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Is it a synthesizer? Is it an arranger? Is it a sampler? Is it a workstation? It's the PSR-8000
Is it a synthesizer? Is it an arranger? Is it a sampler? Is it a workstation? It's the PSR-8000
This is a PSR-7000, right? Oh, wait... ;)
Introduction and Design – Welcome to the Modern Arranger Workstation
At first glance, one might think that the PSR-8000 is pretty much the same as the PSR-7000; in fact, they look so similar that it’s not difficult to mistake them if we don’t pay enough attention and don’t take a closer look. For some reason, Yamaha seems to do this quite often, such as in the PS-6100 and the PSR-6300, in the PSR-4500 and the PSR-4600 or, to a certain extent, in the PSR-5700 and the PSR-6000. The PSR-8000 uses the same external design as the previous PSR-7000, the same colour scheme and the same screen, only with slight differences on the front panel (there are more buttons and now the tweeter speakers are integrated there), and more connections on the back panel.
But those external similarities are misleading, as the PSR-8000, besides the usual “more and better sounds and styles” stuff, has some new features and enhancements which are quite remarkable and set this model quite apart from the older PSR-7000; in a few words, it’s much more different (and better) from the 7000 than what its appearance suggests. In fact, it could be said that the PSR-8000 finally sets the frame for the following (including the current) high-end arranger workstations. Of course, newer models are better in nearly all aspects (more and better sounds, styles and so on), but they hardly have really new or groundbreaking features which are absent in the PSR-8000. This model is actually a mature incarnation of an arranger keyboard, and all the following ones are quite just refinements.
Some of the most salient new features are the following:
A much improved DSP effects section, with more effect types and a maximum of 9 different simultaneous effects (the PSR-7000 had just 3, or 4 considering the digital equalizer).
Sampling capabilities; there’s 1 Mb of sampling RAM memory (expandable to 33 Mb). You can use the sampled waveforms to create you own custom voices (or you can load standard .WAV files from disk), and save them to the internal hard disk or to a floppy.
A much improved microphone/line input, with its own dedicated DSP effects processor, “talk” function, and, most notably, a vocal harmonizer for adding additional voices to your singing, with effects such as gender change or auto-tuning.
An updated and improved virtual tonewheel organ engine.
Improved connectivity, with extra connections such as a stereo loop send/input (for external effects processing) and a MIDI serial interface.
XG MIDI standard compatibility
New Tech
The PSR-7000 finally dropped the “GEWx” era of sound generators (GEW5, GEW8, GEW9…) and used the much better SWP20, one of the first models in the “SWP” line of Yamaha’s sound generators, which is still currently used, being the SWP70 (used in the Montage, the Genos and the like) its latest and most powerful incarnation at the time of writing these lines.
The PSR-8000 uses a SWP30 as its sound core, which has at least three important differences when compared to the SWP20: First, it’s 64-voice polyphonic (the PSR-7000 had to use two SWP20’s in order to obtain this amount); second, it has new types of filters other than the typical low-pass filter (LPF); and third, it has a built-in or integrated “MEG” (multiple effects generator), thus eliminating the need for an external IC. Much probably there are many other internal differences and enhancements I’m not aware of, but the most notable aspect is that this chip was good and powerful enough for being used also in the next generations of flagship arrangers until the release of the Tyros.
Another relevant addition is the VOP3 chip, a DSP which handles the voice harmonizer functions. This feature adds in real time two additional voices to the incoming microphone signal, for creating up to three-voice choirs. Several parameters, such as the interval of the generated voices related to the main voice, vibrato, volume of each voice and even gender (it’s possible to transform a male voice into a female one or vice versa) are editable. Plus, there is a dedicated effects unit for the input signal, which is independent of the reverb and chorus parameters, which are also applicable.
As expected in a new model, ROM wave capacity has also been expanded. The PSR-8000 has 12 Mb of waveform ROM data, compared to the 8 Mb of the PSR-7000. Although it’s not a tiny amount, it’s certainly not a great figure for a flagship keyboard of the late 90s. It’s only 50% more (4Mb) than the previous model, and just twice the amount of the PSR-5700 from 1992. Many other high-end and not that much high-end keyboards and synthesizers from the same period had a significantly larger ROM capacity. That seems to show that even in late 90s Yamaha still didn’t think of arranger keyboards as really being a “serious” alternative to “professional” studio equipment, despite the remarkable capacities of its own models.
