Yamaha GS2 Synthesizer - One of the First FM synths
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- Опубліковано 18 жов 2024
- This is a Demo of the Yamaha GS2; One of yamaha's first FM synthesizers alongside the GS1. Before the DX7, there was this; A 4-Operator FM synth featuring a chorus, vibrato, Ensemble and tremolo effects. The GS2 also featured velocity and a weighted wooden keybed which feels amazing. Not sure how many were made but they're very rare and there's not many videos online about them. This demo is a raw video of me demonstrating some unique sounds of the GS2.
#dx7 #synthesizer #fmsynthesis #retrosynth #synthdemo
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All my favorite synths double as tables.
The GS1 was used by Toto for the Kalimba sounds on “Africa”, responding to the CS80 synth brass
That's one of the most "analog" sounding FM synths I've heard. Those piano sounds especially are just instant vibes. 4-op + FX is prolly my favorite setup and this synth proves it once again :D
It's the effects. Slap some chorus/ensemble on to warm up most patches.
@@lars1588 exactly, especially if they're analogue BBD effects inside here. Which, given the timeframe, I think digital effects would've added a hell of a lot more cost than sticking some known BBD circuits in there... You're going to get similar saturation etc as from the preamps in a tape deck.
I think synclavier is 4op as well, I’m getting an fm/sampling system soon for an ungodly amount of money
Dang, those chorus settings sound lush. Wish they would have included that on the DX7!
Thanks for sharing! So many of these sounds were on records of 1980-83 timeframe... just before the DX7 broke the dam on digital. If you listen to Quincy Jones' "The Dude" this synth is all over it. Beautiful soloing instrument, but also really nice pads and e-piano as well. Eventually you could get these sounds on the DX100 or any computer FM chip, but back then they were so new - and the totality of the instrument made them sound so great.. with aftertouch too. Amazing.
The other 4 Op synths sound nothing like this from my experience. I had a dx100 and 81z, while they’re great, they don’t sound as high quality and thick as the gs2.
@@BlakeFoster050 The circuitry and digital to analog converters were MUCH higher in quality on the GS2 than on any of the 4-op synths that came later. No comparison hardware wise.
I didn't know that bit about The Dude, and now I'm gonna have to go listen to it again. It's one of my favorite records!
The dude got cs80
This sounds so good! Thanks for sharing, you're right - there aren't many videos to be found and certainly fewer with this quality. Thanks again!
Thanks glad I could show people what this sounds like. I’ve been wanting to find one for a few years now.
Excellent! I'm fortunate enough to have one, and is the richest sounding of the Yamaha FM synths to my ears- and I've owned most all of them excepting the SY-77/99(which I never warmed to) and FS 1. The keybed is the favorite I have ever played on a synth, with wooden keys and true piano feel - very responsive and well-weighted. The reader works ok on mine, but I'm saving for the Synthmark mod. Thanks for showing how sweet these beasts really are!
If you ever get rid of the reader for the mod sell me the card reader lol.
I was just thinking how warm and rich the sound is. Apart from being FM, I think it’s got more in common with the CS-80.
Really interesting - some of those sounds I wouldn't have associated with the FM sound - really warm and pure sounding. That chorus mode 2 with ensemble - wooh! Nice! Also the 11:26 Jean Michel-Jarre-ish sound. Very nice!
Haha me either, it’s like a mix of fm and some kind of 70s string synth.
And most definitely NOT Jarr(e)ing !
This makes some gorgeous, warm and full-bodied sounds. Whatever the modulation is, it seems to add a lot of life and dimension to it.
Great demo! The 4 operator FM reminds me of the sound of the DX-11. Beautiful and smooth without the sterile edges of more complex FM.
It's like a whole other member of the FM family and the more basic waves it produces fill part of the void between analog and the 6-op FM we all know so well.
Yeah I’m surprised how different it sounds. Makes me really want a GS1 lol
Magic chorus that is
The "Ensemble" effect was massivly used in Yamaha's Electones and one of the reason Yamaha always had some of the best String Ensemble voices already in the early 70's home organs. Very underrated effect even in its analog version. Never really got why they didn't integrated that in the DX synths. Pretty much everyone was using a Chorus/Flanger effect with the DX synths cause hey were so thin sounding without it.
That's right, in fact I always pair my '87 TX81Z to a Dimension D chorus (vst) to fatten it. Otherwise I may use the stereo output to individually detune and pan the voices 🎉
the dx21 had a chorus iirc
My Electone HS-6 has the digital version of the Ensemble effect and oh boy does it make sounds massive.
