SY-35 Research Project

• This page is a collection of information resources regarding the Yamaha SY-35 synthesizer.

  It is maintainted by Evan Sirchuk, and was last updated 2020-03-22.

  If you have additional information, or corrections you can contact him via the following form:

  https://forms.gle/x8hGgFVEU3MkqFsy6

• Origins - Dave Smith and the DSD Team at Yamaha

  Vector Synthesis is a type of audio synthesis introduced by Sequential Circuits in the Prophet VS synthesizer during 1986. The concept was subsequently used by Yamaha in the SY22/TG33 and similar instruments and by Korg in the Wavestation.
  
  Dave Smith, John Bowen, Scott Peterson, and Stanley Jungleib
  went on to Korg in May 1989 and designed the Wavestation, refining many Prophet VS concepts.
  -
  
  From Forum post:
  https://forum.vintagesynth.com/viewtopic.php?t=27502
  
  
  It was a rushed product by DSD (Dave Smith designs) which was formed by Yamaha after they bought up SCI and is a crude precursor to the wavestation. After this synth was designed and before it was released, Korg came in and stole Dave and crew away so it was really the only production synth that he worked on for Yamaha in the very short time he was there. The lack of basic synth features (like a filter) made this synth pretty limited.
  -
  
  Altitude
  https://forum.vintagesynth.com/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=103910
  Fri Jun 08, 2007 11:51 am
  
  
  The vector envelopes were actually nicer on the TG33/SY22 than on the Wavestation in that you could record a joystick "performance" live and have it duplicated on every keypress.
  -
  
  carbon111
  https://forum.vintagesynth.com/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=100873
  Mon Oct 13, 2008 5:16 pm
  

• Sound Examples

  • Don Solaris

    http://web.archive.org/web/20070322183055/http://www.rolandsynthesis.com/tmp/demos/TG-33+SY-35.mp3
    http://web.archive.org/web/20100505155519/http://homepage.mac.com/synth_seal/html/ds_tg33.html

  • Jim Atwood

    SY22 Review:
    https://jimatwood.wordpress.com/2011/06/18/yamaha-sy22-dynamic-vector-synthesizer/
    
    SY22 Sound Demo:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpHGLrA1mMk

  • Chris Strellis

    http://strellis.com/tg33.shtml

  • Aliens Project

    https://aliens-project.de/t_200607_yamaha_tg33.html
    Link Source:
    https://forum.vintagesynth.com/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=102196

  • AnalogAudio1

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-taNnikTe8E&feature=emb_title

  • https://khoral.blogspot.com/2009/10/oh-so-ancient-tapes.html

  • Possible Alternate VST

    Psychic Modulation's "Aethereal"
    http://www.vst4free.com/free_vst.php?id=729
    https://www.psychicmodulation.com/plugins.html
    http://psychicmodulation.com/blog/

• General Reviews and Spec Pages

  • http://www.vintagesynth.com/yamaha/sy35.php

  • http://www.synthmania.com/tg33.htm

  • Jim Atwood

    SY22 Review:
    https://jimatwood.wordpress.com/2011/06/18/yamaha-sy22-dynamic-vector-synthesizer/
    
    SY22 Sound Demo:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpHGLrA1mMk

  • http://www.muzines.co.uk/articles/yamaha-sy35/1153

  • http://www.polynominal.com/yamaha-tg33/

    Has lots of great links information
    http://www.polynominal.com/yamaha-tg33/tg33-patch.zip

  • https://sonicstate.com/synth/yamaha_sy35/

• Notable Users

  • Elmosexwhistle

    http://forum.vintagesynth.com/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=101361&sid=b00c051d65403ea482985a1801cd7bd6
    i've had one for a while now...personally i love 12-bit stuff, as i make alot of industrial type music...the 2-op fm on this board is very very cute and can be used to create some sega-like patches...x

  • Commodorejohn

    http://forum.vintagesynth.com/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=125534
    http://www.commodorejohn.com/programming.php

  • Rara

    https://yamahamusicians.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=10558

  • Clyde Atkinson

    Forum Accout:
    https://yamahamusicians.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=23
    
    Info About Sy35 Patches
    There were literally hundreds (if not thousands) of sounds released through dealers from Yamaha techs and programmers. There were many different collections: analog, strings, pianos, elec. pianos, sound fx, basses, brass, guitar, organs, and also many demo songs (some of which had special sounds with them). Many of them are still available at the link you were given for yamahasynth.com. When demo artists and/or reps hit the stores in 1990, I always got them to let me copy their latest batch, sometimes before the dealer got them.
    https://yamahamusicians.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=54&t=102