‘Sweet’ Sound
In every new generation, one can expect more and (hopefully) better sounds than in previous models. In the PSR-8000 there are over 700 voices in total, although 480 correspond to the XG standard soundmap. There are also 261 “original” voices (not in the XG standard) and 13 drum kits. The “original” voices usually sound better than the XG ones, and this makes sense, as the standard XG soundset has 4 Mbytes of waveform data, so in theory the other 8 Mb correspond to the native voices. (BTW, the standard XG soundset is much better than the “XGlite” crap that can be found in low-end Yamaha keyboards, which, moreover, does not include a “variation” effect, which is where the interesting effects are).
But actually, the “original” voices are not totally “new”. In fact, starting from the PSR-7000, Yamaha has the habit of including most (or nearly all) of the voices of the previous generation into the new model, plus adding some new voices. So it’s possible to find most of the PSR-7000’s presets in the PSR-8000, just in the same way that you can find nearly all the PSR-8000’s voices in the PSR-9000, and so on. Even in the Genos it’s possible to find some of the presets of the PSR-8000’s era. Luckily, there are always new voices, and many times the new presets are significantly better than the older ones.
Among those new voices it’s possible to find some that would become a Yamaha’s classic: the “sweet” voices. These are presets of acoustic instruments with a built-in vibrato effect that usually sounds quite natural, smooth and expressive. A classic example of this is the “Sweet Flute”, which has a characteristic “overblown” noise at high velocity rates, quite impressive back at the time. Other well-known examples include the sweet clarinet, the sweet tenor sax or the sweet trumpet.
One dimension in which the PSR-8000 deserves praise is the effects section. This model is a giant leap when compared to previous ones in this department. Up to nine simultaneous effects can be applied to the sound: the typical reverb and chorus, the “variation” effect (with 98 different types, usable as a system or as an insertion effect), four insertion effects, the vocal harmonizer and the global digital equalizer. New effects such as touch wha, voice cancel, pitch shifter, ambience and more are added, and, of course, all their single parameters (up to 16) are editable via the control panel or via MIDI.
The virtual tonewheel organ sound engine was introduced for the first time in the PSR-7000, but in the PSR-8000 it receives more than a facelift, with more parameters and thus more flexibility. Now it’s possible to choose between two organ “types”, named “Sine” and “Vintage”. In theory, the “vintage” should be closer to the real thing, but honestly I’m not an expert in Hammond-type organs and all I can state is that the “vintage” option leads to a somewhat brighter tone. Other new parameter is the “vibrato” option (not to be mistaken with the rotary speaker effect), in which you can select both the depth and the speed. There are also dedicated EQ settings for the organ voice, independent from other EQ settings of the DSP effect and from the global EQ.
As the SWP30 sound generator introduces some new parameters in the sound synthesis engine, also does the synthesizer or “Custom Voice Creator”. Voices can be built from up to 4 different “elements” (oscillators and related parameters). For each element, you can select the waveform, which can be one stored in ROM, or a sampled/loaded custom one, and edit some parameters such as volume, pan, note and velocity limit, key on delay, and coarse/fine tune. Then you can edit the envelope generator (with 6 stages!) for pitch, amplification and filter. In the filters department there are important changes, as there are now not only two filters per element, but also different kinds of filters other than the typical LPF. Now it’s possible to choose also a Band Pass Filter (BPF), a High Pass Filter (HPF) and a Band Reject or Elimination Filter (BEF). Resonance applies only to filter 1, though. Then there is also a LFO, parameters related to the controllers (touch curve, modulation and aftertouch), and effects settings. As usual, in the drum kits you can edit the pitch, pan and filter settings of each individual sound. All in all, the synthesizer functions are as complete as any other dedicated synthesizer of that time, or even more.
Some examples of the preset voices:
Some of the factory demos:
And a quick example of the voice harmonizer (please forgive my awful singing 😉):
At Last: The Beginning of the Era of the Interchangeable Styles
The PSR-8000 has 214 preset styles, which is about twice the amount of the previous PSR-7000. They still have only two variations, though, with their corresponding intros, fill-ins and endings. Nevertheless, some remarkable new features have been added in the accompaniment section.
One of those, and perhaps the most relevant one, is that all the styles now conform to a standard file format (SFF) which allows to import and export styles from one keyboard to another. So one preset or custom style created in the PSR-8000 can be saved to disk and then imported into another keyboard model compatible with the SFF format, and vice versa. This kind of “style files” is still used in the current models, and gives access to countless new styles, as long as those conform to the requirements of the machine (for instance, the PSR-8000 cannot make use of “megavoices” and other newer features). Bur anyway, this means that the PSR-8000 is much more flexible and versatile regarding accompaniment styles than any previous model.
