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This product should be used only with the compo- nents supplied or; a cart, rack, or stand that is recommended by Yamaha. If a cart, etc., is used, please observe all safety markings and instruc- tions that accompany the accessory product.
Yamaha service personnel. • Use the specified adaptor (PA-3B or an equivalent recommended by Yamaha) only. Using the wrong adaptor can result in damage to the in- strument or overheating. • Before cleaning the instrument, always remove the electric plug from the outlet.
Congratulations on your purchase of the Yamaha PSR-195/PSR-79 PortaTone! You now own a portable keyboard that combines advanced functions, great sound and exceptional ease-of-use in a highly compact package. Its outstanding features also make it a remarkably expressive and versatile instrument.
Yamaha Education Suite The PortaTone features the new Yamaha Education Suite — a set of learning tools that utilize the latest technology to make studying and practicing music more fun and fulfilling than ever before! The Yamaha Education Suite includes: Powerful Melody Guide functions in the Song mode —...
Panel Controls and Terminals Front Panel PSR-195 E GUITAR SITAR BRASS SECT DIST GUITAR ALTO SAX BANJO D PIANO UKULELE TENOR SAX 57~58 WOOD BASS FINGER BASS VIBRAPHONE CLARINET Y-TONK MUTE BASS FLUTE MARIMBA O 1~4 SLAP BASS STEEL DRUMS PAN FLUTE STRINGS/MALLET WIND...
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Power switch (STAND BY/ON) MASTER VOLUME dial This determines the overall volume of the PortaTone. OVERALL, DEMO START buttons (s, t, +, -) These are for selecting the various “overall” functions and setting their values. (See page 23.) They are also used to play the Demo songs.
Panel Controls and Terminals Rear Panel PSR-195 MIDI PSR-79 MIDI DC IN 10-12V jack This is for connection to a PA-3B AC power adaptor. (See page 9.) PHONES/AUX OUT jack This is for connection to a set of stereo head- phones or to an external amplifier/speaker system.
DC IN 10-12V jack on the back of your PortaTone. WARNING • Use ONLY a Yamaha PA-3B AC Power Adaptor (or other adaptor specifically recommended by Yamaha) to power your instrument from the AC mains. The use of other adaptors may result in irreparable damage to both the adaptor and the PSR- 195/79.
Using a Sustain Footswitch This feature on the PSR-195 lets you use an optional footswitch (Yamaha FC4 or FC5) to sustain the sound of the keyboard voice. This is used in the same way as a damper pedal on an acoustic piano —...
Getting Started — Playing the Demo Songs The PortaTone has a huge variety of Demo songs, specially recorded to showcase the dynamic sounds and rhythms and give you an idea of what you can do with the instrument. First, turn on the power. Press the STAND BY/ON button.
Panel Display Indications The PortaTone features a large multi-function display that shows all important settings for the instrument. The section below briefly explains the various icons and indications in the display. bar indicator TEMPO MULTI PAD TRANSPOSE TUNING ACMP VOL SONG VOL METRONOME VOL Chord...
Portable Grand This convenient function lets you automatically exit from any other mode or function and instantly call up the Grand Piano voice. Press the piano-shaped PORTABLE GRAND button. Doing this automatically cancels any other mode or function, and resets the entire instrument for playing the special “Stereo Sampling Piano”...
Portable Grand Setting the Metronome Time Signature The time signature of the Metronome can be set to various quarter-note based meters. NOTE: The time signature changes automatically when a style or song is selected. Simultaneously hold down the METRONOME button and press the button on the numeric keypad that corresponds to the desired time signature (see chart at right).
Selecting and Playing Voices — The Voice Mode The Voice mode features 100 authentic voices that have been created with Yamaha’s sophisticated AWM (Advanced Wave Memory) tone generation system. Many of these voices also have special preset characteristics or embellishments. The voices are divided into various categories depending on their characteristics or the effects used.
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Selecting and Playing Voices — The Voice Mode There are three ways to select voices: 1) directly entering the voice number with the numeric keypad, 2) using the +/- keys to step up and down through the voices, or 3) pressing the VOICE button to advance through the voice numbers.
Play the selected voice. To change to another voice, repeat step 2 above. If the Song or Style mode is active in the background (indi- cated by a C-shaped bar in the display), you can also play songs or styles, respectively, in the Voice mode by simply pressing the START/STOP (>/ ) button.
