I got a little bit of history for you regarding the SY 99. I bought it new when it first came out. I ended up using it a lot when I was working on the show “friends “I was the music producer for the whole run and you can hear the SY 99 clearly on the first season. The episode where Chandler is sneaking a cigarette there’s a lot of those patches in there. Anyway just a little bit of history of one notable place the synthesizer was used
The SY77/TG77 uses a significantly improved and more flexible FM synthesis than the DX7 II. A larger choice of algorithms, custom-routed algorithm and 15 additional waves besides the standard sine.
A story I once read told about when the Yamaha engineers brought a prototype SY99 to Chick Corea to test out and run through it's paces before mass production. The story went on to say that he loved the SY99 so much, that when the engineers were ready to pack it up, Chick wouldn't give it back! They were begging with him, telling him that was their only working model, but he absolutely refused to give it up! That would be like giving a kid a toy see if he liked it, and then trying to take it back over he did.
When the SY77 came out the world was moving on from FM. Sample based keyboards were the thing. Every keyboard had to offer more wave ROM, more polyphony, more multi-timbral parts than the last. Neither the SY77 or the 99 were big sellers, despite being powerhouse synths. Yamaha released a lot of really well developed gear in the 90's, but it wasn't until they simplified and released the Motif that they saw their sales pick up again.
Don't sleep on the sy77, I've been a musician for over 40 years and I vividly remember when these things were the talk of the town, combination of FM and amw was a very highly sought after sound, especially with the piano patches, harkening to the Roland rd1000, from 1991 till the release of the ex5, you would have been hard-pressed to find a live concert that didn't have an sy99 or 77 on the stage
@@Am71919 I've got both an SY77 and an EX5. The EX is my main board. The SY is excellent but I bought a Kodamo Essence FM which has pretty much replaced it and so I'm going to have to sell it.
@@Am71919 I'd say it wasn't that many. Because the Grand Piano was ok but the FM just didn't make it better. The 99 had Masterkeyboard functions and 76 keys so that was more successful. But the T1-3 were much more common they had a better pianosound than the M1. And the 01 W came soon after, as well as the Kurzweil K2000. But usually when it came to Piano, some stage pianos were used like the Korg SG1 little later the Yamaha P100, the Kawai Mp8000 or Roland RD. Also the first samplers could be used like the S1000. Also the Roland U20 was available which had pretty decent Piano. Often dedicated Masterleyboards like the Kurzweil Midiboard, Roland A50/80 or Yamaha KX88 were usef and you wouldn't exactly know where the sound was coming from.
@@Am71919 exactly, was everywhere, and his piano sound was also responsible for his success. There was better sound on clavinova, but for a workstation it was a lot
Sorry to say but sometimes I wish you'd do a little bit more preparation for your intros when it comes to digital synthesizers like you do with the analogs. But your conclusions why this Synth is kinda forgotten is pretty spot on. The SY wasn't the first workstation. First there were the YS200 which offered sequencer and effects moving towards that genre and then came the V50. That was the first real workstation debuting early 89. It had the sound engine from the DX11, so 4-op FM with 16 voices (no AWM!), a Sequencer like the QX5, Effects, a Drumcomputer with the PCM-Samples of the RX7 and a Floppy Drive - don't forget Diskdrives were what made Synths professional at that time - the M1 didn't have one. But the V50 wasn't good enough and there were rumors they would bring out a V80 but that didn't happen. Almost funny: If you read what's written under the label "SY77", it is called "Music Synthesizer"! It's said to have come out 89 but actually deliveries were 1990. At that time, the term "Workstation" already was not tooo beloved. Korg was doing its thing and already offered a better workstation with the T-Series. Roland had the D-20 as workstation (the D-50 never was one!) and in 1990 the W-30 which was a sampler Workstation. But they didn't offer a new workstation and their top model was the D-70 which didn't have a sequencer purposely. Reason: It was believed workstations were sort of like a compact hifisytem - every item in it but in poor quality. So that's why Yamaha did the "music Synthesizer" - which almost like an afterthought had the ingredients of a workstation just along the way. First of all, the SY77 was the long awaited top model, the Yamaha Fans waited for. Don't forget the last one was the DX7 II from 1987 - and 3 years were a looong time back then. Still this DX7 was considered a top synth but then the D-50 and later the M1 came up, Yamaha just did not react on these levels because they were still selling. After that they only brought out minor products such as the DX11, DS55, YS-Series and this V50 which still didn't have even 6OP-FM. So the Keyboard magazines were full of articles and news about the SY77 as if it was the next hot thing. Maybe compared to these expectations, the result was rather disappointing. And the most concerning fact were the Presets. Because they were the deciding sellers in the shops as there was no youtube. Both the D-50 and the M1 had fantastic presets which are iconic to this day, as well as the DX7. But if you look at the SY's Presets, they're rather meh and nothing special at all. Which is even more annoying as the Presets can't be overwritten; you have to live with them even today and they are often hardly scratching the surface of what this machine is capable of. So it was kind of a hype that couldn't live up to the current needs. What were the inventive things of the SY77? - The Advanced FM. A major stepup from the DX7IIs engine with now 45 algorithms (and even a free algorithm in the TG77/SY99), up to 3 feedback loops, 16 waveforms instead of just sine wave for the 6 Operators, the ability to use AWM-Samples as Modulators (RCM) and Filtering. - The Filters theirselves, the SY77 indeed is one of the very first synthesizers with a good sounding digital filter (multimode, so high- and bandpass possible) with resonance. And this even could be applied on both FM and AWM-Samples. The D-50 couldn't filter samples at all, Korg and Ensoniq didn't have resonance. Only Kawai had it in the K4 and Emu in the EmaxII. - The abilty to have 4 Elements in one Voice, 2 AFM and 2 AWMs) and mixing the AWM into the AFM-Section as Realtime Convolution and Modulation - Very complex envelopes that can even loop - Stereopanning - The audio quality was much improved and cleaner with - At least for Yamaha it was the first 16 part multitimbral Synth. - Three wheels zoned aftertouch and that alpha dial, also for Yamaha the first with a big LCD-Screen. - The really good keyboard, which is one of the best synth action keybeds. So most of the plus items really were based on the synth engine and something for hardcore programmers. I have the SY99 and - it is really tedious even if someone understands FM-Principles to get something special out of it. Another problem was, since the Algorithms and the parameter resolution were so different, you couldn't directly load DX7 sounds, they had to be converted with a computer program. So it wasn't that easy to have the classic DX7-Sounds on board, but that may not even have been so important: In 1990 People already tended to get sick of FM because it was so heavily overused. The Choir and athmospheric sounds of Fairlight ->D-50 ->M1 were the next shit. The SY could do these quite properly but often, the FM parts in the rather natural sounds rather sucked. And the AWM-Section today is another reason why the SY is a bit forgotten. Technically it was on par with the M1 which also had a 4 MB ROM. BUT, in the SY it's been 16-bit waveforms at paritally 44,1 khz. So each sample had to be shorter and there just were not much in the ROM. 112 Samples to chose from in the AWM2-Section. The Piano e.g. was a bit more realistic than on the M1 - but not as cool for house. All the Noise- and Artifact samples the M1 and the D-50 were famous for, were lacking on the SY77. You could update the Wave Rom by cards but Yamaha didn't really feature great samples on these cards as much as Korg and Roland did. Plus, by the time Korg already had the M1REX with 8 MB and the T-Series with the same amount. Today, the SY77 becomes interesting for Pads and Noise FX, also more like phantasy sounds if you switch off the AWM or only use it for some specific sounds like choir or "itopia". As soon as the natural sounds come into play it sounds heavily outdated, more even than the M1. Because these samples were bad enough to produce their own signature style.
