Yamaha Portasound PSS-190 - just a kid's toy?
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- Опубліковано 6 лип 2019
- Music: "Whistleblower" (C) Copyright 2019 Alfonse
Download here: alfonse.bandcamp.com/album/a-l-f
Yamaha Portasound PSS-190 keyboard (1990)
All sounds you hear in the track were made using the PSS-190 and recorded to a DAW, where compression, EQ, reverb, delay and chorus were added as required. The "Disco" drum rhythm was used, heavily compressed.
You can also hear an "honest mix" (without the external FX) here: • PSS-190 "Honest" mix -...
The aim of these videos is to see what you can create using sounds from ageing home keyboards together with current production tools. The PSS190 is a "high-performance electronic keyboard" according to the manual, and certainly packs a lot of sounds into a small package. Many of the voices sound like PCM samples of the FM sounds on the PSS-680/780/480/580 keyboard range, but there are also layered and split voices to play with.
Thanks to Ed Bettella for the loan of this little beast, plucked from obscurity in a loft somewhere.
ALFONSE
Store: alfonse.bandcamp.com
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Far better than most of those $10.000+ studio videos : and very catchy 10/10
FRONT:MAN:242 thanks! Glad you liked it.
You should be immensely proud of your productions and musicality, please keep making more music for us to enjoy! Genuinely think your music is outstanding
Thanks Sam, really appreciate that. :)
This is brilliant. Imaginative and incredibly charming. LOVE it!
It was my Christmas present when i was 12. Yesterday i took this keyboard from my attic to show to my 4 and 6 years old daughters.
Ofcourse the yellow DEMO button is favorit now ;-)))
Amazing Video and amazing playing ;-)
Thanks :) Yeah, that demo button is hard to resist when you're young. I can remember infuriating my parents with the endless demo loop on the PSS80.
You re such a talented man! I love all your works. Is so impressive and inspiring how you manage to make sounds and tunes from simple toy fm synths. Great work! Keep it up!
Man! I love everything you do. I am watching it all right now. Awesome stuff, really!
Thanks! Glad you're enjoying checking it out :)
That's a great jam. You brought out the best of that keyboard.
Thanks. Had more fun with this one than I expected to.
You bandcamp material is outstanding!
Thanks a lot! :)
I bought the PSS-16 back in 1995 which is a PSS-190 under a different colour scheme, when I was a kid it was a quirky little
keyboard for playing traditional nursery rhymes ( you could really jazz them up with the auto accompaniments ).
I also have other Yamaha keyboards like the PSS-790, PSS-280 ( many of these sounds are from the PSS-280/380 )
plus I also have the PSR-18 which is the full sized version of the PSS-190/16. Back in the day I also used to like
playing around with the demonstration songs which are mostly jazzed up renditions of various traditional
songs ( I can play them all with the melody turned off! ). The PSR-18 belonged to my late grandma
and my late Grandma used to love hearing me play and sing all those songs so I'm sure she would
have wanted me to have her keyboard ( it has at least had a bit of modern day use ).
Even in the last 2 decades this little keyboard was the perfect candidate for taking to music workshops
because of it's portability. I still find sounds like the glockenspiel, panflute and recorder to be usable
especially if you want analogue synth style flutes or digital FM bell sounds.
I never thought of putting those drums through Compression and EQ to fatten them up. I might try that
( even though I sadly tore out one of the drum pads in a fit of anger but fortunately I managed to
support it with sellotape and it does still make contact when pressed but the last voice also
allows you to play the drums on the keys ).
Seems like you know this keyboard and its compatriots really well! This one was just on loan, but I enjoyed the results I got from it. Have fun with compressing those drums. :)
Alphonse you are amazing. It is Incredible to make such a good entertaining song out of a cheap insignificant old keyboard and make it sound so massive!
Thanks :)
This one had my head bobbin bro. Nice track.
Such a catchy tune!
If we kids had known, that a multitrack tape recorder and effect unit as an expansion to the little sound generator would give us a whole sound studio...
This was my first keyboard in the early 90s. I was 10 years old. Just dug it out of storage earlier. Still love it. Even though I have a TX-816 in the same room. The Tuba voice is the best. Most presets don’t get that low octave. Would probably worth circuit bending with a pitch knob to get lower octaves on the other voices.
That’s really cool
Awesome job.
Thanks Rodrigo!
Let's GO!!!! Nice beat!!!!
REALMENTE.. MÁGICO...ALGO QUE POCAS VECES SE VE.
Underrated channel
That was a smash hit
Thanks. Glad you approve!
