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
izera
February 15, 2011 @ 8:40 am
@knarf.
Even better, layer the cz5000 and v50!
Sounds so ethereal.
John Husted
February 12, 2011 @ 12:59 pm
Moth, I have a Yamaha V50 for sale. It comes with the stand, manual and 2 foot pedals, 1 on/off, 1 continuous controller. I'm trying to find a current price
Moth
February 7, 2011 @ 3:44 am
It's a DX11 with a sequencer, double polyphony and FX, ie awesome. If anyone's selling one please let me know :o)
Evan Long
February 6, 2011 @ 7:22 pm
If you take a TX81Z, double its polyphony, add a 61-key interface, an eight-track sequencer, a digital FX processor, and a sampled drum kit and percussion (similar to that of the SY77) you'll wind up with something a lot like a V50. They're virtually unknown but really sound quite good, better than the "Z," IMO. They're 4-op, yes, but as the manual states, the V50 is intended to be played in performance mode, with several patches layered over each other. Used in that way, they can easily recreate 6-op or even 8-op patches based on parallel carrier algorithms.
Cal McLeod
October 29, 2010 @ 12:11 pm
Still use my V50 quite a lot. I agree with the guy below who said that the sounds were a bit underwhelming and programming 4 Operator FM Digital sounds is tedious compared to programming an analogue synth like a Juno-106 for example but when used as a sketch pad for songs or as the midi controller for sequences, timing and program changes when playing live the V50 was absolutely brilliant...it never EVER failed. Some idiot even twisted his feet around the audio cables coming out of the back of my V50 once which resulted in the poor synth being pulled violently backwards off my three-tier stand mid song.....the synth fell about four feet, hit the ground and continued playing as if nothing had happened....didn't even skip a beat or anything....honest! You can now get your hands on some much cooler sounding patches for it off the 'net for buttons. I layer mine with a Korg Polysix and can get a pretty good approximation of Numan Polymoog sounds. Cal.
 
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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.

Errors or Corrections? Send them here.