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SY22

KeyboardDigitalPolyphonic

When Yamaha acquired Sequential Circuits in 1987, they inherited the Prophet VS's groundbreaking vector synthesis technology and immediately set about making it more accessible. The SY22 was their answer—a compact, affordable hybrid that brought FM synthesis and sampled sounds together under the control of a joystick, arriving in 1990 when most synthesizers were still locked into either one synthesis method or the other.

The SY22 pairs Yamaha's AWM sample engine with four-operator FM synthesis, letting you build voices from up to four elements at once. You get 127 onboard samples plus a 61-key velocity and aftertouch-sensitive keyboard with unweighted synth action, 16-voice polyphony, and 128 total presets split between 64 factory sounds and 64 user slots. The real magic lives in that front-panel vector joystick, which controls the blend and detuning of your sound elements in real time across an X and Y axis. You can record up to fifty steps of joystick movement that repeat with each note, creating evolving textures that would take minutes to program on other synths. The 16 onboard effects cover the essentials—reverbs, delays, distortion, and some creative options like ping pong and early reflection—though depth is the only parameter you can tweak.

The SY22 developed a solid following among producers who appreciated its character and workflow. It's known for a distinctly digital, sometimes metallic quality that sits somewhere between the warmth of analog and the clinical precision of pure digital synthesis. Some found the limited FM editing restrictive compared to dedicated FM synths, and the lack of an onboard sequencer meant you'd need external gear for serious composition work. Still, the vector synthesis implementation remains one of the most intuitive and powerful ever designed, and the combination of samples and FM gave it a sonic palette that felt genuinely different from its competitors.

Released

1990

Status

Discontinued

Synthesizer
Format
Keyboard
Type
Sample-based, FM, Vector
Internal Battery
No
Voice
A/D
Digital
Polyphony
Polyphonic
Oscillators
0
Oscillator Type
-
Voices
16
Filter
No
Envelopes
-
LFO
-
Effects
16 Digital Reverbs and Delays
Expression
Aftertouch
-
Velocity
Yes
MPE
No
Additional
-
Software
-
I/O
Audio In
-
Audio Out
1 stereo
Headphone
-
MIDI
In, Out, Thru
MIDI Type
DIN (5-pin)
Ports
Memory Card
Wi-Fi
No
Workflow
Arpeggiator
No
Sequencer
No
Mod Matrix
-
Memory
64 preset / 64 user
Measurements
Dimensions
976 x 285 x 93 mm
Weight
6.8 kg
Last updated Mar 25, 2026