@@mc2engineeringprof A Workstation was defined as a combination of soundengine, multitimbrality, multitrack sequencer, drums and effects. The ESQ1 was lagging effects. First Synth with reverb was the D50 bit no sequencer. So the Synclavier left aside, the Korg M1 was the first to integrate all of that.
@@torbenanschau6641 I'm thinking that you have your own definition of "workstation" and I have mine. I don't see effects as a requirement. One could argue that these aren't workstations because they don't have audio recording just as easily. Also, the M1 doesn't have a multiengine synthesis architecture. It's all PCM. Lastly, "multimbrality" and "multitrack sequencer" is redundant. You cannot have the latter without the former.
@@mc2engineeringprof Maybe, but it's also possible it isn't only my definition but what had been written and discussed then. The M1 was the synth where the term Workstation was brought up aside of Synclavier and Fairlight. And it was because of the components tone generation, sequencer, effects and some kind of mass storage and a keyboard. The ESQ1 was not sold or discussed as workstation, neither was the SQ80. The VFX was the first Ensoniq to be called workstation, especially the SD and these had effects. Multitimbrality btw was not necessary for multitrack sequencing as there were still a lot standalone sequencers without any sound generation by Alesis, Kawai, Korg, Roland, Yamaha and others. Digital Audio with harddisk recording was only possible with the Synclavier and the fairlight. SampleRom wasn't necessary as there was the V50 which was FM for the voicey. were I think for consumer prices you could think of that with the advent of the EX5/Motif and the Korg Triton. And that was fourth generation workstation.
i bought a beat up one for peanuts a few years ago and fixed it up with new screen. it's an absolute monster synth, you can stack 2 (poly) or 4 (mono) full 6OP FM synths for a crazy amount of possibilities without even touching the ROMpler side, and it sounds so meaty. the onboard reverb and chorus, while not exactly strymon effects, have a lot of charm and very useable too.
V50 and SY77 were both 1989, followed by the SY99 (1991), SY85 (1992), W5/W7 (1994), EX5/EX7 (1998), and Motif series (2001). While the Montage and MODX both have pattern sequencers, I wouldn't classify them as workstations, as they lack a realtime multi-track sequencer. They are more performance oriented.
Owner of both boards since they came out in 1989/1990 and 1991/1992. The SY99's biggest upgrade was the FX. I used it to control my SY77 and RY30 at gigs when I did not have the full band in tow. It was an awesome workstation. It made programming slightly easier than on the DX. Still own both keyboards and still use them! Just upgraded to USB drives and new screens because the old ones fade. Keep that in mind when purchasing. Also, the battery will need to be replaced. Be sure when you do this you replace the soldered battery with one you can just slip in and out more easily.
The SY77 is definitely a synthesist's synth =o] One for the programmers for sure, especially if you're into more atmospheric and dangerous sounds rather than bread and butter sounds. You can create some pretty hellish sounds with these.
I played this synth when I was a teen. In 1990, the SY77 was for Yamaha what the 01W was for Korg. Roland was a bit lost between the D70 and the JV80 at that time. I had a JV80, but the SY77, I felt in love with it. I don't know why, it had something more than the others, more advanced, lacked of. The SY77 is not forgotten for me, it's one of the legendary synths of all time with the JD800. It has a soul.
I owned the SY77 for quite a few years. The thing that makes the SY77 really special is the fact the samples that are in it eg the AWM memory can be inserted into the AFM oscillators. So now the FM oscillators instead of being just a sine wave or 15 other waveforms like the 8 with the TX81Z, (which in itself will create some very complex sounds) it now includes a third option which is all the AWM memory! So you have hundreds of oscillator waveforms available to you. This is NOT the same as layering AFM and AWM sounds. (Although yes you could also do that) It is something very different. I think there were more FM algorithms as well. (45 compared to 32 so it was more advanced than the DX7 ever was.) It meant you could make FM sounds only but the complexity of those FM sounds took on a whole new level. The results are deep massive super complex soundscape textures like no other. It really shines in the complex ambient texture department. (not demonstrated here) They never made a machine that could do this after I am pretty sure. The MODX cannot do it either as far as I know. Chick Corea's keyboard tech uploaded all his SY sounds a while back only for a short time and I was lucky enough to be able to get them. The sounds were ridiculous to say the least. I had the TG77 for a while too and was convinced it sounded a little better than the SY77 as well. I suspect they improved it a bit but did not tell anybody.
you forgot the two resonant filters.... a must-have for the sweep... and a nice FX unit (exciter and eq for the brightness , overdrive for the color and 303fx... choruses for a fatter sound... etc) ... it's a cool synth even without the FM part... and as a rompler it's excellent (something like tg55)... BUT... it is worth noting that the FM color of the TG77 is specific (thin, dry, fatless)... the earlier tx81z sounds fatter IMHO
@@EuroDJ Yes I agree it is one excellent synth for sure. I am a bit sorry I parted with it in fact. I really loved its ambient sounds the most though. For me that is where it really shines. But there are lots of more interesting software synths out here now that can do a lot more.
Thank you so much for confirming that the SY77 can insert the waveforms into the oscillators. I knew the SY99 could do this but wasn't sure the SY77 or TG77 could. Great find with the Chick Corea banks. If i ever find one of these, I'd sure wish I had that. I was recently able to obtain 2000+ patches for my SY22, and I'm like a kid in a candy store.
I bought a new SY-77 in 1990, has somer great bass sounds, acoustic guitars and nice brass, also bought a wave card to extend the drum sounds. Nice multi track sequencer though i mostly hooked it up to atari 520 stfm (extended to 1 mb) and hollis research trackman 32 for sequencing.
Hey Cresshead. I acquired my 77 around 2011 for a super cheap price I already owned a DX7 MkII for many years before and then questioned myself, is this really gonna bring something diffrent to the table the answer was "yes. " I also love the fact it does a good job at emulating other synths patches, though appreciating ots unique character. Check this out....... th-cam.com/video/I3hVG9hKJBQ/w-d-xo.html
Nice to see some love for the awesome SY77. For what you can get them for, they are really hard to beat. I paid $50 for mine because the owner thought it was broken. Just needed the battery changed out.
@@SPLiFFWORX I just pulled the bottom cover and replaced it, pretty easy from what I remember. I ran some wires from the board to a remote battery holder so it would be even faster to replace in the future.
I bought one for 300€ in 2007. imo the best semi-weighted keybed ever on a synthesizer! And if you're looking for the 80's ep sounds... this is the one!
"Synth that time forgot"? Um... No. Those of us who own/use the SY-series, have never forgotten. Also have never let anyone we've ever talked to forget that SY is one of the greatest synths of all time.
It’s almost like the DX7, D50, and M1 had a baby that was missing all the cheesy sounds!… Eh, who am I kidding, my sonic pallet has been numbed by those synths.
I bought my SY77 for 170$ last year. All it needed was a new battery and spring in the last key. Super flexible and power synth that’s only overshadowed by my Opsix units sound design possibilities. Not to mention how great it plays! You can also get a third party Wave-blade ROM card and load your own samples which totally takes this synth to the next level!
That's not bad. I also bought my SY77 last year end of summer for only $100. If you don't already have them, get the Rock and Pop cards, highly recommend them. Also where did you get the cards you mentioned?
@ambidex Got it. Seems like they have the answers for old synth cards. I'm planning to order their cards for my Roland JV-2080 that I found last month. Thanks.
@George Geez oh interesting. I'm only familiar with them because of the SYs. (I've long been coveting a datablade to increase the sounds easily available for my SY22). I didn't know they offered anything for the JV stuff. Hmm..
@@ambidex Yes. I just took to notice a week ago that they also do SY cards. I also have an SY22. I ended up buying one with a Korg Microkorg in a 2 for 1 deal for $190 for both. I'm thinking about getting the SY card from Sector 101.
