Lets get lo-fi - Yamaha pss-580 vs. Casio MT-68

[IStehSHIT]

try 240 nicer sound

[matt9741399]

I still have my 580 in a cupboard somewhere. I used to love playing with that thing when I was a kid - it was the first programmable synth I ever had. Got to love the quaintness of FM.

[ChrisLody]

@matt9741399 Yeah i agree, its FM has a quaintness to its sound. Probably because it reminds me off all those great megadrive game soundtracks.

[bob4analog]

The term 'Lo-Fi' is so over used and misapplied! If it sounds good / right, it's ok.

I have a Casio MT 68 too...sounds great, and I love the way you skillfully used in your vid here...nicely done! (Interested in selling it?)

[ChrisLody]

@bob4analog Nah, i'd never sell my MT-68. Its been a source of many good musical ideas over the last few years.

[bob4analog]

@ChrisLody

Cool, I can appreciate that. When ya got sumth'n that works, ya hang on to it. Cheers to the MT-68! Keep on Rock'n!

[Uberlaser]

Little black pussycat likes the music too :-)

[AutomaticGainsay]

Nice performance! Neither of those keyboards are actually lo-fi, though... as no sound is being reproduced in low "fidelity."

[ChrisLody]

@AutomaticGainsay Yeah, i know the title isn't technically accurate but i wanted something snappy and short. The idea is just to make whatever i can from a bunch of second hand stuff i find on carboot sales just to do something outside of a computer studio. Glad you like the performance though. Cheers.

[adamglock]

People dont relize how awesome the 480 is. you get a gritty 2 operator fm synth which is pretty easy to navigate and program in comparisson to the dx7 which is not fun at all. also the rhythm section and recording is fun as well as useful. im glad these are overlooked.. This machine is a real instrument in itself. also i have the Mt 70 and I like that too. The 68 sounds cool too!

[ChrisLody]

@adamglock They're great aren't they? The 480/580 became one of my favourite little keyboards after i found it, i'm planning to write a collection of tracks with nothing more than the 580, 780 and a sequencer. They're more than up to it. The MT-68 is well worth tracking down, the envelope switches and the sustain/reverb switch give just enough sound sculpting for me, I almost consider it a synth.

[billychanxtreem]

kitty !!:3 !!! ^^

[007IrishLad]

which one is the one on the bottom

[ChrisLody]

@007IrishLad That's the casio MT-68. If you're looking for one the MT-65 is the same in white. Nice little lofi keyboard.

[he214abc]

very 80's sound, sound like a toy

[howedylan]

holy shit that's a damn fine sounding pad

[ChrisLody]

@howedylan Thanks very much. Good old yamaha!

[FUHGI]

YEP BLADERUNNER OVER HERE TOO ¡¡¡

[ChrisLody]

@FUHGI Thanks, suppose bladerunner was done on a yamaha afterall. It the cs80 probably cost slightly more than my yamaha though ; ) Love your upside down !!!'s by the way ¡¡¡¡¡¡

[arronarronarron]

pussy cat!

[awesomejesus1]

I like your cat, a bit like ours! :-)

Cool music!!!

[jlr300]

nice, it makes me remember vangelis Blade Runner OST, in a good way. Anyway, inspiring!

[ChrisLody]

Thanks, that's such a huge compliment! I wasn't thinking of bladerunner but it is such a massive influence on me it must have bled through. Cheers.

[Grefintiuk]

very nice

[ChrisLody]

Thanks very much.

[shagnetics]

sweet. used well.. i have the mt-68 and the pss-680. woah thats weird. i just noticed they are both the number 68. ha. right on.

[ChrisLody]

Ah man, I really want a pss-680 just so I can have pitch bend which the 580 doesn't have. I ain't paying the prices they go for on ebay though, guess I'll just wait till I find one on a boot sale. For example I picked up an shs-10 keytar for £2!

[shagnetics]

woah you too?? i got an shs-10 for like i think 10 bucks. sold it on ebay for............... hehehe

[ChrisLody]

Oh yeah, I've seen how much some people are willing to pay for them! Not quite sure why, I'm sure its not worth it. I sold the first one I found for about 15 times what I paid for it. I decided to keep this one though cause I like the pitchbend on that too, and it was super cheap!

[rockhills]

I have a 480 myself and was planning on selling it, now I think I'll keep it.

A few questions about PSS Edit:

1)When you use PSS Edit, I had no idea such a program was out there, are you pretty much guessing what the result will be?

2) you sysex dump right? do those patches clear out after you turn off the PSS keyboard?

