Yamaha PSR keyboards

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The_Barse

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Im just beginning to play... well, actually I havnt started yet haha. Thats why I need a keyboard! I was looking at a Yamaha PSR and it was on sale, looks pretty good. Im not looking for anything fancy. It was a 61 key, I know thats not many according to what I've read. But me being an absolute beginner, do you guys think that this keyboard might get me on the right track to start?
 
I have one of these. psr 275 i think. I might pick up another.
They are a great value IMO.
What is great about them?

They are super cheap and i can buy them every day on my local craigs list
because they sell them at toy stores, electronics stores and music stores.
Every middle class home has one gathering dust in the garage.
I see them every day for around $100 used. Even new they are cheap.

They have a suprisingly good piano sound. The other patches are decent.
I know some people here look down on romplers, but for a beginer they
will be more than enough for inspired nooding. I've written a ton of songs on mine.

I've used mine in live performance before and mixed in with other instruments sounded suprisingly good.

It has midi so you can use it as a controller with software.

It is only around 10lbs.

it RUNS ON BATTERIES if you want. Runs a long time. I use recharchbles.
I carry it around the house and play it in different rooms. Turn it on and play through the built in speakers. Dont have to launch a program or even plug
anything in. I have found if you want to learn an instrument, it's best to leave it out of it's case on the couch.

If you spill
a beverage on it, just get a new one. I can bring it to a club gig and
if someone tries to steal it, i can point at them and laugh.

Don't be put off by the cheezy "learning" features or play along sequencer songs. Just ignore them.

If you ever upgrade later, you keep this around for a backup.

The keys will not tempt a concert pianist, but they get the job done.
 
Hey thanks a lot for the reply and good information. You're right about it being cheap. There's one at my local music store new for only $180, I was playing around on it the other day and it sounds nice.
I think I'll get one, thanks again :)
 
Barse, I'm a guitarist, but I have a couple of keyboards that I use for composition and for recording backing tracks. I picked up a Yam psr-403 late last year and can tell you that it's the best $200 board I've used. The pitch bend wheel, arppegiator, and real-time filter-control knobs set this board apart from anything in its class. Some of the tone choices are better than others, of course, but I can recommend the 403 very highly for anyone looking at boards on the cheap.

J.
 
The_Barse said:
I was looking at a Yamaha PSR ....
Click to expand...

What Yamaha board are you looking at?

I have a PSR-K1, bought in '05 that serves me well. None of the inexpensive keyboards have keys that will stand up to heavy gigging use IMO, but as beginners keyboards that probably doesn't matter. I did however go with Yamaha over Casio partly because the keys felt better. Both companies have numerous home boards with varying feature sets, so you might want to have a look at them with an eye toward what you could do with them later on. (In the case of Yamaha that would be the PSR, YPG, and DGX lines to look into.) Keep in mind that even the low cost boards have autoaccompaniment, MIDI sequencing and recording capabilities that may be valuable to you for songwriting and recording, depending on your approach to those things.

61-keys? Fine for me as I am a one handed player and use the board only to brainstorm musical ideas and supplement the guitars and vocals when recording. But on the two occasions when my piano-lesson trained daughter sat down at it, she immediately ran out of keys on the right hand side. So if you intend to be a two handed piano player, I would recommend at least 76 keys.

Regards,
Tom
 
Thanks for the info Jeffree :D

To answer the above question, I was looking at a PSR E313. Im not looking to use it for gigs, just to supplement my instruments like you mentioned. Im not writing orchestral pieces or anything haha, just some simple tunes and if I decide to take it further I'll have to buy a bigger and better keybord.
 
I have a PSR 340 that I bought several years ago when my Ensoniq SQ-80 died and the 340 has some nice sounds on it. Plenty of General Midi stuff but no mod wheel unfortunately..:(
Programming sequences is not easy on this keyboard, since my SQ-80 was revived the 340 doesn't get played much.
 
Good piano sound, but too much noise for solo recording.

Great gigging piano/clavinet unit - takes a beating. Just take care not to trigger the goddamn demos while you're rocking out.

lol.
 
Ha Ha...

I had that happen a couple of times. Kind of a mood breaker.
Never though my hand could move to the off switch so fast!
 
Just wanted to add that i find the number of keys to be fine for most
of the stuff i use a keyboard for.

The trade off between features/size and weight works for me.
 
The_Barse said:
....I'm not looking to use it for gigs, just to supplement my instruments like you mentioned. Im not writing orchestral pieces or anything haha, just some simple tunes .....
Click to expand...

Pretty much how I use my PSR-K1. Sitting there and fiddling with it inspires simple songs, and the auto-accompaniment and "record" features let me expand the ideas into backing music in the form of "user songs". Mine differs from some in that it has a feature that has a save as MIDI function that converts the user song to a MIDI file hat I can then transfer to my 4-track recorder which will play with on its internal MIDI tone generator. On some boards, including the 313 and 403 I think, to get to a MIDI file you have to connect the board to a PC and play the user song back into sequencing software. The disadvantage of my K1 is that it has a USB interface instead of MIDI ins and outs, which great for connecting to the laptop but will make it difficult or impossible to sync to an external recorder whenever I get the bucks to buy one that supports that kkind of thing.
 
I use my Yamaha PSR as a set of MIDI triggers and run it through an outboard synth module.

I occasionally get a laugh out of the onboard patch set that includes vocal utterances like, "DJ!!"
 
Hi all :) I'm a newbie here with a psr2000 question.
I bought the keyboard used(new in 2001) everything seems to work OK on it but when I try to record I can't seem to record past the 4th track.I have the same problem trying to record the drum line.I found the user manual on line but I can't find what I'm doing wrong.
I'm 54, been playing guitar on and off for 30 yrs and have been bitten by the recording bug.
A lot of the terms in the manual I am not familiar with so any help on this would be a huge help to me.

Thanks a Ton :)
Kenp54
 
Yahama PSR40, with lettered keys, great for beginers, comes with power cord & case

Hit me up if your intrested. I've listed it on e-bay.. lemme know.
 
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