A good cheap keyboard
Written: Jan 01 '06 (Updated Jan 01 '06)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: Portability, Sound Quality, Yamaha Reputation
Cons: Cheap Keyboard, Editing Features
The Bottom Line: For the price, what you get in this instrument is unbeatable.
|
|
|
| rootk's Full Review: Yamaha S03 Keyboard with Software 61-Key, 64-Voice |
Introduction
I’ve been playing keyboards and piano off and on since I was 16. For years, my main keyboard has been a Yamaha SY99. I’ve never really played keyboards out in a band, because the SY99 is simply a monster (heavy and big to move) and it’s still virtually like new, since it’s only left my studio 3 time since I got it in 1993. When gigging, I had borrowed a Korg T3 which was much smaller and easier to set up.
Who should buy this keyboard?
I say all that to come to this point. I was getting tired of borrowing small keyboards, so I set out to find an instrument that met the following specifications:
(1) Cheap – I play in clubs and bars sometimes, and you really can’t have ‘nice’ stuff in those environments and expect it to remain in ‘as new’ condition. Thus, I wanted to spend as little as possible while getting a quality instrument with passable sounds
(2) Sounds – It needed to have a decent palette of presets to choose from because I didn’t want to do any editing and programming. We play covers from bands like Rush, Dream Theater, Genesis, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, and Deep Purple. Thus, I needed a wide range of sounds to accommodate those kinds of songs.
(3) Splits/Layers – The things I did need to edit were patches where I play ‘extras’ percussion parts or something in certain song segments. I needed to be able to set up that so I wouldn’t be switching actual patches during songs.
(4) Portability – I was looking for lightweight and small.
I visited Guitar Center in Nashville to test the waters. I will say, I love my SY99 and am really biased towards Yamaha products because they seem to be really excellent. When I played this at the store, and saw the price I was pretty much instantly sold.
It all comes down to personal preference, but Yamaha, Korg, Roland, Alesis, Kurzweil . . . each have their own philosophy and methodology when it comes to the user interface, and once your learn and become familiar with a particular way of navigating on the instrument, it is sometimes difficult to make a transition from one to another. Since the vast majority of my time was spent on the SY99, using the S03 was very similar.
As others have noted here, if you’re into programming and creating sounds, this probably is not the keyboard you want to buy. This is more for the beginner keyboardist, or those looking to just get a highly transportable board with decent sounds. This fits the bill perfectly I believe. The LCD for editing and patches is only really 2 lines tall, which is pretty small. I found the manual to be somewhat confusing when it comes to editing, but you can get there if you really read the instructions and follow them closely.
Well, how does it sound?
It doesn’t really matter how many MB or whatever the spec sheets say it has, the proof is in trying it out and hearing it for yourself. When you consider you’re paying less than $500.00 (from Musiciansfriend.com) , I’d say the sounds in this instrument are very good. The pianos really aren’t bad at all and cut through nicely in a mix. The string and orchestra sounds are a little thin sounding to me, but I’m use to the SY99 strings which really sound good. The Synth Lead sounds are usable, as are most of the organ sounds. I mainly play guitar now, and some of the “SE” and Joe Satriani kind of sounds are really good and useful for thickening up recorded tracks.
There are really 3 banks of sounds: Preset, User, and General Midi. Then when you throw in Multis you get a fourth bank more or less. You’ve got several hundred sounds to pick from and I believe the casual user will be more than happy with the sounds that come from the speakers on 90% of the factory sounds.
I have recorded with it on my computer interfacing through a Presonus Firepod and using Cubase software. It sounded good. There are midi inputs on the S03, and when I hooked it up to the SY99 (so I could use the 99’s 76 keys instead of the S03’s 61), I noticed a volume difference. No matter how hard I played on the 99, the levels never were quite the same as if I played outright on the 03. Not sure why that happened. I need to research that, but I’m guessing it has to do with velocity curve settings.
How does the keyboard feel?
There’s no mistake on this. It feels really cheap. But what do you expect for $400? The keys seem “loose” for lack of a better term, as compared to the SY99 keys (a $4,000 back in the day) which are nice and tight and respond well. That’s one of the differences when you get a keyboard that is 1/10 the cost.
Does it bother me? No, not really. Get use to it and move on. You’ve got a gig to play and money to make.
Overall though, the keyboard itself is very well constructed and I believe will hold up the gigging lifestyle. I take really good care of my equipment, so I’m not sure how it would react to being thrown around in a trailer, but I don’t know any keyboard equipment that fares well when subjected to excessive vibration and rough handling. Be good to your gear! Those of us who do this as a hobby and for fun (read: not sponsored by the companies… so it’s not like we get free gear… you know?) can’t afford to always be buying gear! Make it last.
Conclusion
In summary, this keyboard is a tremendous value for the money. Whether you’re looking for a smaller keyboard for gigging, or just something different to get some new sounds out of, this is the keyboard for you. Combining the lightweight, portability, and quality of sounds and construction, you will not go wrong with this keyboard.
If you’re just getting in to the music scene, Musiciansfriend.com seems to be doing more and more sales and promotions where they give away free stuff with every purchase. If you can wait on your purchase, you can usually snag something useful. For instance, the thing that really helped push me over the edge on the Yamaha S03 was, Musician’s Friend was throwing in a free gig bag (case) and X-Frame stand. That turned out to be perfect for me, because obviously, I could carry the keyboard in the case, and then use the stand a gigs and rehearsals. So, check back until you see free stuff, then buy!
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
rootk
|
|
Member: Java Boo Boo
Location: Decatur, Alabama
Reviews written: 83
Trusted by: 23 members
About Me:
These opinions have been supplied by me!
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.