Yamaha S-90

I have to split this into two sections, basic vs. advanced. For locating patches, it's very easy. They allow you to group patches in to categories for easy recall, and save certain patches as "favorites" (also helpful), and to store frequently used patches and performances in a "Master" section, where you can step through them quickly for gigging or recording sessions. They even give you an intuitive matrix of sliders for on the spot (real time) editing of basic parameters such as reverb depth, amplitude envelope shape, filter cutoff, etc. So for the basics, pretty easy.

Where it gets difficult is in the deeper editing. Yamaha did not lay things out in an intuitive flow. You will often find yourself hunting around for the location of the parameter that you want to manipulate. Expect to keep your manual on hand. I've had the board for about 10 months, and I still have to hunt. Fortunately there is a forum (at sninety.com) with helpful experts and a search function. Many's the time where the web has quickly answered a question that was not answerable from the manual, which I would describe as dry and sometimes incomplete.

Overall, if you are geared towards simple patch playback, it's easy enough; if you hope to spend a lot of time programming, the ease of use is definitely bested by the competition. I love how the board sounds, but programming could have been made much easier (or at least more logical). This board can be frustrating, and I am a patient, manual reading, techhie kind of guy. A total newbie to synthesizers would be lost.

88 key weighted piano action, pitch and mod wheels, velocity and aftertouch. Great arpeggiator always available with lots of potions to play with if you are in to that. (I am not.) Midi I-O-T or USB midi available. I find it annoying that midi can be only midi ports OR via USB, but not both. Why not? It would have been handy to use both ports at the same time. No user sampling, no sequencer. Smart card slots and expandability via PLG cards (3 max). No floppy. Note that the PLG cards mostly date from 1999, and they haven't released anything lately. I'm OK with that, as the board sounds awesome as it is.

Excellent for "real world" sounds. Great brass, basses, acoustic guitars, etc. Fairly good at "synthy" sounds. Great organs. Very good effects. I will weigh in on two common complaints: (1) Many patches have vibrato built-in to the source sample. Yes, you read that right. There is one sustained solo violin patch that is wonderful, EXCEPT that the sample contains a lot of vibrato once it starts sustaining, and you can't disable it. I was in disbelief when I learned this. All FX off, all LFOs off, no modulation controllers happening, with just bare bones wave playback, you still get relatively heavy vibrato. What were they thinking?? Same for the great solo flute patch - built-in vibrato that you can not eliminate. Inexcusable. (2) PIANO: Very good, but not perfect. It's strange to me that reviewers here either praise it to the high heavens, or bash it completely. It's not that great, nor is it that bad. It's definitely better than most, and possibly one of the top very few out there. Yes, there is some strange (to me) weirdness in the #1 featured acoustic piano patch, but you can pretty easily edit yourself a version that suits you. You can play with velocity switch points, with overall EQ, and with the dedicated EQ for each layer. (I think the middle layer is a little dark and hollow by default.) In a few minutes, I had saved a version that is more suitable to my style, and I'm sure that anyone can do the same. So, it's not absolutely perfect, but it is quite good; among the best. Makes me wonder (now) how I lived with my previous piano sound source for ten years (an Alesis QS7 - good board, but the S90 piano shames it).

Bragging moment: I programmed a killer patch for The Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again", right from scratch. I have a couple videos of me playing it on the web. The web kind of goofs with the sound a bit, so it's much better hearing it in person, but it still sounds pretty killer. Here's the link to the intro section: http://www.learnlicks.com/watchVideo.cfm?lickID=257
And here's a link to the famous middle section:
http://www.learnlicks.com/watchVideo.cfm?lickID=258

http://www.learnlicks.com/ is a great site, by the way - I strongly encourage you to join (or at least surf by). It's kind of like a youtube that contains only lessons and tips from fellow musicians. Video is bigger than youtube, too. Check it out. It's a fun way to show off your gear and your chops.

Back to the S90: I would rate the sounds at a 9 overall.

No reliability issues. I have a home studio, so this board will never see a gig. I expect perfect reliability from Yamaha. My only other Yamaha is a TG-33 from the early 90s, and it still works as new (now in 2007). Yamaha has good build quality.

No experience.

Great keyboard! That said...

