Yamaha TG-500

Well, dialing sounds couldn't be more easy I guess. Editting is a b!tch with the buttons and the tiny screen. I wish editting would be more easy since I feel there are some really nice sounds and possibilities hidden in it's architecture that are basically out of reach because of the horrible interface.


I have yet to find a working editor for windows XP, that would solve a lot of problems.

Polyphony = 64. So that leaves you with 16 performence voices....quite enough for me.

The built in FX are superb (some of the best Yamaha had at the time) and there's two seperate enigines: some with double fx.

You can buy rom and ram cards for it so load and store patches...what's even cooler is that you can buy a ram card that holds your own samples...these are very expensive and hard to come by though.

It integrates seemlessly into any midi studio...the only thing I kinda miss is some extra midi controllers one can assign. (there's only two at the time I believe).

The sounds are awesome for a module of this age. At the time this module was the top of the line module on offer by Yamaha and one can really hear that a lot of effort was put into the quality of the samples and the patches. I also own a CS2x by Yamaha which shares a lot of features with the TG500 but has a few ridiculous shortcuts that undermine it completely. With the TG500 you can use the raw (multi-)samples (called voices in Yamahanese) as your building block: with the CS2x you really can't (they already have filters, envs etc. assigned to them). The filters and the fx on the TG500 are much, much better.

Even though is has less sampleRom it sounds much nicer, with a lot of 'air' and detail as somebody else earlier said.

This unit comes to life in the pads / strings / pianos / 'pretty' sounds department. If you want pretty magic, polished sheen...

It's a tank. I bought mine 2nd hand.

Never had to deal with them. Their website is (understandibly) not really updated for this product anymore.

I own quite an extensive rig, and the TG500 fits in nicely. I love the way it sounds (very bright, clear with a nice sheen of quality, thanks to the nice fx and filters). I hate the way you have to edit it.

The TG500 is the kind of module that lets you dial in a piano, string or whatever sound you need in a breeze. It's really nice and fits a certain gap in my rig. Add some decent (sampled) drums to it and a va / ra and you're off.

Stupid menus to go thru. The only downside really. The manual is okay.

Good polyphony, nice warm filters and effects, compact (1 HE), separate outputs.

This synth sounds very good. It is old but still very powerful. With resonant warm sounding filters, two DSP efx units and separate outputs it is highly flexible even today. The sound has some "air", open sound that is often lacking on other sound modules from the early 90's. I make electronic music like techno, house and drum and bass and I think the TG500 has much to deliver. High quality sound. Surprisingly good presets.

+ Pads, strings, ambient effects, bass, synth sounds, organs, piano.
- The reed and horns but I don't use those sounds anyway.

The drums are quite good too. It has some useable techno drums.

I haven't used it for so long so I can't say anything about it.

Downloaded the manual at Yamaha homepage. Nothing to say.

A very good synthesizer. Compact, powerful, extremely good sound quality (it is from 1993). Very satisfied.

Like it always happens untill you get familiar with the new interface it might seem hard
but after a while you will find a great use of some of the general functions of TG-500
Tg-500 has so many options and features that ita makes quite difficult on the beginning
to get use of all of them and I wouldn't count it as a drawback.

One of the most flexible and expressive synthesizers you can get

Sounds are INCREDiBLY AMAZING !

never failed I used quite often for 2 years now

I'm trully amazed by the powerfull features and quality of sound of the TG-500
I got My TG-500 from a friend as a gift and this is best gift I ever got in My life
I intend to make a great use of it

Many functions mean that you have much to learn to make use of them all - filters, lfos, effects, etc. Once you have learned how to create cool sounds with the TG500 it's not that hard, but still some options are not quite logical.
The manual is very easy to understand, but if you get a TG500 from ebay you might have to get one from Yamaha.
The preset sounds are very good. I still use them mostly.

The effects are the most interesting thing about this machine. 2 DSPs mean that you can easily combine distortion and ring-modulation and many many other weird (or even normal) things which make it sound absolutely good.

It has 2 ROM-card and 2 RAM-card expansions but I never managed to get one of them as they are extremely rare.

The MIDI capabilities are good enough for me, that's all I can say here.

There is no internal sequenzer. This is a good thing as it is much more practicable to use an Atari instead :)

Extremely good: synthetic sounds, strings
good: drumkit, percussion
average: bass, brasses
rather bad: realistic flutes in any way, oboes, clarinets etc.
the choir is very unique; if you use only these ones all the time it will sound very boring after some time...

