Yamaha SY-35

very nice strings. for pad weirdness, i prefer the kawai k1. many realistic inbstrument sounds sound dated. vector control is nice.

as often with yamaha, excellent key action (well for its price range), flexibility is limited by its somewhat clean=boring sounds, it needs effects.

i liked the string sounds best, strings with vibrato are really shimmeringly beautiful, house piano is ok, pads are quite good when using vector. some digi-noises are cool.

very well built

never used it

as mentioned before, i sold it and got a kawai phm instead (a rack preset version of k1) for my music, weird ambient, it is more suitable. the yamaha was cleaner which can be good or bad, depending on your tastes.

This is a pretty simple synth to use, except when you try to edit a patch there are so many different features you can edit that it sometimes gets time-consuming creating a patch out of nothing. I play mine with a sustain pedal from a different keyboard, works really nice. The patches are pretty easy to access, all the buttons are in one convenient location and there's a big brightly-colored LCD that tells you what patch you're on.

This synth has a really cool vector control, but no sequencer. I use the vector control to program small 4-note sequences that sound kinda cheesy. It is touch-sensitive, and you can edit the touch sensitivity just about any way you want. as other people have said, the built-in reverb isn't all that great, it seems to be either not enough or way to much reverb. But it has a cool distortion effect. It has MIDI capability but I've never had need to use that. It also accepts more memory using memory cards but I don't know where to get the cards so I haven't used that feature either.

The classical-type instruments are really realistic, and it has some great orchestra and string section sounds. But the cello sound isn't too great. The guitar sounds are plain old terrible, but the basses are okay. It has a lot of piano/organ/elec piano sounds which are really good, but I had to modify some of the piano and organ sounds to fit my personal taste. It doesn't have really good Hammond organ sound - it has a big rock-type organ with a leslie effect but it's not the same, so I built my own Hammond patch. It also has a few drum sounds but those are kind of cheesy. There is a pitch bend wheel (the degree of bend depends on the patch you're working with), and a vibrato wheel. Those are kinda nice.

I've had this keyboard for about two and a half years, and I'm a pretty heavy-handed player, but it's been able to take it very well. There aren't even any scratches on it. The thing is as sturdy as a rock. I would definetley take ths out to a gig with me, with no backup.

I've never had reason to deal with the company, so I don't know about Customer Support. I was able to find the instruction manual on the internet, the manual is okay, but it's kind of hard to read through.

If anything ever happened to this instrument, I would probably use the opportunity to upgrade to something better, but for now it's great. There aren't many anolog-type synth sounds on it though, I might go out and buy an old analog model to supplement this one. I use this model in my home recording studio; I use a different keybouard with my industrial/metal trio. For studio work it's great, and it provides a really good piano sound. I use the piano sound for composition as well. As I said efore, the polyphony isn't the best, especially when you're playing thick piano chords and the onboard effects could be a little better, but overall it's a good piece of equipment.

Ok to use for a relative newbe like I am. (I've played guitar in metalbands for several years.) Presets are pretty accurate, at least to my ears. Editting isn't that hard. especially with the software editor. I often use the display for a little tweaking.

Polyphony is theoretically 32, but for a decent patch it's 8 voices max. (which is to little, 64 should have been enough. There's a way to use this synth multitimbral, but that's quite useless because of the polyphony. Effects are ok, but nothing special. I wish it had a better reverb (longer, fuller, brighter). Midi's ok, maybe some more controllers would've been cool, but that's my opinion.

Some instrument are suprisingly realistic (strings, piano, other classical stuff.) This synth is worthless for techno or any other style which needs this synth for analog-type sounds. But for symphonic/ethereal/ambient and even classical(not quite sure) stuff it's awesome. Apart from this, it's a infernal noise machine. Use an external effects unit (I use my SBLive soundcard) if you want some good reverb/delay. The touch-sensitivity/aftertouch together with the part-control joystick make it one hell of an expresive synth.

It's very reliable. I'd gig with this monster without backup.
(I don't have a backup-synth.)

Very good. Yamaha in the Netherlands have a great support.

If I lost it, I'd go for a SY77. I paid not that much for it(about $200), so it's definitely worth the money for me. I can only compare it to the CS1X I once had, which is a good synth but not my taste. But like I said, I really wish it had better reverb/delay. It's very inspiring to do some dark ambient/industrial/environmental stuff. This is a schizoid little monster which gives both soothing pad/string sounds and dark indsutrial noise. It fits like a gloove for me, only the effects temper my enthousiasm.

Wonderful preset sounds. Hard, however, to edit the sounds if you don't have a manual.

Velocity sensitive. User can alter the presets +1 octave, or -1 octave. Vector control allows you to manually alter the parameters of the sounds with the ease of a knob.

Piano and strings excellent. Organ realistic with use of optional effect pedals and a little reverb. The spacy sounds work well with trance or new age even.

