Yamaha SY99
Synthesiser and Workstation

Launched in 1991 this synthesiser was the update to the SY77 launched two years prior. 

 

In the intervening year Yamaha had also launched the SY55 which ditched the FM sound generation capability in favour of the single AWM generation system.

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The SY99 retained both the FM and AWM sound generation engines.  The AFM engine was based on 6 operators which combined with the AWM2 engine gave this synthesiser a large sonic range.  Yamaha also expanded the key bed to 76 notes and added a sampling capability that the SY77 lacked.

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From a feature perspective it challenged the KORG M1.

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I acquired my Yamaha SY99 a few years back and drove uptown Suffolk very early on Saturday morning to try it and bring it back to the collection.  I now had all the SY synths I wanted (SY77, SY85 and SY99 all in the collection).