Yamaha TYU-20 Fun-Keyboard (toy keyboard with sample voice)

This simple monophonic mini keyboard from 1985 (concluded by CPU number) has not even rhythm and only 2 preset sounds. One is a squarewave piano and the other a lofi sample voice singing the English note names (black keys stay mute here).

There are 20 monophonic demos those can be manually accompanied using the other preset sound.

main features:

eastereggs:

notes:

The orange note-shaped ornaments and "Fun-Keyboard" box text are still in a nice 1970th flower power style. I first thought this rare instrument was only sold in Japan, but my manual in English, German and French suggests that it was officially released in Europe or USA. The speaker grill sometimes rumbles when not held down by fingers. The hardware is fairly simple with only a tiny CPU (16 pins, silver on grey text hints to old Yamaha) and no complex analogue stuff. A little scary is the battery alarm, that sets off a quite loud, 3s long saxophone-like toot when no note is played for 85 seconds.

The 'piano' is a typical squarewave piano timbre with linear envelope and mild DAC aliasing noise. The 'do-re-mi' plays a sort-of female chorus voice that sings the Japanese note names of corresponding white keys in a noisy low resolution sample of about 0.3s duration. Low octave notes don't sound longer, which hints that they are not pitch shifted.

The multi-function mode slide switch is a bit hard to figure out. Particularly starting demo songs is too unintuitive for a toy; you have to hold down the corresponding white key during power-on (which is still less complicated than in the quirky TYU-30 and TYU-40), which is not even told on the control panel. With this slider you can select the 'piano' or 'do-re-mi' preset sound for the demo, which automatically switches the keys to the other sound, so you can play to them. On the slider exist 2 manual and 4  'auto play' positions, because demos can play at 2 speeds (normal is slow, 'slow' is too slow). Strangest is that the 2 'manual' positions are redundant and do exactly the same like the 'auto play' positions of the opposite name (i.e. 'piano' corresponds to 'do-re-mi'), which naming technically makes sense because keys always play the opposite sound channel of the demo. May be Yamaha wanted to suggest more functions than the simple chip actually has; printing how to select the songs would have made much more sense.

Another glitch is that holding a key during power-on for selecting a demo always first sounds the corresponding note in 'do-re-mi' voice (i.e. black keys are mute); after about 2 seconds the song will begin. If the key is still held down, it will sound again in the currently selected preset sound. The demos play quite slow and are simple monophonic melodies.

The 20 demos are:

  1. Mary Had A Little Lamb
  2. Frère Jaques (Brother John)
  3. London Bridge
  4. Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star
  5. Oh, Susanna
  6. Londonderry Air
  7. Michael, Row The Boat Ashore
  8. Old McDonald Had A Farm
  9. Home Sweet Home
  10. Brahms' Cradle Song
  11. My Bonnie
  12. Ten Little Indian Boys
  13. This Old Man
  14. Three Blind Mice
  15. Pop! Goes The Weasel
  16. Polly-Wolly-Doodle
  17. May Song [ = "Hänschen Klein"]
  18. Can Can Polka
  19. Jingle Bells
  20. Silent Night
Key 25 cycles through all 20 songs. The unused keys 21..24 immediately sound their note and start no demo.

Another Yamaha toy keyboard with "Do Re Me" sample voice was the PSS-110.
 

 removal of these screws voids warranty...    
WarrantyVoid
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