Yamaha PS-1 Portasound Analog Synthesizer

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The Yamaha Portasound PS and PSS electronic keyboards were manufactured in the 1980s and 1990s. The PS-1 came onto the market in 1980 at the same time as the PS-2 and PS-3 as the cheapest version. The name Portasound refers to the portability of the instruments, with battery operation being a consistent feature of the product line. The PortaSound synthesisers were designed for children and beginners and usually had small keys and simple preset functions suitable for teaching. In 1982, a card reading system was introduced that allowed players to learn and play along with sequenced songs. Some of the higher-end keyboards have advanced features such as programmable synthesiser controls, midi capability and sampler functions.

The PS-1 analogue synthesizer creates the sound with filtered square waves. It is eight-voice polyphonic and has 32 mini-keys, 4 tone colours and 4 rhythms as well as a sustain effect.