Yamaha SY-85

I'm using the original sotware version. The presets sound great enough to have fed and clothed me since acquiring a pair of '85s back in '93. Patch editing is as easy as you want to make it....either "go deep" or use the default edit settings supplied to ease this task. I don't use a patch editor but prefer the traditional "hands on" approach.....c'mon, are we synthesists or not?!?! The manual is well written, as good as the best and far better than most.

Polyphony is 30 voices and keyboard action is great, though this is entirely subjective. FX are great and very easy to use. The only expansion capability is in RAM, which I recommend you "max out." The MIDI spec. is still good, compared to current instruments. The on-board sequencer is good enough for gigging if the sequences are well designed and its really intuitive to use.

I'm STILL gigging with my '85z, after 12 years of daily use with no intention of retiring them. The sound sets/patches/voices are entirely updateable if the RAM is maxed out. I'm regularly loading new programs based on new waveforms, which makes this synth a true chameleon. User defineable sensitivity for velocity and after-touch means a keyboard that responds to your own playing style....except misuse and pounding.

I've gigged with my '85s in every environment, from Arctic cold to Mojave heat and have never experienced a crash! I also slave my '85z to a pair of TG500 modules, (the equivalent of a pair of '85z each,) so I guess I'm already playing with backups! My reasoning, in doing this, is to fatten up sounds, create more interesting layers and top increase the apparent polyhony of the instruments. (The TG500s are each 64 voice polyphonic.) It also ensures my sequences are as rich and dense as they need to be, without any "drop-outs.)

Unfortunately, the mothership SUCKS!!!!! They never returned any calls/Emails/letters/voice mails and they dropped support for the instrument within 2 years of manufacture. However, here in Canada, the Yamaha Corp. HQ have been helpful, generous and all round fnatastic. Go figure....maybe this questionshoukld be posed to an anthropologist.

If mine were stolen I'd replace them immediately. Well known and understood instruments in the hands of capable , experienced players will always dominate the "latest flavour of the minute."

I've been playing, professionally, for 35 years.....whew, time sure flies when you're having fun! I came up as a Hammond player, went through the days of transistors and have happily settled into the realm of silcicone chips, bits and bytes. During my time I've owned or regularly played most keyboards manufactured from about 1970 through to the mid-90s, when I stopped being ruled by the market enigineers by deciding to examine exploiting the potential of what I already owned, as you can see from my gear list.

I've been the owner of a pair of '85s since '93. I'm also the owner of a pair of SY99s, an SK20 Yamaha drawbar organ clone and a pair of EX7s, plus various and sundry rack gear. All the synths are gigging all the time, live and studio applications. I can honestly state that the ONLY worthy successor to the '85 is the EX7, (excepting the sequencer portion!) That being said, if I could only choose a single synth, with which to spend the rest of my days, and which would continue to feed and clothe me, the choice would be the Yamaha SY85.

I expected to have unloaded my '85s long before today, but the user-friendliness of these synths have ensured their rightful place amongst my most valued gear. While many manufacturer's claim their products are continually updateable, few in actual fact are ever supported beyond their retail shelf life. The onus is on the owner to explore the potential of their instruments and then to exploit that potential to the max. I'd recommend the sample memory upgrades for any 85 user. It'll prolong the synth's life for an indefinite period by allowing you to keep the most current wave forms available to you.

As a work station, it has few peers; as a live performance instrument, it has no equal. I perform, as a "side man" in all musical styles, classical excepted, and this synth produces the right sounds EVERY time. For amusement, I often apply a strip of duct tape over the Yamaha logos and I'm constantly amused at the public's comments......"is that the new (insert flavour of the month) synth?"

The sequencer is good enough to provide an entire sets worth of music, at one go, if the programming is done expeditiously. In 12 years of use, I have NEVER experienced any kind of crash, freeze, brown out or display difficulties. in fact, I only recently changed the back-up batteries!!! The 85s have worked in Arctic cold and Mojave heat, without a single glich.....ever. The instrument is engineered and built with regards to the highest quality, commercially acceptable standards.

