Step Back In Time With A Loving Recreation Of A Classic Early 80’s Yamaha Keyboard!
“Retrosound Mk100” is a loving recreation of one of the hidden gems of the early 80’s, the Yamaha Portasound MK100 keyboard and comes with the following features:
- Synth – All the 12 presets & synthesis options (“1376 combinations”) of the hardware
- Rhythm/Drum machine – All 36 preset patterns and 36 fills of the hardware
- Effects – Reverb, Delay, Phaser
- Global Effects – Warmth, Wide, Compression, Speaker
- Snapshots and Multis included
60% off “RetroSound MK100” by difficultAudio
A Brief History of an 80’s Classic – The Yamaha MK100!
The MK100 was a little gem of a home keyboard. Unlike it’s contemporaries, the stereo-chorus equipped MK100 had 12 standard presets consisting of two layers, and you could customise the waveforms and envelopes each used (the manual proudly proclaimed “1,376 sound possibilities!”). And it actually sounded good!
While it’s not an FM machine, it’s voicings and waveforms (and colour scheme!) were clearly derived from the brand new DX range. As it result, it sounded fresh, and looked fabulous!
Not only that, but alongside the preset drum patterns you had a programmable drum machine – yes, for perhaps the first time in a home keyboard you could write your own drum patterns!
A big selling point was the “Multi-Menu”, an innovative device where you would spin a wheel revealing a new set of menu options – nine pages in all, giving the user the ability to customise sounds, access the Custom Drummer, Custom Bassist and Music Recorder functions, and save/load data from cassette.
The Synth
The “RetroSound MK100” features the 12 main preset sounds of the hardware.
Each preset can be customised individually by turning on Vari 1 (Waves) and/or Vari 2 (Envelopes) and choosing different options – the first group of four in the menu applying to Wave 1, and the second group of four applying to Wave 2.
Many presets have additional “hidden” waves and/or envelope settings, so different presets have different sound possibilities to explore, true to the behaviour of the hardware.
By turning the Extended Synthesis page on, you now have full control over the filter settings, filter and amp envelopes, and velocity response for each of the two layers (or both together in “Link” mode), to give more creative options while still retaining the character of the instrument.
You can also detune and spread the layers!
Read more about the MK100’s features in the Manual HERE.
60% off “RetroSound MK100” by difficultAudio
The Drum Machine
The MK100’s drum machine features 12 pattern preset “styles”, each with three variations, and it’s own fill pattern, and synchronises to the Host tempo.
With “Syncro Start” enabled, the drum machine will start either on a key press, or will follow your Host’s transport controls.
By turning on “Key Play”, the patterns and fills can be triggered in real-time from your MIDI keyboard.
“Custom Drummer” reveals the step editor and allows you to edit/create your own patterns in place of the 36 presets. You can use both the step editor and real-time recording/erasing to create your patterns, using the 6 built-in drum sounds.
The “Voice” button lets you customise each of the drum sounds – you can change Pitch, shorten the Decay, change the Tone and Colour (the effect of these vary for each voice), send to the global Reverb and Delay (if they are turned on), and balance the Level.
If you choose an output configuration in Kontakt with more outputs than the main stereo output, each drum will be routed to it’s own individual output to your interface/host for further processing.
The Effects
The Effects page features global FX, and other instrument preferences.
Global Reverb and Delay are available on the synth engine (you also can send individual drum voices to each as well), as is a slow deep phaser setting.
The Output effects include tape Warmth, a Wide setting, and an overall Compression effect.
You can disable the FX completely with one button press, and by using the “FX Lock” button, leave your chosen setting in place while browsing additional presets.
Read more about the MK100’s features in the Manual HERE.
60% off “RetroSound MK100” by difficultAudio
So What Exactly Can I Do With “RetroSound MK100”?
A hidden gem of the early 80’s, “RetroSound MK100” is a fabulous recreation of the Yamaha Portasound MK100 keyboard, and is perfect for the following music styles:
- Synthpop
- New Wave / New Romantic
- Classic 80’s Underscore
Note: Requires the FULL retail version of Kontakt 5.6.5 or higher (NOT compatible with the free Kontakt Player)
"RetroSound MK100" by difficultAudio
60% off "RetroSound MK100" by difficultAudio
Normally €22 – get it at 60% off before it’s gone!
- 60% off the normal price (normally €22)!
- A Loving Recreation Of An 80’s Hidden Gem – The Yamaha MK100!
- Sampled at 24-bit 44.1Khz, Output to 16-bit 44.1KHz NCW
- 49 chromatic samples per Wave, 17 Waves in total, 6 sampled drum sounds
- Synth
- All the 12 presets & synthesis options (“1376 combinations”) of the hardware
- Extended synthesis features – independent filter, filter and amp envelopes for each of the two Waves
- Drums
- Integrated Rhythm/Drum machine
- All 36 preset patterns and 36 fills of the hardware
- Custom Drummer for programming user patterns
- Step drum pattern editor
- Real-time pattern recording
- Pattern recording/playback triggering, voice selection and editing from MIDI keyboard
- Individual drum sounds can be edited with pitch, envelope and FX controls
- Individual drum outputs, Host Sync and Transport support
- Effects – Reverb, Delay, Phaser
- Global Effects – Warmth, Wide, Compression, Speaker
- Authentic interface
- Four main pages – Main, Synth, Rhythm, Effects
- Host Automation support
- Snapshots and Multis included
- Note: Requires the FULL retail version of Kontakt 5.6.5 or higher (NOT compatible with the free Kontakt Player)
- Perfect for Synthpop, New Wave / New Romantic & Classic 80’s Underscore!