I still use this beast and it is glorious. Likely next year I shall be very close to releasing a 2hour album based on work from 92 and it's thanks to this delightful machine. All written using the very excellent internal sequencer
1:25… actually the SY-99 was the flagship of the series. Also, the FM was clearly NOT very similair at all to what was in the DX7II… as jeffevansmusic pointed out in his comment below, samples from the AWM memory can be inserted into the AFM oscillators, and instead of just using a sine wave, the FM operators could use other waveshapes. You really should research this stuff better IF you're going to go into specifics with the gear.
Let's forget Chick Corea, who was a Yamaha poster, had both the 77 and 99. He even wrote a tune called "99 Flavors" which was also a demo sequence that could be played back on the 99. th-cam.com/video/WcWZDTzvnVg/w-d-xo.html
Forgotten? I still use my TG77 and EX5 and love their powerful sounds. Instead of being annoyed of their few weak spots I rather use my other synths. Greetings from Germany🇩🇪🤝
I have a TG77 (rack SY77) and SY99. I agree that it sounds awesome, especially the FM EPs. There was never a rack version of the SY99, but they did do the FS1R a few years later, which was their final FM synth until the Montage. This was the only 8-op synth until the Montage and has a lot of advanced features, although the default user interface was quite bad for programming. I'd advise anyone to pick one of these up, while they're still cheap, as they're bound to get more expensive soon (the FS1R is already quite pricey). I think that these didn't do so well in the market as the AWM implementation was pretty basic and the trend at the time was away from FM, which had been badly overused in the 80's. Sample-based Romplers were the hot ticket then, which is why Yamaha switched to this with the Motif lne.
TG77 stays in my rack. Its sound engine was very unique and unlike anything out there at the time. If you dig into it, you can still come up with some nice sounding pads. Glad that it has stayed cheap, but after this video they may go up in price.
My theory of the SY77 is that, back in mid 80s, every professional keyboardist was ending up buying both the DX7 and D50.. so Yamaha thought how could they tape the two together (FM & AWM) in a single unit and make it cost lesser than the two together but more than what they made off the DX7II
FM was never about menu diving! People loved it coz it sounded good on pop records. Making a deep FM synth with menu diving, also for a lot of money... was a miss. Also, losing functions that lower models had on the top models is always a no-no...
I love the SY77, I found making my own sounds pretty intuitive even despite never having any experience creating sounds. And the 77 had a great sequencer on it, that I maxed out before long!😂
The Montage & MODX cover most of what it could do and it's type of sounds. I only wish they had made it so it could load SY-77 sounds like it can of MOTIF series sounds & DX-7 series sounds. The Korg M1 still held it's own, except with the piano. That's where the SY-77 was superior.
I still got one, with a Tx816 and Rx11 is a powerfull trio. Yes FM sound could be boring if used alone but mixed to others synthesis system is a great option. Thousand sounds on the web and ipad editor open lot of creative way. Great machine.
They sound great but it's the operating system (no pun intended) from hell isnt it. The weirdest thing about FM is that if you've ever used one of the few FM synths with an entire knob per function setup, it's like the easiest and most amazing type of synth to program, and it's like oh...this makes perfect sense how simple and how easy and great. but those menus just make you think it's hard and tedious don't they.
@@ambidex aye mate sort of aucks though cause then it's like younare using a vst, the beat way to get into FM is actually this company makes a synth that's based on the fm chip from the Sega genesis. It's knob per function and just an amazing experience to use
The Roland D50 wasn‘t a workstation, it even hadn‘t a sequencer. And the first Yamaha workstation was not the SY77, it was the V-50 (also called V2 in Japan), it was released one year before the SY 77. Very bad research here.
I have aTG-77. These synths were probably forgotten because they have that horrible clinical metallic sound which seems to pervade all Yamaha gear - from their effects, synths, guitar amps, hi-fi amps, and unbelievably even their grand pianos. I suppose you either like that sound or you don't, but I'm firmly in the no camp.
"I think there was a full-blown FM module"... that would be the FS1R, which added formant synthesis as well. Wouldn't have gone amiss to look this up. Also, there's the PLG150-DX plug-in board, which could be placed in several Yamaha synths.
Why time forgot? We don’t forgot this special instrument. I bought SY85 in 1994, my first SY77 in 1997, soon after a TG77, and shortly after SY99. I still have the three SYs, even though I bought SY77 three times, the last one last December. When I don't have it, I miss something, despite always having a SY99. There is a lot of nostalgia in this and I am aware of it, but certain sounds are only there 😀
@@looneyburgmusic 99 can also make better, I know both very well. 99 has better EFX, they don’t play identical. 99 has more samples, and RAM. Only AFM is identical.
@@looneyburgmusic however, the question is not whether 99 can do better. 77 has its own sound, due to its characteristics, different from those of 99. And even if the latter is better, I always like to go back to hearing the "defects" of the 77. I wrote it, it is mostly called " nostalgia"
One of the only synths I never program because it's so annoying. BUT there are some great 3rd party sound banks to replace those stock presets. I've also never even tried to use the sequencer just because the sequencers in my Ensoniq synths are so simple to use that I just have not bothered. Besides layering the FM and AWM sounds you can actually use the AWM waveforms within the FM algorithms. I got one from Japan for about $500 in 2021 and even though I have sold at least 60 synths since then, I kept the SY77. The 99 has more waveforms, keys and memory. There's also a strange 1992 SY85 that has no FM and really doesn't fit in the SY line. Also, little tip, If you are going to buy one and want to swap out the floppy drive for a USB emulator, you'll need some kind of adaptor that I have not been able to find. The floppy drive in the SY77 does not have a standard cable. If anyone has any leads on an adaptor, let me know. I have a usb drive that's been sitting around for a year.
@@areolaman Yeah I have floppy emulator drives in 3 Ensoniqs and they're great. But Yamaha used a non-standard floppy drive that uses a different kind of cable than what the floppy emulator & most floppy drives use. I bought 2 different adaptors that looked like the right thing but none fit right. The guy who sold the floppy emulator drive to me sent me a link to the adaptor I need but it is a German Ebay listing and they do not ship to the states. At some point Yamaha switched to having standard floppy drives so maybe you have a later one so it was an easy drive swap.
@Vincent Presley the adapter is fairly easy to make. It carries power as well. I don't find the schematics right away, but use Google. They're out there.
I had one, and loved it, but had to move really far , so I sold it. It has features that are nowhere else. a real pain to program, but the results are epic. I think about getting one again all the time.
The SY-77 had very poor factory presets. That got better with the TG-77 and SY-99. But the fact you can only play one sound at a time on the keyboard, makes it a quite useless instrument for live use.
The SY99 was identical except you could load your own waveforms and wave files into it and then use those in the FM oscillators. That would have opened things up a lot more.
First of all, the earlier mid-1989 4op V50 was a workstation. There was supposed to be a 6 op V80FD workstation, having been shown at NAMM that year, but it was cancelled in favor of the SY77, released in Dec 1989. The later original Motif, Motif ES and other keyboards/racks of that period supported PLG series expansion boards, including a 6op FM board. There was never a rack version of the SY99.
You hit the nail with the programmability Vs workstation ease of use. I have an sy99 and if you're prepared to properly geek out it does some clever stuff. For example I can down load a looped sample of a Moog bass then use that as a Fm modulater along with an FM stack to give it movement But it takes a while ..
How does that sound? I heard lots of people were underwhelmed when hearing that AWM as FM modulator/carrier thing. FM uses sines for a reason. The overtones come with modulation. The 4 OP Yamahas had those additional waveforms to skip one or two layers of modulation, because they have less Operators...
The SY77 and SY99 are really powerful synths but the factory patches only scratch on what it can do. It can create very realistic emulations of acoustic instruments. So it really blows away the Korg M1.