The only improvement, which could be made to this instrument, in my opinion, is the addition of a hard shell case!!! If you have the opportunity to acquire one of these excellent synths, DO IT!

This is a great workstation. Simple to use and with first class presets suiting a wide range of musical styles.

The keyboard has a nice action, and the built in effects process is excellent. New sounds can be loaded via the floppy drive. Not just preset sounds but new waveforms based on external samples. This totally changes the sonic personality of the keyboard. Literally Hundreds of new sounds and samples are available from www.soundsamples.co.uk
MIDI is well implemented and the onboard sequencer allows you to put together tracks quickly.

Again, performs well for all musical styles becuase of the fact that you can load in new sounds from floppy disk. The piano sonds are truely beautiful.

I have had my machine since it was first launched and it has NEVER put a foot wrong. Extremely reliable. My machine has only ever been used in a studio an never gigged.

I talked to Yamaha in the early days of it's launch and they were always helpful.

My favourite keyboard machine by far. Quick and easy to use, expressive and extremely versatile - a real workhorse. Sell for next to nothing on the second hand market these days - hunt one down.

sounds are very good specially strings after edited in patch mode, very easy to edit sounds.

9 track seq(1 drum pattern track) is ok as you can have patches on all 8 tracks but the down fall is lack of polyphony(only 28) sample play back is ok but no editing options for this feature

love the sounds caters for all kind of music as they can be edited well. unbeatable feel of the keys.

reliability 100% never had problems

i would be lost without it even now that iv had it for 11years and own lot more latest hard ware.this one is always a must in any of my music production.

Very excellent preset sounds, which can be modified easily. The menu system is quite intuitive... The only thing that really pulls down
the rating on the ease-of-use section is the effects routing in
multitimbral mode... it's really a hell to go into it (I've given up ... :-) )
If you are content with using it in mono-timbral-mode, the effects are straightforward enough, and very good at that.
The internal sequencer is very simple to use. I've so far never actually used internal sequencers before, but I managed to sketch down a couple of ideas very fast. Like it.

I use the machine mainly to play a single patch at a time. The polyphony is more than enough for that application. The effects are just excellent.
I bought this machine on a chance (without any previous information) just because I wanted something with a built-in sequencer when I'm
out of town or something. And I really say that I got more than I bargained for. ($350). The sample import function is a nice bonus, even though it's not that straightforward to use IMHO.

Preset patches : Excellent.
I still haven't found a synth that have so massive pads. Even the
drums sound good for more techno-ish sounds.
Another thing that took me by surprise are the fat bass-sounds.

Haven't given me any problems yet. Had it for about a year.
I only use it in a studio/home environment so I haven't given it
any punishment. On the downside as far as portable studio workstation goes - It weighs _alot_...

Excellent buy for any studio. Also, the multi-mode with the internal sequencer (with exception of the effects-routing) is easy to use and for a single machine, the results are great.

Just want to add something

Yamaha SY85 also features as a MIDI FILER for you other Midi gear ! I do not know of any other keyboard that does this. I use the feature with my Wavestation live on stage. Works well ! You can probably get an Alesis datadisk for US$150 or Yamaha MDF2/3 for $200. So this Yamaha SY85 is a steal ! Odd that no one mention about this :P

I wont say its as easy as Korg, takes a while to get used to. But much better interface than Alesis. The synth engine can go very deep, very complex. But the sliders makes editing easy. Manual is comprehensive.

30 polyphony. It has the most expressive, responsive keys I have ever tried on a keyboard. Top-notch. Aftertouch seems almost effortless. I still like wavestation's keys best. Effects are simple, easy to use! And so superb ! I like it a lot! I have always like Yamaha's reverb. Takes a while to learn the sequencer, but its all logical and not stupid. If the sequencer is 16 track, plus SCSI, it would be on par with Kurzweil.

Instruments range from good to excellent. I'm not so used to Yamaha's interface, not so easy for me. The dance sounds are nice. With lp/hp filters found on sy77. The effects, once again, terrific. The pads, WOW. Piano, works suprisingly well. Sax a bit disappointing for me. Overall, it works!

