Yamaha Playcard keyboards: accompaniment data inspired by bank cards

Playcard System

In the early 1980s, Yamaha brought out a handful of home music keyboards featuring an advanced card-based digital system designed to load interactive accompaniment, melody and other musical data into the instrument.

The Playcard system was heralded as groundbreaking when the first model, the PortaSound PC-100, was launched in 1982.

For the first time, the keyboard could provide accompaniment at whatever tempo the user played, and adjust it on the fly, rather than forcing the user to adapt their playing to a set and static speed.

Inspired by bank ATM cards, but required to hold some 500 times more data, it took four years of development to perfect the system.

The cards are laminated, to aid with longevity, and measure 13x9cm (~5.1×3.5″). Each card contains music data stored on a magnetic strip. When the card is swiped through the slot found on each model, the internal reader loads in the stored data and starts playing whatever accompaniment had been stored.

They also have the relevant music score printed on one side, with instructions on the other side. This makes it possible to begin learning to read printed music alongside following the lit keys.

To aid in learning, lights above the keys illuminate when a melody note should be played. Users can listen to the entire song with complete melody, or switch off the automatic melody in order to play it themselves.

Additionally, Playcard keyboards can serve as background music or even rudimentary karaoke machines. On board features include a transposer and pitch control, making it ideal for playing with others or for adapting the key when singing.

Users would refer to these keyboards as “MYBAND” because of their versatility, and in the early years of cheaper, more accessible home music keyboards, many people who had previously not considered playing an instrument were drawn to the brand.

Models

Home Keyboards

Six home keyboard models featured the Playcard system, and were released between 1981 and 1985. Although they carried either the PortaTone or PortaSound branding names, and had some of the same features, they were considered distinct from the PSR PortaTone and PSS PortaSound instrument families.

• PC-100 (1982)
• PC-50 (1982)
• PC-1000 (1983)
• PCS-500 (1984)
• PCS-30 (1984)
• PCR-800 (1985)

Electronic Organs

Additionally, two Yamaha electronic organs used the Playcard system: the Electone CN-1000 single-keyboard organ, and the MR-1, both from 1983.

MSX Home Computers

The MSX computers first came onto the market in 1983 and the range were significantly more popular in Japan than other markets.

Yamaha, which made its own enhanced MSX-compatible music computer, the CX5M, produced basic hardware that could read and play back Playcard cards by utilising a card reader wired in to a cartridge for inserting into an MSX computer’s cartridge port.

Standard MSX computers featured General Instrument/Yamaha AY-3-891x three-channel sound chip, meaning only the melody, obligato and bass parts could be reproduced. An add-on five channel FM synthesiser module could be purchased to expand this. The CX5M featured eight voices but it’s not clear whether this offered expanded capability.

This appeared to be only a playback system, although several cards could be read and stored in the computer’s memory at one time — how many depended on the amount of RAM the computer had. The learning system was not available as the hardware/software combination did not support it.

Yamaha’s YK-01 and YK-10 MIDI keyboards, which seem to have been released primarily for the CX5M, could be used with MSX computers and introduced the learning aspects of Playcard.

Playcard Data

Each PlayCard contained the following data:

• Melody
• Obligato (a secondary or counter melody)
• Chords
• Rhythm accompaniment
• Drum fill-ins
• Bass line
• Instrument voices
• Program instructions
• Arpeggios (if used)

Loading a Playcard

Each manual gives clear instructions on how to load the data from a Playcard. It sounds slightly fiddly at first but presumably becomes second nature over time:

1. Switch on:
   Slide the POWER SWITCH to the right.
2. Insert a Playcard:
   Select a Playcard, remove it from the protective envelope, and place it in the groove so that its leading edge is level with the arrow designating the insertion point. Then slide the Playcard firmly along the groove in one action from right to left until it reaches the end of the groove. If the instrument’s head, which is located in the groove, has read the magnetic strip correctly, the last Melody Lamp on the right of the keyboard will light up for a few seconds. Repeat the procedure if the Melody Lamp does not illuminate. If you slide the Playcard too slowly, the head will not read the data; the sliding action should take from one to two seconds. Try several times to familiarise yourself with the correct speed.
   Once the instrument has memorised the Playcard data, you can remove the Playcard if you wish; for safety’s sake, return it to its protective envelope.

