Yamaha SY77
Synthesiser and Workstation

Launched in 1989 the Yamaha SY77 synthesiser was the natural evolution of the Yamaha DX range of the early 1980's.

There were other instruments in the SY and TG ranges.  These were targeted as specific audiences.  However, I consider the SY77 and its rack mount TG77 were full workstations and at launch were considered the flagship of the SY range.  

The synthesisers that provided two synthesis engines (The FM engine carried over from the DX range and AWM engine deployed to the SY range), a 61 note key bed (in the case of the SY77) and 16 voice polyphony, plus sequencing and storage.

The SY77 contained both RAM and ROM card slots so tones could be loaded onto the synthesiser and allowing tones to be stored on cards for instant recall.  In addition to the RAM and ROM cards, the SY77 was supplied with a 3.5" floppy disk drive that also allowed tones to be stored as well as sequences developed in the onboard sequencer.

To be fair the SY77 and a year later the larger SY99 felt like workstations, even though they were mainly a plastic case they felt sturdy like Yamaha intended for them to be used.

I had been after a good example of this synthesiser for a while and this is the instrument that I eventually acquired.  There are videos on other pages that cover some of the maintenance I have undertaken on this keyboard.