Yamaha PSS-14, owned from November 2003-present, bought for $17
The newest edition to my studio is also the most disappointing, not for any fault on its part, but because of what I did to it...
I saw it on ebay for fairly cheap and after seeing a favorable review of the similar PSS-7 on the tablehooter site (link at bottom) I decided it would be interesting to get and circuit bend. Another bid brought the price to $10 and the stupid $7 shipping fee meant that I would pay a little more than I anticipated...
Well, I got it, and played around with it for a while. The demo songs include Erik Satie's first Gymnopedie, which I thought was a really nice inclusion. The sounds were comparable to the quality of the SA-5, at least in fidelity. There are a couple of really nice sounds, including the choir, string ensemble, and vibraphone sounds.
I tried to circuit bend it. Some good stuff happened when I connected the clock oscillator pins of the main chip to various points. I made a brief recording of the results and then proceeded to kill it by connecting something I shouldn't have.
That's right, I broke it within hours of getting it. It's now sitting in the dark recesses of my closet where I don't have to look at it.
pictures:
sounds:
PSS-14- while circuitbending, moments before I killed it.
links:
Yamaha has user manuals for nearly all of their products available here: Yamaha Manual Library (English)
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