Part Ii Basic Features; What Your Portasound Can Do; Voices, Rhythm And Auto Accompaniment - Yamaha PSS-680 PortaSound Authorized Product Manual

Using the QUICK GUIDE and listening to the DEMO song has already given you a first impression of your
new PortaSound's capabilities. This chapter tells you more about them.

Voices, Rhythm and Auto Accompaniment

To better understand the PortaSound's functional structure,
think of it as comprising the following three sections:
As the names say, the Voice/Melody Section controls all
features concerning the voices you play, usually in the form
of a melody, while the Auto Accompaniment Section helps
you perform the accompaniment to these melodies. The
Rhythm Section can be used separately like a drum machine.
or in combination with Auto Accompaniment.
This is not a strict division. These sections are closely
l
interconnected — for instance, RHYTHM CONTROL
influences both the Rhythm and the Auto Accompaniment
Sections, and the SONG MEMORY MELODY banks
are just as much part of Voice/Melody as they are of Auto
Accompaniment. Keeping this division in mind, though,
makes it easier to understand the PortaSound features.
Voice/Melody Section
In the tradition of Yamaha's famous DX7 synthesizers, the
preset instrument sounds available on the PortaSound
PSS-680 are referred to as "voices". With the Digital Syn-
thesizer functions explained in PART III (p.26), you can alter
them to create your own original sounds, then save up to five
of these for access at the push of a button.
instant
For more expressiveness and realism, you can add various
EFFECTS (p.9) to the voices. PORTAMENTO and PITCH
BEND (p.10), for instance, can greatly enhance strings, brass
or bass sounds.
Easy Play Functions
If the melody you want to play is in a difficult key, you can
TRANSPOSE the entire keyboard (p.11) to an easier one.
Melodies (or parts of them) you find particularly hard to
PART II
BASIC FEATURES

WHAT YOUR PortaSound CAN DO

perform can be memorized in the MELODY banks of the
SONG MEMORY (p.22). For example, if a phrase is too
fast for you. record it at a comfortable slow tempo and then
play it back any time at the correct speed by simply pressing
the corresponding MELODY button.
Rhythm and Auto Accompaniment Sections
are so closely interrelated, many of their
Since these sections
functions are treated together in this manual.
The Rhythm and Auto Accompaniment features can enhance
your performances in four basic ways: The PortaSound
PSS-680 is capable of
1. playing a rhythm accompaniment to your music with re-
alistic percussion sound patterns in a hundred different
musical styles, functioning like a high-quality drum ma-
chine. Many variations of these basic patterns are possible
with RHYTHM CONTROL.
2. letting you play complete chords by using only a single
finger of your left hand (SINGLE FINGER chords).
3. performing an entire accompaniment arrangement, com-
plete with drums, bass, chords and orchestra, easily con-
trolled by your left hand. Again, RHYTHM CONTROL
can be used to add a great number of variations. You can
even change the ORCHESTRATION, deleting or adding
parts to the accompaniment at the touch of a button.
4. digitally recording whole melodies or various melody
sections as well as entire chord progressions in the SONG
MEMORY. These can be played back at the touch of a
button. The PSS-680 thus also does the job of a simple
but particularly flexible sequencer — you can use it either
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