Yamaha S-90

I'd say it's pretty easy to navigate, for a workstation. I've yet to play a workstation/synth that is truly EASY to work on.

64 note polyphony...pretty much standard. The action...hmm, well it's better than most, although it does NOT feel like a piano, like some say. I like the feeling of an old CP-80 much better, if I cannot have an actual acoustic piano in front of me.

The balanced hammer action is good however, but it's a keyboard, not a piano, so it's NEVER going to feel like real piano action. I wish it could, but it simply wont, unless there are dampers, strings, and actual hammers striking the strings. But for weighted keys, it's one of the better one's I've played. Sometimes I don't like the aftertouch action...on certain songs, it's a bit sluggish, but overall, amoung the best out there!

Well, most are great. If you buy this, you're gonna need the new Piano plug in card, because the S700 piano sound is rediculous! The middle octaves have horrible "hiss" sounds when striked. Imagine a casette deck with DOLBY B or C turned on....when the music gets louder, you hear tape hiss.....SAME THING on the Yamaha S90. Despite what Yamaha said in their literature, this sample is garbage. The upper octaves (well done...the best) but mid-lower octaves are not amusing.

The Rhodes samples are KILLER...can't beat them, not even a Nord can touch their sounds. The only thing better than Yamaha's Rhodes sample is a Rhodes Suitcase or Stage piano. Synths sounds are acceptable. i don't use any others.

It's solid

They are helpful, but of course, you'll have to call Yamaha, listen to a computer for about 10 minutes, and then WAIT for a long time. The best thing would be to buy from a music store with a keyboard tech who KNOWS this board, so you can simply call him, and ask him. Your typical large music chains will know nothing about these products, other than what they can sell it for.

I gig with a Hammond Organ, a Vintage Sequential Prophet synth, sometimes my Rhodes will go out with me, and I've owned a CP-80b in the past. I have a small grand at home too. This Yamaha is practical....that's the perfect word for it.

I've never really had to look at the manual and programming seems straightforward. However, I also have a Korg Triton and I have to say that the S90 falls short of that.

I would consider this to be a basic nuts & bolts kind of keyboard. It doesn't have a lot of bells and whistles (sampling, sequencing, etc.), but it has a lot of sounds. I have mixed feelings about the keyboard action. It just feels "okay." It's not the same as a real piano. However, it's not entirely bad either.

I am extremely disappointed with the piano sounds on the S90. I've been using the S90 to gig extensively with a jazz quintet. Getting a "pleasing" piano sound on stage has been nothing but a battle. At this point, no matter how I have amplified or equalized the S90 (with stage monitors, different keyboard amps, through a PA, etc.) the acoustic pianos come out sounding muddy and lifeless. It's almost like something is fundamentally wrong with the samples themselves. I have tried some of the plug-in boards including the PLG150-PF and the new PLG150-AP piano module and the piano sound doesn't seem to get much better.

After about a year of trying to get a good piano sound, I have abandoned the S90 and am now gigging with the piano sound on a Roland Fantom-XR module instead. I think it has much more definition and clarity for ensemble playing.

Other sounds on the S90 sound great to me, but I never use them.

I've been hauling the S90 to gigs for over a year and have never had a problem with it. It's pretty rock solid and I would consider it to be highly reliable.

I also own a Korg Triton Studio, a Kurzweil SP-88, and a Fantom-XR module. If I lost the S90, I'm not sure I'd replace it. Instead, I'd just use the Kurzweil with the Fantom-XR. If had the option of starting over, I probably should have gotten something a little cheaper and lighter to carry around. Perhaps a Triton LE-88 or some kind of 88-key controller.

Manual is poor but if you're used to using synths should be no problem. Patch editing from panel seems reasonable. Preset voices and performances easy to access - I like the 'favourites' option.

Yamahas are usually bought for keyboard action which doesn't disappoint. The real piano player in the house thinks it's very close to an acoustic piano. I think this is a performance board first and formost.

Sounds well up there of course. This is a players instrument - if your keyboard skills are good - this will sound good (in fact very good).

Seems a solid item and it's a Yamaha!!

Never had to deal with them which is a tribute to their reliability as I've owned Yamahas for (too many) years.

Don't spend hours analysing the sound quality - concentrate on technique and it will sound great - as will any modern synth or piano.

Well, it's terrible to use, and completely non-intuitive. But as far as musical instruments go, it's nothing we haven't seen before.