One button seems to be 'naughty'. but overall, fine piece of gear.

For this price what else could I get? with such features! not to mention the pro-effects. some gears that I own(ed): SY77, FS1R, 01/W, RD600, N5, QS7 etc... etc....

I don't think this is intuitive, but once you get used to the system and the menu layers, it works pretty fabulously! The presets are mostly very good, and editing is a little convoluted, but more than manageable! If you don't know what most of the parameters do (which puts you in the same position as myself) you'll either have to do some reading, or just play it by ear and go on a trial and error basis - but editing really isn't necessary to get darn good sounds out of this thing!

I think this does all you could ever ask a synth to do - good sounds, useful sequencer (and remember this is 10 years old now!!), good midi specs, and easily luggable!

I like the sounds a lot - I wouldn't use the piano's alone out of choice, but they're still very useable. The electric pianos are very good, so are pads, some strings, and some nice ambient type sounds. The organs work quite well, though again, they can't compete with more recent synths for realism. The effects are excellent - you can tell how good they are when you run the sequencer and realize that things sound dry because the effects really made the sounds work!

If you get one that works right, it will keep working right for years - I have had problems with the disk drive though on a couple of these synths. In my opinion, if there's a problem with the machine, it pretty much shows up when you take it out of the box - don't forget the lithium battery will need changing at some point though, and these are starting to get old if you have one of the first ones of the production line! I don't know what these cost to replace - Sony have a nasty habit of hardwiring their's to the circuit boards, but as far as I know, Yamaha don't do silly stuff like that! I've never had a problem getting replacement parts for yamaha stuff if something goes wrong!

Yamaha are OK, but not special!

OK - I love this machine. The fact is that I'm currently on my 4th!! I had one stolen, and had some problems with a couple of them (disk drive issues...). So, I think it's terrific - it's no longer cutting edge, but at the time it was released it blew things like the Korg O1 series out of the water (in my opinion, but I'll admit to a fondness for Yamaha products, and a dislike of Korg since the M1 days!)

voice structure deep but ...with 2 line LCD .That was hard to get
but it's not hard to lern

I like the sound of this matchine
8 fader ? I like it , Can load sample sound + SIM RAM ( not bad )
MIDI SPEC. very good
it's a true workstation . This keyboard have everything build in except SCSI port

very good EFX
( same class as SPX 900 )
compare to KONG M1 or o1wFD .This one rock

Quite easy to use, some important controls are buried in menus, but mostly you can push and go.
The documentation isn't laid out all that well, but you can find mostly everything, and with the service manual and a parts list you can keep it going forever.

Keyboard action good, a little dead if you play hard. Weighting good.
Effects are the usual selection, control is good.
Expansion cards from Yamaha are largely non-existent for new samples, figure on getting those off diskettes third party.
Full MIDI but is not a General MIDI spec unit.
Sequencer is OK but not wonderful.

The harpsichord is terrible. Winds are very good, excellent piano samples, percussion and a wide array of bass samples.
Many of the samples are a little strained where the ranges overlap.
Velocity reaction is good and configurable.
Good rock'n'roll and blues keyboard, can be used for classical, but due to being all sample is not good if you want FM synth sounds.

Built like a truck and easily repaired. I've put a new keybed sensor array and repaired broken keys. Parts readily available, easily disassembled, well built.

Yamaha blows. They never released additional samples on a card, so the second card slot is worthless. For a long time their 800 number had no info on it.
I've always done my own repairs, and for parts, they're quite good.

If it holds up, this could be the only sample synth I ever need. I've had mine since 1993 and wouldn't give it up for anything.
Additional gear, I've got a number of external sample boxes, wind controllers, and a couple of standalone sequencers in addition to the usual workstations.
I really wish this thing handled SDS dumps better.
I'm putting together a page which details disassembly and repair of some parts of the SY-85. Check http://www.weightlessdog.com

The SY-85 was truly one of those "superworkstations", including of course multitimbrality, a quite powerful sequencer, an advanced wavetable synthesis algorithm and two versatile fx processors. All this is operated from a two-line lc display. There are lots of dedicated buttons which greatly enhance handling, however some menus contain options you'd expect somewhere else or require irrational "ENTER" presses in the middle of operation, so this is not as bad as it could be, but worse than it should be...