Sounds so beautiful. I have MODX which offers endless options with the FM-X engine, but it lacks this certain something the GS-2 has.
I’m sure you could probably get close but yeah I’ve played a lot of fm synths and this one really stands out.
So warm and lush - gorgeous sounding effects - very playable. Nice
Sounds so warm for an fm synth, though FM can sound warm , the later dx series tended to sound a bit sterile , though of course wonderful too,depending on the programming.. FM really benefits from the analogue ensemble & chorus fx on this. The case is almost identical to the Yamaha CP35 / 25, which had the same fantastic wooden keybed as this, & also built into its own flightcase. I used to have one. These (GS2 )are so rare. Yamaha made amazing instruments in the 70s & 80s (including guitars). 90s too, I have a few, the SY77 being my favorite.
Love that EP sound at the start. That has the warmth of an analog synth!
I’ve owned the subsequent generation of preset Yamaha FM synths, the CE20 and CE25. The keybeds on these units are much less sophisticated than on the GS1 or GS2, but still offered limited “Tone Initial” (velocity to brilliance) and “Tone After” & “Vibrato After” (pressure to brilliance & pressure to vibrato amount). The CE20 and CE25 also offered the “Symphonic” effect, which sounds quite similar to the GS “Emsemble” tone.
Indeed. I love my CE20. It's only 8 voice polyphony, but I find it shines as a mono-preset machine in the vein of an ARP Pro-Soloist using the mono sounds. The wheel controlling glide speed is very performance oriented, being able to vary the slide portamento speed in real time. The sounds are generally very good, and the sliders that control vibrato (with delay) and brightness with velocity and "second" touch as the manual calls it, allow a lot of personal expression. So long as the prices aren't crazy, they are very playable/usable.
What an instrument... True warmth and width...
Man, silky smooth as butter!!! Omg!
It's so nice sounding man lol.
Sounds wonderful and it's almost as portable as a Volca FM. Just pop the GS2 in your rucksack with some earbuds and you can take it down to Starbucks to make music on the go.
my dream is a GS1… i discovered it through Casiopea and cant get that great chorusey EP and brass sound out of my head.
Me either, their music made me want one of these lol
@@BlakeFoster050 same here hahaha.
This is incredibly cool. Your playing is terrific and really makes these lovely sounds shine. Thank you for posting this amazing piece of history played by someone who obviously loves it for those who could never get near one.
Thanks, I have no idea how I got so lucky to find it. I bought it non functioning and managed to get it going again.
This was me last night. Loaded up mini dexed on a raspberry pi, and played my old favourite DX27 (aka dx100) patches. And mini dexed throws a heap of nice stereo reverb sound onto it. Even the basic init patch sounds good. I always feel like there's something beautiful in an FM synth just waiting to be discovered.
I've read this was heavily used on the album Michael W Smith 2 (1984) and have wanted to be able to finally hear a demo of it thank you!
It is also all over Amy Grant's Christmas album, which I feel is the best Christmas album of all time. (Michael W Smith is also all over the album 😂) They used a GS1 and a GS2 on it, and it stands out!
So nice to hear this in action. What a great demo. It's got far more warmth and is much more organic sounding compared to the later DX models and what a shame they didn't keep the ensemble effect! I've always wanted one of these and still kick myself for not buying the one I came across for sale many years ago......as you say, they are rare and hard to find.
Thanks for this video. This machine is amazing and the analog FX are everything I always wanted on my DX21
We all dreamt about it when we were 16, it was expensive beast, unaffordable to many but we were used to see it on ABBA's concerts. It sounds quite warm and pleasant, not even dated today. Finally I made possible to purchase DX21 and it served me well, because DX7 was too expensive at the time. Somehow Yamaha was always a serious synthmaker, although I used Roland, Korg and Kawai as well, but certain spirit of CS 80 is something unique to experience.
"Yamaha was always a serious synthmaker" that has never produced a modular system. Roland and Korg both have done.
@@musicandfilms9956 But for all those who want to make fun there is a miracle knob built-in on housing of Montage series or MODX keyboards! If you miss analogue modulation, there is always a possibillity to purchase CS80 or CS70M or similar gear... Everything is on board, no need for LEGO.
@@TrazomGV I have a MODX. It's nothing like a modular system, even though it's a fine synth in its own way. Roland & Korg produce similar synths... and have produced entirely different modular systems or quasi-modular, such as Roland System 100 and Korg PS & MS series. Of course that was a long time ago and it would be interesting if both companies would learn from Behringer and others by producing new modular gear.
