Just when I’m ready to tuck into a new toy, someone — Korg — announces another pair of new keyboards for NAMM. Let’s see, the new Korg spawn now include:
Meanwhile, the Kronos fanbois are gnashing their teeth and many people are still awaiting the Messiah — a full-size Arp 2600. It would be a boring world without variety, so I hope their dreams come true. [No offense intended.]
The EK-50L and the SV-2 are updates. The EK-50 L adds a more powerful amplifier (2x10W) and speakers (2x120mm double cone bass reflex) to the EK-50. The EK-50 is intended for entertainers who play small venues like coffee shops. With in-built speakers, it’s one trip from the auto to the gig. The SV-2 is an update of the SV-1 and is firmly in the middle of the stage piano market. In addition to new sounds, there is an SV-2S model with an internal K-ARRAY speaker system. The SV-2S would be great for casuals, coffee houses and such. Same idea, one trip from the car to the job.
I always liked the SV-1 sounds and its action — a tough competitor to the Yamaha CP73/CP88. Damn, the SV-2 EPs sound nice, and that German piano! Wish I had the space (and health) for a weighted action stage piano…
Korg is also reaching out to the trenches with the i3 Music Workstation. In the promotional text, I get wisps of song writing, composing, phrase library, etc. It’s a broad pitch to those who — dare I say it — would ordinarily shun an arranger keyboard.
I thought the i3 was the Krome replacement. Sure looks like it. Modern arranger keyboards are trending toward “synth workstation” anyway. The main difference is the content. Arrangers need a wide range of styles dipping into movie themes, Schlager, big band jazz, Román népi táncok, and Lord knows what else. The Yamaha Motif series distinguishes itself through its contemporary phrases (arpeggios). With the i3, Korg took the accompaniment technology from the PA series and mated it with some seriously modern sounding styles/phrases.
Ah, Korg are certainly dancing around the “A word.” It’s a shame that the word “arranger” has gotten such a negative connotation among certain musicians. Even the text for the home-oriented XE20SP refers to “automatic accompaniment”, not “arranger.” Anyone who has played a modern mid- to top-end arranger from Korg or Yamaha know the true nature of today’s machines. Yeah, some styles leave me cold. However, the playability of acoustic instrument voices is the best it’s ever been and the voices are at the same level as flagship sample-playback synths. In the case of Yamaha’s Genos Super Articulation 2 voices, the sound even exceeds the Montage flagship.
Well, there you go. We’re lucky to live in an age where manufacturers are rolling out a wide variety of electronic keyboards. I’m amazed that Behringer, for example, can issue as many different makes and re-makes as they are. They run the risk of cannibalizing their own customer base! Gosh, how many synths can the average punter really afford?
Enjoy. Peace to all.
[Hey, Korg! Somebody who is a native English speaker needs to correct the sometimes hilarious spelling errors in your specs, e.g., EK-50 L.]
After analyzing the Yamaha SHS-500 Sonogenic from every possible angle (even the service manual!), I finally got one. On-line retailers are currently flooded with post-Christmas returns and bargains can be had. And so it was.
First, I must compliment Sweetwater for their prompt service and excellent packing. The SHS-500 was double-boxed. (The inner box was Yamaha’s original packing carton.) The unit is in excellent condition, matching Sweetwater’s assessment of its condition. Even though the inner carton has a big “DEMO” sticker on it, the Sonogenic is “like new.” Money saved and well-spent.
Since the Sonogenic was a demo, the initial settings are probably not factory. Thus, your out-of-the-box experience may be a little different than mine. I loaded the battery compartment with six AA batteries and turned it on.
Yamaha SHS-500 Sonogenic in fire-engine red
The internal speaker is not going to impress anyone. Sound quality is at roughly the same level as Reface and I never warmed to that. I’ll be playing the Sonogenic through either headphones, my trusty, portable JBL Charge 2 or a powered monitor. Sonogenic has a master EQ and it’s important to set it appropriately. My unit was set to “Line Out” and the sound through the speaker was weak. Changing to the “Speaker” EQ setting was much better. Be sure to change back to “Line Out” when connecting to an external powered monitor. (Or “Boost,” or “Mild”.)
The SHS-500 is quite solid in the hands — much better build quality than the new PSS series or the SHS-300. Key feel is comparable to Reface. After playing the Sonogenic, the PSS keys have a cheaper feel. Yes, you get what you pay for. The SHS-500 is like a Reface keytar.
Natch, the first thing was quick tour of the sounds. Every panel voice has a DSP effect. (See the table below for default assignments.) Sound quality is on-par with good PSR E-series voices and in a few cases, S-series. The SHS-500 is not a Genos. 🙂 However, the SHS-500 is better than PSS by far.