Selecting and Playing Voices — The Voice Mode Transpose and Tuning You can also adjust the tuning and change the transposition (key) of the PortaTone with the Trans- pose and Tuning functions. Transpose Transpose determines the key of both the main voice and the bass/chord accompaniment of the selected style.
Tuning Tuning determines the fine pitch setting of both the main voice and the bass/chord accompaniment of the selected style. It also determines the pitch of the songs and the Multi Pads. This allows you to accurately match the tuning with that of other instruments. The Tuning settings can be adjusted over a range of 50 (approx.
Selecting and Playing Songs — The Song Mode The Song mode features 100 special songs that have been created using the rich and dynamic sounds of the PortaTone. The songs are generally for your listening enjoyment; however, you can also play along with them on the keyboard.
StarWars Current melody note If you want to change to another song, repeat step 2 above. Stop the song. Press the START/STOP (>/ ) button. If playback was started by pressing the START/STOP (>/ ) button, the selected song stops automatically. Changing the Tempo The tempo of song (and style) playback can be adjusted over a range of 40 - 240 bpm (beats per minute).
Selecting and Playing Songs — The Song Mode Change the value. Use the OVERALL +/- buttons to increase or decrease the Tempo value. Holding down either button con- tinuously increases or decreases the value. Restoring the Default Tempo Value Each song and style has been given a default or standard tempo.
Adjusting the Song Volume The playback volume of the song can be adjusted. This volume control affects only the song volume. The volume range is 000 - 127. Select the Song Volume function in the Overall menu. Press one of the OVERALL s/t buttons, repeatedly if necessary, until “SongVol”...
Selecting and Playing Songs — The Song Mode Song Controls When the Song mode is active, the panel buttons below the display function as song controls. Pressing this button alternately starts and This has no function in the Song mode. stops song playback.
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Set point B (the end point of the section). Press the button once again, at the ending point of the section to be repeated. The selected phrase repeats indefinitely until stopped. Pause or stop playback as needed. Use the Pause ( ) and START/STOP (>/ ) buttons. Stopping playback does not cancel the set A/B points or the A/B Repeat function.
Selecting and Playing Songs — The Song Mode Melody Guide The PortaTone has a special Melody Guide function that makes practice and learning of the 100 songs both fun and easy. During song playback, the PortaTone shows the notes of the melody in the music staves and the keyboard diagram in the display —...
Start playback of the song, and play the melody from the keyboard. Start playback in the normal fashion (page 20) and play the melody along with the song. You can also change the Melody Guide setting while the song is playing back by simply pressing the MELODY GUIDE button.
Selecting and Playing Styles — The Style Mode The Style mode provides dynamic rhythm/accompaniment patterns — as well as voice settings appropriate for each pattern — for various popular music styles. A total of 100 different styles are available, in several different categories. Each style is made up of separate “sections”...
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Start the selected style. You can do this in one of the following ways: Pressing the START/STOP button The rhythm starts playing immediately without bass and chord accompaniment. The YNC- TART currently selected Main A or B section will play. (You can select either section by pressing the appropriate button —...
Selecting and Playing Styles — The Style Mode Stop the style. You can do this in one of three ways: Pressing the START/STOP button The rhythm/accompaniment stops playing immediately. Using an Ending section Press the INTRO/ENDING button. The style stops after the Ending section is finished.
Using the Auto Accompaniment Features Turn on the auto accompaniment. Press the ACMP ON/OFF button to turn on (enable) the auto accompaniment. Select and play a style. Select one of the styles and start playback, as de- scribed in steps 1 - 3 on page 28. Change chords using the auto accompaniment feature.
Selecting and Playing Styles — The Style Mode Style Sections (Main A, Main B) and Fill-ins While the style is playing, you can add variation in the rhythm/accompaniment by pressing one of the MAIN A/B (AUTO FILL) buttons. This automatically plays one of four Fill-in sections, and smoothly leads into the next section —...
Using Auto Accompaniment — Multi Fingering The auto accompaniment function automatically generates bass and chord accompaniment for you to play along with, by using Multi Fingering operation. You can change the chords of the accompa- niment by playing keys in the ACMP section of the keyboard using either the “Single Finger” or “Fingered”...