@@musicandfilms9956 I see you are a fan of analogue architecture of sound creation. Although I don't know why you are so crazy about it, because there are so tweaking possibillities even on numerous low entry instruments offering quick analogue editing knobs, but I want to say that many digital synths offer rather decent abilities to create very warm fatty analogue-like sounds, such as those of Moog instruments, Prophet or Oberheims. I have Sy77 and it has many of this splendid legendary sounds, and once I owned Kawai K4 with perfect tools for sound creation.
@@TrazomGV I love analogue and digital synths. I've never used a modular system but I can see their myriad uses. SY77 is a fine instrument but you'd never get it to produce similar possibilities of, say, a Moog System 55 which Behringer has cloned cheaply. My Korg Modwave uses wavetable synthesis which is another thing entirely and has its own charms. It all depends what kind of music you want to make, each to their own.
Just beautiful!
Thanks 🙏
Wow! I knew of its existence but I’ve never heard one in isolation like this. What a wonderful precursor to the DX7 (40 years ago, now!!). We all complained how heavy the DX7 mk1 was, but I think we should be grateful for its relative portability, compared to the GS 1 and 2 😂
Soundwise I'm pretty sure that the GS2 was one of the instruments used on Herbert Grönemeyer's album "4630 Bochum" from 1984.
It is indeed. Last I knew sound designer and synthesist Kurt Ader had Gröenemeyer's GS2. I'm certain HG used it on "Sprünge" from '86 also...my high school German teacher had that album (still a great record!)
thank you for the video 🎹👌
this sounds so dreamy
had no idea this existed. I was expecting the usual FM cheese of full tines, but this was a pleasant surprise.
Amazing, I'd love one
Shines and chorus are fantastic.
Very interesting sounds, thanks for sharing. I know this big beast has no "operators edit" feature but are these sounds available for other FM synths, somewhere, somehow?
Not really, however IK multimedia makes a soft synth called the GSV which emulates the more desirable but similar GS1. There's also a preset on the TG/SY77 called GS77 which kinda has a similar vibe but not quite.
@@BlakeFoster050 Thanks. I guess the best way to recreate these sounds would be to do it by ear and from scratch in Dexed, NI FM8, or some hardware synth like the Korg Opsix. I don't have that last one but an Elka EK-44 that could bring back that vintage feel.
beautiful
What a beautiful sounding instrument. I think it sounds way better than the DX7. At least to my ears, very warm and full. I don't think it's just the killer ensemble effect. Have you tried to duplicate any of the GS2 presets on the DX7?
Thanks and yeah I think it sounds very different than the dx7. It’s way more full sounding and almost analog. I haven’t tried to recreate it on the dx, but some sounds are pretty close to existing fm sounds on my dx. I just wish there was a way to edit sounds and store them. You’re basically stuck with presets. The ensemble effect really adds a different flare to FM. I kinda wish the dx series had these effects built into them because they compliment them well.
@@BlakeFoster050 It would be interesting to find out more about the ensemble effect and if there's an external effect unit that duplicates that sound.
Dave Bristow (one of the programmers for the famous DX7 presets) also worked on the presets for the GS1/2
@@jerzilla3795 Dave always bristled at the notion that FM could not be made to "warm" without effects.
it's a piece of history ... GS2
GS2 was released in 1981. The price at the time of release was ¥1,000,000 ≒ $4,535 (excluding tax).
THX for moving GS-sound into the right light. Since last thursday I'm also proud owner of that assertive sounding beauty but do you have any clue what the shortcut GS stands for? So far my search has not succeeded; only that "C" is for Combo on Yamaha CP, CE & CS-machines....
The only thing I could think of is like Generative Synthesizer, since it uses tone generators. Otherwise I got nothing.
@@BlakeFoster050 Thank you very much! That conclusion makes much sense! I too had something like that in the back of my head by Yamaha's TG-series. I'll be asking them & let you know if it gets cleared. Do you know if its harmful to load the B-side of the attached GS-1 magnetic strips into GS-2 or does it just load the 2nd part of the GS1- sound into GS2?
Gullible Synth head?
Very nice! Magic!
Absolutely epic 🎉❤
Thanks 👌
most of the sounds are so nice
The tone just says Jazz to me, like fusion-y Jazz. Or smooth Rock or Pop too possibly!
Yeah I found out about the synth from Jeff lorbers in the heat of the night album. It’s all over it.
Beautiful sounding!