That keyboard is absolutely phenomenal. I saved up every penny to go buy that thing brand new off the showroom floor it was $2500 and that thing is absolutely built beautifully to this day. That thing is still built. It’s got the FS bed and key the keys on that thing or like no other keyboard it’s a gem highly underrated. That was a full-blown studio when it came out you could literally produce a song right on that keyboard have it demoed out onto a dad or a CD it was a dream come true it’s still a phenomenal machine the buttons on that thing or butter
2:20 - FS1r - Actually a very cool sounding machine. It had all of this, plus a very good VA filter. The issue was it was only rack, and extremely difficult and time consuming to program.
Love my SY22. Was thrilled to find recently that someone had updated Plompy's SY_Edit to work in newer Windows systems and was able to get a library of 2000+ sounds. I think the SY22 is under-appreciated like most of these SYs.
Another important point you may have forgot to mention, is that it was more expensive than the M1. The technologies that Yamaha put into this instrument were a bit outdated, like FM, the SPX effects and the sample specs were below par with what was standard by 1989. Another mistake I think Yamaha made, was that both the FM and AWM engines were 16-voice and those voices could not be borrowed, so if you wanted to layer two FM sounds you'd end up with 8-voices, albeit dynamically allocated. It wouldn't use the other 16-voices from the AWM engine.
I'm happy to have my SY-77 unit, it's so esoteric/experimental and musical at the same time, I've fallen in love with this keyboard for a long time and I still use it with Logic and Mainstage to play and record things live and then create my electronic songs. It's a beast of AFM synthesis
The synt can easily be forgotten when you just play the presets, when you search on the web for (commercial) voice sets, you find sounds that are just awesome, even by todays standard. Loading DX7 patches is possible, but the SY/TG77 shines when FM and samples are combined, the 77 can sound very anlogue or ‘alive’. You cannot combine different voices, but in a way you can, by copying parts of a sound to another sound. So two sounds of 1 part each can easliy be combined. The individual parts are nothing special (i.e. the samples and the effects) but combining them can deliver great sounds!
Yes yamaha and korg did some kind of bizzare Vegas wedding back then, yamaha was the sugar daddy to a struggling korg but korg found its feet with the M1 soon after
Exactly, and it's not that Dave Smith had it robbed from him. Sequentialv went bankrupt, and Yamaha bailed him and his team out and gave them jobs. The vector synthesis from the last [pre-bankrupt] Sequential instrument was the foundation for the SY22/33 but they nerfed it for some reason then passed Dave and crew off to Korg who they owned at the time to develop the Wavestation. What was most bothersome is that after Dave left Yamaha, they still owned the sequential name. It made me very happy that they gave that back to Dave to use in his own company again before he died. If for nothing else, Yamaha deserves credit for that, but it should have happened sooner.
The SY77 was my first synth/workstation. Bought it new in 1989. I had sold it to a friend who had it for years and then he was downsizing and gave it back to me for free a couple years ago. I cleaned it, replaced the battery and gave it to my brother. Just purchased the new Montage M8x. While so much more in many ways the SY77 at the time was equally phenomenal.
The factory presets are not even close to what sy77 can sound like. The AFM engine is so powerfull that whoever loves fm synthesis can make incredible sounds. The filters and EGs are contributing to a very nice result.
Please make more of these videos on obscure keyboards that may or may not be commonly available. I happen to find an Electone EL-500 with general midi from around 1999. From what I’ve seen there is a very deep FM engine within it as well. I believe it’s an 8 operator per voice. It may even be 16 or more operators due to the fact that there’s so many separate voices and split key’s, and foot pedals. I’m planning on putting out a few videos in the near future. Please keep up the Nerding out with these deep dive/mini docs. Thank you and Much love to the whole crew
The SY55 was also launched at same time as SY77. I consider it more a direct competitor to M1 as it was also a workstation, but only had AWM synthesis.
great video man. it was the end erra of fm synthesis .... this model sy 77 | 99 and ensoniq vfx sd was the flag ship back then. followed by the ys 200 or the v50..... i think the sy 55 also was cool synth also on 2000 yamaha came with the motif and set a very high bar the next generations of two engines came out 0n 2017 when they released the montage
I've had one since 1990 but never got on . with it. Apart from being extremely difficult to get a decent sound out of it it always sounds too clean. Yet I still have it.
Great video. I own the TG77 with the same engine built in. I find myself wondering whether I should sell it but I keep coming back to it, because it is - as you said -one of the kind
The sy77 was a few years on from the DX7 and was where Yamaha was putting their efforts. They were however only in the primitive stages of developing usable wave synth. And they got caught with their pants down when the M1 came out. Scrambling to come up with an answer, this is what they came up with. And it was a great response. I love mine. But it got overshadowed by the trend set by the M1
I got a little bit of history for you regarding the SY 99. I bought it new when it first came out. I ended up using it a lot when I was working on the show “friends “I was the music producer for the whole run and you can hear the SY 99 clearly on the first season. The episode where Chandler is sneaking a cigarette there’s a lot of those patches in there. Anyway just a little bit of history of one notable place the synthesizer was used
That’s an awesome piece of history! Thanks for sharing.
That's cool I just watched it. Very good.
@@markchristopher2signal2 -- So did Feebz really give him $7000 to not smoke? lol
Very cool! Thanks for sharing!!
@@kitsunegiblaze8022 ha.
The SY77/TG77 uses a significantly improved and more flexible FM synthesis than the DX7 II. A larger choice of algorithms, custom-routed algorithm and 15 additional waves besides the standard sine.
they called it AFM
so would I be better off buying one of these than a DX7? I appreciate any input, thanks!
@@ryananthony4840 In my opinion yes.
@@ryananthony4840 yeah totally, you can even get dx7 sounds on it. i have a couple dx7 presets in the custom bank along with my own stuff
@@matiasmartinez7208 sweet! Thanks!
A story I once read told about when the Yamaha engineers brought a prototype SY99 to Chick Corea to test out and run through it's paces before mass production. The story went on to say that he loved the SY99 so much, that when the engineers were ready to pack it up, Chick wouldn't give it back! They were begging with him, telling him that was their only working model, but he absolutely refused to give it up!
That would be like giving a kid a toy see if he liked it, and then trying to take it back over he did.
A very underrated synth. I love FM, one of the few ones I haven´t had yet. Luckily I own a FS1R
Doesn't the FS1R make programming the DX7 seem like programming a Juno 6?!
@@MisAnnThorpe yes
When the SY77 came out the world was moving on from FM. Sample based keyboards were the thing. Every keyboard had to offer more wave ROM, more polyphony, more multi-timbral parts than the last. Neither the SY77 or the 99 were big sellers, despite being powerhouse synths. Yamaha released a lot of really well developed gear in the 90's, but it wasn't until they simplified and released the Motif that they saw their sales pick up again.
Don't sleep on the sy77, I've been a musician for over 40 years and I vividly remember when these things were the talk of the town, combination of FM and amw was a very highly sought after sound, especially with the piano patches, harkening to the Roland rd1000, from 1991 till the release of the ex5, you would have been hard-pressed to find a live concert that didn't have an sy99 or 77 on the stage
@@Am71919 I've got both an SY77 and an EX5. The EX is my main board. The SY is excellent but I bought a Kodamo Essence FM which has pretty much replaced it and so I'm going to have to sell it.
@@Am71919 I'd say it wasn't that many. Because the Grand Piano was ok but the FM just didn't make it better. The 99 had Masterkeyboard functions and 76 keys so that was more successful. But the T1-3 were much more common they had a better pianosound than the M1. And the 01 W came soon after, as well as the Kurzweil K2000. But usually when it came to Piano, some stage pianos were used like the Korg SG1 little later the Yamaha P100, the Kawai Mp8000 or Roland RD. Also the first samplers could be used like the S1000. Also the Roland U20 was available which had pretty decent Piano. Often dedicated Masterleyboards like the Kurzweil Midiboard, Roland A50/80 or Yamaha KX88 were usef and you wouldn't exactly know where the sound was coming from.