There are some things that I wanted to mention that I don't see anyone else touch on. Why does it take so long to save a patch? On my other modules, you press save (usually twice, or some sort of "Save - Enter" combo), and within a split second, your edit is saved. Just like saving a file on a computer; click save, and in a nanosecond, the file is saved. Not so with the S90... first, it's a 3-button process (not 2), and I can live with that, but the display give you a message saying "Please don't power down while saving..." while you watch a scroll bar scroll across the display for something on the order of 15-20 seconds. Why aren't saves instant? (Like they are everywhere else?) It would makes me nervous to want to save a change to a patch mid-song while gigging. Just seems a little delicate to me.

Another note: Brains-wise, (...and Yammie fanatics, please don't bash me here), the S90 is really 99.999% of the S90ES and/or the Motif line. Really; almost identical sound sets and program options. (The 'ES' has much more program ROM wave data and an updated piano, and the Motifs usually have sequencers, while the S90 does not.) You can find these for a great price now. Many shops have unsold S90 units from before the switchover to the newer S90ES line. When I bought mine, the S90 was $1250 and the S90ES was $2100. I played the two (piano in particular) with high quality headphones for quite a while, trying to see if the 'ES' sound would justify spending another $800 or so. I bought the S90, so there's my answer. I'm glad that I did. It's a great sounding board, great keybed, Yamaha construction and reliability (no crashes, ever).

Off-topic: Does anyone else here hate the recent changes to the Harmony Central web page? New reviews aren't posted as quickly as they used to be, for one thing. You have to refresh your browser often to clear up "page can't be displayed" messages. It didn't used to be this way... sorry about the grumble.

The usability is so lalala. I think the programmers of the synth have their own way to play music. If you're used to think in a way that's compatible with their perspective it's fine. If not, the manual is no good help to explore the many possibilities of the instrument.

There is a DVD on www.sninety.com available, which should be part of the package. It helps a little. But can't replace a better usability. Yamaha Engineers don't do user-oriented usabiltiy testing. I'm sure!!!

A lot of features but the usability and the manual are too bad to use most of them.

That's the point, why I love this instrument. It's a musical synthesizer. You got all to play funk keyboards: great clavinets, unique organs, fine lead sounds and superb rhodes. And the piano is far better, I expected after reading the posts in this review section.

Again: I L-O-V-E the funk keyboard sounds of this instruments. So rich, so warm, so inspirational.

No Problems.

No need.

I would definitely buy it again. Only 8 Points because of the bad usability. 10 points for the musical input of the instrument 3 Points for the usability.

To each his own, I guess, but I can't get my head around the OS. I only use this as a MIDI controller, because it's too hard to program and because I have other synths with sounds I like better. As a controller, it's pretty easy. The manual is not great, but as long as you don't try anything too fancy, it's pretty easy to manage. If I liked the sounds better, I might use the software editor, but I don't so I don't.

On the good side is the wonderful keyboard, good (but a little sensitive) pressure sensitivity, assignable sliders, pitch and mod wheels that are ergonomically spaced, internal power supply, USB port, MIDI file player, and light(ish) weight. On the bad side are the small screen, convoluted synth programming, and lack of more (like, dozens of more) assignable controls. I know Yamaha did not design this to be just a MIDI controller, but that's my opinion. As popular as the KX88 was, and as popular as the M-audio and CME controllers are now, you'd think they'd make a mint selling one.

I don't use the onboard sounds. The acoustic pianos are pretty bad, the CP80 is terrible, and the rest are so-so. I just use it as a controller.

Seems great. Like the previous reviewer, mine arrived with five or six keys that would not bounce back at all. I opened it up and popped them back into place (no lubrication needed), and it's been great ever since. Yamaha has a great reputation for reliability, and I've had no trouble at all.

Never had to use them, which says a lot, I guess.

Depends. As a synth, the OS in convoluted and not intuitive. The piano sounds suck, and the soundset is not as complete as those on other ROMplers. As a MIDI controller, it's very good. The keyboard feel is unmatched by any other manufacturer, it's light and compact (for an 88-key keyboard), the pitch and mod wheels are easy to get to, and the USB port makes it a great bridge between my computer and my synth collection. I wish Yamaha would make a MIDI controller just like this, but with no sounds and with a whole panel full of assignable controllers. Like the M-Audio Keystation Pro, but with pressure sensitivity and a quality Yamaha keyboard.

