Yamaha S03?

[michael saulnier]

I searched this forum for any posts on this new Yamaha keyboard and didn't see any... even in the NAMM reviews...

 

I also didn't see any user reviews on Harmony Central... pretty unusual for a keyboard from a big maker at a low price point.

 

Was this because of a low regard for this keyboard? I'm thinking of getting a new sound source for my MIDI setup, and at a street price of $499 for one of these... it seems like a decent choice... I've read the key bed on the S30 was not well liked... does this one suffer from the same one?

 

Supposedly it has the piano samples from the S80 and many other S80 and S30 samples.

 

Any thoughts?

 

guitplayer

[Steve44]

The S03 is a pretty new board, so that's likely why you've seen no comments yet. I kind of see it as a cross-breed between the CS2X and the S30. But at $500 it's among the cheapest pro-level keyboards around. The only keyboard in its price range is the wildly-outdated Roland XP-10, whose sounds are pretty weak. Yamaha has had the $700 keyboard market pretty much cornered with the CS1X and CS2X, but the S03 is both slimmed down from those keyboards (in that it doesn't have knobs) and beefed up with more waveforms and a better display. It's also more targeted at a keyboard player rather than a dance keyboard.

 

It's nice to seee that with the S03 yamaha's finally noving a little bit away from the General Midi model and putting in some waveforms actually designed for the keyboard, not for the XG modules. Last I remember, the biggest XG soundset was 20 Megs, and since the S03 claims to have 25 megs, there's at least 1/5th or more of non-GM waveforms in there. I'm listening to the demo right now and it defintely sounds like the piano is updated from the XG soundset version. In fact the demos sound very good overall. Check them out at this link (Click on demo song on the left), but you have to have Yamaha's "SoundVQ" plugin installed.

 

http://www.yamahasynth.com/pro/s03/index.html

 

The downsides of the S03: no PLG board slot, no arpeggiator, no extra knobs/sliders, no aftertouch. But all the keyboards that offer any of those kinds of features are in the $700 range. Those include: The CS2x, the Alesis QS6, and the Roland RS5, and at $800, the Yamaha S30.

 

If you're going to spend the extra dough ty out the Roland RS5. It's got great sounds, an arpeggiator, and six knobs, and a slick new look.

[michael saulnier]

Steve44,

 

Thanks for the reply. I appreciate your insights. I haven't seen a S03 in person... what about the key bed issue... does it have the same one as the S30? Do you dislike this as much as some of the other reviewers?

 

My main use for a new keyboard is to improve the sound quality of my MIDI system. I've looked at the stand alone sound modules and most are going to be in the $300 to $1000 range... It seems that if this unit has decent sounds at this price level... maybe the keyboard part is just a bonus! Is there a sound module that you would suggest that would be a better choice below $500?

 

 

guitplayer

[gbvgbv]

hey steve - nice synopsis on the keyboards available in the $700 price range - i kinda reached the same conclusions in my research and need to make a decision soon.

 

the yamaha cs2x looks good because it has an appeggiator.

the alesis qs6.1 looks good because it has a sampling editor program.

 

do you know of something in this range (or slightly higher) that has both? (i'm assuming you cant go any lower in price and hope to get these things along with good polyphony and multitimbral - right?)

[gbvgbv]

i really got interested in the roland rs5, but i'm disappointed to hear that it cannot accept any expansion boards.

 

this may not be a problem IF the keyboard can still be used to play sounds from a soft synth or a sampler inside my computer. does anybody know if the rs5 can do this?

 

i had assumed that all keyboards could do this, but do i need to look for a specification on them that specifically states this (and how would it be stated)?

[mreddyson]

S03 has the best piano and Rhodes sounds for under $500. The problem is the action is so bad! You feel very disconected from your playing. That's a problem.