  • Elizabeth the Muse

    The Sy35 seems to be her instrument of choice for over a decade.
    Khasm
    Prog Rock Band
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4moVNyIgrA0
    2002  Dancing 'Round the Circle's End
    https://www.metal-archives.com/artists/Elizabeth_the_Muse/282960

  • Benjamin Hauger (RedEVIL)

    http://web.archive.org/web/20060206081618/http://planet0.planet-zero.org/wiki/index.php/sy22
    http://web.archive.org/web/20060207005459/http://planet0.planet-zero.org/wiki/index.php/sy77
    http://web.archive.org/web/20060206051745/http://planet0.planet-zero.org/wiki/index.php/chromalsGear
    http://web.archive.org/web/20070815234240/http://planet0.planet-zero.org/wiki/index.php?pagename=chromal

• General Research

  • TG33/SY35 Differences

  • Expansion Cards

    • Yamaha SY22 Cards
      
      VC2251W - Vector 1 Stage Selection (64 voices)
      VC2252W - Vector 2 Studio Selection (64 voices)
      vc2253w - SHOFUKU
    • Yamaha SY35 Cards
      
      VC3501 - Pop Standards (64 voices)
      VC3502 - Super Synth (64 voices)
      Yamaha TG33 Cards
      VC3301 - Stage Selection
      VC3302 - Studio Selection
    • Sound Source Unlimited
      
      SY201 - SY22: SY77 Impressions (128 voices, 32 multis)
      SY202 - SY22: Proteus Impressions (128 voices, 32 multis)
      SY203 - SY22: Vector Atmospheres (128 voices, 32 multis)
      SY204 - SY22: Ultimate Top 40 (128 voices, 32 multis)
    • Unknown Origin
      
      SY22/SY35/TG33 Dance Band
      SY22/SY35/TG33 Vector Project
      TG502 - TG33/SY35 Modern Artist Soundscapes
      TG502 - TG33/SY35 Analog Soundscapes
    • 3rd Party Blank Cards With Expanded Memory
      
      https://web.archive.org/web/20130730194020/http://sector101.co.uk/mcd_sweet16.html
      https://jimatwood.wordpress.com/2011/04/23/mcd-sweet-16-memory-card-review/
    • https://soundprogramming.net/synthesizers/yamaha/yamaha-sy22-sy35-and-tg33-expansion-cards/

  • Synth Seal - In-Depth sy35 Info

    http://homepage.mac.com/synth_seal/html/tg33.html

  • Fairwell Post from seller (Good Photos)

    https://khoral.blogspot.com/2009/01/yamaha-sy35.html

  • Similar Synths

    http://web.archive.org/web/20100926131057/http://homepage.mac.com/synth_seal/html/tg33d.html

• Forums and Posts

  • Yamaha Musicians Forum - SY Series

    https://yamahamusicians.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=5

  • SY35 with an unusual audio interferance.

    https://yamahamusicians.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=15186&sid=387bec2c21c2cd626b115347f4f0e221

  • Japanese forum posts

    https://piza.5ch.net/test/read.cgi/dtm/991818755/
    https://www.yamaha-europe.com/yamaha_europe/download/products/10_musical_instruments/synthesizer/synthesizer/

• Patch Sources

  • http://www.synthzone.com/midi/yamaha/sy35/

  • https://fr.audiofanzine.com/synthe-numerique/yamaha/SY35/forums/t.223616,bank-de-sons-patch.html

  • Direct from Yamaha

    https://web.archive.org/web/20060314021440/http://www.yamahasynth.com/products/sy/index.html
    https://web.archive.org/web/20051120041033/http://www.yamahasynth.com/products/classic_corner.html

  • Clyde Atkinson

    Forum Accout:
    https://yamahamusicians.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=23
    
    Info About Sy35 Patches
    There were literally hundreds (if not thousands) of sounds released through dealers from Yamaha techs and programmers. There were many different collections: analog, strings, pianos, elec. pianos, sound fx, basses, brass, guitar, organs, and also many demo songs (some of which had special sounds with them). Many of them are still available at the link you were given for yamahasynth.com. When demo artists and/or reps hit the stores in 1990, I always got them to let me copy their latest batch, sometimes before the dealer got them.
    https://yamahamusicians.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=54&t=102

• Sample Sources

  http://www.legowelt.org/samples/
  https://we.tl/PiCzpICmOm
  http://www.soundfonts.gonet.biz/search.php?goto=1&name=Yamaha-SY22%20(not%20GM)