Another new (or not that new, actually) feature is the “Virtual Arranger”, which resembles a bit the “Interactive Arranger” function of the PSR-5700 and PSR-6000. When activated, new elements, such as phrases or more complex arrangements, are added to the style, according (in principle) to what is being played. So it could be said that every style has two different ‘versions’, a “standard” one and a more “complex” one. According to my experience and my preferences, I’d recommend having this option disabled. It’s quite illuminating that more recent models, such as the PSR-9000, don’t have this feature anymore.
A third novelty is that more fingering types are added. Historically, all Yamaha arranger keyboards had just two fingering types, the standard or “fingered” type, and the “single finger” one. The PSR-7000 was the first to add a full keyboard chord recognition. The PSR-8000 adds new fingering types which are common in more recent models: one is the “Fingered 2”, which is just like the normal “fingered”, but uses the lowest note as the bass note, and the other is the “Multi Finger”, which lets the player use both “single fingered” or full chords indistinctly, and which I personally find a very useful feature.
Another remarkable new feature is related to custom style creation. Although the creation of custom rhythms and accompaniments has been a feature of Yamaha’s flagship arrangers since the PS-6100, the PSR-8000 introduces a very interesting “Groove Style Creator” function. Creation and/or modification of custom styles can be (and usually is) a very tedious process, and the “Groove Style” is a kind of shortcut to adapt and modify any style to the own personal tastes with less effort, and which can lead to quite deep transformations. Beyond changing the default tempo, activate/deactivate different parts, changing voices for each part and so on, it’s possible to easily change the timing of the beats, add swing, apply one of the different “groove” templates, and change the dynamics (add accents, boost or cut velocity, or expand/compress the range of the velocity values).
Some examples of PSR-8000’s preset styles:
Other Features
The most relevant changes and new features have already been explained in the previous sections, but there’s still room to comment some other aspects of the PRS-8000.
One of those is that, finally, there is XG compatibility. This not only means that in can properly play midi files created for this standard, but, more importantly, that the PSR-8000 is compatible with the software and editors designed specifically for that format, or which at least have support for it. This can be of great help when sequencing using a DAW, because even when “native”, non-XG standard sounds are used, many other parameters (for instance, all those related to DSP effects) still stick to the XG format and can be easily edited or tweaked, without having to do it from the panel or via tedious sysex data. Honestly, it was quite hard to use any of the previous models in a DAW, and the PSR-8000 makes sequencing much easier.
Example of DAW sequencing using the PSR-8000:
If you remember, the PSR-7000 was the first arranger keyboard from Yamaha to have a hard drive as an option, but as long as it wasn’t possible to add one without opening the whole case, in practice it was just a factory option. In a sensible decision, in the PSR-8000 there’s a user's accessible compartment in the keyboard’s case so that the user can easily add a hard drive and benefit from its high speed and capacity, compared to the standard floppies. It’s also quite easy to add more memory modules for expanding the capacity of the sampler.
For the first time also in a flagship arranger model, besides the usual 5-pin MIDI terminals there is also a serial “to host” connector for a direct connection between the keyboard and the computer. Now this seems very outdated because of the standardization of the USB connection, and because actually most current computers don’t even have serial ports, but back in the 90s this was a smart solution for connection to a computer with a single cable and without having to buy a dedicated MIDI interface.
The PSR-8000 also benefits from a pair of “loop send” connections for external audio processing, for making integration into more “serious” or “professional” setups easier. Finally, regarding the amplification and speaker system, the specs are the same than in the PSR-7000 (2 x 20 Watts, two-way speakers with 16 cm woofers), which really deliver a high volume. The only difference is that this time the tweeters are integrated in the front panel and thus faced to the player, instead of being in the speaker box of the rear part, making the sound somewhat crisper and brighter, at least from the perspective of the performer.
Verdict
A very comprehensive and capable arranger workstation, with lots of new features and comparable in terms of functionality (although not in sound) to current high-end arranger keyboards. The only important drawback is the quite limited waveform ROM size.
Pros
· An important step forward in terms of new functions and features, among which the sampler and the vocal harmonizer must be highlighted
· Conforms to the (then) new XG MIDI format
· New styles can be easily added (SFF)
· Easily expandable (hard drive, sampling RAM memory) by the user
· Brilliant effects section
Cons
· Rather poor waveform ROM size (12 Mb) for a flagship keyboard; could have had more and better sounds
· Limited sampling RAM (only 1 Mb) from factory
· Only two variations per style
· Externally it looks too similar to the PSR-7000 and this doesn't do justice to a significantly better keyboard
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