Nothing you don't need is there, but it's definitely not a workstation (nor is in intended to be).

This is really hard to rate. Some of the sounds are phenomenal, such as the rhodes and clavs. The jazz guitar is great, as are some of the bass sounds. Very well sampled and clean. Having said that, some of the sounds are terrible, not only in their construction, but also in their reproduction. Sadly, the piano is among them. I'm at a complete loss to explain why people who should have good ears think the piano is so good. It's incredibly muddy and horribly sampled in the midrange. It's not fit for recording whatsoever. It sounds like you're playing a great piano which is poorly miked and then run through the sound system on a rental car. It's just plain muddy as hell, unless you pound the hell out of it and hear the 'hard' sample. There are much better piano sounds out there, some of which even Yamaha makes. I guess the best way to sum it up is that the piano sounds good in the din and buzz of a music store, but when you get it home and really listen to it on headphone or good speakers, you quickly realize Yamaha did a terrible job.

So far it seems very solid.

No experience yet.

I wouldn't get this again, and even though I got a great price I'm still not sure it was worth it. It's got such a nice feel, and some of the sounds are so good, that I probably will, however. I love the feel of the keys, but I'm very disappointed with the piano sounds. In fairness, part of the reason I'm so disappointed is that they are clearly on the right track, but just did a horrible job in the studio when they sampled them.

Good presets, Great keyboard, Very thin Manual though. Havent Dived deeper into editing it yet but I guess it is standard Yamaha hassle. But with the patch editor it will be more easy to edit patches.

64 note polyphony is good but not great, The keyboard has a very nice feeling to it. I was looking at the Roland RD-700 among others as an allternative but the Roland keyboard felt plastic and cheep compared to the YAMAHA s90. The Plugin board concept seem great but there should more of them to choose from. Right now it is only the PLG150DR Drum board that seems interesting. First I was just looking for a controller keyboard with 88 weighted keys, but when I tried the s90 it had so many great sounds, it would be a very good complement to my Triton Studio so no need for a Sequenser or sampler in the s90.

The most of the presets sound good and are usefull, exept maybe some acoustic guitars, The effects sound like its expected of a keyboard in this price range. I bought it mainly for the keyboard feel and for use as a controller keyboard. A very expensive one though......

The only downer is the particleboard at the bottom, other than that it seem it could last forever.

Havent had anything to do with them yet.

If it were stolen I would be extremly mad and do things to the thief (if I ever capured him) that I can not describe here. I would probably buy it again, or wait for the s100 or what ever its name is going to be. I am mainly a guitar player but I have been playing keyboard for more than 10 years now, Among the keyboard I have owned is: Roland juno 106, JX8P, D-50, Korg M1. This is the best keyboard I have had, even better than my Korg Triton Studio sound wise and I cant even compare the keyboard feel. But they complement each other well. I have looked at many 88 weighted keyboards and controllers before I decided to get the s90. In my opinion the s90 is more about inspiration, creativity and playing until my fingers bleed than worrying about features and sounds and so on.

The presets are better than most keyboards I've tried and any other I've owned (including several Rolands, KorgMS2000, KurzweilSP88). Getting around the editing functions is not the easiest, but once you figure it out it's easy to remember. Things are buried in menus, but they're pretty easy to access. The layout is very different from Roland's, so I had a bit of a learning curve there. For example, the concept of Yamaha's "Master" mode is a bit obscure. It's actually not the best place to use the keyboard as a master MIDI controller (as we might think). For that, you use the Sequence Play mode (also a badly-named mode, IMO. How about "Midi Mode" or "Controller Mode" or something). Or maybe Sequence Play mode should be one called Master Mode and Master Mode should be renamed Template Mode. It does have a "Favorites" category in addition to category search, so finding presets and favorite sounds (a good idea) is well thought-out. It seems like it will be a good live-performance keyboard for me. The manual is easy to read, but way too small. It covers things at a pretty surface level. Unfortunately, to realy understand how to get deep into the keyboard, you need to look beyond the manual. But Yamaha seems to do a good job in support and on-line documentation.