• Editor Software

  • Windows Editor Via Ctrlr

    https://ctrlr.org/tag/sy35/

  • Patch Librarian

    https://jsynthlib.org/

  • iPad Editor

    https://coffeeshopped.com/2018/10/new-yamaha-tg33-editor-and-librarian

  • Old Windows Editor

    Richard Paul Hanson
    Windows Voice editor for Yamaha SY22, SY35 and TG33
    Allows these now ageing synthesisers to be programmed completely - options from the synth front panel are very limited, with this program you can edit all the FM parameters. This is version 2.2 and has improved TG33 support.
    NB: ensure that the MIDI channel set in the program is the same as the Basic Receive Channel of the synth.
    Uploaded 1st December 2001, 1,138k download
    https://web.archive.org/web/20101112035306/http://www.plompy.co.uk/software/sy_edit.zip

  • Atari ST Editor

    Richard Paul Hanson
    Atari ST Voice editor for Yamaha SY22 and SY35
    Predecessor to the above, but for Atari ST. Old and no longer maintained, but it works. Includes source code.
    Uploaded 1st December 2001, 65k download
    https://web.archive.org/web/20101112035306/http://www.plompy.co.uk/software/sy22edit.zip

  • Old Spanish Website - Possible Editor here somewhere?

    • fwiw, i had and loved the sy35, mainly because there was a great site by a passionate spaniard in the late '90s who found and detailed all the hidden parameters of the sy35 and built a pc editor to access them. sadly, that site (http://zipi.fi.upm.es/%7ec950268/) also no longer exists. it taught me how to chsnge the waveforms of the fm operators and many other tricks that brought that board to a new level. many of those hidden parameters were available in the tg33, but the sy35 had more. i've always thought i was going to buy the sy35 again someday. hmmmm.
    • robotunes
    • http://forum.vintagesynth.com/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=100289
    • Fri Aug 31, 2012 2:56 am
    • https://web.archive.org/web/20010401073909/http://zipi.fi.upm.es/
    • The school they used to work for.
      
      http://www.fi.upm.es/

  • Editor for SY77, SY99 and the TG77

    http://www.fm-alive.com/pages/SYM.aspx

• Replacement Parts

  https://syntaur.com/yamaha_sy.html

• Key Repair Instructions

  http://sang-yuan.blogspot.com/2012/08/yamaha-sy35-1.html
  https://sang-yuan.blogspot.com/2012/09/yamaha-sy35-2.html

• Cross Model Patch Sharing

  • TG-33 is the module version of SY-22. It has all waveforms SY-22 has, with doubled polyphony (32 voices). Then came out the SY-35 which has more waveform ROM.

  • See the pic below: the same sample, played on two machines. From spectrogram it is visible that it appears TG-33 uses 22kHz samples, and SY-35 is full 44 kHz. As a result, its samples sound cleaner, with more power in high frequency domain.

  • However, many waves were changed and replaced from previous 22/33 models. Which samples are better is highly subjective thing so i cannot comment on that. Personally I find samples in TG-33 more interesting, but their ROM size limitation makes them a little bit muddy.

  • List of partially changed samples (these sound just a little bit different):

    007 E.Organ 2
    023 E.Gtr 2
    043 Choir
    063 Noise 2
    069 Crash
    073 Scratch
    075 Metal 2
    120 SEQ 2
    121 SEQ 3
    124 SEQ 6
    125 SEQ 7

  • List of totally replaced samples (original ---> replaced with):

    045 Oool  ---> Choir Pa
    054 Claps ---> ThumbStr
    055 Hit ---> SynPad
    057 Mix ---> SynLead 1
    058 Sync ---> SynLead 2
    060 Styroll ---> Sweep
    061 DigiAtak ---> Human Atk
    064 Oh Hit ---> Pops Hit
    065 Water 1 ---> Nois Pad 1
    066 Water 2 ---> Nois Pad 2
    067 Stream ---> Nois Pad 3
    071 Tear ---> Botle Open
    087 Reverse 1 ---> Reverse 1
    088 Reverse 2 ---> Reverse 2
    089 Reverse 3 ---> Reverse 3
    119 SEQ 1 ---> SEQ 1
    123 SEQ 4 ---> SEQ 4
    126 SEQ 8 ---> SEQ 8

  • Contribution From:

  • Don Solaris

    http://web.archive.org/web/20070322183055/http://www.rolandsynthesis.com/tmp/demos/TG-33+SY-35.mp3
    http://web.archive.org/web/20100505155519/http://homepage.mac.com/synth_seal/html/ds_tg33.html