Yamaha Black Boxes is a perfectly minimal database of classic Yamaha keyboards and synths of the 1980s, maintaned by Alberto Arlandi. I chanced across it looking for information on the one I had as a wee thing, the PSS 170. While it doesn't have complete data for every single model from the company's vast lineup of similar FM-synthesis machines, each has its own page and a very handsome technical illustration.
The Yamaha PSS-170 is the successor to the PSS-160 and PSS-150, the entry level keyboard to the Portasound PSS line. 100 voices, 10 drum rhythms with fill-ins and an accompaniment section. Voices are based on a 2 operator FM synthesizer chip (the Yamaha YM2413) that can be slightly altered with sustain, vibrato, or portamento effects.
There's a single mono speaker, but it does have a headphone/aux connector.
There's an instagram too, with all sorts of goodies such as a Ryuichi Sakamoto's cartridge for the DX, ads, manuals, appearances on Top of the Pops and other contemporaneous photos.
There are so many cool keyboards on this site, and it even has live search links to eBay auctions. This is extraordinarily dangerous for me.
Previously: Yamaha betting that we`ve hit the `5-disc CD changer` stage of the retro audio technology cycle