Nothing bad happened till now. It always worked fine.

It is (by 2 telephone calls) possible to get a user's guide, which misses nothing. Although it is not cheap and you get it in 3 languages (German, English and French). Could be cheaper if they let out the 2 unimportant languages.

The TG500 is a very good allround-synthesizer.
Even I don't like the flutes, they are much better than in many other synthties for the same price.

I don't want to miss it as it is my primary music machine.

What I wish it would have is a better availability of cartridges, although it has a vast amount of RAM.

Software version? sorry I'm not an engineer. The presets are stunning. This module uses awm2 which Yamaha still uses today on its Motif workstation. Editing is a bit like painting your house through the letter box but not really that painfull once you get use to the TG 500's scrolling menu thingy!

64 note polyphonic. I believe this was the first synth to have this? It has built in effects and they are excellent and really transform a lot of the sounds. It is sensitive to midi control data pressure and aftertouch. There is no sequencer. The presets are pretty great even by today's standards and a little reading of the manual will get you editing in no time! Basically, the Tg 500 and SY 85 (keyboard version) were the first yamaha synth products to feature full sample technology and these various waveforms can be extensively modulated.

Most of the sounds are as good as you would want from any synth today. Really!! Percussive sounds are fantastic as you would expect from the company that brought you FM synthesis in the eighties. The TG 500 really tries to suit all musicians and succeeds to a greater degree. It has so many sounds on tap that you can recommend it for all musical tastes. The filters are the really strong point and the effects. Forget all these virtual analogue synths with #800 to #2000 asking prices. With the Tg 500 you get MASSIVE FILTERS and REV 500 EFFECTS. Second hand buy? GO FOR IT!!! I PAID #949 in 1992, and I still use it as my main sound generator today. IT IS REALLY POWERFULL MAKE NO MISTAKE!! If you want me to get into real detail then I would say that the acoustic pianos are a bit harsh and touch sensitivity is lacking some what. The preset Tenor Sax sound, however, is one of the best on any synth available even today, believe me! Loads of lush analogue pads and digital oddities. Get into the menu and start programming you will be AMAZED!!!

ROCK SOLID, AS ALL YAMAHA GEAR!!

Never needed it

For a second hand buy this is as a good as it gets! Don't pay more than #400 pounds. The buttons do wear quite a bit so don't be put off by this if you see letters rubbed out. You would be incredibly unlucky to find a used TG500 in a state of repair.

I agree, the tg500 is not the most user-friendly but that's because its got lots and lots of menu's and editing options. As with every synth, learn to use it.

Although the TG500 is a rather old module it has lots of very competitive features.64 voice polyphony, 6 outputs, wave slots and data slots,expansion ram (512kb max). Extensive midi capabilities.Works with multi's for multitimbral use.Up to 4 sounds can be layered or split in performance menu.Lots and Lots of sounds.

I find that the TG500 has some very expressive sounds, especially the synth sounds (listen to TOTO for some tg500 synth brass sounds),it has very good low pass filters for analog blops and wops.
The weakest is the hard hitting grand piano, but it depends heavily of the type of music you play. Use the dark piano for jazz and its brilliant. Has the best sax sounds on the market.

Never let me down.Never needed a backup.

Had no problems. But asked for some extra sounds and they gave them to me.

I have different brands of gear but I would certainly buy a tg500 if it was broken or maybe I would buy a new type of Yamaha which has the same expressive sounds.

I bought and use this module based upon the strength of the internal sounds. The drums are not as punchy as I would like, but overall, the sounds are good across the board. Editting, unfortunately, is a pain. The menu system seems inconsistent. The manual could be much better, but the basic information is there.

The TG-500 is 64 voice polyphonic and 16 channel multi-timbral. The effects include reverb, chorus, delay, rotary speaker, distortion, etc., are very flexible (especially routing) and sound very good. The TG-500 has two front panel card slots for ROM/RAM cards and can be expanded internally with proprietary sample RAM.

This module works really well for pop. The woodwinds are a little weak, but the strings, piano, organs and brass are very solid. The TG-500 can be set-up for MIDI wind control without an external mapper. The TG-500 is and will remain the foundation of my studio due to the overall quality of its sound.

The TG-500 is quite reliable and I do gigs with it without back-up.

I have not contacted Yamaha with questions. Usually I have found answers to my problems on Internet.

I would indeed buy a TG-500 again. Yamaha has gone on to produce modules in the MU series which are based on the TG-500 sounds, architecture and features. The TG-500 is being closed out so good deals can be had.