@@torbenanschau6641 that's your take on it, mine is different, all I know is that in New York City in the early 1990s, sy99s were everywhere 🤷
@@Am71919 exactly, was everywhere, and his piano sound was also responsible for his success. There was better sound on clavinova, but for a workstation it was a lot
Sorry to say but sometimes I wish you'd do a little bit more preparation for your intros when it comes to digital synthesizers like you do with the analogs. But your conclusions why this Synth is kinda forgotten is pretty spot on.
The SY wasn't the first workstation. First there were the YS200 which offered sequencer and effects moving towards that genre and then came the V50. That was the first real workstation debuting early 89. It had the sound engine from the DX11, so 4-op FM with 16 voices (no AWM!), a Sequencer like the QX5, Effects, a Drumcomputer with the PCM-Samples of the RX7 and a Floppy Drive - don't forget Diskdrives were what made Synths professional at that time - the M1 didn't have one. But the V50 wasn't good enough and there were rumors they would bring out a V80 but that didn't happen. Almost funny: If you read what's written under the label "SY77", it is called "Music Synthesizer"! It's said to have come out 89 but actually deliveries were 1990. At that time, the term "Workstation" already was not tooo beloved. Korg was doing its thing and already offered a better workstation with the T-Series. Roland had the D-20 as workstation (the D-50 never was one!) and in 1990 the W-30 which was a sampler Workstation. But they didn't offer a new workstation and their top model was the D-70 which didn't have a sequencer purposely. Reason: It was believed workstations were sort of like a compact hifisytem - every item in it but in poor quality. So that's why Yamaha did the "music Synthesizer" - which almost like an afterthought had the ingredients of a workstation just along the way.
First of all, the SY77 was the long awaited top model, the Yamaha Fans waited for. Don't forget the last one was the DX7 II from 1987 - and 3 years were a looong time back then. Still this DX7 was considered a top synth but then the D-50 and later the M1 came up, Yamaha just did not react on these levels because they were still selling. After that they only brought out minor products such as the DX11, DS55, YS-Series and this V50 which still didn't have even 6OP-FM. So the Keyboard magazines were full of articles and news about the SY77 as if it was the next hot thing. Maybe compared to these expectations, the result was rather disappointing. And the most concerning fact were the Presets. Because they were the deciding sellers in the shops as there was no youtube. Both the D-50 and the M1 had fantastic presets which are iconic to this day, as well as the DX7. But if you look at the SY's Presets, they're rather meh and nothing special at all. Which is even more annoying as the Presets can't be overwritten; you have to live with them even today and they are often hardly scratching the surface of what this machine is capable of. So it was kind of a hype that couldn't live up to the current needs.
What were the inventive things of the SY77?
- The Advanced FM. A major stepup from the DX7IIs engine with now 45 algorithms (and even a free algorithm in the TG77/SY99), up to 3 feedback loops, 16 waveforms instead of just sine wave for the 6 Operators, the ability to use AWM-Samples as Modulators (RCM) and Filtering.
- The Filters theirselves, the SY77 indeed is one of the very first synthesizers with a good sounding digital filter (multimode, so high- and bandpass possible) with resonance. And this even could be applied on both FM and AWM-Samples. The D-50 couldn't filter samples at all, Korg and Ensoniq didn't have resonance. Only Kawai had it in the K4 and Emu in the EmaxII.
- The abilty to have 4 Elements in one Voice, 2 AFM and 2 AWMs) and mixing the AWM into the AFM-Section as Realtime Convolution and Modulation
- Very complex envelopes that can even loop
- Stereopanning
- The audio quality was much improved and cleaner with
- At least for Yamaha it was the first 16 part multitimbral Synth.
- Three wheels zoned aftertouch and that alpha dial, also for Yamaha the first with a big LCD-Screen.
- The really good keyboard, which is one of the best synth action keybeds.
So most of the plus items really were based on the synth engine and something for hardcore programmers. I have the SY99 and - it is really tedious even if someone understands FM-Principles to get something special out of it. Another problem was, since the Algorithms and the parameter resolution were so different, you couldn't directly load DX7 sounds, they had to be converted with a computer program. So it wasn't that easy to have the classic DX7-Sounds on board, but that may not even have been so important: In 1990 People already tended to get sick of FM because it was so heavily overused. The Choir and athmospheric sounds of Fairlight ->D-50 ->M1 were the next shit. The SY could do these quite properly but often, the FM parts in the rather natural sounds rather sucked. And the AWM-Section today is another reason why the SY is a bit forgotten.
Technically it was on par with the M1 which also had a 4 MB ROM. BUT, in the SY it's been 16-bit waveforms at paritally 44,1 khz. So each sample had to be shorter and there just were not much in the ROM. 112 Samples to chose from in the AWM2-Section. The Piano e.g. was a bit more realistic than on the M1 - but not as cool for house. All the Noise- and Artifact samples the M1 and the D-50 were famous for, were lacking on the SY77. You could update the Wave Rom by cards but Yamaha didn't really feature great samples on these cards as much as Korg and Roland did. Plus, by the time Korg already had the M1REX with 8 MB and the T-Series with the same amount.
Today, the SY77 becomes interesting for Pads and Noise FX, also more like phantasy sounds if you switch off the AWM or only use it for some specific sounds like choir or "itopia". As soon as the natural sounds come into play it sounds heavily outdated, more even than the M1. Because these samples were bad enough to produce their own signature style.
I'd argue that the ESQ-1 might hold the claim to fame of "first workstation". My $0.02.
@@mc2engineeringprof A Workstation was defined as a combination of soundengine, multitimbrality, multitrack sequencer, drums and effects. The ESQ1 was lagging effects. First Synth with reverb was the D50 bit no sequencer. So the Synclavier left aside, the Korg M1 was the first to integrate all of that.
@@torbenanschau6641 I'm thinking that you have your own definition of "workstation" and I have mine. I don't see effects as a requirement. One could argue that these aren't workstations because they don't have audio recording just as easily. Also, the M1 doesn't have a multiengine synthesis architecture. It's all PCM. Lastly, "multimbrality" and "multitrack sequencer" is redundant. You cannot have the latter without the former.
@@mc2engineeringprof Maybe, but it's also possible it isn't only my definition but what had been written and discussed then. The M1 was the synth where the term Workstation was brought up aside of Synclavier and Fairlight. And it was because of the components tone generation, sequencer, effects and some kind of mass storage and a keyboard. The ESQ1 was not sold or discussed as workstation, neither was the SQ80. The VFX was the first Ensoniq to be called workstation, especially the SD and these had effects. Multitimbrality btw was not necessary for multitrack sequencing as there were still a lot standalone sequencers without any sound generation by Alesis, Kawai, Korg, Roland, Yamaha and others. Digital Audio with harddisk recording was only possible with the Synclavier and the fairlight. SampleRom wasn't necessary as there was the V50 which was FM for the voicey. were I think for consumer prices you could think of that with the advent of the EX5/Motif and the Korg Triton. And that was fourth generation workstation.
True what you say about presets
The sy99 and sy77 are really Amazing synth, i love them.
The SY77 is a good example of improving on an already robust synthesis legacy. This is thing is super powerful once you have the patience to dive in .
i bought a beat up one for peanuts a few years ago and fixed it up with new screen. it's an absolute monster synth, you can stack 2 (poly) or 4 (mono) full 6OP FM synths for a crazy amount of possibilities without even touching the ROMpler side, and it sounds so meaty. the onboard reverb and chorus, while not exactly strymon effects, have a lot of charm and very useable too.
I guess the Yamaha V50 was the first workstation. I still have mine from the late 80s.
