Yamaha Portasound electronic musical keyboards were produced by the
Yamaha Corporation
is a Japanese multinational corporation and conglomerate with a very wide range of products and services. It is one of the constituents of Nikkei 225 and is the world's largest musical instrument manufacturing company. The former motorcycle div ...
during the 1980s and 1990s. The name suggests the instruments' portability, with battery operation being a consistent feature across the line. Many of these keyboards were designed for children with small keys and simple preset functions suitable for educational use. In 1982 the line introduced a card reader system which allowed players to learn and play along with sequenced songs. The PSS line features mini keys and the PSR line features full size keys. Some of the higher-end keyboards have advanced features like programmable
synthesizer
A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...
controls,
midi
MIDI (; Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a technical standard that describes a communications protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, computers, and re ...
capability, and sampler functions.
Contemporary use
Electronic music
Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...
ians and
sound engineers have used these instruments to achieve an authentic
lo-fi
Lo-fi (also typeset as lofi or low-fi; short for low fidelity) is a music or production quality in which elements usually regarded as imperfections in the context of a recording or performance are present, sometimes as a deliberate choice. The ...
sound and some modify them with
circuit bending
Circuit bending is the creative, chance-based customization of the circuits within electronic devices such as low-voltage, battery-powered guitar effects, children's toys and digital synthesizers to create new musical or visual instruments and ...
to extend their sound palettes. As of 2015, musician Dan Friel continues to use a Portasound that he received as a gift in 1984. Circa 2017, Italian artist Modula released an EP called ''780's Chronicles'', recorded primarily using a Yamaha PSS780. Cyril Hahn uses a Yamaha PSS380 in his original compositions, and notes its noise profile as an endearing characteristic.
Unofficial software and VST plug-ins
In the 21st century, several independent software developers have produced additional tools to modify and store patches for midi-capable PSS keyboards, such as PSS Edit, PSS Wave Editor and CTRLR. VST plug-in soft-synth versions of some of these keyboards have also been released by various developers, including the Yamaha PSS-170 and PSS-480 by Audio Animals, GSS-370 (based on the PSS370 keyboard) and PortaFM.
[{{Cite web, title=Get the sound of your ‘80s PortaSound home keyboard with Plogue’s PortaFM synth plugin, url=https://www.musicradar.com/news/get-the-sound-of-your-80s-portasound-home-keyboard-with-plogues-portafm-synth-plugin, last=May 2018, first=Ben Rogerson 16, website=MusicRadar, language=en, access-date=2020-05-16]
References
Electronic musical instruments
Yamaha synthesizers
Products introduced in the 1980s