Rockin the Synthark mod I see! Those strip readers were cool, but unfortunately they all seem to have gone bad.
By far one of my favorite instruments. It’s perfect for jazz fusion tones (Mukaiya used a GS1 in Mint Jams) and is basically a DX7 stage piano with a magical analog twist! Technically, it uses a 4-op algorithm w cross feedback that can’t be found on the DX7, but this was more of a compromise as the “algorithm” actually had to be hardwired due to hardware limitations.
Good job getting it up the stairs! It’s definitely a heavy beast, but once you figure out how to “hug it,” stairs aren’t as daunting 😅
Yeah I wish my card reader worked. The only issue I have with the syntharo mod is it seems some of the banks have blank or repeated patches on them. Do you have a gs1/2?
Have you ever seen a picture of inside one ? The case needs to be that big to fit al the ICs in.
p.s. Lovely sounds. As others suggest I think that is down to the built in effects.
Sounds awesome !
how many notes polyphony did it have? I thought the GS synths were 8-operators in 4 groups of 2 ???? It's a great sounding early FM synth but pity it's not programmable. You should be able to get close on a dual synth (if your DX7 is dual engine you can use the algorithms that have stacks of 2 and use both engines but you may lose the polyphony and you would need external effects). Does the SynthArk mod allow you to download new patches that you can program elsewhere?
I think the gs1 is what you’re thinking regarding the first part. Gs2 I think has 16 more polyphony. The gs2 is a little more stripped down. The synthark mod sounds are preloaded into an eprom so I don’t believe anything is editable.
Very nice
2:25 WOWZER!
This sounds awesome. So if I use a chorus pedal on my DX7 it should sound the same? The SK20 and other SKs also already had the FM tecnology by the way.
Not really, it’s a very different sounding synth. Ensemble is more like a chorus/rotary kind of effect that only really seemed to exists on old string and analog synths from the 70s.
@@BlakeFoster050 o well I'm gonna try anyway. I have two DX7. I looked for GS2 on the web but they are very rare. I remember I guy here in UA-cam running a Casio CZ through the filterbank of some Yamaha analog synth and it sounded very good and I have old old string synths like Crumar and Hohner which I could mod to get an input into the ensemble function.
@@reneotten7376 I’m sure you’d get close. I have a couple other fm synths and it sounds way different than other ones I have.
Didn't know about this synth…. Nice sound.... Nice Playing !!!!😄
Thanks! Been wanting to find one for a while now lol.
But you have probably heard its big brother the GS1 hundreds of times as it was used on Toto "Africa".
@@MrDuncl Didn't know that .... Thanks!!!!
Is this the one that recently appeared on Marketplace for 500? Excellent video
Yeah I snagged it haha.
@@BlakeFoster050 haha I almost had it
@@audiodood you’re talking about the one in Michigan that wasn’t working right?
@@BlakeFoster050 yep lol
Sounds gorgeous! Did this follow the GS1? UVI have some of it in their FM Suite.
Yeah it's like a gs1 but doesn't have the same layering capabilities as the gs1.
I got one in Japan a year ago in a second hand shop. Do you have any information where I can get the modification thing? Also if there is a place to source for the magnet stip,? I just need one to test if the synth is working or not.
Synthark is the company that sells the mod. I think they also sell individual strips for like $3 a piece or something. You’d have to email them.
@@BlakeFoster050 Thanks for the info! I will try to contact them. Just one other question, did you do the midi installation after you got it? I don’t have midi, so I hope it will not be to complicated/ costly. Anyway thanks for your help!
@@dtenga mine came with midi. I believe the ones produced later came with midi. It only has 3 channels
One of these made its way into the rig of a session keyboardist whose name I’ve seen in the credits of Neil Diamond and Chicago albums, Bo Tomlyn. It was in a photo compiled for the college textbook Synthesis authored by (the late) Herbert A. Deutsch. Bo’s other 4 keyboards and synths ironically included 2 DX7s, which I thought was kind of redundant. I could never identify the top 2 models in his arsenal.
Later on when I learned more about it and the GS1, I came to think the GS2 made more ergonomic sense in its Rhodes-style chassis than the CP-style chassis given to the GS1.
Bo programmed and sold soundsets for DX7s
Yes at 4:45 it sounds so beautiful.