30-voice polyphony, can have a part on each MIDI channel. There is an onboard 9-track sequencer (realtime for tracks 1-8, pattern for the rhythm part) with extensive editing capabilities. Unfortunately, you can't have a pattern mode for the "tuned" parts... There are two powerful fx processors built in, which can be assigned to four effect busses. Very nice: eight faders below the display used for editing and realtime control, which also send MIDI ctrl info. A slot for program cards (one is inclusive), one for waveram. The SY-85 comes with 512kB sample ram, but can be expanded with 2 1 MB standard SIMMS and special Yamaha non-volatile modules to 3.5 MB Connectors for sustain pedal, volume and expression pedal. Keyboard sends velocity and aftertouch. Two pairs of audio outs.

The sound engine is very flexible, and the very good effects add their part. The typcial Yamaha keyboard allows for very expressive play. A great feat are the faders below the display. The filters are a bit hardcore-digital and require subtle programing. This thing is great for organs, basses, pads. Pianos are also ok if you use extensive external samples (the internal pianos are mostly not that great').

It looks like a solid construction. Hadn't any live experience with it, and I never go onstage with only one keyboard...

I use the SY-85 as a kind of masterkeyboard/factotum in my electronic-oriented setup (SY85, Korg Prophecy, Quasimidi Sirius, EMu ESi-32, Yamaha SU-700, Sony HR-GP5, Line6 DL4) for the synth-oriented sounds the others wouldn't put out (mostly pads) and as a controller, and for both roles, it works terrific. The faders below the display allow for great realtime control (i.e. in combination with the sampler), and to connect two pedals is great. I only miss the possibility to send on several MIDI channels simultaneously.

It is easy to use. However, it has many functions. In multi timbre
mode, effects are not easy to use.

It has 30 voices, 16 multi timbres, 2 effects. However, it is not
good as a multi timbre tone generator. Because, there are some
restrictions on effects. It can read external memory cards or 2DD
disc drive to expand patches and waveforms. Or, it can receive
sample dump standard via MIDI. Waveform memory is expandable. It has
9 track sequencer with battery backup. Track 9 is special track for
rythm patterns for on-board rythm machine. It doesn't recognize an
expression (CC#11).

SY85 sounds very fat. Among presets, piano, electric guitar and
electric bass are nice. I especially love a preset which is layered
pipe organ (OR Nave). On-board effects are not bad. It likes to
send many channel pressures than latest keyboards.

It has worked well for 8 years long. There is a button which doesn't
work well.

When I bought SY85, I received a RAM memory card as a gift from
Yamaha.

If it were lost or stolen, I will buy it again. However, I wish to
replace it by newer synthsizer, if I could find nice one. I think it
is one of the most fat synthsizer among PCM sound modules. And, it's
the reason I love it. I use it with many other instrumentals. And,
it sounds DISTINCTIVE among them. I wish to have a SYEMB06 (waveform
memory with battery backup), if I could find.

A little intimidating to newbies but the old hands pick it up pretty quick. Some features are buried a bit in the hierarchy but that is inevitable with a machine this deep and powerful. Overall most of the important functions are within a few button presses or right on top. It is one of the easiest sample-playback class synths to program and configure. The 8 sliders under the display really work well and give you a lot of on-the-fly performance control. The user sample edit screens are "hidden" compared to all other edit screens and that makes me think that it was an afterthought, but other than that it is very logically laid out. After a few weeks I knew my way all around it and now I can even get around in the dark if need be. Overall high marks, especially coming from Yamaha. Presets are very good, virtually all are usefull and best of all they can ALL be replaced; you are not stuck with always having the same 256 sounds on board and only using cards for your own patches (Hello, Roland?). With the memory card loaded up you have 512 voice patches at hand and 256 performances (which can EACH be 1 to 4 voice patches in any combination: split/layer/switch etc.). The manual is good only as a reference not as a tutorial, but the board is pretty easy to get around on. It beats most other Yamaha manuals but that isn't saying anything good.
In spite of it's few shortcomings I think the SY85 is an excellent synth for all levels of player from beginner to seasoned pro.

