Yamaha PSS-460

Cam VanDerHorst · Post by **Cam VanDerHorst** » Fri Jul 11, 2008 9:23 pm

Hello everyone, I'm a 19 year-old college student and a huge fan of New Wave & synthpop music. I'm saving up to purchase a MicroKorg, but while I was out today, I saw a Yamaha PSS-460 at a pawn shop for $48. Assuming it's in good working order, is it worth the cash or should I keep saving up for the Korg?

ronP · Post by **ronP** » Fri Jul 11, 2008 10:04 pm

.

The microKORG is a great synth to program and to play. That stated, man, run out and buy that Yamaha.

I started out on a CASIOtone, and it is more fun and more rewarding to work your way up the ladder in gear world. Get a feel for the keys, first, play the board through an amp (or a stereo if you don't have access to an amp), and try different effects (pick up a cheap BOSS or BEHRINGER chorus, flange, phaser pedal).

Play, and think about SOUND, and what kind of SOUND -- tone color -- you like as you play the keys. When you know, then buy something bigger and "better" . . . You might be a string guy, or an organ freak, or a monosynth maniac . . . Once you know where you're gravitating toward in terms of SOUND, then find the piece of top tier synthesizer gear that fits that SOUND.

Meanwhile, go out and spend that 48 bucks (if it is in good working order), and stimulate that economy!

.

Phenom · Post by **Phenom** » Fri Jul 11, 2008 10:15 pm

I think paying close to $50 would be wasted cash, it's an ancient home keyboard and it was never top of the line in it's day. If you look hard enough you can usually find people giving these away, or get them for around $10 on ebay.

I've not got anything against home keyboards by the way, I really miss my first ever keyboard, a Casiotone mt41, and I kick myself for selling the little keyboard that started it all for me. It's more than nostalgia, it had cute analogue drum sounds on board.

There are a couple of cute little PSS keyboards to look out for. They were the ones with the 8 drum pads under the keyboard. They had basic synth functions and fun little sequencers and basic MIDI, if anyone remembers the PSSs I'm talking about please remind me.

If you are desperately need a set of keys, just check around ebay, maybe get a little casio sk1 to keep you happy until you've got the cash togther for a microkorg.

For a cheap synth for synthpop you might like to also consider the Korg Poly 800, which will probably be a bit cheaper than a microkorg and some people would argue (not me tho) that it's a better synth.

Phenom · Post by **Phenom** » Fri Jul 11, 2008 10:30 pm

The PSSs I was thinking of were the 680 and 790. If you can find one of them for a few bucks then jump in. I remember trying them as a kid and thinking they they had a nice little blend of features.

Also look out for the yamaha VSS range, they were good cheap fun too.

but I can't stress enough, don't spend 50 bucks on that keyboard!!!

Post by **Vxster** » Fri Jul 11, 2008 11:33 pm

Cam VanDerHorst wrote:Hello everyone, I'm a 19 year-old college student and a huge fan of New Wave & synthpop music. I'm saving up to purchase a MicroKorg, but while I was out today, I saw a Yamah PSS-460 at a pawn shop for $48. Assuming it's in good working order, is it worth the cash or should I keep saving up for the Korg?

I don't think you would want to spend that cash on a PSS-460. The 'digital synthesizer' is fun but isn't going to get you the sounds you want.

Sir Ruff · Post by **Sir Ruff** » Sat Jul 12, 2008 12:06 am

um, hello people!! He wants new wave/synth pop, etc... what does that better than cheesy 80s FM? the pss-460 is a great little synth and well worth $50 (tho I would certainly try and get them down a little-you can sometimes find them for about $30 or less on ebay, but then you'd have to pay shipping).

It's very little investment, and will make a much wider range of sounds than you'd expect. Also very easy to use.

The worst you can do is make them plug it in so you can try it out. The digital synth section sliders can be used on its own, or to affect the presets (which react in different ways), so be sure to try it on and with presets.

Cam VanDerHorst · Post by **Cam VanDerHorst** » Sat Jul 12, 2008 12:08 am

Well, before posts 3-5 had been made, let alone read by me, I went out to purchase that keyboard - sorry guys. I offered $40 and the shop owner took it. I'm actually having quite a bit of fun with it - I know it's not the real deal but it's an absolute blast to use. It makes some interesting sounds when you play with the sliders, and the "custom drummer" is interesting to play around with. I've really only set my MicroKorg savings back about a week, and I'm really just excited to have some keys and sliders to play with in the meantime. I found the manual and printed it off, we'll see how useful it is...