The keyboard action is very good. Every manufacturer's is a little different (as is every real piano), so you should try them all out if you're picky on this subject. This keyboard's action is on the heavier side and has quite a cushy landing. More like a Rhodes action than a cheap upright piano. But I also find it can really be quite a fast and responsive action, too, if you have good hands. The effects are superior to what I have heard from my Roland. The overall quality of the sound is of a higher quality (cleaner, more dynamic, richer, etc.)than what comes out of my Roland, though it's not bad. It sounds good loud, too, which is always a good sign. It's the type of keyboard that makes me realize my other keyboards are obsolete, and should be replaced with better-sounding ones. Of course, this one was also much more expensive so that should be considered part of the equation. There are some features it doesn't have (a sequencer, for example, though it will play sequences from a memory card). But this keyboard is not a worksation, and if that's what you want then this probably isn't the best choice. So, I'm rating it on what it is (and what I want it to be), which is more of a performance keyboard. As far as accessories, I felt a bit cheated that it did not come with a sustain pedal (another $40, which is over 2% of the purchase price). Who would buy an 88-key weighted keyboard and not want to use a sustain pedal with it? It should not be an optional accessory, but included.

The pianos, electric pianos, organs, and clavinets on this keyboard are truly excellent and very well programmed for playability and useability. It is merceifully low on, though not devoid of, gimmicky sounds that you'll never want to use live (if you have any sense). The strings and brass are not the best, as they seem to be trying to be too classically oriented and tame. Fortunately, the analog synth pads and leads are very useable and probably a better idea than sampled strings anyway. The drums and basses are quite good. The best aspect of this keyboard's sounds is how organic they feel with the weighted keyboard. The sounds are well-matched to the feel of the keys, making playing them a very musical and inspirational experience (imagine that). For that alone this keyboard is worth its price. The meat and potato patches are as good as I've played. The organs are very realistic, but I still think I'll want a separate organ keyboard with drawbars, a better Leslie effect, and a light keyboard. The Rhodes and Wurlis are inspiring recreations of what I used to play back in the day (my back would never allow me to haul one around now at my age). The clavs are limited (why no muted clav?), but very good. The preset sounds are also well-matched to the effects, and done tastefully. Roland keyboards are usually programmed with too much reverb, but the Yamaha seems more restrained. Ultimately, though, it's the musical expressiveness of the sounds, and their close match with the feel of the keyboard, that makes this a keyboard to consider closely. I'm someone who likes to really PLAY the instrument, in a physical sort of way, and I have found this keyboard gets closer to the experience of playing a mechanical instrument than any other digital keyboard I have owned or spent much time playing. For me, that's a very good thing.

I cannot comment on its reliability, since I have only owned it a short time. As at least one other peson commented on, I am a little nervous about the particle board bottom. It might be quite solid, but it just looks a little suspicious compared to the typical sealed plastic or aluminum we typically see there. I take a point off for that decision.

No experience here, either (thankfully). But I have found that Yamaha has a pretty good web site set up that's devoted to this keyboard (with an active forum, more extensive manuals, new patches, etc.) That's a good sign.

I love the way this keyboard sounds, but I give it a 9 because of the thin manual, the shortage of clavs, and the particleboard bottom. I would definitely want to replace this keyboard if it were to be lost or stolen. I feel quite confident that my music is going to sound better and be more inspirational for me with this keyboard. It's the type of keyboard that makes you want to get back to thinking about music rather then worrying about the quality of your sounds. I've been playing for over 30 years, and I've owned Wurlitzer, Rhodes, ARP Odyssey, Roland D70, Roland XP-30, Roland JV1080, Korg MS2000, Kurzweil SP88x, Yamaha Clavinova, Yamaha U-30 upright.

Finding sounds is very easy with Category Search. The Favorites category is incredibly useful, especially since most people really only would use ~25 sounds max for live performance.

Plenty to play with out of the box. Throw in all of the PLG expansion boards, and this thing has endless possibilities. Keys are the best I've ever tried.

Pianos are I N C R E D I B L E. Electric pianos are excellent. Organs great. I love this board.

No problems yet. The plastic 1/4" jacks worry me a little, but there has been no evidence of unreliability.

Yamaha ALWAYS calls me back same day and answers my questions.

This is the best instrument I've ever owned, and I've owned professional keyboards for 16 years. First class instrument for real keyboard players who care about expressive playing.

I pretty much use it as a piano, and used the onboard EQ to match my
speakers, after I figured out how to store the preset and set it
to power on with my piano EQ I was happy. :-)

I don't use a lot of features, just the piano.