Interface is detailed but if you really want to tweak your sound you need a detailed user interface

effects: 7 or 8
polyphony: good i've had no problems
action: feels lighter than acoustic piano but i like that and you can really dial in the feel you want on this board

i only use the key sounds playing live other sounds are just for at home or recording maybe for fun no synth really recreates strings brass good it all sounds cheesy to me. The ap's are good but like anything else you have to adjust to cut through the mix live. ep's definately are good i prefer wurlitzer though and am dissapointed theres only two wurli patches. In my opinion, this board is huge so if ep's and organ are your thing go for nord electro at 20 pounds or something and get the stage piano you love say p90 or 250 etc.

so far so good but who knows

Overall great instrument for having everything keywise you need in one board(heavy) with effects. Myself i like to jam and play some gigs on keys when I can, so i'm eventually going to get the nord electro and a yamaha stage piano. But the s90 can get you anywhere you want to go and is cheap now for what you get. Remember don't get too picky when you play out most people in the bars are drinking and don't know what it should sound like

I found it easy to use from the get-go. I grew up programming the TX802, one of the deamons of programming folklore. I've always been comfortable with Yamaha's software structure. Editing is comfortable for me and I've yet to try the patch editor. The manual is fairly well written, though certain things are omitted.

64 note polyphony. The action it my favorite part. When I got it the C above middle-C stuck a bit, but I opened it up and greased up the key and now it's like butter. It feels weightwise like a spinet piano. Medium light with good resistance and a fast snapback. I can do organ work on it without too much discomfort. The FX are nice, smooth, and simple. The expansion seems to be easily done; i.e. about as complicated as installing a PCI card in a computer. The MIDI capabilties are there, though I've yet to use them. No sequencer. That was kind of the point of the board.

Velocity is smooth and predictable. Aftertouch is decent. I'm not that fond of the idea to begin with, so I avoid it.
Every sound I've used is nice. Rhodes is lovely, I'd actually use the Wurly (not a fan of the sound usually), Clavs are lovely, strings sound very nice (the celli alone are with the price), the synth sounds are use able (not quite as "analog" as dedicated modelers). The organs are suprisingly nice. Not as realistic as my Voce V3 with a real rotory horn, but definatly usable.
The S700 grand is wonderfull. Running though shit speakers it won't sound that good. If you want a piano that's made to sound good though bad gear, buy a Roland. Running through Mackie SRM450s, this baby is a dream. Anyone who says It's bad is either foolish, stupid, or one of the lucky few who plays a beautiful grand on a regular basis. Do yourself a favor and learn to work a parimetric EQ. It's more than you need to make this board sing, in any mix. And what do you know? There's on built in.

I've used the board for Jazz and Soul stuff. Works well for everything. The finger to key to sound response is why I always prefer Yamaha gear. They just feel right to me.

Yamaha makes some of the most road worthy gear in the world. I've never had a problem with anything from them with the exception of my nearly 20 year old KX88, which needed to have the ribbon cable replaced (all the C's abot middle C stopped playing). I have used it at gig without a backup. Everytime.

I'm by no means an impulse buyer. I've read every review, played everyone I could find, had other people play it and give me their opinions, and shopped around for naerly 3 years before I bought it. I picked this board.

If it were stolen I would hunt the bastard down and beat him with a crowbar. That's what I did when my SY77 was stolen. Though it wasn't a crowbar. It was one of those little floaty tube things for pools. He did bleed, however. I would buy another one if I could find it. I'd also consider a Motif 8, ES8, and the S90ES. It's more than worth what I paid (eBay).
I've been playing for about 6 years (started late). I own a Yamaha EX5R, TX802, KX88, PF70, and a few other weird little items (computer speakers, ect.).
I love the sounds. Period. I love that it's black. In my opinion, the gear shouldn't atract attention, the player should. I love the pitch and mod wheel posistion. Because they're up there, I can fit the board, in it's case width wise in the back seat of my car. Dislikes? The posistion of the breath controller input should be on the front, like the KX88. That's about it.
I compared it with everything I could find. Tritons (second choice next to the Yamaha boards, distantly), Kurzweils, Rolands (last place by far), and few other choices. I chose this beacuse Yamaha provides me with the sounds I want but more importantly, the ability to edit almost every aspect of the sounds.

Most things you can do without manual

I love the feel of the keyboard. Wish it had 128 voice polyphoniy

Finally a 10.
I was disappointed by the S700 piano.
But... for all the frustrated S90 users (regarding the piano sound)
check this : http://www.hey-babe.de/S90.w4e
I really love that GrandPiano (Patch 1 ) i made.
If you put it in a performance, with 2 voices stereo split
it sounds even better.
Other Sounds on the S90 are very good , especially the rhodes.

No problems so far

Didn't need to use.

Best all-in-one keyboard i know.
Would definitely buy it again
( well maybe the S90es. then again the S90 is smaller...)

