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Yamaha SY85 Synthesiser
Repair and Refurbishment Project
A 6 part series of videos showing the work undertaken to repair and refurbish my Yamaha SY85.
I had been after a Yamaha SY85 for a number of years and shortly after my move to the south coast of the UK a Yamaha SY85, described as fully working and in very good condition was offered to me. So of course the deal was done, money exchanged hands and the synthesiser arrived about a week later.
The synthesiser was packaged in an aluminium flight case with zip ties through the locks to ensure it wasn't opened in transit. All good so far.
When I opened the flight case I found the Yamaha SY85 in very good condition pretty much as described with the exception that the on/off switch accessed from the rear of the synthesiser had been jammed into the case, meaning when powered up the synthesiser was permanently on. So some would say you could live with that, but it does have the ability to transmit power spikes from a wall socket straight to the synthesiser when you connect the two. Good job the bench power supply is suppressed.
The next issue followed a few minutes later after powering up the synthesiser. I popped in a floppy disk in the drive hit load and a high pitched noise was heard but the sounds did not load with the Yamaha SY85 reporting an error. This is actually a fairly common error on these Yamaha synthesisers of this age. The disk drive that was fitted used a belt to connect the motor to the assemble that rotates the disk. With age the belt stretches, or just disintegrates.
So that was two issues that needed to be fixed from this Yamaha SY85 described as fully working!
Time to get the screw drivers out.... Watch the videos to see what else was found when I got inside the case.
After I had made an assessment of all the issues with this fully working synthesiser, that clearly had issues. Given you could not use the disk drive it was not classed by me as fully working, I went back to the seller, and that is where the story turns a little ugly.
In short I asked the seller to refund me the cost of the parts to bring the Yamaha SY85 back to fully operational as claimed when I agreed to purchase it. (Basically I would cover the labour to install the spares and fix the synthesiser.) He basically refused. So I said refund me the whole price and you can have the synthesiser back. He didn't want to do that either. Stalemate!
At this point you have to state the facts, the Yamaha SY85 sold as fully working, was not and I have the video evidence. Shall we start the UK small claims procedure! An hour after sending that e-mail I received a PayPal ping to say that the seller had refunded me the cost of the spares as requested. In my opinion the right outcome and what a reputable seller should have done in the first place.
So following this refurbishment process I now have a fully functional Yamaha SY85.
This is the second part of the SY85 restoration series of videos.
I apologise for the sound quality in the second half of the video, the cameras randomly decided to swap to an internal microphone.
Part 2 of the restoration concentrates on replacing the broken power supply switch. As you can see I ended up having to repair the power supply printed circuit board (broken tracks and broken board), before I could get to the job I originally started!
Click anywhere on the image or title to see the work undertaken on this synthesiser.
This is the third part of the SY85 restoration series of videos.
Part 3 of the restoration concentrates on fitting a new drive belt to the disk drive. Once you know the make and model number of the drive, (of which there are 3 types) you can order a new drive belt from several sources. The replacement belt I obtained came from a supplier in Germany.
When the old belt was removed it just disintegrated in my hands, so there was no way this was working when I took on the synth.
After a couple of numpty mistakes the new belt was fitted and disk drive fitted to the unit. This should have been enough to get the disk drive working again.
So did the fix work? Watch the video!
Click anywhere on the image or title to see the work undertaken on this synthesiser.
Part 4 of the Yamaha SY85 restoration.
In this episode we tackle the battery. To be honest the battery is OK in the synth. But as with many Yamaha synths of this time the battery that is fitted is soldered into the board.
While I have the synth open and in pieces it is a prudent step to remove the soldered battery. Replace it with a coin cell battery battery holder. Then fit a standard CR2450 coin cell battery.
Unlike many synths which take the CR2032 battery, this synth takes a CR2450 battery which is deeper than the CR2032. Which of course means the replacement battery will not fit the CR2032 battery holders that I had. And replacements had to be ordered from China.
The replacement of the original battery means that to replace the battery in the future does not require the owner to strip the synth down, nearly removed the back, pop out the old battery and press home a new battery. A 20 min exercised as opposed to a 2.5 hour exercise.
Click anywhere on the image or title to see the work undertaken on this synthesiser.
Part 5 of the Yamaha SY85 restoration.
In this episode we finally tackle installing the new disk drive.
The new disk drive has been around the world and arrived a few weeks back.
So this is the point where it gets installed and we find out if, as suspected the old disk drive was the point of failure.
I choose a new disk drive that has been modified for operation with the SY85 as opposed to buying a reconditioned or recycled drive that was originally installed in the SY85.
So lets insert a disk and see if it loads.
Click anywhere on the image or title to see the work undertaken on this synthesiser.
Part 6 of the Yamaha SY85 restoration. In this episode we upgrade the memory.
The SY85 ships with 512KB of volatile memory. This means any wave you store into this memory will be lost at the point you switch the machine off. In order to retain these wave samples you need to add non-volatile memory.
I am installing 1Mb of non-volatile memory. Any waves stored into this memory will be retained when the SY85 is switch off. This memory is available from Sector101 (Link available in video notes) and is a highly recommended upgrade to the SY85.
Click anywhere on the image or title to see the work undertaken on this synthesiser.
In part 1 of this video series I assess the issues with this Yamaha synthesiser.
Specifically this video shows
1) how to get into the synthesiser.
2) how the disk drive is secured to the case and how to release it.
3) where the battery is located on the main mother board (which will also be replaced)
4) where power supply is posisitioned in the case.
Click anywhere on the image or title to see the work undertaken on this synthesiser.