Yamaha S90XS Synthesizer; 88-Note Balanced Hammer-Weighted Action

This board is spectacular. The action and sounds on this thing are incredible. You can't go wrong with this one. Highly recommend.

Just be sure you are know what you're buying on this one. It's professional grade. You will need at least powered speakers (pretty cheap really). I think some of the "synth" marketing is a little misleading, and there is a huge learning curve. The action is worth the extra money (I own a previous 1990's Yamaha W5 synth with static, "synth action" - this product feels much more like a real piano). This is mostly for folks that are going to output into a computer and take another three weeks to tweak. I prefer one like the W5 with a built in sequencer and multiple sound parameters to tweak and save on the fly. But, that's all here with this keyboard, but not as intuitive (as Yamaha is infamously known for). I know they try. Note: if I would have paid attention and saw the plethora of built-in defaults for sounds with cheesy drum crap with split keys, I would have gone elsewhere. In sum, a steep learning curve with limited end-user sound creations - I'm not sure I would call this a synth. It's cool, but shop around and know what fits your style.

This order was time-sensitive, as this keyboard is needed in the next few days for performing live. However, when I opened the item, 13 of the 15 bottom keys were completely stuck in a depressed state, and some could not even be pried to move back upward to a normal position. This is extremely disappointing. I don't know if the problem occurred in the factory or during shipping, but either way, my event has been compromised and my blood pressure is not faring well. I guess that when I spend twenty-four hundred dollars, I expect better quality assurance in both the factory and the shipping.

Awesome ! Top of the line. Incredible capabilities. So versitile

Great keyboard. This is my second, as I bought a s90 10 years ago. The documentation is terrible as you need to scan the internet to find out how to accomplish many tasks, such as spiltting the keyboard. That is the only reason I'm not giving it four stars. Give youself several days and even weeks of playing with settings to figure out the tricks.It's heavy, so get a traveling case to save your back. That comes with having a weighted keyboard, which I think is a requirement. I cart it to Church every other week and it has worked great.Love the piano and organ sounds much more thank the other brands.

Ever since playing my first MO8 and a first generation S90 at my church a few years ago, I have been a huge MOTIF engine fan. Since then I have owned an MOX8, MOTIF, XS8 and have purchased MO8s and S90s for churches I have attended because I wanted to play a decent keyboard. So why, when I needed to replace some of those boards that I had sold prior to a deployment, did I choose to go with the S90XS?First, I LOVED the MOX8 because it was ridiculously light for what it did. But my one gripe with the MOX8 was that it did not keep the sliders that were present on the original MO8, the MOTIFs or the S90 series. I like to USE those sliders, especially when using performances.Second, the S90XS has that wonderful Yamaha keyboard action that I have come to expect, respect, and appreciate.Third, I LOVE the Yamaha sound. If I were looking for some cool analog sounds that I didn't already have in software, I would seriously consider a Korg, but IMO, Korgs have horrible "real" (i.e. acoustic) sounds, and the best way I can describe Roland acoustic sounds is that they are SO real I find them to be annoying. And NORDS are straight up expensive. On average, I probably use less than 20 sounds on the S90XS in real life, one of which is a performance I have developed which is my go to for everything. It is the full grand voice (from the ES series) combined with the Analog pad with some parameters adjusted so that I can play just the pad unless I play harder at which time the velocity sensitive piano starts to play. $2400 is a lot to spend for one voice, but the ability to create, tweak and fully utilize the voice is worth every penny. I also like the organs, Rhodes, Galaxy FM, and several of the string and pad sounds. I love the fact that you can organize all of your favorite sounds on the surface using "master" voices without having to do a whole lot of moving voices to other patches to make room for a patch you are copying from a different location.Fourth, I am a Cubase guy. As Yamaha and Steinberg have started to work closely with each other, that goes a LONG way to maintaining customer loyalty as the S90XS integrates very well into Cubase.On the other hand, I am a Cubase guy. I have never used the sequencer on the MO8, MOX8, or even the mighty MOTIF XS8, so why should I pay an extra $1200 for a whole lot of weight and a sequencer that I never used?Finally, while I originally thought that the surface of the S90XS looked a bit cheesy, it is extremely functional! The ability to both change octaves AND transpose right on the surface is extremely cool! And you can do a whole lot of practical programming right on the surface without even having to dig through menus by just using the sliders, knobs and buttons on the surface. And while the screen is admittedly pretty small, you can manuever your way to every single parameter in the MOTIF architecture without too much trouble if you know what you are looking for (and aren't afraid to occasionally pull out the manual if necessary)If you are looking for an analog type synth on which you can easily adjust every synth parameter known to man, or if you are someone that has to have an onboard sequencer, this board is probably NOT for you.BUT, if you are looking for an amazingly capable, awesome sounding, tweakable performance synthesizer with great action, you owe it to yourself to at least consider the S90XS.

I had to take a moment to rave about this keyboard. I have purchased my third! I use them at 3 different locations and they are bit difficult to move - but what a bang for the buck. The description says it all and there are some great YouTube videos showcasing all the sounds and such. I wanted to comment that I am using these not only as synths, but at times for organs in church settings. The 4 channel onboard control allows for on/off layering - much like drawbars on a real organ. The multiple mode presets allow many live elements to be "up" at all times such as 4 layers, instant reverb/chorus control, arpeggios, MIDI outs, etc. I am using Hauptwerk as my MIDI out organ. The Yamaha has some good pipe organ sounds, but the Hauptwerk organs are supreme and make a fine addition to this keyboard. The awesome string, key, percussion, guitar, brass patches on the S90xs give me the freedom to fill them room w/ band, orch, organ - whatever I'm looking for. I have not run into any limitations at this point other than my incompatible Kingston flash drive that I had to replace. This keyboard requires USB 2.0 apparently. Saving and loading files are a snap if you have the right flash drive. One last tip - you must purchase the Yamaha pedal for this keyboard. Other ones will probably not work for you correctly.