請问你的公司在哪，我怎样才可以买到货。謝谢

[@alfonsemusic]

Hi. If you mean the music, it's available here: alfonse.bandcamp.com I'm not selling any keyboards at the moment. :)

[@ThatDomino]

The drums sound like Gorillaz's man research. Cool synth!

[@Alinktome]

i was so jealous of a schoolmate who got it. i had the ps-300😂😂😂

[@thierryroland7102]

Kraftwerk's eyes.

[@rocco8460]

Tomy dingbot

[@ludwikoleksiewicz163]

Alfonse= Mniejszy Vangelis.