Very easy to use. If you have problems with this keyboard, you must have a low overall I.Q.

Not perfect but what is. It would be nice to navigate the Control function with a button for each use instead of shifting until you get to the one you want, but oh well. I love the 4 sliders which make it easy to edit in live situations. 64 polyphony is a bit low for layering 3 different voices but i plan on use one to the 3 expansion slots for sounds like, stings and that should free up the on-board polyphony. 128 polyphony can be achived by adding 2 of the same expansion cards. The s90 comes with all the softwear needed to connect to a PC for sequencing. PC sequencing is more powerful and easier to use than keyboards in most situations.

Ok here is were the s90 really comes to life. About the Triple-Strike piano, one word "Awsome". There was a problem with it early in production which some people heard a hissing sound in the mid range but Yamaha fixed the problem. You will want to EQ the s700 triple-strike piano with the "hi" value all the up. Exceptionally rich, full, and bright piano sound. The Rhodes are the best I have ever heard. There are about 5 different Rhodes sounds which met all my needs. Only 2 Wuilies but they sound great. All the sounds are high quality and sound great for any use both live or in the studio.

I gig with it in a hard road case and have no problems at all.

I never had to use it so thats a good thing.

Now that the s90es came out i would diffinately get that but i dont feel the need to upgrade for a long time.

Moderately difficult to use. If you just want to turn it on, and call up a preset or two, of course it's easy. If you want to go beyond this, it can be challenging. I don't have a problem w/ complexity, as long as things are consistent, and not redundant. I've had this board for over a year now, and I'm a fairly technical person. Nevertheless, I still often get to the point where I have to ask myself, OK, what the heck are we doing now?

I do not find fault w/ the screen, nor w/ the buttons. I think the UI is actually quite good. It's very fast and immediate. The problem lies deeper in how things are organized, how things relate to one another, and (as someone else has already mentioned) how things are named.

The keyboard action is great. It is a digital piano after all, and given that it is great in comparison to other digital pianos. It doesn't feel very much like an acoustic piano, but the leap is not so great that I feel stymied when sitting behind the real thing.

The effects are very good. Unfortunately, I'm left w/ the presets, as the mapping of controller to effect is arcane and limited. 2 control sliders per voice? Gee, thanks.

As a MIDI controller, you've got 88 glorious keys, w/ aftertouch. It falls short w/ the "Remote Controller" mode, which again is quite limited and practically a gimmick.

The triple-strike piano is great. I honestly cannot understand why people are bashing this. I have listened to recordings made from the S90 and have been tricked for several measures, into thinking this was some Old Lady, etc. Other listeners have made similar comments. The only bummer for me is there's only 1 set (3 layers) of waves for the Wurlitzer. It's OK, but not great. Good Rhodes sounds.

Feels good to me. I plan to keep it a good long time.

Well, time marches on. If I had to do it again (today, not a year ago), I'd probably go for the MO-8. This lacks the expansion slots, and the nice dark color of the S90, but at least is the same size. The S90ES is definitely wider, who's idea was that?

When I bought it, it came down to the S90 and the P90/P120/P250. I definitely made the right choice for me. The keyboard, while different, is at least as good. I really appreciate the full-on synth flexibility you get w/ an S vs. a P. I only wish the S90 wouldn't be so arcane, such an enigma. As a wicked-flexible great-sounding digital piano, you'd be hard pressed to do better.

I've offered my opinion here in the past, have lived with the S90 for a couple of years now, tried really hard to hear things it's way even... In the end, there's no doubt that this keyboard is terrible for reasons I'll never understand. They (Yamaha) had to know, it's impossible to believe they thought the thing sounded good by any reasonable stretch of the imagination. The piano can't be used, period, and no amount of tweaking helps. How could this have happened? It's beyond subjective opinion, the S90 is simply a horrible keyboard, a single playable patch (great Fender Rhodes) out of thousands. AND -- an operating system that is totally bizarre, never responds to a parameter tweak as expected, diverts your attention from the music while trying to play live -- even for some as basic as changing the patch the s90 will fight you in certain situations. After using Tritons live for many years, there's no way any modern keyboard should be this confounding to use. It's a complete joke

The piano is a big disappointment. I have read reviews like "the S90 has the best tripple strike piano on the market". HAHAHA, wash your
ears and listen to a real piano, no comparison. In fact, if you go
for a good piano sound, buy the YAMAHA P120. It costs much less and sounds miles better on piano. The S90 piano can only be used in a studio mix, and it dosn't make fun to play it as a solo piano. All chords sound a bit dead.