For Playcards with magnetic strip on both sides:
Some Playcards that you purchase separately may have a magnetic strip on both sides. Follow the procedure described above to have the head read all the data. When the data on ones side has been memorised, the extreme right-hand Melody Lamp will flash on and off for a few seconds. This indicates that you should turn the card over and insert it again so that the remainder of the data can be read by the instrument. The same Melody Lamp will light up continuously for a few seconds to indicate correct insertion.

Playcard Modes

There were several modes available once the Playcard data had been loaded.

Automatic Mode

Automatic playing allowed the instrument to play the entire piece of music, with the Melody Lamps lighting up in time with the melody.

The tempo can be changed, as can the balance of bass and rhythm, and even the default instrument voices used.

The manual specifically warns about not switching waltz music to a 4/4 beat! What terrible things could occur?

Melody Play

Pressing the MELODY CANCEL button causes only the accompaniment to play, with the lamps still lighting at the correct time for the melody, which the user can now play.

The FREE TEMPO button lets users learn a melody at their own playing speed, with the accompaniment waiting for each melody note to be played before progressing. The accompaniment speeds up or slows down as required.

No Lamps

The guide lamps can be switched off so the melody can be played without the lit keys.

Phrase Repeat

Each musical phrase on a Playcard has a number, and by entering repeat mode, a single phrase can be repeated over and over to aid in learning.

Chord Play

Similar to the melody play, it’s possible to play the chord accompaniment using the one finger auto bass system.

Playcard Library

According to Yamaha there are “numerous pieces of music in the Playcard library” with a diverse selection including popular hits, standards, screen music, Latin numbers, classical music, Walt Disney favourites, and popular artists of the time.

Each instrument came supplied with a number of Playcards (often a dozen) plus a head cleaning card which was to be used periodically. Anecdotal evidence and some manuals suggest Yamaha reduced the number of bundled cards to six on some models later on.

The PC-100 came with the following songs:

• 9 to 5 (Morning Train)
• Do-Re-Mi
• Edelweiss
• Aloha Oe
• Greensleeves
• Cielito Lindo
• Summertime
• Night Fever
• When the Saints Go Marching In
• Killing Me Softly With His Song
• I Could have Danced All Night
• Take the “A” Train

The PCS-30 originally came with the following songs:

• Do-Re-Mi
• Edelweiss
• Aloha Oe
• Green Sleeves
• Nocturne Op.9-2
• Summertime
• When The Saints Go Marching In
• I Could Have Danced All Night
• Take The “A” Train
• Memory
• We’re All Alone
• Aquarela Do Brazil

The instrument manuals give an indication of the range of Playcards available. As one might expect, the library grew over time.

It seems as if arrangements of the same song may have varied between instruments. This may have been because of different specifications. Presumably the cards contained significant master data but then each instrument model could interpret and play what worked best for its own specs.

By the launch of the PCR-800 in 1985, there were 40 cards listed in the manual. Below are the 50+ cards we’ve found information on — a few seem to be missing.

In the early ’80s instruments and printed music was primarily sold via local music shops and dealerships, so it’s highly likely these would have been stocked this way. They may also have been available via mail order.

Reception

Reviews at the time were generally positive for many of the keyboards which featured the Playcard system.

Being paper-based with a magnetic strip, damage and data corruption from magnetic fields were an issue. Over time, cards failed to read correctly, rendering them unusable.

Specifications

PC/PCS/PCR Home Keyboards

Electone CN-1000 Electronic Organ

MR-1 Electronic Organ

Conclusions

Yamaha’s Playcard system was an ingenious but short-lived system. The company put a significant amount of time into developing it, but ultimately it was used on just a handful of home keyboards, organs and less-than-mainstream (outside Japan) computers.

While it received positive reviews and feedback and — coupled with innovative and affordable instruments — genuinely sparked the interest of a new audience who had not considered playing an instrument before, its questionable reliability and relatively small library of titles meant that by the mid-1980s it was already being abandoned.

It’s perhaps ironic that the Playcard format was prominent for about the same amount of time as it took to develop it.

Some other keyboard manufacturers had their own systems, such as Casio’s ROM packs, which were more resilient and available on a wider range of instruments.

Yamaha had moved on to producing more resilient, still proprietary, music storage/retrieval methods. For example, some of its Clavinova digital pianos in the mid-1980s could read a ROM chip which was attached to books of printed music.

And then, as standards developed, proprietary storage methods became less common. Even if manufacturers had their own unique software and data formats, music data could be far more easily transferred via more standardised media such as floppy disks, USB drives, or via MIDI.

Nevertheless, Yamaha’s Playcard occupies a short but significant place in electronic keyboard history.