Genial 🎉
Polymoog sound at the end ;) cool
OK, to get great sounds out of an PSS-680, MT-52 or SK-1 is somewhat of an achievement, but to get THESE sounds out of THIS keyboard may well be your greatest achievement :)
It surprised me, too... Wasn't sure I'd get much out of it at the time, but there's just a slight grittiness to some of the voices that I really liked, especially the layered ones.
I think these keyboards were made with the knowledge that adult musicians would find out about and capitalize on the special charm that the primitive sounds on these keyboards make
It'll be interesting to see if the current crop of (comparatively) more advanced mini keyboards have the same appeal in 30 years' time
@@alfonsemusic actual keyboards, or just midi controllers? Because outside of yamaha's reface series, I can't think of any other miniature keyboards of today that even remotely compare to the PSS series
@@tylenolpringle2040 I was thinking of the PSS-a50 etc and Casio SA-50. Hard to see them having retro charm in the future, but who knows?
@@alfonsemusic I doubt it, the piano samples are realistic and the EP's are great, but outside of that, what do they really have that would appeal to musicians 30 years later? Even the PSS 80 and PSS 100(not circuit bent)have more features than those two boards, the DX7 like sound quality and the full-fledged synthesizer features are what give the PSS boards so much charm and which is also why they are so highly sought after, today's boards use modern sound chips, but the sound chips used in the PSS series boards have that original '80s vibe to them that not too many boards of today can recreate, because of this, the PSS series boards (excluding the 120 and 130) are highly sought after close to 40 years after their initial production and they will still be highly sought after 40 years from now, the two boards that you mentioned? Not so much
Nice
Wonderful 🎉
I now own a PSS 190 which cost me the fortune of €20.
Nice, enjoy it!
I manage to play it with my yamaha!
Great song and great nostalgia! I was wondering what this little keyboard would sound like produced and you answered my question! Thanks!
Happy to help :D Thanks, this little beast was fun to work with.
@@alfonsemusic Yeah, it made me kinda wish I still had it! You didn't by any chance sample it?
@@DEADLINETV looks like I didn't with this one, I'm afraid!
@@alfonsemusic Too bad... Would have bought them from you!
what was the title of song?
found that yamaha on street in berlin. My 3. synth that I found on street :D
Subscriber 726 here. oh yeah! =)
2:03 such a gooood riff!!!
Cool, thanks! :)
My father has the pss 190 and wanted to ask you if you could maybe shoot a video where you can see which keys have to type on a piano roll, because unfortunately I can’t read notes yet. Kind regards, students
I just love this music. Request
I have one!
can u do a videon on this piano but the tuba sound wich is number 03 plssssss
What a grate demo. Is the bass with an octaver down in DAW?
Cheers! That bass/recorder patch sounds like that on the keyboard itself, I just added compression in the DAW (and the delay / reverb on other parts was also in the DAW rather than outboard FX)
this is great! how do you compare the PSS-140 (fm) to the PSS-190 (wavetables)? you made them both sound so amazing that i can't decide which one to try to buy haha
Some people just give up and get both :D I think for current production the sounds on the 140 are crisp and don't show their age too much, whereas the 190 has a slightly more lo-fi feel. Don't know if that helps...
Nice jam 💯 do have SoundCloud?
Hi Alfonse! I have a question: can i connect this piano directly to the computer (via some cable) and make it work? (obviously using a DAW). Thanks for the video!
Hi Mati. It has a headphone-out jack, so I used a Y cable with stereo plug on one end and two mono plugs on the other to go into my audio interface to record audio to the DAW. Some slightly larger PSS keyboards of the time had midi, so these days you could hook it up via a midi cable to play software instruments on the computer, but this one doesn't.
@@alfonsemusic Great! My problem is that I don't have an audio interface, just the piano and my Macbook Pro. Must I buy an audio interface? Or can I make it work with some cables and cables adaptors? Thank you so much!
@@STOLLmusica some macbooks have an input jack. I think the 13 inch macbooks pros have a headphone jack that can be switched to record a signal coming in. Then you'd need a cable with small (3.5mm) stereo jack plugs on each end and a stereo 6.35mm adapter to go into the keyboard. Or something like that...
@@alfonsemusicYes, that's what I thought. I'm not sure if it's possible to make the signal coming in part, but I'll try. Again, thank you so much!!
where can i find keystrokes for this song?
That sure is punchy
It exceeded my expectations somewhat... :)
how do you connect it with the computer and started to record the sounds?
