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Hello, Ujiie here.
The SY99!
The Yamaha Music Synthesizer SY99.
Have a look at it. It's a tank!
It's huge!
In a previous video, I showed you the SY77,
the SY99 is the top of the line in the series,
and it was released in 1991.
The SY99 was a big improvement on the SY77,
with various changes, including better waveforms
improved effects, better samples...
It was an across the board upgrade.
The price got an upgrade too. It was expensive!
The keyboard itself was bumped to 76 keys.
Fantastic.
I myself was quite a fan of this synth, the SY99.
I used the one I had all the time.
Both on stage and in the studio.
Yep, this was my go-to synth back then.
It wasn't the easiest synth to carry around though!
It weighs a ton already, and in a hard case? Yikes!
I can laugh about it now. Ah, the memories! SY99.
Today's special guest.
Whatever you say, the SY series
takes Yamaha's FM synthesis
and adds AWM synthesis, well, sample-based stuff,
creating a kind of hybrid synth between the two.
The first of its kind.
Take this Electric Piano sound for instance.
Nice! It's got the FM feeling, and this
sampled 'thunk' for the attack there.
That's the AWM part.
Such a speedy feel too. The keyboard is great.
The Electric Piano sounds are so good.
I love FM sounds even now,
but this comes from a good era for synths.
That has FM written all over it!
This one is actually all FM.
Two layers of FM on top of each other.
The effects are very high quality!
This sound is perfectly usable even now.
For real.
I can't begin to tell you how much mileage I got out of that sound.
Wonderful.
To tell the truth, I have very fond memories of this synth.
From the time of the SY series,
I got seriously involved with synthesizer development at Yamaha,
especially with the voicing of the SY99, no small task!
I was responsible for making presets.
What can I say?
It's an unforgettable synth to me.
It's like some of my DNA is in this synth.
Great!
This Electric Piano is the creme de la creme.
SO realistic.
That's a good sound, isn't it?
The dynamics are just outstanding.
That is one of the special features of the FM
of the SY series.
This sound and this keyboard are made for each other.
Absolutely fantastic!
And the pads? Because of layering with FM,
there's a depth here that rivals analog synths.
Have a listen to this.
Right?
The graininess here,
and the movement?
In the same league as analogs.
Synths of this era didn't have knobs at all,
being digital and all that,
but look at this. TWO mod wheels!
The second one is routed to filter here.
Assigned to filter, right?
The middle position is the 'normal' setting,
but you can decide what the best spot is,
and assign it yourself.
SO good.
Ah, I used this next sound a ton! Elegant.
I remember using that one millions of times!
That pad's got a digital feel to it.
Very nice.
Fantastic.
The SY series has both FM and PCM generators,
with the whole lot going through a filter in the end.
Which sets the stage for creating a variety of different sounds.
It was quite revolutionary, as I recall.
Excellent.
I love it!
It does sound good!
Super!
As you can see, it's got a variety of sounds.
And when it comes down to it,
the one area where they got it absolutely right with the SY99,
well, this synth sound right here is great too,
and the filter is indispensable,
but the PCM waveforms have really been improved.
Take this choir for instance.
So many people used this sound.
Excellent.
And the fact that it's got a large number of presets
was also a great feature.
Like guitar sounds for example. And the guitar sound,
like this jazz guitar?
That's an FM jazz guitar.
That feels so good to play.
Or, what else do we have, distorted guitar?
Aftertouch gives feedback with this one.
Little touches like this make all the difference.
Or how about this lead?
This is an FM lead.
Absolutely fantastic.
Spellbindingly so.
You can see
there's a variety of sounds,
and variations of each as well.
Ah! The musical effects are quite nice too.
That sound really evolves. I'm just holding down the same keys here.
Waves of sound coming together there.
Man, that's awesome.
A variety of sounds, ok?
BUT! Another big feature of the SY series,
is the song mode.
This is really good.
Good job, Yamaha! That kind of feeling.
For example, in Multi Mode,
lots of different sounds to choose from,
press the Edit button and look at the voices,
uh, you get a list of voices on the screen here.
In this particular case,
we've got sounds for a ballad already laid out.
16 different ones here, at your disposal.
Here they are.
So we'll use this in Song Mode,
and do some recording.
Via this section right here. Here's the Record button.
You've got drum sounds too.
Ok? Drum sounds ready.
Let's try some recording.
Umm, ok, record.
Play along in time with the click here.
Here we go.
That's ok. How about bass next.
Let's go with this sound.
And this one, well,
we'll record this to track two.
Mm. Ok. Next.
How about this electric piano?
That's good.
What next?
This.
A guitar kind of phrase.
An arpeggio or something.
Just keep going on and on with this.
Ah! This soprano sax.
Let's use it.
Good, no? Playback!
You can put together a song very easily like this.
You know, because the sounds are so good,
you can just keep layering them and layering them,
and the quality, what can I say?
There's a high standard here.
You can put together good quality songs.
And that is a big point of the SY series.
Wow, what a nostalgic demo this has turned out to be for me.
SY99. Recommended.
I think that you can find these on the second-hand market,
and for prices that won't break the bank at all.
If you find one, get it!
You really ought to. It's great!
I'd like more people to set their sights on this synth.
Me feelings about the SY99,
it would be nice to have a modern version, with FM and analog,
and sampling too, with a bunch of knobs? That would be awesome!
Well, that's it for the SY99!
Translation & Captioning by:
SWCreativeJapan.