Yamaha S90es

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[TangentCats]

Sadly, my Yamaha S90es has been in the case for the last 2 years due to space constraints in my studio (and my Kurzweil bias, possibly). Bought it mostly for gigging because the K2600XS is so darned heavy. It was an impulse buy at Guitar Center. I fell in love with the Piano & Rhodes sounds. Also, it has a GREAT action and good user interface layout on the board.

Anyone else have one? I see they have update all of the software across the board (drivers, editors, etc.). I spent the day putting away lots of other gear (that I haven't been using). Looking forward to playing with that board tomorrow. (Getting another keyboard stand delivered.) My studio is a bit small, so I only have room for 2 88 keys seup at one time.

From what I understand, it is based on the Motif sound engine. I like it so much I have considered complimenting it with a MOTIF-RACK XS, and possibly adding some expansion boards if they are still available.

Interested in your experiences & feedback.

Thanks,
Warp

[SVG]

I have the S90.  I love the action and think the ePianos are among its best suit.  Unfortunately, the acoustic pianos cause me to want to stick a red hot ice pick in my eardrums.  Not terribly impressed with all the gimmicky sounds, though there are a few usable sounds mixed in with the unwashed...    Yes, the sound set is based on the Motif, that's why I'd never consider getting a Motif.    I'm away from home for the month and only have my PC3 with me, so I'll have to check out the new software stuff in August.

Stephen




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[TangentCats]

Sadly, I unpacked it today and I have an S90, not an S90es. The S90es has a bunch of new software. Nothing new for the S90.

[SVG]

All the more reason to sell the silly thing then.  Anyone in the States want an S90 for cheap?

Stephen




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[piscione]

I just sold my S90, and my Nord G2X and recently my old Kawai K3.  I was thinking about retiring from music but I couldn't do it and bought a K2600XS.  I still need to go and get it so I've never actually played one of these.

The S90 has a great keyboard and some great Rhodes sounds.  There's a mid-70s Rhodes sound that is exact.  My S90 was sitting above my 1974 Rhodes so the comparison was easy.  Some of the acoustic guitars and electric guitars are good, a few useable organs and a really nice electric bass.

There were some problems 'though.  Strings with sampled vibrato was one of the dumbest things I heard, and the user interface to the synthesis parameters was very old school.   The much-heralded S700 piano didn't impress me at first but after some tweaking it became very useable.  I have a .zip file of the tweaked piano if anyone wants to email me, I can send it.  You can hear it here http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/piscione.  The gang at sninety.com seemed impressed with it.

Even 'though some of the sounds were great and the action was very nice, I would not buy another Yamaha synth, mostly because of the S90ES.  Yamaha should've fixed the issues with the S90 instead of releasing a new synth that was really just a fixed S90.

Randy

[SVG]

Randy,

Just listened a bit to your CD, I still have the same complaints about the S700.  For my ear, it just sounds too thin.

I agree though, the keyboard has a very nice action, and some of the ePianos are very well done.  I could never practice piano on it because of how it sounded...

As far as Yamaha goes, I think they did a much better job with their CS1X and CS2X synths.  These were built more like cheap plastic toys, and yet the sound that was coaxed out of them was sometimes bordering on brilliant.

Stephen




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