It has a headphone output, so you can run an audio cable from that to an audio interface attached to a computer.
I have the same one but doesn't.ake any sound 🥺but turns on tho
I know this video is old but I was wondering how you were able to record the music from the keyboard?
It has a headphone output, so you can just run a cable from that to an audio interface/computer or other audio recorder
Excellent tune! Great channel too.
I've started making this kind of videos too (you can look at on my channel). Is there an easy way to film & record audio at the same time?
I record audio on Cubase & video/audio on my phone, then I have to synchronize all in Vegas, that's time consuming.
Thanks.
Merci!
It would be great to have a quick all in one solution, but I would say you're doing it the best way for sound quality. Zoom make a video/audio recorder (Q2n) that can take external audio input as well as the built-in mics, but the lens is just a little wide-angle webcam, despite 4K resolution. You can get add-on stereo mics for some phones, don't know about external audio input capability. I've also not tried recording audio direct to my DSLR camera, although it should take a stereo jack auxilliary input. For my purposes, recording and mixing into the DAW and then synching it up in the video editor gives the best results, though.
@@alfonsemusic Sorry for the delay in replying & thanks for your answer!
I own a Q2n, that I've used to record rehearsals with my bands, at the moments.
Maybe someone has already created a software to record both audio & video at the same time, with an easy way to synchronize all.
I should use my camera instead of my phone but I've been lazy lately :/
most of what is heard on this vid is outside the capabilities of the pss190. everything is recorded on multitracks, edited, effected, etc. the keyboard in itself serves only to generate the basic tones, but the end result is completely different to how this keyboard sounds for real. It was a really good keyboard, a little jewel in which they were able to put a large number of interesting and good sounding features - yet it was still a little more than a toy, something that was good to learn the basics of electronic music making, but never a production tool. In fact, it lacks the ability of saving anything, lest alone exporting, an ability that was instead present on several other keyboards in the same age/price range. Nonetheless, as a kid i used it for years, and it gave me a lot of eperience and insights on music making - which is why i'll always remember it fondly.
I had a few comments about the amount of FX used on the first few keyboard videos I made, so here's the same track with just the raw keyboard sounds
ua-cam.com/video/Pau4zRmw38g/v-deo.html
@@alfonsemusic well done, i just watched it and it sounds genuine.
Can you record just on the keyboard itself?
No, there's no melody memory or anything like that on this one.
can i connect it to laptop
It doesn't have MIDI, but it does have a headphone output, so you can run an audio cable from that to an audio interface attached to laptop.
What are you running this through to get such fat sounding tracks?
There's a whole lot of compression and some saturation on the main bass/lead part and on the drums, all added in the DAW - Sonalksis Über Compressor was in there, and Klanghelm SDRR. Then various reverbs and delays. I was processing everything more in these early videos than in later ones, which a few people have commented on - the aim was always to see whether an old, cheap keyboard could offer up sounds worth using within a production, though, rather than to just make a raw recording.
2:52 is that Good Knight I see? :P
Good Knowledge... I'd forgotten the name, actually. :D
It plays itself?
Somebody has a lot of patience and maybe too much spare time.
Yeni öğrenecekler için uygun bir müzik aletimi
Yes, you're right, as long as you don't mind the small keys!
Pffff.... Congratulations again...
I have one,vendo uno, sin destelles, en 70 dolares
I sell one, without flashes, in 70 dollars
Fake! I had this model since i was 8, and these are not the original sounds. It coms with the YM3812 Sound Chip. the same as OPL Sound blaster and Adlib Cards from 90´s . Is not a kids toy, but for sure, not more than a beginners keyboard student instrument. Also it donesnçt have any reverb or delay.
I had a few comments about the amount of FX used on the first few keyboard videos I made. Here's the same track with the raw keyboard sounds and just a little reverb added in the DAW
ua-cam.com/video/Pau4zRmw38g/v-deo.html
@@alfonsemusic Honestly, You´re right , i´ve listened the last link you sent, and yes, that are the real sound of my beloved Yamaha Portasound Pss-190 Stereo. Indeed, it sounds to me a octave-gap 2 layer voice of Flute+Clarinet, used in some interlude on the "Brother John" demo. I´m sorry for the first untrust, Rather, Thank you for the nostalgic memories. You have a good fingering skills; you don´t need Arpeggiators , haha . I love keyboard and piano, but i´m not as talented as i wuld want. Here i have some random videos playing in a newer keyboard. using VSTIs . ua-cam.com/video/lKOtG7UB2Xs/v-deo.html
No problem, cheers!