Toy Keyboard Bass Station is a free sample pack containing a set of multi-sampled bass instrument patches in WAV format and a set of instrument mappings for NI Kontakt 5. All of the included sounds were created with the Yamaha PSS-390 toy keyboard and recorded through a compact tube preamp.
Yamaha PSS-390 is an unusual toy keyboard which features a rather cool FM synthesis engine with some unlocked parameters, making it possible to completely modify the factory sounds. There are 99 factory patches in total and every patch can be edited using the rudimentary and at the same time totally awesome synthesis engine.
I was planning to sample this one for a long time and a couple of days ago I finally got some inspiration to do it. Since programming such a simple FM synthesizer is tons of fun (and incredibly easy), I’ve spent quite some time trying to get the best possible bass sounds out it. I ended up with 16 custom presets and I’ve recorded them through a compact 12AX7 tube preamp, just to round them up a bit and add a bit saturation on top. I’ve also recorded the drum sounds, in case you want to have some toy keyboard DnB fun.
The pack contains 17 instrument patches and 135 audio samples in 24-bit WAV format. The instrument patches were created with NI Kontakt 5, although you can still use the individual WAV files if you don’t own Kontakt. A set of SFZ patches created by bmovie (many thanks!) can be download here (place the patches in the root folder).
Please bear in mind that these are not meant to be recreations of class FM bass sounds or anything like that. This project is something I did just for fun and because I enjoy sampling old toy keyboards and trying to use them as real instruments in my music.
The included samples definitely have a unique character, but they’re also quite noisy and certainly not for everyone. If you do like this kind of stuff, then you should also take a look at Yamaha SHS-10 Toy Keytar Sessions and Yamaha DD-10 Toy Drum Machine Sessions. Enjoy!
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To download Toy Keyboard Bass Station for free, simply enter $0 as the amount after clicking the DOWNLOAD button below. You are free to enter any other amount if you’d like to support BPB. Thank you!
16 Comments
Jacob
onVery comfy sounds.
Jacob
onOn every sound that I’ve checked, G# is actually F#.
Bedroom Producers Blog
onOops. Thanks for spotting that! It’s such a stupid mistake to make, but it happens. :/
I’ll update v1.01 version of the pack later this weekend, which will fix this error.
Panda
onI don’t like NI, SFZ-files would be super-awesome!
Bedroom Producers Blog
onCheck out bmovie’s post below!
Pisces
onMany thanks dude, lovin your work..
Bedroom Producers Blog
onThanks!
bmovie
onNice sounds! Thanks BPB :)
Someone asked for SFZ patches so i made them… just put the sfz files inside the “Samples” folder (near the .nki patches):
https://www.dropbox.com/s/okfv6jo0k7qejke/PSS-390%20SFZ.zip?dl=0
Feel free to add them to the library :)
Bedroom Producers Blog
onWoohoo, that’s awesome! Thanks SO MUCH bmovie, I’ll download the mappings later today and add them to the pack. You’re the man, cheers! :)
Mixchief
onTomislav: the pack I just downloaded didn’t include the SFZ files and Bmovie’s link don’t work. No sweat, but if you got some time to add those, it would be great.
Mixchief
onOops, sorry. DIdn’t see the download link for Bmovie’s SFZ files were included in the body text of the post. My bad. ;)
For others like me who didn’t spot this: http://d.pr/f/18S8Q+
Thomislav nice one man, THAT BASS patch at the end of the demo piece is pure evil, I love it and shall definitely using that when and where I can plus those nasty in a good way drum one shot. Thank you as always
Dean :)
Bedroom Producers Blog
onCheers Dean! Nice to hear from you again. :)
Isaac
onHey, just downloaded the pack. Very nice stuff. I do have a question for you though. I am pretty sure the pss-390 has the same chip as the 460. I am wondering if your dirtiest saw gets any more bassy on that thing. The PSS-460 has a setting that is very bassy as well as being dirty and mega-saw sounding. The reason I ask is because my 460 just broke and I am searching everywhere for a replacement.
Tomislav Zlatic
onHi Isaac, I’ve never used the 460, but I did use a 480 a while ago. The sound was only slightly different to that of the 390 featured here. So, while I can’t give you any guarantees, I’m guessing that most, if not all, Yamaha’s toy keyboards with unlocked FM controls sound quite similar to each other.
jaime
onI cant seem to find the way to download the sample pack. I’m using Chrome.