Yamaha PS-30 PortaSound Automatic Bass Chord Synthesizer

The Yamaha Portasound PS and PSS electronic keyboards were manufactured in the 1980s and 1990s. In 1980, the low-cost PS-1, PS-2 and PS-3 were launched in a first series. The second series followed in 1981 with the PS-10, PS-20 and PS-30. The name Portasound refers to the portability of the instruments, which are battery-operated. The PortaSound synthesisers were originally designed for children and beginners and often had small keys and simple preset functions suitable for teaching. In 1982, a card-reading system was introduced that allowed players to learn and play along with sequenced songs. Some of the higher-end keyboards have advanced features such as programmable synthesiser controls, midi capability and sampler functions.

The PS-30 is a 10-voice polyphonic synthesiser with a keyboard of 49 keys over 4 octaves from C to C. The arpeggiator consists of an automatic chord generator that can generate a major chord, a rhythmic finger chord, a memory chord and a multi-bass chord. There are the 10 semi-OBS preset orchestral sounds Organ 1, Trumpet, Clarinet, Piano, Accordion / Organ 2, Strings, Oboe, Harpsichord, Vibraphone, the 8 semi-OBS preset solo sounds Violin, Trumpet, Trombone, Piccolo Flute / Saxophone, Guitar 1, Guitar 2, Funny as well as the 8 semi-OBS rhythm presets March, Waltz, Tango, Rhumba | Disco, Rock, Swing, Samba. The polyphonic orchestral preset sounds offer various vibratos and can be overlaid with monophonic solo preset sounds (with analogue low-pass filter and decay envelope). There are also built-in sliders for rhythm, chord, arpeggio and solo, fingered & single finger chord, 2 bass variations, 2 arpeggio variations.