I thought of selling it on ebay, but it has some very dencent
rhodes sounds, drums and other nice sounds build in. As a
synthesizer the S90 is valuable, but as a piano a bad choice.
But then you are better off with a MOTIF ES8. The whole concept
of the S90 doesn't make much sense to me. In any case you will
be disappointment, because you see the compromises to clear.

But this is not surprising. If YAMAHA would put in the machine
the best piano sound, why should people continue to buy the real
stage pianos?

At least I proved that making some nice sounding tracks on this
thing is possible! :-)

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.

My response to "Anonymous at 07/21/2003 18:17" review:
There is aftertouch transmission of course, 100% sure of it -I just tested it again, just in case.

after 7 months old (used 2-5 hours everyday) -no problem yet.

The S90 is overall pretty easy to figure out. The manual tends to only hit the high spots but most things are self explanatory. Editing can be done relatively easily, providing you know what to edit. The display is an average size with most information easily accessible

The keys are very nice. They tend to be heavier than most and they feel very good. They are also quiet. There is space to exand with Yamaha expansion cards. The midi operation was quite cumbersome. The S90 does not transmit aftertouch. This fact makes it nearly useless as a controller. I didn't use the sequencer

After visiting Harmony Central and reading some of the reviews, I purchased the S90 for mostly it's piano sounds. This was a terrible mistake. Anyone considering this board for any type of piano sound used outside of nursing homes, weddings, and lounges, DON'T! The acoustic piano sounds are horrible. I am sure that they are nothing that a $500,000.00 studio couldn't clear up but honestly. I couldn't believe my first encounter with that dreadful triple layer S700. How raunchy. Not to mention, all the piano sounds get lost in any type of band except maybe Lawrence Welk. No effect changing or eq could clear up this baby. The guitar sounds were also awful. When I listened to the on-line demo of the guitar sound I thought that maybe I would hear something different on my equipment but then I discovered that it was the same music box sounding thing I heard before. Why would Yamaha use a string sample with the vibrato built in? How ridiculous! I like my strings the way I like them not the way Yamaha says they should be. All of the acoustic presets have too much reverb, the wrong reverb, or not enough. I've got better things to do (like create music) than run my ear into the ground trying to tweak each and every sound. However, some of the synth presets were not too bad.

It is probably built like a tank but I probably wouldn't use it for much more than a door stop except for when I needed some swirly, paddy sorts of synth noises

Customer support is great or would be great if we still used the pony express. I can't believe what some companies call technical support.

Thank goodness I was able to return this boat anchor. Did Yamaha think that I just went and picked off $1700.00 from the tree in my back yard? I don't know about anyone else but when I spend that kind of money, I would like at the least something I can use. I am shopping again and I will take my time.

With the supplied editing software and relatively simple functions on the S90 easy of use is simple but efficient, the manual is crisp and short, the included editor is a great plus, but it only edits voices, it could do with a performance editor as well.

Features are great polyphony 64, more then enough. Effects are great, although presets and GM have too much reverb.
Keyboard action is fantastic, possibly top of the market. Playing fast organs on weighted keys is a different matter, but you can use another master keyboard for that. The S90 does not have a sequencer, but it comes with free sequencer software (although most of us will use cubase anyway) The S90 can play midi files using smartcards, so sequences can still be used in live performances.

Some of the sounds are simply the best on the market, period. It was my prime choice in buying the S90. The S700 piano beats almost all triple strike pianos on the market including Kurzweil, if it was only for the tweaking options which can turn this piano from classic dark tot rock brite in seconds. The organs are not only the best I ever heard, but they're are also a lot more of them then you would find in most synths. I own Roland and Korg as well, but the S90 simply offers the warmest and best organs. Strings and Synth effects are possibly the weakest in the S90, but that's probably only because the bar has been raised so high the past years.

Sure solid as a rock, only problem is it's weight. With my wooden flight case it's too much to lift for one person, which is a drag!

Yamaha online support is concidered overall bad. Yamaha anwers questions on the motifator forum sporadicaly, and tend to put problems down as rumours. Then again, a synth as the S90 is not all that complicated.

There are no real negative issues with the S90, it's one of the best Wave tone generators on the market today with fantastic keyboard action. The possibility of expanding it with FM or Modelling synth board will even please the analog lovers. If you're looking for a 88 key performance keyboard for use on stage or at home, this is no doubt your best choice today.