Ensoniq esq 1 was the first popular workstation , the very first multitimbral synths were the Rhodes chroma and ppg wave (82/83)
V50 and SY77 were both 1989, followed by the SY99 (1991), SY85 (1992), W5/W7 (1994), EX5/EX7 (1998), and Motif series (2001). While the Montage and MODX both have pattern sequencers, I wouldn't classify them as workstations, as they lack a realtime multi-track sequencer. They are more performance oriented.
where CS1x CS2x CS6x AN1x etc)).... FS1r ?
@@EuroDJ Different breed of instruments. The ones I mentioned were more along the lines of workstation instruments.
Owner of both boards since they came out in 1989/1990 and 1991/1992. The SY99's biggest upgrade was the FX. I used it to control my SY77 and RY30 at gigs when I did not have the full band in tow. It was an awesome workstation. It made programming slightly easier than on the DX. Still own both keyboards and still use them! Just upgraded to USB drives and new screens because the old ones fade. Keep that in mind when purchasing. Also, the battery will need to be replaced. Be sure when you do this you replace the soldered battery with one you can just slip in and out more easily.
The SY77 is definitely a synthesist's synth =o] One for the programmers for sure, especially if you're into more atmospheric and dangerous sounds rather than bread and butter sounds. You can create some pretty hellish sounds with these.
Yamaha had already done a great workstation. The V50. Amazing keyboard!
which combines a dx11/TX81z with on of those RX Drummachines sounds and a sequencer. And one of the fx engines, whats their name?
Nice synth, i got the tg77 but i also have the sy99 and thats imho the last flagship synth
I played this synth when I was a teen. In 1990, the SY77 was for Yamaha what the 01W was for Korg. Roland was a bit lost between the D70 and the JV80 at that time. I had a JV80, but the SY77, I felt in love with it. I don't know why, it had something more than the others, more advanced, lacked of. The SY77 is not forgotten for me, it's one of the legendary synths of all time with the JD800. It has a soul.
I owned the SY77 for quite a few years. The thing that makes the SY77 really special is the fact the samples that are in it eg the AWM memory can be inserted into the AFM oscillators. So now the FM oscillators instead of being just a sine wave or 15 other waveforms like the 8 with the TX81Z, (which in itself will create some very complex sounds) it now includes a third option which is all the AWM memory! So you have hundreds of oscillator waveforms available to you. This is NOT the same as layering AFM and AWM sounds. (Although yes you could also do that) It is something very different. I think there were more FM algorithms as well. (45 compared to 32 so it was more advanced than the DX7 ever was.) It meant you could make FM sounds only but the complexity of those FM sounds took on a whole new level. The results are deep massive super complex soundscape textures like no other. It really shines in the complex ambient texture department. (not demonstrated here) They never made a machine that could do this after I am pretty sure. The MODX cannot do it either as far as I know.
Chick Corea's keyboard tech uploaded all his SY sounds a while back only for a short time and I was lucky enough to be able to get them. The sounds were ridiculous to say the least. I had the TG77 for a while too and was convinced it sounded a little better than the SY77 as well. I suspect they improved it a bit but did not tell anybody.
you forgot the two resonant filters.... a must-have for the sweep... and a nice FX unit (exciter and eq for the brightness , overdrive for the color and 303fx... choruses for a fatter sound... etc) ... it's a cool synth even without the FM part... and as a rompler it's excellent (something like tg55)... BUT... it is worth noting that the FM color of the TG77 is specific (thin, dry, fatless)... the earlier tx81z sounds fatter IMHO
@@EuroDJ Yes I agree it is one excellent synth for sure. I am a bit sorry I parted with it in fact. I really loved its ambient sounds the most though. For me that is where it really shines. But there are lots of more interesting software synths out here now that can do a lot more.
Thank you so much for confirming that the SY77 can insert the waveforms into the oscillators. I knew the SY99 could do this but wasn't sure the SY77 or TG77 could.
Great find with the Chick Corea banks. If i ever find one of these, I'd sure wish I had that. I was recently able to obtain 2000+ patches for my SY22, and I'm like a kid in a candy store.
Does it have those TX81z waves?
I bought a new SY-77 in 1990, has somer great bass sounds, acoustic guitars and nice brass, also bought a wave card to extend the drum sounds.
Nice multi track sequencer though i mostly hooked it up to atari 520 stfm (extended to 1 mb) and hollis research trackman 32 for sequencing.
Hey Cresshead. I acquired my 77 around 2011 for a super cheap price I already owned a DX7 MkII for many years before and then questioned myself, is this really gonna bring something diffrent to the table the answer was "yes. "
I also love the fact it does a good job at emulating other synths patches, though appreciating ots unique character. Check this out.......
th-cam.com/video/I3hVG9hKJBQ/w-d-xo.html
Nice to see some love for the awesome SY77. For what you can get them for, they are really hard to beat. I paid $50 for mine because the owner thought it was broken. Just needed the battery changed out.
"Just needed the battery changed out"? You need to open up the whole damn thing!
@@SPLiFFWORX I just pulled the bottom cover and replaced it, pretty easy from what I remember. I ran some wires from the board to a remote battery holder so it would be even faster to replace in the future.
Lucky person!
@@nkronert It was definitely one of the best scores I have ever found.
El papá de los Motif !
I bought one for 300€ in 2007. imo the best semi-weighted keybed ever on a synthesizer! And if you're looking for the 80's ep sounds... this is the one!
"Synth that time forgot"?
Um... No.
Those of us who own/use the SY-series, have never forgotten. Also have never let anyone we've ever talked to forget that SY is one of the greatest synths of all time.
It’s almost like the DX7, D50, and M1 had a baby that was missing all the cheesy sounds!… Eh, who am I kidding, my sonic pallet has been numbed by those synths.
I bought my SY77 for 170$ last year. All it needed was a new battery and spring in the last key. Super flexible and power synth that’s only overshadowed by my Opsix units sound design possibilities. Not to mention how great it plays!
You can also get a third party Wave-blade ROM card and load your own samples which totally takes this synth to the next level!
That's not bad. I also bought my SY77 last year end of summer for only $100. If you don't already have them, get the Rock and Pop cards, highly recommend them. Also where did you get the cards you mentioned?
@@georgegeez8708 you can get them from Sector101.
@ambidex Got it. Seems like they have the answers for old synth cards. I'm planning to order their cards for my Roland JV-2080 that I found last month. Thanks.
@George Geez oh interesting. I'm only familiar with them because of the SYs. (I've long been coveting a datablade to increase the sounds easily available for my SY22). I didn't know they offered anything for the JV stuff. Hmm..
@@ambidex Yes. I just took to notice a week ago that they also do SY cards. I also have an SY22. I ended up buying one with a Korg Microkorg in a 2 for 1 deal for $190 for both. I'm thinking about getting the SY card from Sector 101.
Amazing synth for ambient music. A few years ago you could get them for under $300 easy, but people are gear hungry now
@gridsleep Is it working? I never see them for those prices.
@@mrd5024 you will find it under $200 in Indonesia, Indonesian ppl don't know how good is this synth.
1:45 AWM actually stands for A-dvanced W-ave M-emory (not "M-odelling"). 😉
I still use this beast and it is glorious. Likely next year I shall be very close to releasing a 2hour album based on work from 92 and it's thanks to this delightful machine. All written using the very excellent internal sequencer
1:25… actually the SY-99 was the flagship of the series. Also, the FM was clearly NOT very similair at all to what was in the DX7II… as jeffevansmusic pointed out in his comment below, samples from the AWM memory can be inserted into the AFM oscillators, and instead of just using a sine wave, the FM operators could use other waveshapes. You really should research this stuff better IF you're going to go into specifics with the gear.