SHS-500 Bank Bank Voice MSB LSB PC# Default effect ----------------- ---- ---- --- -------------- Saw Lead 1 104 20 91 LPF Saw Lead 2 0 104 82 Flanger Quack Lead 0 112 85 DSP Chrs Bright Decay 104 21 85 Phaser Square Lead 0 112 81 Phaser Under Heim 104 51 88 DSP Chrs Analogon 104 52 82 Flanger Synth Brass 0 113 64 DSP Chrs Electric Piano 104 28 5 Phaser DX Electric Piano 0 112 6 DSP Chrs Electric Guitar 104 3 31 Dist.2 Jazz Guitar 104 0 27 DSP Chrs Acoustic Guitar 0 117 26 LPF Electric Bass 104 6 34 LPF Slap Bass 0 112 37 DSP Chrs Synth Bass 0 112 39 Phaser DX Bass 0 118 40 LPF Piano 0 112 2 DSP Chrs Piano & Strings 104 39 1 DSP Chrs Piano & Pad 104 40 1 DSP Chrs Air Choir 0 112 55 LPF Strings 0 116 49 DSP Chrs Brass 0 117 63 DSP Chrs Trumpet 0 115 57 HPF Flute 0 115 74 LPF Alto Sax 104 2 66 LPF Tenor Sax 104 3 67 LPF Harmonica 0 112 23 Tremolo House Kit 127 0 65 LPF Power Kit 127 0 88 LPF
The House Kit has the same program selection numbers as the House Kit in the PSR-E463 and PSR-EW410. These instruments and the SHS-500 are the only ones with this “House Kit.” Go figure.
My favorite voices are the Electric Piano, Jazz Guitar, Electric Bass, Synth Bass, Piano & Pad, Strings, Flute, Tenor Sax and Harmonica. Electric Piano with the Tremolo DSP effect is nice. Can’t wait to try these out with my backing tracks. Here’s a few more snap opinions.
I’ve never been that excited by the PSR synth voices although Quack Lead, Under Heim and Analogon can be fun. Drop Quack Lead down an octave or two for an alternative synth bass.
The electric guitar is OK and the DSP distortion effect is welcome versus a static sampled overdriven guitar. However, the DSP effect is not up to the PSR S-series, Genos or MODX, that’s for sure. It’s an early Yamaha algorithm.
The main piano is bright — think “house.” The piano in the layered voices is warmer.
The tenor sax needs to be played stylistically. The low end gets into baritone territory — a plus.
The harmonica is decent enough to go a little Jon Batiste or Stevie with the thing.
A few of the voices (e.g., flute, tenor sax) have vibrato sampled in. If you’re a PSR-type person, you’ll recognize these as “Sweet!”
The LPF is a bit of a let-down. One can hear changes due to cut-off, but a certain dynamic aspect is missing.
The DSP effects sound a little over-done. It’s easy enough to strip the effect off by dialing it out with the Effect Control knob. One might get tired of doing this after every voice change, which is why I want to experiment with MIDI Designer as a graphical front end for the Sonogenic.
In addition to the default DSP effect, the Sonogenic sets the octave which is appropriate (in some sound designer’s view) for the instrument. Change the voice and you change the octave, too. Depending upon the scenario, this could be a drag. There isn’t a way to go directly to a voice; you need to spin the Select knob and step through the voices — another motivation for a MIDI Designer front-end.
Jack positions all seem well thought out. The USB and MIDI DIN connector are hidden behind a rubbery cover. The MIDI DIN connector is the same as the Reface connector and takes the same breakout adapter to produce 5-pin IN and OUT.
The audio Line Out is mono. (Yes, mono, according to the Service Manual.) The headphone output is stereo. If you need stereo, give the headphone output a try. Dunno if the waveforms or effects are stereo, but the stereo signals are sent to the headphone jack. (The DAC is an AK4430ET, BTW.)
The SHS-500 includes a PA-130 power adapter. I have a PA-150 plugged in at all times and it works just fine with the SHS. The PA-150 supplies the same voltage and has a higher amp rating. All good.
Overall, the Sonogenic SHS-500 is worth the (reduced) price. Will I take it to rehearsals? Heck, yeah! It’s a shame that Yamaha left at least one organ patch out of the voice set. There is enough here for those weeks when organ is not in the church gig spotlight. Almost wish the SHS-500 and Reface YC were combined into the same ax…
I’m always looking to lighten the load and I’m pleased to see the new JBL Professional IRX Series portable PA speakers, announced for Winter NAMM 2020. There are two models: 8″ IRX108BT and 12″ IRX112BT. More class D amplifiers, no doubt, with JBL claiming 1,300 Watts. Connectivity includes two combo XLR/TRS inputs, XLR loop-out, and Bluetooth streaming. Two speakers can be linked via Bluetooth for stereo.