3) could you do a quick vid using PSS edit? :)

[KMNKeybordValt]

I love you Cat i think he sooooo cool

I have a PSS-790 & PSS-51 But i use to have the PSS-480,PSS-680 & PSS-795

[STRUCK37]

thats sogood!! nice work! do you know where to find these kind of vintage keyboards from? thanks 5/5

[ChrisLody]

Thanks very much. I see you live in australia from your profile, do you have car boot sales there? That's where I get all my old gear from. I guess you have flee markets and yards sales though right? This kind of stuff pops up on ebay too but tends to be over priced. You can get luck sometimes though. Cheers

[douro20]

I have an MT-68 and I love it. I especially like the Wurlitzer-like electric piano tone.

[ChrisLody]

Yeah they rock. I've actually owned 5 in total including an MT-65 which was white, but I finally found one with a noise free otput. I really like how much you can edit the tone.

[DrLight9]

bloody fantastic man! i've got a pss-480 and a casio sk-1. i got so much love for the old keyboards. so how easy is it to circuit bend anyway? could i do it from home as an amateur?

[ChrisLody]

Yeah circuit bending is the ultimate in beginner modding. You basically just open up your toy/keyboard and attach random points to random points till something good happen. Either that or use your fingers as part of the circuit. Not whilst plugged into the wall though, that's very dangerous! I'll send you a link to some sites. The only downside is it can permanently ruin your keyboard so start with something cheap.

[freqazoidiac]

fab vid. I have a PSS 480..and it's not a kiddie machine! I LOVE IT TO DEATH. On the same level as my Juno. $25 here in Canada. WE got good deals mang!

[ChrisLody]

Yeah they packed some good stuff in such a small package. I like the way you can sketch out whole tunes with the mini sequencer, get some loops going and just jam. Great for sofa sessions!

[bobamu]

Nice to see someone using the old "kiddy" keyboards like this, in ye days of old I had a pss580 + a casio mt240, tho the yamaha got a bit destroyed and is in need of serious repair, currently hunting on ebay for keyboards of that ilk. I even made a really ghetto patch editor for the pss580 :)

Anyway, subscribed, looking forward to what else you do :D

[ChrisLody]

Luckily I found my 580 on a carboot sale but they still sell pretty cheap on ebay. The 680 and 780 also have a pitchbend wheel so I'd like one of those too. I have the mt240's bigger brother, the mt540. Just like the yamaha it's a bit of a wolf in sheeps clothing, it's even multitimbral through midi. Anyway, glad you like it. I might have time for another lofi vid at the weekend. Cheers.

[frostedminipete]

I love when people can take cheezy old keyboards and bring them to life like this... sounds anything but cheezy. Great job!

[ChrisLody]

Thank very much, I'm glad you like it. You have to work quite hard to dodge the cheesy sounds on some of these old keyboards but you can usually find a few jems in among the presets. Stay tuned for more

[sauermusicDE]

Great video! I have a PSS-780. Could you please add the number and the name of the basic sound program and its parameter settings in your info? That would be nice. Was it necessary to adjust some of the hidden parameters via software (apart from those that are accessable on the front panel of the instrument) to get that specific sound?

[ChrisLody]

Thanks, I'm glad you like it. It took me ages to work out which preset I started from. Use the Ocarina preset then the settings 0 to 8 are as follows: 0:24, 1:10, 2:04, 3:04, 4:01, 5:01, 6:07, 7:76, 8:85. Then turn on sustain and vibrato. I then used pss-edit the lengthen the release times of the envelopes but its optional really. Any questions, feel free to ask.

[JKHeights]

Amazing sound! Well done!

[ChrisLody]

Thanks very much.

[tekkentool]

wow. all that stuff actually sounds pretty nice for cheap things! nice funky playing as well!

[ChrisLody]

Thanks. I'm quite proud of the pss-580 string patch I whacked together just for this vid. If you find the right vintage of casio or yamaha you can essentially get a sort of 'home synthesizer'. I thought I'd better start using all this stuff I've been buying (I've got a shelving unit fullof stuff) so I'm planning more lo-fi vids with other gear.

[tekkentool]

i'm already subscibed, so i'll see you there!. by the way, could you give me a link to PSS edit, i can't seem to find it. and i love 2 operator FM. though i know some are 4 op. my school has a dsr-1000 and if they are compatible i would be awesome

[ChrisLody]

Took me a while to find the link for you. I'll put it in the info pane (top right) as youtube blocks links in comments. Not sure if it'll be compatible but worth a go.

[tekkentool]

thanks a bunch man! cheap programmable FM here i come! (yes dx7's are cheap as well cheaper FM here i come)

[squeakD]

I posted a commnet, but for some reason don't see it showing up. Anyways.., good jam man :)

[ChrisLody]

Thanks very much. I was having trouble commenting earlier too. I'm not too confident letting anyone see me playing yet but atleast I get as many chances as I like when recording for youtube. Planning more lo-fi vids