Let's forget Chick Corea, who was a Yamaha poster, had both the 77 and 99. He even wrote a tune called "99 Flavors" which was also a demo sequence that could be played back on the 99.
th-cam.com/video/WcWZDTzvnVg/w-d-xo.html
Of course I meant "Let's NOT forget" 🥸
Forgotten? I still use my TG77 and EX5 and love their powerful sounds. Instead of being annoyed of their few weak spots I rather use my other synths. Greetings from Germany🇩🇪🤝
I have a TG77 (rack SY77) and SY99. I agree that it sounds awesome, especially the FM EPs. There was never a rack version of the SY99, but they did do the FS1R a few years later, which was their final FM synth until the Montage. This was the only 8-op synth until the Montage and has a lot of advanced features, although the default user interface was quite bad for programming. I'd advise anyone to pick one of these up, while they're still cheap, as they're bound to get more expensive soon (the FS1R is already quite pricey).
I think that these didn't do so well in the market as the AWM implementation was pretty basic and the trend at the time was away from FM, which had been badly overused in the 80's. Sample-based Romplers were the hot ticket then, which is why Yamaha switched to this with the Motif lne.
Amazing video as usual, one popped up near me and i was on the fence but i guess il go buy it now :)
TG77 stays in my rack. Its sound engine was very unique and unlike anything out there at the time. If you dig into it, you can still come up with some nice sounding pads. Glad that it has stayed cheap, but after this video they may go up in price.
The Yamaha V50 was it's little brother , if you coupled that with the tg55 you had the fm/ rompler combo
My theory of the SY77 is that, back in mid 80s, every professional keyboardist was ending up buying both the DX7 and D50.. so Yamaha thought how could they tape the two together (FM & AWM) in a single unit and make it cost lesser than the two together but more than what they made off the DX7II
FM was never about menu diving! People loved it coz it sounded good on pop records. Making a deep FM synth with menu diving, also for a lot of money... was a miss. Also, losing functions that lower models had on the top models is always a no-no...
TG77 was used on almost every record I made in the 90s~^^
i just repaired my old SY77.
had an SY99, SY77 and a TG33, the TG55 SY55 is the best of the bunch if you like Alien odd sounds
I love the SY77, I found making my own sounds pretty intuitive even despite never having any experience creating sounds.
And the 77 had a great sequencer on it, that I maxed out before long!😂
The Montage & MODX cover most of what it could do and it's type of sounds. I only wish they had made it so it could load SY-77 sounds like it can of MOTIF series sounds & DX-7 series sounds.
The Korg M1 still held it's own, except with the piano. That's where the SY-77 was superior.
I still got one, with a Tx816 and Rx11 is a powerfull trio. Yes FM sound could be boring if used alone but mixed to others synthesis system is a great option. Thousand sounds on the web and ipad editor open lot of creative way. Great machine.
They sound great but it's the operating system (no pun intended) from hell isnt it. The weirdest thing about FM is that if you've ever used one of the few FM synths with an entire knob per function setup, it's like the easiest and most amazing type of synth to program, and it's like oh...this makes perfect sense how simple and how easy and great. but those menus just make you think it's hard and tedious don't they.
That's why you need to use an editor App. Opens a world of possibilities.
@@ambidex aye mate sort of aucks though cause then it's like younare using a vst, the beat way to get into FM is actually this company makes a synth that's based on the fm chip from the Sega genesis. It's knob per function and just an amazing experience to use
7:32 that patch is amazing
The Roland D50 wasn‘t a workstation, it even hadn‘t a sequencer. And the first Yamaha workstation was not the SY77, it was the V-50 (also called V2 in Japan), it was released one year before the SY 77. Very bad research here.
The songs played on this, sounds like a deranged harpsichord. 😢💔🤮
I wished other tones were shared.
Fun happy tones.😊🎉🎉🎉🎹🎹🎹🎹
I have aTG-77. These synths were probably forgotten because they have that horrible clinical metallic sound which seems to pervade all Yamaha gear - from their effects, synths, guitar amps, hi-fi amps, and unbelievably even their grand pianos. I suppose you either like that sound or you don't, but I'm firmly in the no camp.
I have a lot of synths. I have this one, but my pride and joy is, a 'Casio VL tone. Great demo.
SY77 is amazing synth.
"I think there was a full-blown FM module"... that would be the FS1R, which added formant synthesis as well. Wouldn't have gone amiss to look this up. Also, there's the PLG150-DX plug-in board, which could be placed in several Yamaha synths.
Why time forgot?
We don’t forgot this special instrument.
I bought SY85 in 1994, my first SY77 in 1997, soon after a TG77, and shortly after SY99. I still have the three SYs, even though I bought SY77 three times, the last one last December.
When I don't have it, I miss something, despite always having a SY99.
There is a lot of nostalgia in this and I am aware of it, but certain sounds are only there 😀
Any sound a '77 can do, the '99 can do as well. And better. The two share identical synth engines
@@looneyburgmusic 99 can also make better, I know both very well.
99 has better EFX, they don’t play identical.
99 has more samples, and RAM.
Only AFM is identical.
@@m77studio64 pretty sure that is what I just said
@@looneyburgmusic you modify your message and you join “and better”?
In the first message I didn’t see “and better” and this change a lot 😉
@@looneyburgmusic however, the question is not whether 99 can do better. 77 has its own sound, due to its characteristics, different from those of 99. And even if the latter is better, I always like to go back to hearing the "defects" of the 77. I wrote it, it is mostly called " nostalgia"
One of the only synths I never program because it's so annoying. BUT there are some great 3rd party sound banks to replace those stock presets. I've also never even tried to use the sequencer just because the sequencers in my Ensoniq synths are so simple to use that I just have not bothered. Besides layering the FM and AWM sounds you can actually use the AWM waveforms within the FM algorithms. I got one from Japan for about $500 in 2021 and even though I have sold at least 60 synths since then, I kept the SY77. The 99 has more waveforms, keys and memory. There's also a strange 1992 SY85 that has no FM and really doesn't fit in the SY line. Also, little tip, If you are going to buy one and want to swap out the floppy drive for a USB emulator, you'll need some kind of adaptor that I have not been able to find. The floppy drive in the SY77 does not have a standard cable. If anyone has any leads on an adaptor, let me know. I have a usb drive that's been sitting around for a year.
I bought a floppy emulator from ebay for one hundred dollars and it works well.
@@areolaman Yeah I have floppy emulator drives in 3 Ensoniqs and they're great. But Yamaha used a non-standard floppy drive that uses a different kind of cable than what the floppy emulator & most floppy drives use. I bought 2 different adaptors that looked like the right thing but none fit right. The guy who sold the floppy emulator drive to me sent me a link to the adaptor I need but it is a German Ebay listing and they do not ship to the states. At some point Yamaha switched to having standard floppy drives so maybe you have a later one so it was an easy drive swap.
@Vincent Presley the adapter is fairly easy to make. It carries power as well. I don't find the schematics right away, but use Google. They're out there.
I had one, and loved it, but had to move really far , so I sold it. It has features that are nowhere else. a real pain to program, but the results are epic. I think about getting one again all the time.
The SY-77 had very poor factory presets. That got better with the TG-77 and SY-99. But the fact you can only play one sound at a time on the keyboard, makes it a quite useless instrument for live use.
Give sure new modulation schemes That you can use with classic DX base , Check out Front 242 up evil and off tg 77 and korg wavestation
Let’s also not forget about the SY-99 which was the big brother of the the 77 and in my opinion the real flagship.
The SY99 was identical except you could load your own waveforms and wave files into it and then use those in the FM oscillators. That would have opened things up a lot more.
@@synthwizard5565 the SY99 also had a much better digital effects processor. Much cleaner. It made a big difference. The SY/TG77 effects were noisy.
@@alphabeets Good to know. It must have been a nice machine.
I have a like new TG77 and I forgot how good it sounds...
The sy77 & sy99 could also use samples as modulators in fm so very powerful indeed, the purely sample based sy85 was a better workstation though.
Had one in the 90's - Loved it - T.V. Blew up - Had to sell it - Regretted it!!