Light weight is achieved through polypropylene cabinets. The 8″ is 17.4 pounds and the 12″ is 27.3 pounds. Frequency response is 54Hz-20kHz and 53Hz-20kHz, respectively. I’m guessing that’s -10dB. [Funny, the press release doesn’t list the weights after touting “lightweight.”! Also, pricing info is inconsistent with the JBL sell sheet.]
Prices are reasonable. The IRX108BT is $329 (MAP) and the IRX112BT is $379 (MAP). In case you haven’t noticed, there is a lot of action in the $200 to $300 segment of the small monitor market, e.g., Headrush and others. If you’re a keyboard player, don’t disregard the full range, flat response (FRFR) monitors favored by modelling guitarists.
These days, with a health issue, I’m looking to get even smaller and lighter. I don’t need a huge amount of SPL on the job and a spot monitor like the Behringer B205D can do the job. I don’t want to sacrifice sound quality, however, Darn it, when I play an oboe patch, I want it to sound like an oboe — not an oboe played through the speaker of a 1969 Buick. I’m still not sold on class D amplifiers although class D efficiency is the way to small and light. The class A Yamaha MSR100 (now out of production) is still my favorite sound-wise.
Speaking of small, the Roland Jupiter-Xm really impresses! Yeah, it was announced last September along with the yet-to-be-seen Jupiter X. I’m sure Roland will be showing it at Winter NAMM 2020. It’s got all of Roland’s greatest hits on board — something for everybody — plus built-in speakers and battery power for on-the-go fun. You’ll have to get over your dislike of mini-keys, however. 🙂
It’s been difficult to sniff out any big reveals at Winter NAMM 2020 (January 16-19, 2020).
There’s one credible looking leak — the Korg Wavestate. It’s a 37-key ‘board with lots of knobs, buttons, mod wheel and pitch wheel. A modern re-make of the venerable Wavestation? Filters include MS-20 and POLYSIX settings along with the usual LPF, etc. [$799]
Korg Wave Sequencing 2.0
Full size keys
Vector joystick
Up to four sound layers each containing a sequence of PCM samples
64 stereo voices
Filter types: MS-20, POLYSIX, LPF, etc.
Price: 699 British pounds
It’s the only leak worth a headline — so far. 🙂 [Now that it’s official, I recommend the interview with Dan Phillips about the concepts and process behind the Wavestate.]
Good to hear about the SV-1 update — the Korg SV-2.
To fill the time, I’ve been browsing on-line retailers looking for bargains. The retailers are getting smacked with Christmas returns and you never know what might turn up. I got a good deal on a Yamaha SHS-500 Sonogenic and I’m eagerly awaiting delivery.
Even though sound tweaking via the Sonogenic front panel is limited, there may be an opportunity to edit and save patches using the MIDI Designer iPad app . I’ve been learning and experimenting with MIDI Designer, driving the Yamaha Genos via Bluetooth MIDI. MIDI Designer is a solid tool even though it’s a little price-y at $25USD. I wish it had a scripting capability in order to modify MIDI on-the-fly. Still, it’s worth considering if you need to implement a custom MIDI controller on iPad. Stay tuned for more.
Here are the goods Roland are hawking this week at CES 2020:
ZENBEATS Music Creation app
BOSS WAZA-AIR Wireless Personal Guitar Amplification System
V-MODA M-200 hi-res headphones
V-MODA Crossfade M-100 Master headphones
JUPITER-Xm Synthesizer
MC-101 Groovebox
MC-707 Groovebox
Roland Cloud
GO:LIVECAST Live streaming studio for smartphones
Hey, Roland! What’s up with ALL OF THE CAPITAL LETTERS?
At NAMM, look for the Roland A-88MKII MIDI 2.0-ready controller. Ivory feel PHA-4 action. $1,000USD. That is one long slab! As a player, I would be concerned about the long reach to the left hand pads, joystick and controls. I understand the desire to have a slender instrument — wrestling a deep, heavy behemoth is a nasty schlep. That’s still a long reach, however, and could become tiresome at a long gig.
Discussions about Yamaha Montage/MODX AWM2 and FM-X sent me digging into the past to unearth early AWM and FM implementations in order to get insight into today’s tone generation hardware. Although Yamaha do not publish design information about their proprietary SWP, SWX, SWL, etc. processors, they have published datasheets for their merchant line of LSI products. Yamaha were very active in the mid- to late-1990s when desktop music (Soundblaster, XG, Sondius, etc.) was king.
The Yamaha YMF278B OPL4 was one such LSI component. The OPL4 combines a 2-/4-op FM synthesizer and a wave table synthesizer on a single 80-pin quad flat pack (QFP). The FM synthesizer can:
Generate 18 voices in 2-op modes or 15 2-op voices plus five rhythm sounds.
Generate 6 voices in 4-op mode with an additional 6 voices in 2-op mode, or 6 voices in 4-op mode with an additional 3 voices in 2-op mode and five rhythm sounds.
