Yamaha S08 Review

Yamaha S08 Review

This is where I review the Yamaha S08 perfomance synth. You can get this keyboard online for less than 1000 bucks. Last time I checked it was available for $990.99 at a leading musical instrument retailer.

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Features

The keyboard comes with 88 weighted, balanced, hammer action keys, 64 note polyphony, 3 effect blocks with effect types, and 16-part multitimbrality. It features 25.2MB of waveforms providing over 700 sounds and is GM and XG compatible. There's also a Quick access and category search function, SmartMedia slot, USB port, and MIDI in/out/thru. Looking for a keyboard that plays MIDI files? Well there's a playback sequencer that allows you to play standard MIDI files direct from SmartMedia.

While the S 08 is a fairly good keyboard, what turns me off the most is the piano sound. I probably wouldn't buy it just because of that concern. As a keyboard player who loves his piano voices I find that Yamaha should have done a better job with the piano. On the other hand if you're prepared to do some tweaking you can have a fairly good piano sound. You can add effects, vary the brightness and so on, and save different variations according to your own preferences. It may not be the best but it may result in one that's pretty good. The choice is yours.

The Yamaha S08 doesn't come with a sequencer so if you're into this consider getting another keyboard.

But apart from that this is still a good keyboard for the price. I found the weighted action to be quite good. The action is pretty nice as well. I like the way that pitch bend and modulation wheels are so easy to reach.

The S08 also comes with some nice organs, rhodes, whirly, clav and synths that are perfect for those who are into blues or classic rock. There's even an "Amped Bass" function that you can use. I must say that I like the drum sets.

In my opinion this is a fairly good keyboard for less than a grand. Particularly for beginners and students. It is also stylish and could fit perfectly in the home. But as said earlier my biggest disappointment is the piano sounds. They are just too unrealistic.

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