30 note polyphony, 16 part multi-timbral (from an external sequencer only - 9 part using the internal sequencer), great synth-type action, very good effects with lots of control - including a killer leslie that makes the organs come alive! Wave card expansion plus sample-ram using standard SIMMS. 3.5" DD (720k) Floppy drive. No SCSI - a real shame since you can put loads of sample ram in this baby (2MB officially but some people have gone up to 16MB!). Very extensive MIDI implementation and intelligent performance features including splits and layers and velocity switching. Makes a great controller. Great quick-edit mode and sound search features. Decent aftermarket patch library plus huge Public Domain library from Yamaha. The sequencer is very complete and easy to use. And since each of the first 8 tracks can play a voice (patch) OR a performance (combi)you can really get up to 32 discrete sounds out of it plus drums on track 9. Some of the demo sequences I have are brilliant, they sound very polished and complete when the arrangement is well done. BUT some of the really dense songs do run into polyphony problems (mostly noticed by cut off cymbals). For live performance, however, the polyphony is ample (when not sequencing). I can easily create complete finished songs using nothing but this board, and the sound quality is tremendous - many people ask which studio I recorded in!! Even so, it is never a good idea to use only one sound source for a complete project - I like to mix it up and kick sounds out of other keyboards and modules for a bit of sonic variety. But for those of you on a tight budget - get one of these first (if you can find a good used one). It will go a LOOOOOOOONG way for you. I have seen used sy's for less than $700 here in Florida - a steal in my mind.

Most of the emulated instruments are good to excellent with the electric pianos and organs gettting highest marks followed by synths, strings, brass, basses, pianos, guitars and percussion. The built in sample ROM drums are only so-so, but using the sample RAM you can replace them easily with anything you like. Some of the libraries have excellent exotic instruments such as pedal steel guitars, indian percussion, african talking drums etc. - most of which are excellent.

The synth is very responsive with aftertouch and velocity scaling options plus the 8 assignable sliders that give you immense realtime control. Has inputs for foot controller, volume pedal, sustain pedal but no seq start/stop switch and no breath controller (boo!). 4 outputs gives fair control for recording, but the effects can be a little confusing to set up properly although they are sonicly excellent (SPX900 class). This machine kicks most other synths' asses in just about every category. The filters are second to none in a sample-playback synth. Overall the sounds are as varied and uniformly excellent as you are ever likely to find in one keyboard. Much fatter and believable than anything I have heard from Roland, and right up there holding it's own with the Korg stuff (not surprising since it's from the same design family). There are very few "dud" samples and they can ususally be overcome with effects help or simply replaced using the sample RAM or the ROM cards (although those are scarce to find.) I have the full set of ROM cards and find them very good overall with the Sax & Brass set being the best of the bunch. But there are many good sound sets to be found on the web with some patches using custom samples that load in and sound GREAT! Rock Band has some awesome lead guitar patches and ther are loads of alternate pianos to be found - Steinways, Baldwins, Bosendorfers etc. You are NOT stuck with just a few mediocre sounds - there is a HUGE variety of EXCELLENT patches wating to be discovered. And making your own sounds from scratch couldn't be easier. Once you choose the basic wave to start with, it sets the most important parameters to optimal defaults automatically to get you close to a finished sound without having to know what you are doing - incredible!

I have gigged with this synth since it came out in 1992 and the only problem I have had is broken keys when I get to pounding out those Little Richard riffs. The synth itself has never let me down, rarely hiccups and even then a simple reboot gets me back in the saddle. Never use a backup for it, although I do use other boards along with it.

Well, Yamaha has been up and down over the years but the past few years they have been among the best in the business. The aftermarket support for this synth is incredible with lots of stuff on their website and a few good PD editor/librarians floating about. Never needed an upgrade or repair (except for the occasional broken keys).