The FM synthesizer has eight selectable waveforms and generates a stereo output. The wave table synthesizer can generate 24 voices simultaneously (i.e., 24 voice polyphony) producing stereo output at a 44.1kHz sampling rate with bit depths of 8-, 12- and 16-bits. Wave ROMs up to 32Mbits are supported with up to 512 wave tables.
The OPL4 has six sound channels which can be sent to an external DAC (YAC513) or a digital effects processor (YSS225). Sadly, documentation for the YSS225 cannot be found on-line. The YSS225 is said to perform reverberation, echo, flange and other effects.
The FM and wave table synthesizers are two separate hardware units. I wouldn’t be surprised if this is still the case in the modern day SWP70 Standard Wave Processor. Separation lets the engineers optimize the synthesis hardware for a particular synthesis type.
Wave table synthesis
The OPL4 does not implement AWM2 synthesis. The synthesizer does not have the AWM2 filter hardware. This is not too surprising because in that era, Yamaha regarded AWM2 and its analog-like filter as a special competitive advantage. Why would they give that same advantage to other sound card vendors? It’s a safe bet, however, that the XG-compliant variants are full AWM2.
Nonetheless, a peak inside gives us a look at Yamaha’s wave table machinery. The synthesizer consists of a synthesis core that fetches waveform samples and waveform meta-data from external wave memory.
YMF278B block diagram
Quoting the OPL4 data sheet:
The wave table synthesizer can generate up to 24 sounds simultaneously. Each sound is referred to as a “channel”. The channels are numbered from 1 to 24. These numbers are called “channel numbers”.
Wave table synthesis is controlled by a few hundred registers. The main control CPU writes common and channel-specific synthesis parameters into the registers. The synthesizer reads the registers during each synthesis macro-cycle and produces a new sound sample for each channel. The channel-specific control registers are organized into register groups. Each group consist of 24 registers, i.e., 24 values of a specific synthesis parameter type, one value per channel. A quick glance at the table below clarifies the register organization and the wave table synthesis parameters. Parameters for envelope generation, pan, LFO control, etc. are easily identifiable. (The YMF278B data sheet has the details).
YMF278 wave table synthesis control registers
I conjecture that today’s SWP70 is organized in a similar way. The CPU-SWP70 communication bus is a memory bus that gives the CPU direct access to the SWP70 synthesis control registers. Think about it. With 128 stereo AWM2 channels, there are several hundred (thousand!) synthesis values which must be configured at the hardware level. Software’s job is easier and fast by making the synthesis registers (channel-specific parameter value) directly accessible.
Wave table in external memory
The waveform data and meta-information in external memory cosnsist of two parts: Up to 384 waveform headers and the waveform sample data. Each waveform header is 12 bytes containing:
Wave data start address
Loop address
End address
Voice parameters: LFO, VIB, ADSR, etc.
Today’s wave table is probably similar albeit much bigger. Explore Yamaha’s Universal Voice Format (UVF) and you’ll see what I mean.
FM synthesis
The OPL4 supports 2- and 4-op frequency modulation (FM) synthesis. Quoting the data sheet:
The part that generates one sine wave is called an “operator”. A combination of these operators is called an “algorithm”. The first stage operator (see diegram below) is called the “modulator” and the second stage operator is called the “carrier”. The frequency and envelope can be set for each operator. “Feedback FM” is available to generate a wider range of sounds.
Basic FM system
Feedback FM system
Like the wave table synthesizer, the FM synthesizer has a large table of common and channel-specific synthesis parameters. The register table organization is a little more complicated. Quoting:
The OPL4 has 36 circuits that generate a sine wave. A circuit which generates a sine wave is called a “slot”. A sound unit which is generated by combining two or four operators is called a “channel”.
There are two kinds of sound generation control registers: registers settable in slot units and registers set in channel units.
In 2-op mode, two slots are used to generate on FM sound. With 36 available slots, 18 channels of sound can be generated. In 4-op mode, four slots are used to generate one FM sound. Six channels are generated using 24 slots.
YMF278 FM synthesis control registers
Whew! Given the two dimensional nature of register organization, addressing a specific parameter value for a specific operator is a complicated matter. (See the data sheet for details.) Without going a deep dive into register addressing, here is an image showing common and channel-specific synthesis parameters.
YMF278 4-op algorithms
Summary
I would say that the overall architecture today (SWPxx) is not unlike the architecture of yesteryear. The number of synthesis parameters, of course, has exploded with new features in the wave table synthesis hardware (filtering!) and FM synthesis hardware. Modern FM can route FM output samples to AWM2 wave table filters, adding many wrinkles to datapath and control design.