I used this over the SY77, which is apparently the next model up.

Already have... my original one was destroyed in a flood (of beer). It took me 2 years of diligence and eBay until I found one...

no software
the preset are fine and good for live and studio
no hard at all to program patches "sounds"
the manual its symple as the keyboard

polyphony its 16 at 2 element voice and 8 at 4 element voice
it has 16 built in efx delay reverb etc
full midi capabilitis as sending and resiving after touch, pitch, amplitud modulation sustain.
no sequencer but vectorial syntesis

some of those like the soft piano, sax, pan flute, and cello
i use this keys for land scape, and atmosferical music
the efx are limited but always help
it reacts very well to velocity and after touch its great, you can control volumen amplitud mod, pitch mod on individual elements realtime and it give lot feeling

yes i depend on that piece i did must of my important sound for my own music so i really need it
i was using this piece live and studio without back up for 6 years now from one citi to another and never a problem. of course i still use it live

i never needed them i now my pice 100% all manual all tricks no problem
I upgrade the keyboard just with a mdc32 memory card thats all

if it were lost or stolen i have to find another same model
i have been playing for 15 years and sy35 its one of my favorite keyboards and i own some like roland alpha juno 2, alesis QS 7 roland A 70 yamaha rm1x etc
I choose this one in 1994 because the vectorial synthesis and the price
i wish i could find a wave station from korg and a tg100 or tg500 from yamaha
of course it help to make music i create my best song on the sy35
if any body have a question let me now I really know the piece...

Hello! Not sure of the software version, but the SY-35 is a slightly updated version of the SY-22. I own this synth, but do not play it much, as it used by the band's keyboard player(who does not own her own equipment) while I handle bass duties. The story is too long to tell, so I won't go into boring details<lol>!!! As the band specializes in Gothic/Doom metal(My Dying Bride meets Cradle of Filth...), most of the presets used consist of piano, strings, flutes, harpsichord, & some very weird effects. To my knowledge, every sound used in recording and gigging except one has been a preset(and that exception was a slightly modified preset). To date(5 years and counting...) neither a band member or one of the band's international fans has complained about the sound! The patches don't come across as the easiest to edit(just doesn't compare with an analog, go figure), but there is a third party manual for the SY-22. It's out of print, but it's well written and sheds much light on the subject with hands-on examples. The synth came with two manuals: getting started and advanced features. Not bad, but the third party book is better. This Synth is very easy to get around on(until you start editing, but see above)! It supports 3 banks: presets(64), Internal(64 built in sounds which can be replaced), and plug-in ROM/RAM cards. We've never needed MIDI....ever.......

Polyphony(I believe...)is 8-note. This board has been played by several people in the band over 5-years, and so far no complaints about action. It accepts sound cards, but that's the only expansion to my knowledge. Good velocity and aftertouch on the keys, in my opinion. Full MIDI, but who needs it??? I know, I know- I can understand why you would, but we've functioned quite well without. No sequencer- this is a LIVE band, who needs it? You can easily find one for your computer, which I did.

Most of the instruments this synth has tried to emulate are pretty damn convincing(piano, pan flute, sax, organ). The bases are ok, guitar sounds are chrap(typical for early 90s synths)! Onboard effects sound pretty good, they're all we've ever needed. Good reaction to velocity and aftertouch.

Are you kidding?!? This is a YAMAHA! Despite the plastic case, this synth has survived in heat, cold, humidity, intense cigarette smoking, gigging, transport(via gig bag, I might add) for 7 years, and it almost looks new! This company may be known for horrible presets and lousy manuals, but the reliabilty factor here is undisputable(I also own a DX-7 and a DX-11). This synth has performed in legendary clubs(CBGB's and Toad's Place), as well as assorted toilets in the area(North East USA) without even the thought of a backup- never needed one to date.

Never had to contact Yamaha or get the synth repaired, sorry. I've heard some bad things about them, but that's all heresay.

IF it gets lost or stolen, then someone owes me money!<lol> I and the person I lent this unit to have been playing this board for 7 years. I own a DX-7, DX-11, and DW-8000. The SY-35 is clearly better for realistic sounds. It doesn't do analog well, at least not by judging from the presets, although I'm sure it could if you took the time. I have to say that, for the money, nothing comes close to this synth except the Korg X5(very similar sounds most of the time). Many people may read this and have a good snicker because they had the US $1500.00+ to drop on all the latest synths(especially those Kurzweils), but seeing how synth prices hold up so well over time(pardon my sarchasm...)- I've noticed this $700.00 unit can still fetch $500.00 or more. Yes it has no sequencer, sampler, blah, blah, blah- and I've been notified that the piano sounds don't compare to the new Rolands, but this is value for money at it finest. This synth was instrumental(no pun intended...) in writing many fine compositions. It's probably much better for rock and the new metal that's coming out of Europe(can you say 'CREMATORY'???) than dance, but I couldn't say for sure.