PSR-6300 (1986)

What the PS-6100 should have been?

Release Date: 1986

Introduction and design: Isn’t it the same? Not really

Yamaha released the second incarnation of their top-of-the-line arranger models in 1986, and labelled it the PSR-6300, in contrast to the prior “PS” line. The PSR label has since them been omnipresent in the company’s accompaniment keyboards product line, and arguably it’s been one of their greatest commercial successes.

Taking a look at the PSR-6300, the similitudes with the older PS-6100 become pretty evident. Externally, they use the same slim and stylish design, with the very characteristic foldable control panel feature with the built-in music rest. They are similar to the point that they are virtually indistinguishable when folded, unless when you notice that the PSR-6300 has all the three MIDI terminals in the rear panel (in, out and thru), instead of the only two of the previous model. That’s just one of the features that show that the 6300 is a more “serious” machine than the 6100, but there are many more, as we will see. The rest of the connections remain the same: an AC input for the internal PSU (detachable IEC cable), a sustain jack, another switch pedal jack, an expression pedal input (RCA), stereo output connectors (RCA), in/out minijacks for tape, and a headphones jack in the front side.

When the control panel is open, it looks like a PS-6100 with more buttons, but there are also some evident differences, such as a LED screen (at last!) and, more interestingly, pitch bend and modulation wheels. Unfortunately, Yamaha introduced the silly shortcoming of limiting the modulation effect to the monophonic “solo” voices. There is also a cartridge slot, thus giving two alternatives for loading and saving data: tape and cartridge.

The keyboard mechanism is also the same used in the PS-6100 and in many other synthesizer models. But luckily, Yamaha took the sound decision of making it velocity-sensitive (with three different levels of sensitivity), which makes a really great difference in expressiveness when compared to the previous model. On the other hand, aftertouch is dropped (an indeed, there wouldn’t be again an arranger keyboard form Yamaha with aftertouch until several years later). But all things considered, a keyboard with velocity but no aftertouch makes much more sense that a keyboard without velocity and aftertouch, especially if you cannot use this feature other than in a few monophonic voices.

The sound

The sonic structure of the PSR-6300 remains the same as before, with separate “orchestra upper” and “orchestra lower” sections (polyphonic) and a “solo” section (monophonic). Each block has its own presets (16 each), which, again, are not editable, to make it clear that this is not a synthesizer but an entertainment keyboard. Nevertheless, there is a nice “to upper” button in the orchestra lower section, which extends the playability of the lower tones to the whole keyboard range, thus expanding the sound palette of the “upper” section to 32 presets. There is a caveat, though, and it’s that the lower tones are limited to 4-voice polyphony, no matter if the “upper” or “solo” are activated or not. It’s a pity considering that there are some interesting sounds such like a quite nice Rhodes-like electric piano, which it’s not the same as the DX-like EP of the “upper” set. There are also three different selectable split points for the lower part. Every part has its own independent sustain (2 types) and analog chorus selectors, which is nice. As in the PS-6100, the chorus is the only effect (still no DSPs). The solo section adds a portamento switch with its own slider for setting the portamento time. There is also a harmonizer (the “duet” and “trio” options) for the upper orchestra voices when playing with an accompaniment. As in the previous model, there are also independent volume sliders for each part.

As usual in the keyboards of that time, the presets are mostly emulations of real instruments, rather than synthetic, electronic or experimental sounds. Although FM synthesis is very flexible and powerful, emulation of real instruments it’s not its strongest point, so in general terms the presets sound very artificial. Fortunately, the combination of both a more powerful FM sound chip (the OPZ) and the greater expertise of Yamaha’s sound programmers in 1986 when compared to two years earlier, makes that most of the presets of the PSR-6300 sound significantly better than those of the PS-6100. For instance, there’s a very good version of the classic DX electric piano sound. Still, some later 4-Op FM models such as the V50 (released in 1989) have better sounds.

Regarding percussion, the PSR-6300 provides a total of 27 different PCM sounds (compared to the 21 of the PS-6100), inherited from Yamaha’s RX line of drum machines. Sadly, you cannot edit pitch or panorama, so the resulting sound is quite plain and mechanic. They are nevertheless responsive to velocity to some limited extent. As with the melodic parts, there is an independent volume slider for drums. One important difference when compared to the PS-6100 is that, while in the previous model you could only actually play the drum sounds when programming a new drum pattern, on the PSR-6300 there is a “manual drums” button that lets you play the drums through the keyboard in real time.