The main CPU is responsible for channel allocation as notes are played and for channel deallocation as notes are released and completed. Once a channel is allocated, the main CPU must write the appropriate voice parameters into the channel registers. Then, it’s up to the synthesizer hardware to crank out a new sound sample at a 44.1kHz rate. Of course, the per-channel sound samples must be mixed and routed to the DSP effects processors. I would love to get a look at the mixing and DSP processing.
I hope this trip into the past gives you some insight into present-day AWM2 and FM-X hardware and an appreciation for the complexity and sheer number of details at the 10,000 foot level of digital synthesizer design.
Yamaha hold many patents on wave table and FM synthesis techniques. I recommend U.S. Patent 5,250,748 (1993) which describes the digital filter in AWM. For the modern era, I suggest U.S. Patents 8,779,267 (2014), 8,957,295 (2015) and 9,040,800 (2015).
My Yamaha PSS-E30 Remie review promised updates about how Remie works out in the real world with a two year old. Here’s a the first update (and why we moved out west to be with our grandson).
Background: Our grandson attended Kindermusik classes while he was an infant and, man, we can see the effects already. He also hangs with older kids and his big-kid grandfather (me) who all play keys, so playing keys already seems like an every-day activity.
When he comes over to our house, we put on music, or he and I sit down at the Yamaha MODX or Genos, depending on what’s set up and handy. He is in love with the MODX Superknob and the built-in beats, now referring to beat music as “orange music.” Orange is his favorite color and he will literally ask us to play “orange music”. One wonders if he has synesthesia or if he just likes the occasional warm orange glow from the MODX Superknob.
Yamaha PSS-E30 Remie
Well, come Christmas day, he unwrapped Remie and broke into a joyful smile. He quickly started pushing the start/stop button; Do kids understand icons that early? We dropped a few beats and he literally was dancing along. So, I would say the first encounter with Remie was quite successful!
A few minutes later, we caught his mom (a former wind player) trying different features and taking a quiz. Couldn’t have been better. We’ll see how Remie works out in the long run.
Hey, Yamaha! You missed an opportunity, tho’. Kids love the Superknob. Your next keyboard for kids should have a Superknob on it!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! (And support art/music education).
I made a little more progress delineating Yamaha’s mini-key product lines. The PSS series is built for low manufacturing cost. Thanks to PSS-E30 (Remie) and PSS-A50 tear-downs, we know that the PSS series is based on the ultra-small, relatively inexpensive SWLL (YWM-830) processor.
So, what to make of the Yamaha SHS-300 and SHS-500 keytars?
The SHS-300 shares the same basic spec as the PSS series: 32 voice polyphony, 8cm speaker, only one effect (reverb), no MIDI, no Bluetooth, etc. Sound quality is comparable to the PSS series. I suspect that the SHS-300 is based on the SWLL, too.
The SHS-500, however, has a much better spec: 48 voice polyphony, MIDI and audio over USB, MIDI over Bluetooth BLE, 9 DSP effects, Master EQ, chorus, reverb, etc. A glance at the SHS-500 service manual shows that the SHS-500 has much in common with the current PSR E-series keyboards, including the SWX03 processor.
If I get the time, I’ll write a quick post about SHS-500 internals.
The SHS-500 is definitely a cut above the SHS-300 in build quality, sound, MIDI capability and tweak-ability. I’m sorely tempted to take a bite of the apple. NAMM, however, is fast approaching (16-19 January 2020) and good sense tells me to wait. Yamaha’s pre-show press release promises 75 new products including a new family-oriented home keyboard.
Product personality is determined by the plastic skin/parts, software in the embedded serial ROM, and the addition/absence of the USB interface integrated circuit (IC). There may be a few other minor differences, but it would be difficult to pin them down without the service manuals. Speaking of which, if you start a mod project, I strongly recommend reading the PSR-F50 Service Manual because the F50’s guts are very similar to the PSS series.
Unless you really want the F50 or E30 voices and functionality, the A50 is the best choice for a mod. The A50 has the USB interface IC and the necessary firmware supporting MIDI over USB. The A50 has a higher street price than the other models, but USB MIDI is worth it.
At the 100,000 foot level, there is plenty of empty space inside for a small microcontroller (e.g., Arduino) or sound mangling analog electronics. You could choose to either keep the speaker if you want portable sound or ditch the speaker and go solely with the headphone output to external amplification.
If keep the speaker, you could easily add some sound mangling circuits like a filter or effects. The littelBits filter might be a good start and is certainly small enough to fit in the empty space. Should be easy to tap into battery power as the battery leads are exposed.
If you ditch the speaker, you have a lot more space to work with. I’d be tempted to add the Korg NTS-1 once it’s available. The NTS-1 can process external audio and has digital effects. Previews have given the digital effects high marks. Unfortunately, the NTS-1 is spec’ed 12.9cm by 7.8cm by 3.9cm, which won’t fit directly into a PSS case. A lot depends upon the size of the NTS-1 electronics board. Even if we can’t fit the NTS-1 into a PSS case, the NTS-1 would be a nice complement to the A50.
