Which keyboard is this?

bce

New member
Hi, I recently played a keyboard and didn't catch the name... would like to know if any of you experience Keyboarders would know?

It was a Yamaha... and I'm fairly sure it was the PSR series... It had DJ options, and a display of a stave, which would show the notes as you hit them... Am trying to learn piano so I can teach children at Camp America next year and it really worked for me as a keyboard... If you have any ideas, I would be grateful if you shared them.
Cheers,
Brandon.
 
Hi, I recently played a keyboard and didn't catch the name... would like to know if any of you experience Keyboarders would know?

It was a Yamaha... and I'm fairly sure it was the PSR series... It had DJ options, and a display of a stave, which would show the notes as you hit them... Am trying to learn piano so I can teach children at Camp America next year and it really worked for me as a keyboard... If you have any ideas, I would be grateful if you shared them.
Cheers,
Brandon.

I know your post is a few months old, but I see that no one answered it.

(EDIT: Oops, I was looking at your "Join Date," not the date of the post! Since you posted 3 weeks ago, it might have been the new PSR-E443 that you saw.)

It sounds like you might be referring to the PSR-E433, which has some DJ-like options-- i.e., playing Patterns and modifying the Filter Cutoff and Filter Resonance with two knobs. To be sure whether that's the one you played, you should go to Yamaha's web site and see if it looks like the one you saw. Note that the newer PSR-E443 is now out, released within just the last month or so. It's pretty much identical to the 2-year-old PSR-E433 model, but has twice as many Patterns, some additional Voices and Styles, plus the ability to plug in an audio source (e.g., an iPod) and "filter out" a range of frequencies (intended for playing along with recorded songs).

I have both a PSR-E433 and a PSR-E443, and they're very fun keyboards. I'm not a professional musician, strictly a hobbyist, and I was looking for an affordable keyboard that has some synth-like abilities. The PSR-E433 was the right price for me (about $250 in the USA), and what attracted me to it is its pitch bend wheel and the two "live" control knobs. The two knobs can be set to different pairs of functions (voice cutoff/resonance, voice reverb/chorus, voice attack/release, style cutoff/resonance, etc.), letting you alter the tonal quality and envelope while you're playing-- plus there's a function menu that gives you more precise control over the voice parameters, although the knobs are easier to use in a "live" setting. After modifying the voice parameters and other settings to your liking, you can "memorize" them to one of 32 Registrations. There are also recording features for recording up to 10 User Songs.

There were several earlier incarnations-- the PSR-E403, PSR-E413, and PSR-E423, which were also marketed as the YPT-400, YPT-410, and YPT-420-- and there are two special versions that are known as the PSR-I425 and PSR-I455, tailored toward Indian musicians. This line of keyboards is, in my opinion, a great "beginner's arranger workstation" keyboard, although more advanced performers who can afford to spend more money will probably want to look at the PSR-S650 instead, or even the PSR-S750 or PSR-S950 (or Tyros 5 if they can afford it).

If you're more than just a casual musician, there are three things to be aware of if you're considering the PSR-E433 or PSR-E443. The first is that these keyboards have a maximum polyphony of 32 notes-- which is standard for keyboards in this price range-- whereas the more expensive arranger workstations have a maximum polyphony of 64 or 128 notes. The second is that these keyboards can play only two Style sections-- Main A and Main B, along with their corresponding Intro, Fill-In, and Ending sections-- whereas the more expensive arranger workstations can play four Style sections-- A, B, C, and D. And the third is that you cannot purchase additional Voice Expansion Packs for them, as you can for the PSR-S650 and higher keyboards. The polyphony shouldn't be a big deal unless you're trying to play some complex MIDI files (i.e., containing a lot of Tracks) through the keyboard. And the lack of voice-expansion capability might be a consideration, although the built-in voices are pretty good (and can be tweaked to sound quite different than normal). But for some people the most important consideration seems to be the reduced number of Style sections.

I know I probably sound like a Yamaha sales person, but I'm not-- I'm just really gung-ho about this line of keyboards! I'd love to be able to afford a PSR-S950, or even a Tyros 5, but I just can't. I bought my PSR-E433 a little over a year ago and have been very happy with it-- so happy that I had to order the new PSR-E443 as soon as it was in stock. :)
 
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