PL88 (Discontinued)

This product has been discontinued. The CZ/PL 88 mini is available and offers most of the features of the PL88.

The essential companion for your vintage and modern day synthesizers. Thousands of presets, patch and bank storage, and an arpeggiator.

The PL88 working with a Roland D-05

What is it?

The PL88 Patch Library provides nearly unlimited patch and parameter storage for all of your synthesizers:

  • Thousands of preloaded preset banks and patches for popular vintage and modern synthesizers: Keys, bells, brasses, basses, pads, leads, it’s all in there.
  • Thousands of memory slots to store the patches and banks you create on your machines! No longer are you limited by the hardware memory. Takes the place of dozens or hundreds of conventional memory or RAM cartridges.
  • An arpeggiator with features from the Roland Jupiter-4 and Korg microKORG arpeggiators. Synthesizers come to life when you add an arpeggiator. Latch, keysplit, external and internal trigger. Can be used as a 64-step sequencer!
  • A MIDI velocity normalizer. Some classic keyboards output velocities from 0-100, which limits their usefulness as MIDI controllers. The PL88 rescales the output velocity to 0-127 so you can use your classic as a MIDI controller and get full dynamic range from your outboard gear.

How do I connect it?

Connect the PL88 to your synthesizer with 2 MIDI cables and power the PL88 via USB cable (included) or a 9V power adapter (center positive).

You can then connect external gear to the PL88 and all MIDI messages will be passed through to the synthesizer. This lets you use sequencers and external controllers without having to unplug and plug cables.

The PL88 working with a Yamaha DX7

What synthesizers are supported?

Just a few examples:

  • Yamaha DX7 / TX7
  • Korg Volca FM
  • Roland D-50 / D-550 / D-05
  • Korg M1
  • Casio CZ series
  • Roland Alpha Juno
  • Yamaha Reface CP
  • Yamaha Reface CS
  • Yamaha Reface DX
  • Yamaha Reface YC

You can use the PL88 with any synthesizer that can send and receive SysEx (System Exclusive) messages. If your equipment works with a computer-based SysEx librarian program such as Midi-OX, then it will work with the PL88!

The PL88 working with the Yamaha DX7

What presets are included?

The PL88 comes with a MicroSD card that is preloaded with thousands of patches:

Synth# Presets
Casio CZ Series2,198 patches
Roland D-50 / D-550 / D-05305 banks of 64 patches
Yamaha DX7 / Volca FM4,400 banks of 32 patches
Yamaha SY77226 banks of patches
Korg M1295 banks of patches
Roland JD-800
174 banks of patches
Yamaha Reface CP158 patches
Yamaha Reface CS4,551 patches
Yamaha Reface DX4,270 patches
Yamaha Reface YC1,655 patches

VIEW THE FULL LIST HERE

How do I use it?

Owner’s Manual

Quick Start Guide

How much is it?

  • Price is $129 + $10 shipping, ($139), shipped to the US.
  • Price is $129 + $35 shipping, ($164), shipped outside the US, as long as USPS Priority Mail delivers to your location. I must declare the full price of the item ($129) on the customs form, please do not ask me to mark it as “gift”, etc.

What’s in the box?

  • The PL88 Patch Library
  • A USB power cable which can be connected to any USB charger.
  • QuickStart Guide

How can I get one?

Please read all of the following before ordering:

  • The PL88 box is 3D printed. 3D printed parts have a textured appearance, please see photos above so you know what you are getting.
  • There are hundreds of synthesizer models out there, the PL88 has been tested with only a few of them. I will provide as much support as I can to get you up and running.
  • Returns offered within 7 days of receipt, with evidence that the PL88 is defective electronically or physically. Return shipping is the responsibility of the buyer.

CURRENT STATUS: All products are out of stock for the forseeable future due to parts not being available. We regret the inconvenience.

SUPPORT

Please contact me: iestyn.lewis@gmail.com

The latest firmware version is 4.05. To determine your device’s firmware version, unplug your PL88 and plug it back in again. Immediately after the PL88 “splash” appears, your firmware version will be displayed. To upgrade your device, please contact me.

Firmware Version History

  • 4.05
    • Arp Gate Length Setting
    • Arp Step Repeat Setting
    • Arp Velocity Setting
    • Fixes to Local Mode Messaging
    • Fixes to Keyboard Split
New Keyboard Split MIDI Out Mode in 4.03
  • 4.03
    • New setting, MIDI Out Mode allows you to split the keyboard of the connected synth such that only some notes are sent via MIDI out and the others are played on the connected synth.
    • Incoming MIDI Clock/Start/Stop messages are echoed through the MIDI Out port
    • (Casio CZ Only) Stored patches can be loaded to the Synth no matter what MIDI channel is selected.  (CZPL MIDI Channel should be set to the same channel as your Casio).
    • Improvements to the arpeggio Hold (Latch) function.
  • 4.01 – Initial release version.