Without the speaker, one could use the front panel real estate for additional controls. With all of the arpeggios and such, manual control over filtering and effects would be welcome (in addition to the A50’s fixed motion effects).
At the 50,000 foot level, any one of the PSS models could be stripped down for parts. The case and front panel may or may not float your boat, but you could use the shell and front panel for a keyboard project of your own. It would be easy to apply new graphics to the front panel. The front panel buttons are a switch matrix which can be easily mapped out and then scanned by your code. The front panel has a three digit 7 segment display that needs to be multiplexed and driven.
The keybed is quite useful. The keys are affixed to the bottom of the case, so unless you’re reusing the case, too, you probably will need to cut the keybed out of the case, leaving everything as a unit. The keys sit above a printed circuit board (PCB) with the rubberized switch contacts.
Reface YC switch matrix
I’ll make a leap of faith here and assume that it’s the same keybed as Reface. The schematic above is taken from the Reface YC Service Manual. The key matrix has seven select lines (BK0 to BK6) and twelve sense lines (MK10 to MK21). Your software needs to drive one of the select lines and immediately read the sense lines. There are two sense lines per switch for the “lower” and “higher” key contacts. Software can determine key velocity by measuring the time between contact closures for an individual key.
The most tasty enchilada is the digital logic (DM) board. The A50 board, in particular, could form the basis of a USB MIDI tone module. One could add 5-pn MIDI by bridging a 5-pin DIN and the USB micro-B port. The DM board is quite small: 13.5cm by 4.5cm. And clearly, the DM board can be battery powered. Even if you re-housed the DM board and front panel board, you still would get a very compact module.
Modding at the 10,000 foot level gets difficult. There are the usual difficulties tracing signals and soldering surface mount (SMT) devices and signal paths. Even if you strip out the SWLL (YMW-830) integrated circuit, I’m not sure what you would do with it!
Nor am I confident that the firmware can be easily by re-engineered. Yamaha have never documented wave chip internals, so you don’t have much guidance. There isn’t much code — firmware and waveforms reside together in the 2MByte serial ROM. I would guess that the firmware is SH architecture. Even so, reverse engineering would be a difficult task. I have my doubts about repurposing the code. At best, one might be able to add or change the waveforms?
Personally, I’m inclined to go the sound mangling route.
A few more thoughts before closing.
The A50 is not a General MIDI module. If you want a (mostly) GM/XG compatible Yamaha tone module, I suggest the Pocket Miku NSX-39. Also, while stumbling around the web, you might want to check out the Yamaha YMF-825. It’s a 4-op FM chip which Yamaha released for makers.
With Yamaha PSS-E30 Remie at hand, I’m still comparison shopping the PSS series against the Yamaha SHS-500 Sonogenic. The Sonogenic has better build quality, has 5-pin MIDI as well as MIDI over USB/Bluetooth, and integrates with Chord Tracker.
Then there is the issue of sound quality. Remie and the rest of the PSS series (PSS-F30 and PSS-A50) have only one main DSP effect: reverb. With the exception of the A50’s motion effects, there aren’t the means to tweak sounds.
As to preset voices, I would love to play Remie and Sonogenic side by side. However, in this day and age when brick and mortar stores do not stock inventory or demo units, that’s impossible. Gosh, I ordered Remie from the UK — I live in the big Seattle USA metro area — with the intention of gifting it to our grandson. (A good excuse. 🙂 ) The PSS series keyboards are so inexpensive that even an impulsive purchase is justifiable. I still haven’t seen a Sonogenic alive in the wild and don’t have hand-on experience with it (yet).
First some tech-head stuff. Remie has 32 voice polyphony and my teardown shows that it is based on the tiny Yamaha SWLL (YMW-830) system-on-a-chip (SOC). It stores its program and waveforms on a 2MByte ROM. Right away, I expect Remie’s sound quality to be compromised with respect to the current PSR E-series.
The current PSR E-series is based on the proprietary Yamaha SWX03 processor. The SWX03 is a much larger SOC with external RAM, ROM, digital to analog conversion (DAC), analog to digital conversion (ADC), and LCD display interface. The program/wave memory is 32MBytes (Spansion S29GL256) much larger than Remie. The SWX03 supports 48 voice polyphony and 10 DSP effects in addition to the usual PSR E-series reverb and chorus. Thus, I expect better sound quality from the E-series.
The SHS-500 also has 48 voice polyphony and 10 DSP effects. These characteristics alone make a strong case for the SWX03 as the main engine within the Sonogenic.
The Japanese demo gets rolling roughly 3:30 in. Our jazzer compatriot plays through the presets without a backing track or lots of effects. This is as close to factory stock as one can get. Thank you! Here are direct links to some of the Sonogenic instruments in the video:
These sound pretty good and much better than Remie. The electric piano can bark! The jazz guitar is decent. Many of the brass and woodwind instruments have vibrato sampled in.