The keyboard feels like a light action piano, which for me
is helpful, as I wanted a real piano feel. A heavier action
would be nice, but is not needed, the expressiveness
and dynamic accuracy of this keyboard is nothing short of amazing.

I bought this piano as a student piano to do classical on
and have been pretty happy, all the pros here in this group
seem to like it and I bought it based on that.

That said, I will highlight the differences between it and a real
piano that I did not see in other reviews just in case anybody cares.

It has a much greater dynamic range than the Baldwin 9 foot grand
I am accustomed to. The keyboard allows you to accurately access
the entire dynamic range, when I first played it I felt like I was
in heaven.

The subtle shading you work so hard to do on a real piano become great
contrasts here, and subtleness is still possible, I was amazed at this
at first but found a negative side effect when I tried to play
on a real piano again and realized the switch back was not easy to
make.

Also the pedal for lower notes cuts off the sounds almost immediately
whereas there is more delay on a real grand, so you can play staccato
notes at the bottom of the piano range on an S-90.

I have decided I like the increased dynamic range a lot,
another downside for me however is that this keyboard encourages
you to hit it hard because extra loudness and brightness can be
gained by slamming it, unlike a real piano.

I find that I need to rest my hands more often with this keyboard
than with a real piano for that reason. I also observed my forearm
muscles grew after playing it a few months (no kidding). If anyone
wants to know how this keyboard holds up under a heavy hands style
then this should answer your question.

I wonder if it is possible to tune the patch to behave closer to a
real piano? I haven't gotten around to trying it
as I greatly enjoy playing on it the way it is.

Another difference is the damper, if you play a loud note
and then the same note soft then release the damper while holding
the note it only retains the soft note, the loud one drops with the
pedal. After thinking about how MIDI works I think this makes sense
and there may not be a better way to do it.

The three layer switching can be heard in one spot: the loudest two
layers in the midrange. The patch uses one of the wheels to control
brightness by default, I brightened it up a bit and the switch was
less apparent but it did not go away.

Overall the expressiveness is captured in my earlier paragraph:
heaven. :-)

Only had it for six months, I play hours daily,
and bang the keys hard, everything still works.

I also have had rattle problems. I fixed a really annoying
one by opening it up and applying felt stick-ons from my local
hardware store. Basically their felt inside was not thick enough,
or it got compressed in shipping somehow.

The other rattle is still there, when it gets annoying enough I
will put in some more stick-on felt pads if I can figure out where
to put them. I can see this being an ongoing problem, I enjoy
taking things apart but for those who do not this could
be a real issue. Heavy hands also affect it, it only rattles
when I hit it hard.

Never needed them, it works fine except for the rattles.

Overall I really like it, incredible expressiveness, tarnished only
by rattles and obvious layering in one spot (for the piano patch).

Presets are for the most part...excellent! Many good acoustic piano sounds that have the potential to be GREAT with some editing magic, and this baby has the editing capabilities...BELIEVE ME! I bought my unit as a display model at Guitar Center, and of course they had no owners manual, therefore I was basically on my own as far as learning my way around the instrument, but I have a knack(not My Sharona) for figuring out midi and keyboard gear(that's probably because I've spent tens of thousands of dollars on keyboard gear over a 20 year span, and just know how to use gear like this.) At any rate, even if you don't use the manual, you CAN figure this puppy out thanks in large part to the large, user-friendly LCD screen...very informative.

Polyphony is a now industry standard 64 notes, and I haven't had any problems with "note stealing". Keyboard action is like no other 88 note keyboard on the market today, I've tried them all, and nothing comes close to the S90...unless of course you're playing an acoustic piano of some sort(and the S90 would even give some acoustics a run for their money!) The effects engine complements the sound engine quite nicely and you'll find a full palette of reverbs, chorus, delays, phasing, flanging, wah, rotary, EQ's, and many more. There is expansion capability, but I don't currently own any expansion boards, so I can't give an honest evaluation on those. There is a SmartMedia slot for storing your valuable settings. This keyboard also functions well as a MIDI controller. It has 4 zones and recognizes all the usual CC#'s. No problems there. Keys are pressure sensitive and respond well to your pressure commands. Finally there is no onboard sequencer, but if you have a computer or other device, you're good to go.

