Yamaha YC Series

The Perfect Combination of Combo Organ and Stage Keyboard

The letters “YC” stand for Yamaha Combo Organ and refer to a tradition that began with the Yamaha YC-10 in 1969. Now available as a Stage Keyboard, it combines the heritage of the YC Combo Organ and combines all the essential tools that a keyboard player needs on stage today.

When it comes to versatility, YC is a virtuoso—equipped with premium keyboard sounds, ranging from authentic Yamaha grand/upright pianos, electric pianos and keyboards, to a tonewheel organ with a rotary speaker, synths, acoustic sounds, and much more.

Available In Three Configurations

• Yamaha YC88 Stage Keyboard and Drawbar Organ

Natural Wood With Triple Sensor Action

The natural wood keys and graded action of the YC88 reproduce the weight and response of a grand piano right down to the feel of the heavy or light hammers in the low and high ends. YC88 also features a triple sensor action for pianists accustomed to the response and speed of grand pianos. You get the touch of a Yamaha acoustic piano with the unmatched versatility of the YC.

• Yamaha YC73 Stage Keyboard and Drawbar Organ

Balanced Electric Piano Action

YC73 has a weighted and balanced action that models the unmistakable feel of an electric piano. With an E-to-E keyboard and a touch that falls between graded acoustic piano and authentic organ action, it’s quite possibly the most versatile YC of all.

• Yamaha YC61 Stage Keyboard and Drawbar Organ

Waterfall Keyboard

The authentic Waterfall keyboard action of the YC61 was created by painstaking research into traditional organ keyboards and constant feedback from top keyboard artists. The result is a keyboard that not only provides the distinctive touch of an organ but also gives artists new ways to express themselves on acoustic and electric pianos, synth leads, brass sections and more.

Three Different Models, Same Great Sound

All YC models have the same level of sound generation: a VCM, an 8-Operator FM Sound Engine, an AWM2 Tone Generator, and a VCM Rotary Speaker simulation plus a selection of over 35 Effects that can be used in a wide range of applications

Each Yamaha YC Series Stage Piano features Virtual Circuitry Modeling (VCM), a technology that recreates the circuits of vintage analog EQs, compressors and phasers, right down to component level. By recreating the subtleties of the transistors and resistors of vintage keyboards, VCM provides a character that other digital simulations can’t achieve. With VCM technology, electronic circuits can be virtually “recreated” and then behave as “non-static” as the original. This allows maximum authenticity in the organ sound.

ORGAN SECTION

The Organ Section is based on the VCM engine as well as the FM engine and simulates 3 types of tonewheel organ and transistor organs. Each engine features three unique settings. A newly developed and LED-supported Drawbar system controls the Foot Positions of the Organ Section. Two Drawbar settings “Lower/Upper” are available.

In addition to the three FM organ models, the 8-Operator FM engine in YC shines with various FM e-piano classics as well as other FM sounds from the categories lead, bass, brass, pads, and more. These FM Voices offer real added value beyond VCM and sample-based sound generation.

KEYS SECTION

The two Keys Sections (Key A/Key B) also use two sound engines: AWM2 and FM. Both have an identical structure, i.e. they are not restricted to specific engines or different Voice categories. They can also be played with the integrated keyboard, like Layer, Split, or a combination of Split/Layer in connection with the Organ Section. In addition, you can also determine whether Key A or Key B should be controlled by the internal keyboard, an external keyboard, or a combination of both.

The Key Sections contain 139 Voices and is divided into four main Voice categories: “Piano”, “E.Piano”, “Synth”, and “Others”. Among the pianos is three high-quality concert grand piano sounds: Yamaha CFX, S700, and C7. The Yamaha U1, one of Yamaha’s most popular acoustic pianos, is also included in the YC’s sound library. The “Best Of” selection in the E.Piano category is based on both the AWM2 and FM engines. While tine electric piano variants and reed electric piano are based on high-quality AWM2 samples, the FM classics are generated directly by the native FM engine. The categories “Synth” and “Others” also offer native FM Voices such as bass, brass, pad, and synth sounds, some with a high recognition value.

EFFECTS

The YC Series has an intelligent Effect structure. Effects are either permanently assigned to a Section or allow flexible routing to meet as many sound shaping requirements as possible. No fewer than eight independent Effects can be used simultaneously.

At the end of the Effects chain, the Master EQ can be integrated to make a global adjustment of the output signal, e.g. for adaptation to an active loudspeaker system.

SOUND SHAPING

For the Key Sections of the YC, there is a controller on the user interface that controls either the Envelope (EG) or a Filter. Although this is a so-called “One-Knob Setting”, it delivers astonishing results. The choice of different “Control Types” determines whether one or more parameters are controlled simultaneously. For parameter combinations, several variants of different parameter curves are optionally available. The selected settings can be saved in the Live Set. Based on the saved setting, the [EG / FILTER] knob can of course also be used to great effect in a live performance.

LIVE SET

Nearly all possible instrument settings can be stored in a Live Set. The total memory contains 160 Live Sets, of which the first 80 are filled with Presets that can be overwritten if necessary. The Organ Section’s Drawbar settings, which can be programmed separately for Lower/Upper, two independent Key Sections, and all Effect settings can be used in a Live Set to prepare everything for an impressive performance.

It is possible to back up the entire contents of the memory to a connected USB memory device. It is also possible to individually save or load individual Live Sets or Live Set Pages. A “Live Set Manager” included in the Menu allows the reorganisation of Live Sets in the instrument memory.

One For The Future

EXPANDABILITY

The YC Series comes factory-fitted with just about everything organists and demanding band keyboardists need. However, to meet the needs of the modern musician, the YCs have a new Update System. For the first time with the new CP series, Operating System Updates were released at regular intervals. In addition to the obligatory bug fixes and supplementary features, these Updates contained new high-quality content in the form of sounds with their associated Waveforms. This new Update System guarantees an extremely high-quality standard, which will also be applied to the YC Series in the future. Carefully selected Samples, as well as programming corresponding to the respective Section, will gradually complement the original content.