THEODICY · Post by **THEODICY** » Sat Jul 12, 2008 2:51 am

A friend of mine has the PSS-570 with the coustom drummer and he likes it for that a lot. They are really fun to play with for sure, some of the most fun I've ever had with any instrument, and I pick them up whenever I see them in thrift stores. I have a pss-160 and a 170. The 160 is low on sounds but the record function on it is really sweet since it has a really weird auto quantize function.. makes for some really cool patterns, you can basically mash the board and it makes cool patterns on the fly. I recorded a song only using the sounds from the 160 and my ms2000's vocoder and it's one of the best songs I've ever recorded.. I'll try and post it up later tonight if I can remember to let you see what I mean. Fun for hours with those things for sure!

Cam VanDerHorst · Post by **Cam VanDerHorst** » Sat Jul 12, 2008 2:53 am

Sir Ruff wrote:The digital synth section sliders can be used on its own, or to affect the presets (which react in different ways), so be sure to try it on and with presets.

Thanks for the tip! I thought that the sliders could only affect the sound when the digital synth is on. Awesome!

Tyler2000 · Post by **Tyler2000** » Sat Jul 12, 2008 4:11 am

They are going up to about $40 tops on ebay. Get one on ebay. I prefer the PSS-480 anyway. Tell you what. I have a PSS-460, give me a pm and we can work out a price if you like.

Cam VanDerHorst · Post by **Cam VanDerHorst** » Sat Jul 12, 2008 4:24 am

Tyler2000 wrote:They are going up to about $40 tops on ebay. Get one on ebay. I prefer the PSS-480 anyway. Tell you what. I have a PSS-460, give me a pm and we can work out a price if you like.

Tyler, thanks for the offer! I've seen your setup and it looks amazing. If I really fall in love with my 460, I may take you up on your offer. I really do want an analog synth as my next toy, though.

I was playing around for about a half hour and figured this little bit out, you might recognize it:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 4091&hl=en

I was able to make the violin voice sound pretty close to the original, but the camera's mic dosen't really pick it up that well.

THEODICY · Post by **THEODICY** » Sat Jul 12, 2008 6:20 am

Check it: lonliest robot on the dancefloor.mp3 - 7.91MB

It was definitely the most fun I've ever had recording a song. Everytime my friend and I were ready to record another part into the PSS-160 we would be all hyped up on the way the machine quantized the part. Everything was sequenced with ableton but we recorded the parts with the 160 then recorded everything into ableton. I don't know which PSS models have a record function but that's where it's at with these things.. they have a sweet quantization programming. I know it's not your model but this song goes to show what you can do with so little while having soooo much fun.. which is what it's all about. Less is more sometimes. Anyway, get the microkorg, then you'll have basically the same things I used to record this.

The Cancer Years · Post by **The Cancer Years** » Sat Jul 12, 2008 6:32 am

THEODICY wrote:Check it: lonliest robot on the dancefloor.mp3 - 7.91MB

It was definitely the most fun I've ever had recording a song. Everytime my friend and I were ready to record another part into the PSS-160 we would be all hyped up on the way the machine quantized the part. Everything was sequenced with ableton but we recorded the parts with the 160 then recorded everything into ableton. I don't know which PSS models have a record function but that's where it's at with these things.. they have a sweet quantization programming. I know it's not your model but this song goes to show what you can do with so little while having soooo much fun.. which is what it's all about. Less is more sometimes. Anyway, get the microkorg, then you'll have basically the same things I used to record this.

haha that was awesome.

Black Tomorrow · Post by **Black Tomorrow** » Sat Jul 12, 2008 6:43 am

Congrats on thenew PSS. Despite the "amateur" nature of the PSS and PSR lines, they're often underrated. I started out 12 years ago with a PSR 185, eventually upgrading to a PSR 740. Since then, I've built up a decent sized collection of higher end synths, and I still have my PSR. Even after buying a Triton, which I thought would replace any need for the PSR, I'm still finding it useful. So even when you decide to move on to bigger and better, you may want to think twice before getting rid of the PSS. You just never know when it will come in handy.

THEODICY · Post by **THEODICY** » Sat Jul 12, 2008 6:48 am

NEVER get rid of the PSS. There is a certain innocence to these things that is unmatched by anything else.

Yamaha PSS-460

Yamaha PSS-460

Re: Yamaha PSS-460