Yamaha V50

Yamaha V50 Image

Imagine the excellent sonic characteristics of the DX11 synthesizer or TX-81Z sound module. The V50 is the ultimate 4-Operator FM synth workstation comprising 16-note polyphony, a dual effects processor (with distortion), a large dual line, backlit LCD display, a drum machine, a 16,000 note sequencer and a 3.5in floppy drive to save your songs and voices!

The DVA function and built in voice-based pitch delay are two interesting features in this synth. It's great for percussive sounds such as short bass sounds, marimbas, clavinets, etc and should one pitch an operator really high and work with the pitch bender, one gets very cool ambient effects. It's very rare yet cheap in today's 2nd-hand market and coupled with an outboard (analog) filter it makes an unbeatable digital FM synth!

The V50 has been used by Sin.

43 Visitor comments
Grant
February 11, 2010 @ 2:27 pm
It was my first synth- I got one in the mid 90's for $600 and another last year for $20- so I'm a little biased, but I LOVE this thing. Great for rich FM synthesis, and it can really make some nasty and experimental sounds if that's what you're into. In fact I would say experimental noise is where it excels. I have played it for audiences solo, and there is enough meat on it to put up a nice hearty wall of sound. Presets are cheesy but you can make them sound good pretty quickly. Easily navigable (also I personally think the step sequencer is very intuitive, but this is the machine I learned on). Built incredibly solid (weighs a ton). The ROM battery will die, and the disk drive may fail (I had to replace my drive belt with an old one from a VCR)- those are the only two known problems with this thing and neither make it unplayable. If you find one for under $200, BUY IT, you will not regret it.
S.Indigo
December 27, 2009 @ 4:23 am
Very underrated synth! Built like a war tank, and capable of layering up to eight synth parts plus effects, it can produce wall-destroying bass, brass, percussion, FX, etc. Not very good at strings, mediocre drum samples and the sequencer is a joke nowadays, but really useful velocity and aftertouch response.
After so many years, it still surprises me.
Get one now that it is still cheap ...
lady da da
October 26, 2009 @ 12:50 pm
Rick Wakeman used it in 1990.
Marcel
May 21, 2009 @ 9:33 pm
Peter, the V50 has a "damping" setting setup>damp where you can set the release time for the stolen voice.
If you set it to "very slow" you will not get any clicking sounds, though it will delay the new note (good for slow attack sounds, bad timing for percussive sounds)
Fred
February 18, 2009 @ 7:51 pm
I'm not sure why others are complaining about the sequencer. I found it to be one of the easier hardware sequencers to navigate. It's very fast for step entry. Also, this synth has lots of alternate tunings, which makes it pretty unique. And lastly, you can load each of the sequencer tracks with a different sound, and then play them all as one giant "program". This lets you make some seriously fat sounding (and real sounding) brass by detuning each of the voices. Thumbs up for this synth,
 
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  • Demos & Media

  • YouTube Thumbnail
    Video 1     - 1989 Yamaha V50 Synthesizer Demo Video Part 1 of 2

    Manual - Download the original owner's manual here.

  • Specifications
  • Polyphony - 16 notes
  • Oscillators - 4-Operator Digital FM synthesizer
  • #Instruments - 8 parts
  • Filter - None
  • VCA - 1 DVA env , 1 Pitch Envelope Generator
  • LFO - One
  • Effects - 2 FX Units - 16 different effects
  • Keyboard - 5 octave touch sensitive with pressure sensitivity.
  • Memory - 100 preset / 100 user voices, 100 preset performances / 100 user, 3.5in disk drive.
  • Arpeg/Seq - sequencer: 16000 notes, 8 songs, 32 note polyphonic, punch in/out, real / step programming.
  • Control - MIDI
  • Date Produced - 1989
  • Resources & Credits

  • Images from AudioFanzine.

    Thanks to Edwin Balzan for providing this info.

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