First of all, the earlier mid-1989 4op V50 was a workstation. There was supposed to be a 6 op V80FD workstation, having been shown at NAMM that year, but it was cancelled in favor of the SY77, released in Dec 1989. The later original Motif, Motif ES and other keyboards/racks of that period supported PLG series expansion boards, including a 6op FM board. There was never a rack version of the SY99.
And the tq5, is it exactly a v50 module?
A very impressive synth at it's time. I never owned one but preferred the Roland LA. This range were quite big in size. Nice key action from it too.
You hit the nail with the programmability Vs workstation ease of use. I have an sy99 and if you're prepared to properly geek out it does some clever stuff. For example I can down load a looped sample of a Moog bass then use that as a Fm modulater along with an FM stack to give it movement
But it takes a while ..
@DM on Telegram App at Alamomusic sorry ..don't do telegram
How does that sound? I heard lots of people were underwhelmed when hearing that AWM as FM modulator/carrier thing.
FM uses sines for a reason. The overtones come with modulation. The 4 OP Yamahas had those additional waveforms to skip one or two layers of modulation, because they have less Operators...
love mine, with upgraded display :)
The SY77 and SY99 are really powerful synths but the factory patches only scratch on what it can do. It can create very realistic emulations of acoustic instruments. So it really blows away the Korg M1.
2:12 Nope. Yamaha's current Flagship and like 4 other products have full FM. 8op even
SY-77 Last FM Flagship Synth ? LOL )))
That keyboard is absolutely phenomenal. I saved up every penny to go buy that thing brand new off the showroom floor it was $2500 and that thing is absolutely built beautifully to this day. That thing is still built. It’s got the FS bed and key the keys on that thing or like no other keyboard it’s a gem highly underrated. That was a full-blown studio when it came out you could literally produce a song right on that keyboard have it demoed out onto a dad or a CD it was a dream come true it’s still a phenomenal machine the buttons on that thing or butter
I don’t know man . I think the sy77 is a coveted classic . So so a lot of people.
the last real synth before the rompler era ... ( minus some exceptions)
2:20 - FS1r - Actually a very cool sounding machine. It had all of this, plus a very good VA filter. The issue was it was only rack, and extremely difficult and time consuming to program.
I had both and the sy22 , underwhelmed by the 77/99 as well as the sheer real estate. The 22 was much more interesting and intuitive.
Love my SY22. Was thrilled to find recently that someone had updated Plompy's SY_Edit to work in newer Windows systems and was able to get a library of 2000+ sounds. I think the SY22 is under-appreciated like most of these SYs.
Another important point you may have forgot to mention, is that it was more expensive than the M1.
The technologies that Yamaha put into this instrument were a bit outdated, like FM, the SPX effects and the sample specs were below par with what was standard by 1989.
Another mistake I think Yamaha made, was that both the FM and AWM engines were 16-voice and those voices could not be borrowed, so if you wanted to layer two FM sounds you'd end up with 8-voices, albeit dynamically allocated. It wouldn't use the other 16-voices from the AWM engine.
They had the SY99 that had the 6 Op synth, the later the 8 operator FS1 rack. The Plug Board DX for the Motif and Motif ES family.
would like to hear it compare to casio vz1
Please correct me if wrong. Was this synth used in the movie ''Rock School?. I have one by the way.
it was Yamaha SY85
I'm happy to have my SY-77 unit, it's so esoteric/experimental and musical at the same time, I've fallen in love with this keyboard for a long time and I still use it with Logic and Mainstage to play and record things live and then create my electronic songs.
It's a beast of AFM synthesis
the reface is a joke its just a toy l0l
I bought a beat up one fora pretty penny, but I love it!
The synt can easily be forgotten when you just play the presets, when you search on the web for (commercial) voice sets, you find sounds that are just awesome, even by todays standard. Loading DX7 patches is possible, but the SY/TG77 shines when FM and samples are combined, the 77 can sound very anlogue or ‘alive’. You cannot combine different voices, but in a way you can, by copying parts of a sound to another sound. So two sounds of 1 part each can easliy be combined. The individual parts are nothing special (i.e. the samples and the effects) but combining them can deliver great sounds!
I think Yamaha bought Korg in the late 80s which is why you had some cross pollination with the Korg DS8 with FM and the Wavestation/SY vector stuff
Yes yamaha and korg did some kind of bizzare Vegas wedding back then, yamaha was the sugar daddy to a struggling korg but korg found its feet with the M1 soon after
Exactly, and it's not that Dave Smith had it robbed from him. Sequentialv went bankrupt, and Yamaha bailed him and his team out and gave them jobs. The vector synthesis from the last [pre-bankrupt] Sequential instrument was the foundation for the SY22/33 but they nerfed it for some reason then passed Dave and crew off to Korg who they owned at the time to develop the Wavestation.
What was most bothersome is that after Dave left Yamaha, they still owned the sequential name. It made me very happy that they gave that back to Dave to use in his own company again before he died. If for nothing else, Yamaha deserves credit for that, but it should have happened sooner.
The SY77 was my first synth/workstation. Bought it new in 1989. I had sold it to a friend who had it for years and then he was downsizing and gave it back to me for free a couple years ago. I cleaned it, replaced the battery and gave it to my brother. Just purchased the new Montage M8x. While so much more in many ways the SY77 at the time was equally phenomenal.
Sy 85????
Bought mine in 1991 or 92, cant remember. Because of movie "Le grand bleu" and Eric Serra score. Still have it.
The factory presets are not even close to what sy77 can sound like. The AFM engine is so powerfull that whoever loves fm synthesis can make incredible sounds. The filters and EGs are contributing to a very nice result.
Please make more of these videos on obscure keyboards that may or may not be commonly available. I happen to find an Electone EL-500 with general midi from around 1999. From what I’ve seen there is a very deep FM engine within it as well. I believe it’s an 8 operator per voice. It may even be 16 or more operators due to the fact that there’s so many separate voices and split key’s, and foot pedals. I’m planning on putting out a few videos in the near future. Please keep up the Nerding out with these deep dive/mini docs. Thank you and Much love to the whole crew
The SY55 was also launched at same time as SY77. I consider it more a direct competitor to M1 as it was also a workstation, but only had AWM synthesis.
There was an SY55 too.
great video man.
it was the end erra of fm synthesis ....
this model sy 77 | 99 and ensoniq vfx sd was the flag ship back then.
followed by the ys 200 or the v50.....
i think the sy 55 also was cool synth also
on 2000 yamaha came with the motif and set a very high bar
the next generations of two engines came out 0n 2017 when they released the montage
The D-50, M1, SY77, the most exciting times in synthesizers.
I've had one since 1990 but never got on . with it. Apart from being extremely difficult to get a decent sound out of it it always sounds too clean. Yet I still have it.
This complements the Roland D50 perfectly.
Great video. I own the TG77 with the same engine built in. I find myself wondering whether I should sell it but I keep coming back to it, because it is - as you said -one of the kind
the sy99 and 77 are great synth-i had the sy99 but moved it on,more than happy with my dx5 for fm
The sy77 was a few years on from the DX7 and was where Yamaha was putting their efforts. They were however only in the primitive stages of developing usable wave synth. And they got caught with their pants down when the M1 came out. Scrambling to come up with an answer, this is what they came up with. And it was a great response. I love mine. But it got overshadowed by the trend set by the M1
It looks like the predecessor to the ex5 motif...like a cross of a ex5 and sy35?
This the only video the algorithm ever shows me from you guys and I'm here for team Zach lol
The current MoDX and Montage series have full blown 6 operator FM engines (like the DX7). The Reface DX uses a 4 op engine.
8 operators in the FM-X engine.
And It absolutely Looks great too...
I have used sy99 a lot, and really liked it!
I had a TG77 rack. It was so much fun.