The Sonogenic program change table gives us a major clue about the origin of the Sonogenic voices. Most of the Sonogenic voices match up with the PSR series:
SHS-500 Bank Bank Sonogenic MSB LSB PC# PSR/Genos voice ----------------- ---- ---- --- ----------------------- Saw Lead 1 104 20 91 Gemini Saw Lead 2 0 104 82 RS Saw Lead1 Quack Lead 0 112 85 Portatone Bright Decay 104 21 85 Square Lead 0 112 81 Square Lead Under Heim 104 51 88 Under Heim Analogon 104 52 82 Analogon Synth Brass 0 113 64 Ober Brass Electric Piano 104 28 5 DX Electric Piano 0 112 6 DX Modern Electric Guitar 104 3 31 Jazz Guitar 104 0 27 Cool! Slide Jazz Guitar Acoustic Guitar 0 117 26 Steel Guitar Electric Bass 104 6 34 Slap Bass 0 112 37 Slap Bass Synth Bass 0 112 39 Resonance Bass DX Bass 0 118 40 DX100 Bass Piano 0 112 2 Bright Piano Piano & Strings 104 39 1 Piano & Pad 104 40 1 Air Choir 0 112 55 Air Choir Strings 0 116 49 Bow Strings Brass 0 117 63 Pop Brass Trumpet 0 115 57 Sweet! Trumpet Flute 0 115 74 Sweet! Classical Flute Alto Sax 104 2 66 Tenor Sax 104 3 67 Harmonica 0 112 23 Sweet! Harmonica
I verified the matches by comparing the YouTube video against the same voices on Genos. (Removing the Genos effects, of course.) The blank spots in the table are voices which Yamaha re-sampled from PSR or elsewhere. That’s why the electric piano is so darned good. The piano layer voices have a warmer, mellower timbre than the Bright Piano (which really lives up to its name).
So, there you have it. On the basis of sound quality, the Sonogenic SHS-500 wins over the PSS family. Yes, the Sonogenic is more expensive, but you do indeed get more for the money. If Sonogenic had even a single organ voice, it would be a no-brainer and I would have bought one by now. Oh, Yamaha, why do you leave these things out?
Now let’s take a first look at Yamaha PSS-E30 Remie inside.
My Remie is a seasoned world traveller. It was designed in Japan, made in India, distributed by Rellingen, Germany, sold by Amazon UK and played in Washington state, USA. Physics and electrons are indeed universal.
The PSS-E30, PSS-F30 and PSS-A50 are essentially the same physical product. They are part of a family like Reface. The Reface family, BTW, is two pairs of fraternal twins: YC/CP and CS/DX. The PSS family are fraternal triplets and share the same printed circuit board (PCB). In fact, the PCB has three little check boxes. A mark in a check box denotes the specific product personality.
Yamaha PSS-E30 Remie digital logic board (DM)
Product personality is determined by four things: front panel graphics, software, content (voices, styles, etc.) and USB interface.
Line up the three PSS keyboards and you see that they all have the same panel layout. The buttons are all in the same physical place. Everything else that is external is just skin (case color and stick on panel graphics). The panel connections to the digital logic board (DM) are the same in all three products.
Next up, each member of the family has different code and content. The software and content are stored in a Winbond 2MByte serial ROM. The main CPU (SWLL) reads the binary code and waveforms from ROM at boot time. The ROM components are stamped with a product specific code: “2H” for Remie and “2I” for the PSS-A50.
The 2MByte ROM holds both code and waveforms. The small ROM harkens back to the day of the Yamaha QY-70 when XG voices and drum kits fit into 4MBytes. Given the small ROM, one shouldn’t expect super high voice quality in any of the models.
Finally, the PSS-A50 is the only sibling with an active USB interface. Remie has an unpopulated IC site as you can see in the upper left corner of its PCB. This site is populated with a USB chip in the A50. Without the chip, Yamaha can build and sell Remie at a lower cost than the A50. Even if one carefully soldered the correct USB IC into the unpopulated site in Remie, I doubt if Remie’s software has the code to recognize it.
The PSS-F30 is a shrunken PSR-F50. For the rest of this discussion, I’m using the Yamaha PSR-F50 Service Manual as my guide to the electronics. As to the keybed, I’m using the Reface YC Service Manual.
Remie circuit boards and ribbon cables
Inside, each member of the PSS family consists of three circuit boards: the main logic board (DM), the front panel board and the keybed. The front panel board and keybed are each a switch matrix. The CPU scans both the front panel and keybed separately. It scans each board by asserting a switch group select signal and then reading the current state of each switch in the group.
