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Yamaha SY99 Synthesiser
Repair and restoration project
If you follow me on social media, you will know that back in the summer of 2022 I drove up to Essex from the south coast to pick up the Yamaha SY99. To say I was chuffed by the condition of this synthesiser is a minor understatement.
The SY99 was released in 1991. At the point of release the synthesiser was the flagship of the SY synthesiser range. It combined both a AFM and AWM synthesis engines to create notable tones used by the key musicians of the day e.g. Chick Corea, David Paich of Toto, Steve Porcaro of Toto, Brian Eno, Vangelis
While I was pleased by the condition, there are always a few jobs that needed to be undertaken to bring this synthesiser back to full operation so I could use it in my studio environment.
One of the 'D' keys on the keyboard is loose and not returning properly. But it does appear to be intermittently working if you reposition the key to its correct position. Until you get into the key bed it is difficult to understand what is causing this issue.
While the keyboard is open, I will use the opportunity to replace the battery. This is a task I always undertake on any keyboard I acquire as I have no idea how long the original battery would have been in installed.
And finally, I intend to swap the power cord to an IEC 13 / 14 connection. This is to protect the keyboard in storage and transit where the UK 3-pin style plug can get caught and gouge out the case.
This series of videos show the work that I undertook on this Yamaha SY99 synthesiser.
This is part 1 of a series of videos where I fix a few of the issues with the Yamaha SY99 that I acquired.
This is the initial assessment of the jobs I might need to do. Keep in mind that I have yet to open this synth up, so more repairs might be required.
Click anywhere on the image or title to see the work undertaken on this synthesiser.
Accessing the internals of the Yamaha SY99 is the first task.
In Part 2 I have separated this video out from the rest of the project videos as gaining access is always the first step to any repair work you need to undertake.
Click anywhere on the image or title to see the work undertaken on this synthesiser.
With the Yamaha SY99 open. It is time to remove the key bed so that I can access the damaged key/keys.
I have never removed the key bed on this synthesiser so it is a case of removing parts of the Yamaha SY99 until the key bed can be extracted.
Once extracted I need to figure out how the keys are locked to the key bed and then removed the key / keys that have broken so that they can be repaired or replaced with new keys.
Click anywhere on the image or title to see the work undertaken on this synthesiser.
The broken keys have been replaced on this Yamaha SY99 FS key bed and I am now ready to put the key bed back int the Yamaha SY99 keyboard chassis.
This video will walk though how I re-installed the key bed, including the sequence i opted for for screwing it back into the chassis.
Click anywhere on the image or title to see the work undertaken on this synthesiser.
The Yamaha SY99 comes pre-fitted in the UK with a power cord and moulded UK (Type G) plug. On the face of it this sounds like a great idea. But when these go into a flight case for travel the can take chunks out of the key bed, damage the key bed keys, scratching the control surface and / or screen.
So I have a policy that when I acquire a keyboard with a fitted power cord, I'll change it to a cable with an IEC 13/14 connection.
On this Yamaha SY99 I have chosen to remove the original power cord from where it is soldered to the power board and solder in a new power cord with the moulded IEC 13/14 connector. This has less chance of damaging the keyboard while in storage and while being moved between storage and the studio.
Click anywhere on the image or title to see the work undertaken on this synthesiser.
When I opened up the Yamaha SY99 I was surprised to see 2 CR2032 batteries. There is a battery on each of the boards described as DM1 and DM2.
The battery on the DM1 board supports the internal voices and internal voice configuration. The battery on the DM2 board supports any internal custom samples that you create and store in the keyboard.
Both of these batteries follow the typical Yamaha practice of supplying batteries with solder tags that then have to be soldered to the circuit board. I am not going to get into the pro's and con's of this arrangement, but my preference is to solder a battery holder in place and then use a standard CR2032 battery can be used. Also at the point the Yamaha SY99 needs these to be replaced again there is no requirement for any soldering.
Click anywhere on the image or title to see the work undertaken on this synthesiser.
In part 7 I replaced both the batteries that are within the Yamaha SY99. But since I filmed this episode I had move the synthesiser from the workshop to the studio (or as it has become know amongst my friends the Hobbit Hut), but not actually powered this up.
In this video I actually power up the the SY99 to see what errors are thrown to screen following the battery replacements.
The video then moves into the steps required to address the errors and restore the synthesiser to full operation. I also ensure that the other fixes that have been undertaken as part of this project have been successful.
This video concludes the work that I set out to undertake on the SY99 for the time-being. As there are some more things I would like to do with this synthesiser, but they were not essential to getting the synthesiser operational.
Click anywhere on the image or title to see the work undertaken on this synthesiser.