Ambient / drone music experiment in live looping with Yamaha Portasound PSS-480 (vintage fm synth, 1988) as sound source and processed to some effect pedals.
I try to challenge myself to produce a sound experiment - create ambient music on live looping with the restriction of using only one instrument: Yamaha Portasound PSS-480 (1988) as sound source and with minimal / less effects to the instrument. (truth of the material).
In a scenario of overwhelming number of synths, people often do not take the time to deepen and explore the creative possibilities of each gear/synth they possess.
Signal Chain:
PSS-480 > EQ > Delay > Looper > Reverb.
About Yamaha PSS-480:
Unlike the other PortaSound synthesizers, the PSS-480 offers control over the frequency of both operators, as well as over the depth of the feedback. In terms of controlling the depth of modulation, the whole range from zero to 99 is available, so it’s fun and easy to find sweet spots and balance the sound out by adjusting the feedback amount. Each operator’s frequency can be set in multiples from 1 to 15, allowing a fantastic amount of control over the basic character of the sound.
On these synths in this family with this primitive yet powerful architecture, good sounds are found through exploration. It’s not exactly FM synthesis, but it’s close. It’s almost a limited 2 operator FM synth, in terms of programming, but it does strange things that an FM synth wouldn’t. Allowing for sounds ranging from glassy to brassy to outright demonic and beyond, the PSS-480 makes up in power what it lacks in predictability. Textured sci-fi bass, reedy pads, blistering vocal-sounding leads, smooth swells… this synth will do it all, in a quirky, beautiful, strange and very digital way. (Vintage Synth)