There are twelve switches in a keybed group, two switches per key. The switch contacts are at two different heights and close at two different times when struck. The CPU measures the closure time between the first contact and the second conent in order to sense key velocity.
The panel PCB and the keybed PCB are each joined to the digital logic board by short ribbon cables. The loudspeaker signals hitch a ride through the front panel ribbon cable.
The main CPU and tone generator is a Yamaha proprietary integrated circuit — the YMW830-V or “SWLL”. The SWLL is the ultra-small brother to the SWL01. The chip is housed in an 80 pin surface mount quad pack which is only 1.3cm on a side. That’s tiny. The entire PCB is a tidy 13.5cm by 4.5cm.
The SWLL is a true system on a chip (SOC) containing the CPU, RAM, tone generation circuitry, UART, ADCs and DACs. Amazing. The chip inside is small, too, and Yamaha can print these like postage stamps in large volume. Everything about the SWLL screams “low cost”.
Using the PSR-F50 Service Manual, here is the SWLL pin-out:
1 DACLPP Left channel DAC output (positive) 2 DACLMM Left channel DAC output (minus) 3 DAC_VDD DAC Vdd 4 DAC_VSS DAC Vss 5 DACRMM Right channel DAC output (minus) 6 DACRPP Right channel DAC output (positive) 7 VSS Vss 8 KYN11 Key sense (input) 9 KYN12 Key sense 10 KYN13 Key sense 11 KYN14 Key sense 12 KYN15 Key sense 13 KYN16 Key sense 14 KYB1 Keyboard key group select (output) 15 KYB2 Keyboard key group select 16 KYB3 Keyboard key group select 17 KYB4 Keyboard key group select 18 KYB5 Keyboard key group select 19 KYB6 Keyboard key group select 20 KYB7 Keyboard key group select
21 KYB8 Keyboard key group select 22 KYB9 Keyboard key group select 23 KYB10 Keyboard key group select 24 KYB11 Keyboard key group select 25 IOVDD 26 VSS 27 LDOTSTO 28 KYN21 Key sense (input) 29 KYN22 Key sense 30 KYN23 Key sense 31 KYN24 Key sense 32 KYN25 Key sense 33 KYN26 Key sense 34 SWIN0 Panel scan input 35 SWIN1 Panel scan input 36 SWIN2 Panel scan input 37 SWIN3 Panel scan input 38 VSS 39 SDQ2 Serial ROM WP# (DQ2) 40 SDO Serial ROM DO (DQ1)
41 SCSN Serial ROM chip select (CS#) 42 IOVDD 43 SDQ3 Serial ROM NC (DQ3) 44 SCLK Serial ROM clock (CLK) 45 SDI Serial ROM DI (DQ0) 46 VSS 47 PORTB0 PSW0 48 PORTB1 (7seg_e0) 49 PORTB2 (7seg_e1) 50 PORTB3 (7seg_e2) 51 PORTB4 (7seg_lat) 52 PORTE0 /PSWI 53 PORTC0 (Sustain input) 54 TXD UART transmit data (output) 55 RXD UART receive data (input) 56 PLLBP 57 TEST 58 LDOTST 59 IC_ (Voltage detector) 60 VSS
61 ADC_VDD (+3.3V) 62 ADC_VSS (Ground) 63 AN0 Analog input 64 AN1 Analog input (battery check) 65 VSS 66 PLLVSS 67 PLLVDD 68 LDOC 69 LDOVDD 70 LDOVSS 71 VSS 72 XI Crystal input 73 XO Crystal output 74 VSS 75 IOVDD 76 TDO Test data out 77 TCK Test clock 78 TMS 79 TDI Test data in 80 TRST_ Test reset
I determined pin function by tracing signals in the PSR-F50 Service Manual. Yamaha may have changed things a bit in Remie and A50. I have not determined how the USB interface is connected to SWLL in the A50 nor have I even identified the component.
Yamaha PSS-E30 Remie LSI components
For the PSR-F50, the SWLL internal clock is 33.8688MHz and the master clock is 67.7376MHz. The clocks are generated from a 16.9344MHz crystal. All clocks are a multiple of 44,100Hz, the sample frequency. I can’t read the marking on Remie’s crystal, but there isn’t any reason to believe that it differs from F50.
The three digit LED display is both retro and cheap. Remie has the same eleven transistors driving the time-multiplexed seven segment display.
Under software control, transistors Q301 to Q303 (7seg_e0 to 7seg_e2) select one of the three digits.
Transistors Q304 to Q311 drive the individual segments.
Segment status is latched into an eight flip-flop SN74LV273 from the SWL KYB1 to KYB8 pins. The latch clock is produced by SWLL pin PORTB4 (7seg_lat). Note that the KYB pins do double duty as inputs from the keybed.
Whew! That leaves us deep in the weeds! Next time, I’ll outline a few ways to mod the new PSS keyboards.
