Skip to main content

Yamaha PortaSound PSS-480

As I’ve said before, I’m not the biggest fan of FM synthesis. It’s not that I dislike it. I believe it has its uses, and there are some sounds it does better than anything else. But I never went through an FM phase like a lot of other people seem to have. I grew up in the ‘70s and ‘80s so I love analog synthesis. I consider a two-oscillator monosynth solo with plenty of portamento to be one of the finer things in life.

Recently, I have come to appreciate what FM synthesis can do. And while I’m still not a huge fan of six-operator synths like the DX7, take me down to four and watch me come alive. My TX81Z can do things no analog synth can do, and while I didn’t have it for very long, the DX100 was more than capable when it came to bass. Solid, even.

If four operators are better than six, imagine how good two operators must be. Sadly, this is not the case but two-op machines are capable of some pretty incredible sounds. From bells to falling cooking pan-like noise, it’s hard to beat a lo-fi two-op synth. My appetite was wetted by an SHS-10 that passed through the studio but I wanted more. Enter the PortaSound PSS-480.

Apparently the PortaSound line is fairly well loved by people of a certain age but I had never come across one before my 480 arrived in the mail. At only around $10, I figured it was a steal, and if I hated it, well, no big deal.

The PSS series is bewilderingly big, and it’s really hard to keep track of which model has what functions, but the 480 is a four-octave 2-op synth with midi and editable synthesis parameters. Obviously this is why I bought it. Preset FM guitar sounds are great and all, but being able to edit them on the fly is where the fun comes in. And edit you can. It has buttons for adjusting the envelope, feedback, frequency and modulation. The latter two can make things really hairy really fast. You can add portamento and vibrato, and even save your new sounds into what Yamaha calls “banks.” It also has crappy PCM drum sounds and cheesy rhythms but I really have no interest in that. I just want it to make noise.

Unfortunately, my unit makes not only digital noise but unwanted noise as well. There’s a persistent high-pitched whine that’s audible from both the speakers and audio jack, using either batteries or a wall wart. It’s really annoying. Yes, I could EQ it out of recordings but it’s not very pleasant to listen to while playing.

I have read about people replacing the capacitors on power boards of synths and this cleaning up noise and other audio detritus in the output. So that’s what I did. I replaced all the capacitors (except the Mylar ones, which I was warned are there to provide a kind of high pass on the sound). The ones I ordered were a little bigger than the old ones so it was a little tough getting the board back into the machine, but I managed it by removing a speaker screw.

The whine was still there. I tried desoldering the wires to the speakers, thinking there was maybe a ground loop. The whine was still there. I replaced the audio jack. The whine was still there. Someone online even suggested trying high-quality batteries. The whine was still there.

I gave up and bought a PSS-380. No more whine. No midi on the 380 and it can’t save sounds but it does have sliders, and I actually like the synthesis better than the 480. It’s dirtier. Hairier. Nastier.

Now I use the 480 as a portable midi keyboard for testing gear in my work area, which is downstairs from the studio. And I have two old PortaSound machines. I may not have fixed the whine but I still consider it a success.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Roland HS-80 SynthPlus 80 (Alpha Juno 2)

Although I listened to industrial music all through high school, and loved groups like Front 242 and Skinny Puppy, my interest in electronic music really exploded when I discovered techno and rave in 1991. I loved the energy of it but mostly I loved the sounds. It was unabashedly synthy, and each song was seemingly built around one or two incredible sounds that just repeated. It was glorious. I loved all the hoovers, but especially the Dominator, so if you had put money down with a bookie in 1991 that I’d someday be the proud owner of an Alpha Juno synth then you’d be a winner today. Well, almost. Instead of buying a reasonably sized Alpha Juno or Alpha Juno 2, I had to go and get the HS-80 SynthPlus 80, the rather unwieldy and, it has to be said, ugly home version. Introduced in 1987, a year later than the original Alphas, this behemoth widened the case to include an amp and two speakers. Gone are the fetching membrane buttons, replaced with D-50-style black push-button jobbi...
Post a Comment
Read more

Korg Poly-61

Sometimes, for whatever reason, a synth will stay off your radar. It could have nothing to do with the sound of the synth itself. Maybe it’s even (in the parlance of our times) a beast. But for whatever reason you haven’t given it the time of day. This was my history with the Poly-61, Korg’s 1982 polysynth. Sandwiched between the famous and desirable Polysix, and the Poly-800, the synth that everyone loves to hate, the Poly-61 is easily forgotten. Nobody really talks about it, despite it having been used by big names of electronic music like Boards Of Canada and Com Truise. It also looks incredibly synthwave with its gray color scheme and grid-patterned front panel. I’ve been through more Poly-800s than I care to count, I have the Polysix iPad app, and I certainly wouldn’t mind a Mono/Poly, but a Poly-61? I must not be the only person with a blind spot for the 61 because I managed to get one recently in decent shape for $150. And pleased as punch I am. It’s a 6-voice dual DCO ana...
Post a Comment
Read more

Roland Juno-106 (Part Five - Sliders And Buttons)

Summer vacation had arrived. I finally had time to do all the work on the Juno-106 that I needed to do. And there was still quite a bit that needed doing: new battery, new tact switches, rebuilding the sliders, cutting out fader dust covers, and doing something about those ugly buttons. Being a junior high school teacher, I had the whole summer off to get things done. Here’s how it went. Starting with the battery seemed like a good idea. Although the old one was still putting out a good amount of charge, I figured since I was ripping everything out I may as well get the module board out too. I unplugged the numerous amount of cables, got the board out, and swapped out the battery. No sweat. The next order of business was getting the panel board out from under the top of the synth to deal with all the things that needed addressing there. Out came the many cables running into the panel board, off popped the slider caps, and out slid the board from its slot under the panel. I pulled...
Post a Comment
Read more