I will NEVER sell this synth - it is in a class of it's own. I think it eats most other sample-playback synths alive - even those that have come out recently. The quality of the samples in the sample ROM are among the best ever - even superior to the vaunted SY99. There is rarely a sound I need that cannot be found in the 85's library. If it had an arpeggiator I would even use it in place of my AN1x for some electronica stuff - it is THAT fat! Very inspiring pads and strings, awesome EPs, awesome "wierdness" patches and sound effects and with the sample RAM you are never out of options. I use it live for the majority of my playing and love having little sound effects loaded up to keep the folks entertained with. As a workstation it is about as complete as they get and for under a grand nothing even comes close. I _STILL_ can't see the need for a Triton or EX5 as long as I have the (although the new S80 looks promising...). I play professionally and have owned many, many synths (mostly Roland and Yamaha and Kawai) and none have given me the return on investment that this one has. It is dependable, inspiring, versatile, and sounds awesome. If I had to pick the best price/performance synth workstation ever made this one would get my vote running away. If I could give it an "11", I would!

I've never been familiar with keyboards besides this one and I figured it out in 24 hours!

I think the polyphony was 32.
many built in effect.
Nobody liked the 8 track sequencer, but I found ways to make it sound like there was 16 tracks. It was the easiest sequencer I've ever come across. It let me delete notes/drums/sounds note by note to make great and random step recordings. It made me seem more talented even by accident.

I didn't like the drum kits at all but I used them and tried to get all I could out of them. There are some sounds on the presets that I would never want to live without. Very easy to change sounds.

Never had any problems.

It wasn't my keyboard, it was my girlfriends. I tried to teach her to play it, but she didn't have the determination I did for composing original material so I got a few years use out of it. It helped me make a style that was only me and I will never ever forget it. I'm just trying to get into using my PC for recording MIDI and I would like to buy a used one to help me out.

This synth is a really easy to use sample playback-machine. The samples are all top quality (AWM-2) although the choice of acoustic piano's is rather limited (1!!). The presets have to much FX. Other than that they sound okay, especially the filter is a nasty one, I have never heard a better digital filter anywhere. It's much better than that of the SY99/77!! Editing patches is a breeze. You can come up with the best sounding pads, basses or keyed instruments within minutes.

I love the keyboard action, very light, aftertouch reacts very fast (e.g.: notes played with velocity > 100 always send aftertouch too), which can be useful sometimes (e.g. to have a different beginning of each note, very realistic!) but I would advice you to buy a Roland synth (to) if you require controllable aftertouch. The pitch bend-wheel sucks: it has only 128 steps (7 bit resolution). It's also hard to imagine that a $2500 synth from Yamaha doesn't have other tunings than the 12 tones equally tempered one we tend to (over)use in the western world. It could also do with a second LFO. The in-built sequencer we could really do without. So much for the whining: as I mentioned before, the filter really kicks ass, and so do the FX, except for the reverbs. The ability to load samples via midi and treat them as the internal waveforms boosts my rating up from 7 to 9.

All wind instruments are accurately represented. I never heard a better muted trumpet from a sample player. The strings are so so. Electrical piano's sound very good, quite expressive even. Basses are average but can benefit from the very versatile FX section.

Never had a problem (in 4 years).

Called the number which I found under Holland in the manual, the guy barely new what an SY85 was.

I have been considering selling it, but I couldn't find a better filter to put my samples through, so I desided not to. It teams up great with a monofonic sampler like the AKAI S01. This will give you more possibilities than a sampler alone of the same price (unless you find some exceptional deal). In fact, I can recommend this synth to any western musician without reservations (you can find a program, I forgot the name, on internet which converts .WAV-files into midi sample dump and vice versa, it costs $7).

I bought this synth when it first came out. I was familiar with old analogs and FM synthesis, but pretty much a beginner to all of the synthesis methods that came of age after that. I found this synth fairly confusing to learn, but once you do, it's well worth it! For those who are more experienced with modern synthesis, it should be fairly easy to learn.