The presets sound fabulous. I was blown away by the overall sound quality and realism of many of the acoustic sounds. Even if some of the sounds weren't how you wanted them, some simple editing provides amazing results. The editing process has a learning curve(but hey doesn't everything). Once I figured out what I was doing, I found the whole process very logical and could see a real solid method to the design. The manual is useable, but it does make some assumptions about your previous knowledge with synthesizers.

The polyphony is 64 voices and there aren't any issues with voices dying out. The effects on this machine give you complete control of all the editing features you could possibly want. There are so many options it can appear overwhelming and this scares some people off. These same people and others often and unfairly label the S90 as having a poor interface. In reality Yamaha gives you a synth that allows you to tweak everything if you want to. The S90 has 4 expansion slots which you can use to install their plug in cards. It has has a smart media slot which makes storage not only easy, but powerful in that you can store huge amounts of data on smart media cards. There is no on board seqeuncer as this is not a worksation. You can download midi files into the S90 and edit them extensively. Most people these days use computer sequencers since they are so much more powerful than workstation sequencers anyway. The S90 works like a charm with a computer and hooking it up via usb makes the process so damn easy. Its just like plug and play technology. The S90 also isn't that heavy so lugging it around isn't that hard. The live perfomance of the S90 is also a big plus as many users and performers will attest to.

The sounds on this synth are second to none as current reviews (web, major mags) will attest to. There are also a ton of free sounds created by other S90 and motif users available and many of these sounds are as good as the presets and very useable. The S90 comes with a great software editor on top of the already great editing features of the synth itself. The software editor is a great compliment to the synth and adds a huge bonus with its solid and easy configuration and organization features. The S90 works very well with any type of music. The S90 is used professionally by people creating all types of music and I know this first hand. I see users flock to this almost exclusively for the electric piano, piano, Rhodes and organ sounds. As I stated previously the on board effects are magnificent! The action on this synth is the best out there. I can't tell you how many people comment on how great the action is on the S90. It is a completely intuitive machine and very responive to the player.

No problems yet. Haven't heard about any either

A previous reviewer made a comment about customer service favoring their higher end users. I have heard this as well from others. I have never had issues with their customer service.

I work in a major studio and see many bands/players on a daily basis. I've met and talked with some prominent musicans as well as those who are just starting. I find it amazing how many of them speak so highly about the S90. One of the best gages for me are the musicians who come into our studio and either don't have their keyboards or will just use what we have. Almost all of them try all 14 synths we have out and set up. The S90 is almost always chosen for ballads, latin, rock, classical and jazz. In fairness many hip pop and rap artist will use one of the Tritons for those type of sounds. What's I find fascinating is how many of them come in with the idea of using something else like the Roland XV's, Kuzweil's, Triton ect. Once they hear and play the S90, they often switch. Since I have access to these synths, I spend lots of time playing them. While I do like some of them, I wouldn't take any of them over the S90. In my dream set up, I would have a S90 and add a controller and Triton rack. I think these two sound sets compliment each other perfectly. I've been playing and programming synths for about 18 years now. I've seen, played and owned lots of keys in that time. I think the S90 ranks with the best keyboards ever. It's also a great value compared to some of the other stuff out there. The S90 inspires great music and gives me a complete feeling as a keyboard player.

This is my second review under Louis.
After 5 months of use I'm still stating that this is the best synth I've ever owned or played.

I have the Piano, DX, VL and AN plug in boards.
I use the Piano in my S30 and the others in the S90 after all combination tried.
Polyphony is no problem when fully expanded.
Sequence playback from the Smart Media Card is working perfectly.

I'm ready to cry even @ 49. The sounds are musical and are all types.
FX are great. Keys feel solid . Yamaha weighted action keyboards are actually the best (since the Motif). I've had Roland A90 and and Yamaha S8O prior. The S90... well I'm playing more because I'm inspired now. Thanks for Yamaha's enginering team.

I can't fully trust other keyboards like this one but only time will tell. Roland A-90 hammers (keys) broke down in the middle of my gig the Roland PA-4 action. PA-5 action like the RD-700 is O.K. Korg keyboards feel sloppy to me as does Fatar. Kawai 9000/9500 is O.K.
I "love" only the YAMAHA keyboard.

Not Too Good.

After decades in the business this is the keyboard that stops me "craving" for gear. (I'll buy more anyway). Modules, expansion boards, software yes, but not new keyboards I found what I was looking for! Piano practice (anytime) synth sounds of all types, sequecing day and night...and makig money with it from call backs for jobs.