Selecting and Playing Styles — The Style Mode What is a Chord? The simple answer: Three or more notes played simultaneously is a chord. (Two notes played together is an “interval” — an interval being the distance between two different notes. This is also referred to as a “harmony.”) Depending on the intervals between the three or more notes, a chord can sound beautiful or muddy and dissonant.
Writing Chord Names Knowing how to read and write chord names is an easy yet invaluable skill. Chords are often written in a kind of shorthand that makes them instantly recognizable (and gives you the free- dom to play them with the voicing or inversion that you prefer). Once you understand the basic principles of harmony and chords, it’s very simple to use this shorthand to write out the chords of a song.
Selecting and Playing Styles — The Style Mode One Touch Setting (OTS) The One Touch Setting function automatically selects an appropriate voice for playing with the style you select. In other words, when One Touch Setting is on, the voice automatically changes when you change the style.
Chord Guide The Chord Guide functions of the PortaTone provide powerful, easy-to-use tools for learning chords and chord relationships. Chord Guide features two different types of operation: Smart and Dictio- nary. Smart The Smart type allows you to set the basic key for the chord accompaniment. Once this is set, you can simply press single keys in the scale and have harmonically appropriate chords played automati- cally.
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Selecting and Playing Styles — The Style Mode Number Key (display indication, actual key) #/b=0 For example, if you want to perform with the following score, set the key to b=1 (F, or Dm) Play the style, and play single note chords (root notes) in the ACMP section.
Dictionary The Dictionary type is essentially a built-in “chord book” that shows you the individual notes of chords. It is ideal when you know the name of a certain chord and want to quickly learn how to play With the Style mode active, select the Dictionary Chord Guide.
Selecting and Playing Styles — The Style Mode Multi Pads These convenient pads let you instantly trigger various musical and rhythmic phrases as you play the PortaTone. There are a total of 40 different sounds or phrases (20 banks, with two pad sounds for each bank).
How Can MIDI be Used? In the simple, yet powerful MIDI application example below, the Yamaha QY-70 Music Sequencer is used to record and play back Selecting and Playing Styles — The Style Mode Transmits MIDI data...
Troubleshooting Problem When the PortaTone is turned on or off, a popping sound is temporarily produced. The sound of the voices or rhythms seems unusual or strange. There is no sound even when the keyboard is played or when a Song is being played back.
VOICE LIST The following voices can be selected when the Voice mode is active, or when the Voice Change function is on. They can also be selected by a connected MIDI device; the corresponding bank select messages are: MSB = 00H, LSB = 70H.
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The following voices cannot be directly selected from the panel controls; they are special voices programmed into the songs of the PortaTone and are selected automatically in song playback. However, they can be selected by a connected MIDI device; the corresponding bank select messages are: MSB = 00H, LSB = 00H.
SUSTAIN (PSR-195 only) Speakers PSR-195: 12cm x 2 PSR-79: 10cm x 2 Power supply Adaptor: Yamaha PA-3B AC power adaptor Batteries: Six “D” size, SUM-1, R-20 or equivalent batteries Dimensions PSR-195: 931 x 351 x 110 mm (36-2/3" x 13-3/4" x 4-1/3")
midi implementation chart [Portable Keyboard] Model: PSR-195/PSR-79 Function Basic Default 1~7, 10 Channel Changed Default Mode Messages Altered ************** Note 0~127 Number : True voice ************** Velocity Note ON O 9nH, v=1~127 Note OFF X 9nH, v=0 After key’s Touch Ch’s Pitch Bender Control Change...
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Compliance with FCC This applies only to products distributed by YAMAHA CORPORATION OF AMERICA. midi implementation chart regulations does not guarantee that interference will not occur in all installations.
PSR SERIES OF PORTATONE ELECTRONIC KEYBOARDS If during the first 90 days that immediately follows the purchase date, your new Yamaha product covered by this warranty is found to have a defect in material and/or workmanship, Yamaha and/or its authorized representative will repair such defect without charge for parts or labor.
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For details of products, please contact your nearest Yamaha or the authorized distributor listed below. Pour plus de détails sur les produits, veuillez-vous adresser à Yamaha ou au distributeur le plus proche de vous figurant dans la liste suivante. NORTH AMERICA CANADA Yamaha Canada Music Ltd.
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