30 voice poly. Built in effects are a godsend. Some of them are made up of two effect, which gives up to four total possible simultaneous effects. The routing of the voices to each effect/sub effect is fairly complex- i thought it was the hardest part to figure out. I use 2 1 MB SIMMS from an old 386, works great. Don't get too excited about using it as a sampler. You can only get samples in two ways- the disk drive (limits you to how many samples you can fit on a disk) or through sample dump (only limit is available RAM, but boy does it take a long time!).

I've had no problems with this keyboard in the 4 years i've had it.

I wish the sequencer was better, but hey that's what the computer is for!
http://www.teklab.com/mailinglists.html for mailing list info. ftp://ftp.teklab.com/teklab/sy85/ for SY85 software. Yamaha recently released lots of sounds to PD, and they're all here, as well as an SY85 specific librarian (PC)

Present sounds are fine. Editing is easy. Manual is ok.

Polyphony: no problems. Keyboard action is alright for synth-sounds (but I don't use the others so...) Built in effects are good and easy to use. Expensive extra memory but I bought them... Never used the on-board sequencer: use Cubase.

I use it for Techno/Dance/Dub/Trance. But to my opinion it is a litlle to static for that. Thinking now of buying extra an Prophecy. The reaction on velocity and aftertouch is ok.

No problems here

Here in the Netherlands Yamaha gave me great backup and they were verey helpful and friendly.

It's a fine tool. I'll keep it. But I do need some extra, more intuitive synths too.

HELP!!!! Have I bought a go-nowhere product here? The biggest problem I have is that the manual is, with extreme restraint, useless! I have tried a number of avenues to find any kind of instruction manual for the SY series and come up blank. If there is anyone who can recommend one and tell me where I can find it, I'd be indebted. My e-mail address is OSPEngr1@aol.com. Thanks! D. Tyler

I have to confess to being a raw beginner insofar as any indepth knowledge of the instrument is concerned. I decided to buy an advanced model because I don't intend to buy another. It functions extremely well, i.e. plays well. It has many advanced capabilities that I do not understand quite yet, thus the need for a better manual or other instruction book. My rating is based on what I know so far.

Instruments are VERY realistic, especially the pianos. The controls for velosity and aftertouch are accurate and responsive.

No problems so far. I'd risk no backup.

Can't get any advise on an alternative manual from them! They think theirs is ok, even when I pointed out the gross misspellings in the first 25 pages to them. I asked if that was a good sign of the quality of the material.

I'll buy no other technical product again without first taking a thorough look at the documentation. The technical detail is dense to the point of being nonsense and there is no well-written, pragmatic section explaining how it all works together. It's like learning to garden by reading a volume on organic chemistry. I don't disagree that there is a lot of useful information in it, but that there is very little practical stuff.

The preset sounds feels good, but I don't use them. Yes, create is simple. Add a little distorction on tenor sax, it gives incredible results!! The editing is simple: just in a week I understood all the parameters of sounds. And they are a lot... The maual is complete, and easy. There is also a quick guide to understand the main function of the keyboard.

It has 30 Voices poliphony and 2 DSP with 90 type of effects. Effects can be linked in several ways, and some are splitted, like 4 DSP. The SY85 can mount up to 4Mb of SIMM ram for samples, that can be received via SDS, but I tried with 16Mb and everything works well. The internal sequencer is poor, but, who use it? I use my PC, and it's another world!!! The midi implementaton is missing of some useful function, like portamento or Hold pedal, but there is a powerful real-time sysex that allow you to do incredible things....

Effects are good, lke reverbers. Distortions, for example, works well on 'acid sounds' but not on guitars or organs. (NO TUBE INSIDE!) The feeling of the keyboard seems a little 'light', but with synth sounds works very well. Dynamic response is adjustable and the keyboard is very simple and enjoyable.

I depend on this keyboard, is extremely useful and polmorphic!!

It never broken, after tree years of travelling!

There was a moment I wanted two of them...... I love its capablity to receive Samples. It's always a new keyboard. I hate the sequencer (8 tracks..Too little!) and FDD (720Kb). It help to make me music, 'couse editing the sounds was never so simple for me. Yes. BUY IT!