Overall, the sounds on this instrument are EXCELLENT! It's strengths are the piano/electric piano patches. The Rhodes sounds kick ass! Nobody and I mean NOBODY matches Yamaha's Rhodes sounds... not Roland, not Korg, not Kurzweil...NOBODY... PERIOD! Also for all the S90 owners out there who LIKE but don't LOVE your triple strike "3LayerS700" or "BrightS700"...read on, because I have made a discovery that may change the way you feel about your S90. I've been playing the triple strike pianos mentioned above for some time now, and for the most part really like the way the pianos sound from the factory, however, whenever I play the in the center area of the keyboard at a ff or fff level, I hear this "rinky dink" type of sound, almost the way the old "Jay-Mar" toy pianos used to sound. One day I said to myself..."I can't take that rinky dink overtone anymore" So I decided to do the unthinkable, and that was to "CHANGE THE VAUNTED FACTORY SET PIANO PATCH THAT INFLUENCES THE CUSTOMER INTO BUYING THE KEYBOARD." So that is exactly what I did and here is how I did it...

I took the very first piano patch that comes up when you turn the keyboard on which is "3LayerS700" and I first determined where that "rinky dink" overtone was coming from in the center area of the keyboard. I discovered that the third element wave called "GndHardSt" which is an abbreviation for "Grand Hard Stereo" was the culprit and proceeded to plug in the new wave called "Piano 1 St" or wave #0001. By doing this I discovered that I get this beautifully natural sounding piano sound when playing louder passages in the center of the keyboard, yet maintaining the integrity of the triple strike feel throughout the rest of the keyboard. Give this a try sometime, I think you'll like the end result as much as I did. As far as all the other sounds go, they are all very musical with the exception of the guitar sounds. Why keyboard companies even bother putting guitar sounds on a keyboard is beyond me, they all suck! Why not put more useful keyboard patches in there instead?! Crappy guitar sounds drag this down to a 9

Well, I had one bad experience when I leaned my S90 upright against a wall while unlocking my apartment door, It proceeded to tip over and slam to the ground(while in it's soft case) smashing all the keys in. I had to take it into the shop and spend about 60 bucks to get it fixed.

If anyone tries my little piano trick, drop me a line and let me know what you think. Thanks, and happy playing to all!

Using the only OS version released for the S90. The preset sounds are inpisiring and immediately give you a feeling of what this keyboard can do soundwise. The editing and layering of sounds opens up a tremendous wealth of sounds to your arsenal. The process itself requires time like anything else. I was amazed once I dove in just how in depth its machine is for a non workstation type of synth. The manual is adequate but the people on forums and even Yamaha themselves are available for any questions.

The polyphony is 64 note. I've never noticed any voice stealing yet and I was happy with that considering I do complex runs with some voices I created. The keyboard action is amazing on this synth. It was the first thing I noticed when I played it. It feels smooth and the way a 88 key graded action synth should feel. There are all the standard effects for editing you would expect. I found the oscallitors and filters very forgiving as I programmed my own voices and play them. Expansion possibilities are available with the plug cards. Like other expansion sets some are very useable and others are not. This is really a matter of preference and need. You can play back midi files in format 0. While the S90 does not have a sequencer, I've found playing and editing midi files very accesible and easy to do.

The S90 shines in its sounds. It has great organs, Ep's, basses, drums, pads and synth sounds. At first I wasn't fond of the piano sound but as I played it, I realized the piano sounds were out performing my Roland RD700 in recording situations for realism. This really shocked me. I have been able to edit the S90's piano sounds for some dynamite piano sounds. The S90 would work well for any type of music. I play lots of styles of rock, jazz, neoclassical rock, trance and some top 40. The S90 works great with all of them. The aftertouch and velocity is great and very realistic to me. I've gigged with it a few times now and found the response to my touch very satisfying.

Its been a work horse for me with no problems thus far.

Yamaha has been very supportive to me with questions and answers. They've always been a help and I appreciate that. While others have had issues with them, I found the same problems exist with the other maufacturers as well. It all depends on your personal experience I guess.

I'd replace the S90 in a heatbeat. Just a fantastic value for the money. Its great for what it does. I've owned it for 8 months now. I compared it to similar units and this was the best choice for me. Interestingly in my search for a keyboard so many people were critical of just about every keyboard out there. I felt alot of pride and ego from so many people. I actually like other keyboards as well, but the S90 was the best for me. There was really only one synth I didn't like at all. I would recommend the S90 to anyone looking for a great sounding synth. If sound is your biggest consideration, then you should strongly consider the S90. I give it my highest recommendations.