In 1989 Yamaha launched the V50 - a digital workstation featuring an FM synthesis core, a PCM rhythm machine and a sequencer. The 61-note keyboard supports aftertouch and is velocity sensitive.

This is a 4-operator FM workstation with dual effects which was not so common in the mid-end of 80s for a digital synth. It has also a built-in PCM drum machine borrowed from the Yamaha RX series and a powerful sequencer (if you compare to its competitors from the same era).

100 factory presets are available and another 100 user patches will be more than enough to discover its sound design possibilities. If you search for typical TX81Z sounds, you'll be able to reproduce all of them and more with the Yamaha V50, but you will dispose of 16 voices of polyphony instead of 8 for the TX81Z. The V50 features a floppy drive and a memory card slot for storing the patches.

V50's sound generator provides 16-voice polyphony and 8-part multitimbrality. There are 4 operators per voice involving one of 8 available algorithms. There’s a built-in 8-track sequencer allowing to create up to 8 songs. You can create even layered sounds. The rhythm machine section offers 61 PCM samples. The rhythm machine can be set and adjusted in the real time mode so that the rhythm could be altered while you keep the sound playback and vice versa – the rhythm section can run while you make some changes in the overall performance. There are 31 effects represented with delays and reverbs and even distortion which can be configured by the user though it will not be possible to stack multiple effects – only one at a time will be available.

Although the Yamaha V50 is a quite rare to find today and overshadowed by other instruments like Yamaha's own DX7II, Roland D50 and Korg M1 synthesizers, this is a nice sounding and still usable old fashioned workstation featuring a nice keybed, big display, MIDI compatibility and built to serve decades no matter on stage or in the studio.