Some sound examples:

Acoustic Piano 

Electric Piano (Rhodes type)

Organ

Guitar

Strings

Brass

Rhythms and accompaniments

The PSR-6300 provides 32 accompaniment styles. 24 of them are preset ones and hence not editable, whereas another 8 are “custom” ones (they are also pre-programmed but are editable). As in the PS-6100, there are independent volume sliders for bass, drums and chords, but the timbres are fixed for each style. There’s also a “variation” button, and, in a relevant improvement compared to the previous model, there are independent buttons for every fill-in (4 patterns for each style instead of only 3), and an intro/ending button. On the other hand, the quite awkward “claps” buttons are gone. The “sync stop” feature is still there, and the tempo is now controlled by buttons instead of a slider (no need to set it “by ear”), with a LED screen that shows the exact tempo and 4 LED lights that indicate the beat within the measure.

Another great improvement is that, at last, and unlike in the PS-6100, the “custom” styles are properly editable, that is, you can program not only the drum pattern, but also the bass line and the chords, so you can create whole new styles.

Some accompaniment examples:

Big Band

Bossa Nova

Custom 3 (Jazz Ballad)

Electric Pop

Heavy Metal

March

Pops

Slow Rock

The recorder (“music programmer”)

The multi-track sequencer has been a distinct feature of the high-end arranger keyboards since the first incarnation (PS-6100), and this time, as in many other departments, it has been improved in the PSR-6300. The programmer has now 5 independent parts. Every melodic part has its own channel (solo, upper and lower), plus the chord sequencer for the accompaniment and the “manual bass” part. In the case or the accompaniment part, it’s possible to record it in real time or in “step write” mode. The memory management also changes in comparison to the previous PS-6100. Instead of having a fixed number of notes for each track, the PSR-6300 provides 23 “memory units” which can be freely distributed among the different tracks. According to the user manual, each “memory unit” allows for about 200 notes for the solo part, 150 notes for the orchestra parts, 200 notes for the bass and about 450 chords for the accompaniment track. So, if only “orchestra upper” is used, you can record up to around 3,500 notes.

The recordings are stored in non-volatile memory which lasts about one week with the power off. In order to keep them longer, you can save them to tape (as in the PS-6100), or, as a novelty, in a RAM cartridge.

Amplification, connections and MIDI

Almost everything that was said regarding the PS-6100 in this department can also be applied to the PSR-6300. The amplification and the speaker system is far from excellent and it’s better to use external amplification or good headphones when possible. The quality of the line outputs (RCA) seems slightly better, though.

With regard to the connections and terminals, there are two remarkable differences compared to the previous model: the first one is the inclusion of the midi “thru” terminal, which places the 6300 at the same level as the professional synthesizers. The second one is the addition of the cartridge slot for a faster and more reliable management of data than the cassette tape. Other differences are the inclusion of a second pedal jack terminal and the elimination of the RCA line input.

The MIDI implementation is still quite limited, and it’s set in “OMNI” mode by default, as in the prior PS-6100. But, in contrast to the previous model, MIDI capabilities are better covered in the user's manual, and a MIDI implementation chart is included.  Another major difference is the inclusion of a specific manual which explains the MIDI capabilities in detail, called "MIDI Introduction" (see "Other resources" section for the link).  In that manual it is revelaed that there is a "PSR Exclusive Mode", in which the keyboard can perform as a multitimbral sound source (6 parts in total) for use with a sequencer or a computer. In that mode, midi channels, polphony for each channel and available sounds for each part are fixed, though.  Channel 1 is for "Upper orchestra" part (4 notes), channel 2 is for "Lower Orchestra" (4 notes), channel 3 is for "Bass" (monophonic), channel 4 is for "Solo" (monophonic), channel 5 is for "Chord" (4 notes), channel 15 is for "Rythm", and channel 16 is for other MIDI data (tempo, transpose, etc.). Quite oddly, only the "solo" part (Ch. 4) responds to modulation and portamento, but the data for that controllers must be received on channel 1. The sound palette comprises 16 different sounds for each melodic part (27 for drums), but the sound list is different for each part, so for instance you cannot select a bass sound for the Upper part or a horn sound for the Bass part.

Verdict

In general terms, it could be said that the PSR-6300 addresses many of the shortcomings of the PS-6100, and, in a certain sense, it’s what the PS-6100 should have been, given that the technology was virtually the same as two years before. Although it cannot be considered by any means as a “professional” keyboard, it’s certainly a much more “serious” and “rounded” model than the previous one. Still, there are some silly limitations, like the modulation wheel that only affects the “solo” part, or the 4-voice polyphony for the “orchestra lower” voices. 

Other resources

User Manual

MIDI Manual

Service Manual