Be glad your card reader is broken because strip storage is nothing but bullshit. My GS2 came with three sound booklets. Not every but one of them has 117 sounds. Loading/listening/rating one sound after the other stole me 6 hours of time - for just one book, & because GS2 incomprehensively has just 16 memo locations I had to to write down numbers/faves/dislikes to keep them in mind & guess?! I still wasn't able to decide which top 16 presets to keep in its tiny memory. for fast access
I wonder why the DX7 and four-op DX detuning range was so limited, detuning makes these FM sounds so much better. I guess it wasn't important for solo sounds?
Good morning. I inherited this magnificent Yamaha gs2 piano but it doesn't work well, and I don't have the card to load the sounds, can anyone help me find a card with the sounds to try to restart it? Thanks so much for the help everyone
whooo nice
Nice and relatively unknown synth, tank you for the video! Can it be programed and if yes how? Does it read others 4 ops sysex?
No it can’t be programmed used and doesn’t accept sysex it’s technically pre midi but mine has midi. It’s very primitive. I think if you had the programming computer for the gs1 you’d probably be able to edit sounds but I think they made maybe 4 of them.
@@BlakeFoster050 Thank you for your reply
That first patch sounds sublime! Love it. Where in the world did you find this instrument?
Marketplace haha. I had been on the lookout for one for a few years. They’re not common at all.
One is offering now for less than 1k without strips.
I see a conversion can be done with storage of all the sounds from the strips.
Has anyone done this mod?
Yea that's the synthark mod that this video has. It bascially bypasses the strips for a rom chip.
@@BlakeFoster050i wish the one that is now offered locally, had this mod and midi.
It seems synthark is gone now.
I would sell my suitcase mk1 and get this one instantly.
なんていい音なんだろー✨
弾いてみたい😂🎹✨
It sounds awesome, are you running it through any effects in this demo?
I was just running it though a yamaha rev5 reverb. It's one of my favorites.
@@BlakeFoster050 I have to say, FM is pretty meh, but when you add a solid reverb it fills in the empty spaces between digital values incredibly well.
good for a museum . . . .
a LUCKY museum
😯
This sounds warmer and better than any other FM synth I've heard. Is it all the discrete components?
The main difference here is probably the architecture. Most FM you've heard is generated with hardware capable of up to 6 'operators' while this synth has only 4 so the sounds in general are less complex. Later synths got more complex FM capable of more sterile tonality and they suffered from cost reduction as well, but analog electronics (at a specific price point) got much more capable during this period and that also shifted tonality. Compare this one with good programming on a DX-11 which was also a 4 operator design, and you'll hear a lot of the same tones.
@@Peter_S_ I had a DX-11. This piece of kit is much warmer. I can tell even from a UA-cam video.
From what I have read it has lots of separate sound generators while the DX7 multiplexed one. The DX also does multiplication using log tables * I don't know if that was the case with these but the GS range weren't built down to a price so maybe not.
* There is a big debate about those due to DX soft synths giving different results to the real DX7
@@scottbirch968 I've got a DX11 and no question the sound here is by far the best of the bunch, but they still cover a lot of the same territory. A lot depends on post processing too. Not to be cliché, but I use a tube preamp with big plate tubes and EQ which will warm up anything this side of a DX7.
Presets sound to be programmed very carefully. It is so easy to miss the sweet spot on FM programming and get to a point where the sound gets disturbingly metallic and bright. The programmers did a good job.
Yamaha SHOULD re-release the GS-series!
I think there’s a GS1 plug in that models these sounds.
There’s Syntronik GS-V and one by Xils Lab from what I can see.
How the hell do you even find a GS2?? I'd be curious to hear the story.
It’s not the most exciting story but it popped up on marketplace. It didn’t work properly and I made an offer for it. It’s in really great shape for being a 40+ year old synth. I guess it was from a yamaha piano shop liquidation sale from years ago that never sold. Not totally sure on that.
The first sound is something between Rhodes and Electric Grand.
Warmth! Probably worn out components. 🎉
WHAT EFFECTS (IF ANY) WERE YOU USING?
I’m running it through an spx90 and a rev5 reverb but they are just adding a little sweetness. Nothing too drastic.
At that time in 1981 if it was priced at approx , $4500, then with that money I could have purchased two small houses in a small city in INDIA.😂😂
6:50 About 25 grand in today’s money.
I have read that Yamaha only released this and the GS1 because they were contractually obliged by their Stanford University licence to release an FM synth by a certain date. Compared to the highly integrated and cost engineered DX7 these are absolutely full of specially made Yamaha ICs.
I can't understand why Yamaha never fitted the DX-7 with a chorus/ensemble-effect.
Me either it fits very nicely
Beautiful sound but you need to find a new chord lol!