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SK-30 At a Glance
	Released: ??late70's/early80's?? \| Specifications User rating: 4.4/5 \| Read reviews (7) Yamaha News(323) Streaming Video (77)
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Aron Renkavinsky writes:

I use this synthesizer to fill in where my DX7 becomes unnecessarily difficult to program. For example, on the DX7 I can't produce a real square wave with a simple 2-op patch but on the SK30 (and most subtractive synths) I can produce an excelent by setting the waveform to square and setting the cutoff freq. on the filter to high. Because this sythesizer is a hybrid, the ease of use of push button function controls combine nicely with direct entry of parameters through well placed sliders. It is quick and easy to enter patches for warm and bright sounds as well as sound effects.

The Solo Synthesizer section allows the most manipulation of the source oscillator. The controls include VCO:Feet (the octave range), Wave (universal adjustment between square and triangle), LFO controlable Pulse Width (duty cycle); VCF: Cut Off Freq, Resonance, and modulation (LFO) as well as the style features Glide and Portamento.

The organ section while not well equiped for ground shaking pipe organ sounds has a nice setup for creating more comon organ sounds. The organ section contains 3 preset and one manual voice. The manual controls include sliders like stops and 4 percussive controls.

The Poly-Synth section has 3 string presets, 3 poly-synth presets and one manual. The user controls are Feet (and wave), Cut off feq., and Resonance. In MODE II there are two detunable oscillators available for the poly-synth.

The organ and poly-synth have 7 note polyphony and retain it in split mode to equal 14. The poly-synth and solo synthesizer sections have an ASDR EG. This synth is very easy to use and sounds clean. If only it had MIDI.

Comments About the Sounds:
Can do some good Keith Emerson type sounds and other zany and obnoxious/hilarious sounds. I was able to get an awesome "jungle bird" sound out of the Solo Synthesizer section. I also developed an awesome, extremely low rap type bass sound from this section. The organ section is good. This uses additive sliders like organ stops. It includes 4 percussive controls. The Poly-synth is good for getting Emerson, Lake and Palmer type sounds. In MODE II the Poly-synth uses two detunable oscillators. Also, because there are separate outputs for of the 3 sections as well as a mixed output (with front panel console) the effects can be used in "stereo" due to internal routing. The overall sound quality is decent and the front panel mixer alows synthesis options I haven't fully explored.

(Thanks to Aron Renkavinsky for this info.)
and dan brannvall for the pic

Links for the Yamaha SK-30

	More Synth Gear Best US prices on many current models
	YAMAHA SK30 SOUNDS deluxe .wav files
	Yamaha SK-10 string machine resource Info and pictures of the Yamaha SK-10 string synth/organ
	SK30 synth in action Featured strings, organ and bass on mp3 "Big World"

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