Yamaha S90 XS Reviews 4.7/5.0 based on 12 customer reviews
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Joel Powellfrom November 12, 2012Music Background: Former bar band rocker turned home Jazz studio hopeful. Simply AmazingI have purchased a lot of gear over the past few decades and I can say - by far- that the S90xs is one of the most amazing pieces I have purchased. The vast array of high quality voices, the integration of arpeggios, and I also had it quickly up and running to control my DAW (in my case, Logic Pro).I demoed the S90 to some friends and it always is a jaw dropping experience. This synth takes some study to get the most out of - and I am still discovering more - endless array of possibilities. One other thing to note is the feel of the action. It's the smoothest feeling weighted keys I have ever put my hands on.
Robertfrom N California September 11, 2012Music Background: pro recording artist The best so far...After having owned three generations of Roland RD700s, with great trepidation I sold my Roland RD700GX to get this Yamaha S90XS and I have no reason to look back. It is a wonderful musical instrument! A joy to play and explore! I'm real finicky about my sound and loved the Pha III keyboard on the Roland but was looking to make a change to explore new things. There is a great debate between whether this is better or a step back from the S90ES model. Although it is subjective and I respect the opinions of others my take on it is that this is a step up. I'm referring to the piano voices available among many other things - all of which i consider to be improvements. I've recorded with the ES and having played it extensively I can say that, in my opinion, this board is a distinct improvement. The piano tones are more balanced and richer in their ability to convey nuance and dynamics without becoming harsh. This was a problem I kept encountering with the ES in the studio - too brittle. Depending on your needs, if you're looking for a great professional stage piano I suspect you'll be very happy with this Yamaha S90XS.
Jefffrom Temple TX August 16, 2011Music Background: Singer/Songwriter Rock infused praise and intimate worship. Great KeyboardI love this keyboard! It feels great, and the interface is pretty simple. The sounds on it are fabulous, especially the piano's. I use it in a praise and worship setting at our church and I was told that this is the keyboard to get for that purpose. They were right. This is a great instrument!
Hunt Hearinfrom Boston, MA USA November 12, 2009Music Background: Keyboardist, Organist, Recording Engineer, Student - Berklee College of Music Want a Motif XS8? Think about the S90 XS!This is a great piece of equipment. Not only is it much lighter than its big brother (Yamaha Motif XS8,) it features the Yamaha S6 Grands, and has a great user interface. I upgraded from a Roland Fantom X8, and am loving this keyboard!
Linahanfrom Castaic, CA October 26, 2009 Amazing!This synthesizer is one powerful piece of equipment. The action and sound quality are exceptional!
Mattfrom Indianapolis, IN USA October 21, 2009Music Background: Music Director/Instructor Amazing!An outstanding keyboard. All the sounds of the Motif XS8 plus audio record/and playback. Amazing piano samples(Natural Grand). This would be a perfect fit for a worship/church setting. Thanks Yamaha and Sweetwater.
Jessefrom Kansas, USA November 21, 2012Music Background: Pro Musician Amazing set of keysThis synthesizer feels amazing to play! If you are used to playing piano, you will likely appreciate the feel. With weighted keys, playing feels natural, and, in my opinion, better then many stand up pianos I have played.The sound quality is superb. There are wonderful piano patches that sound absolutely authentic, to me. The fantastic variety of voices is great, and they sound quality. The UI is reasonably poor, in my opinion, but after you get used to it, and figure it out, one thinks nothing of it. It seems to handle performances very well, and one can quickly change setups with just a button press or two. One inconvenient thing is you have to move the slider to the default volume setting then change the volume. For example, if you change to Performance mode, all the sliders will have default volumes, and if you desire to change that, you must move the slider to that position before it registers movement. So if I had a synth pad at a default volume of 50, but wanted to change it to 100, I would have to move it to 50 first (no matter if the slider was all the way down or up) then change it. Not a big deal, just something to cope with. One thing to mention. If you plan to get a hard shell case, this keyboard is taller then most, and I actually ended up purchasing a custom case (in the $400-$500 range) as the only other stock case that would fit it was over $500. It is possible there are soft cases that would fit it better. To keep things more brief, I mostly mentioned the things that could be improved slightly. This is an AMAZING instrument. It is extremely powerful, realistic, and fun to play. Absolutely fantastic product!
Meghan Donnellyfrom Burlington, NC USA December 1, 2011Music Background: music student, worship leader Amazing!This keyboard makes playing enjoyable. It is somewhat a pain to transport so it isn't good to move around a lot but when I'm on stage it really delivers. Very heavy but such good quality! If you are serious about playing, this is a good set of keys.
Eric Watkinsfrom Decatur Il August 19, 2010Music Background: Performer, composer, producer Really great instrument!!!I bought my first synth in about 1990 and have owned at least a dozen since. I also played piano for ten years before that. I've had this unit for about 5 days. It is really nice. I just recently sold a Fantom Xa, XP-30, Korg X-50, and a Yamaha AN1x. Now I have only this board and I can pretty much get any sounds I had before out of just this one board. It is a great sounding synth but the pianos are the best I have ever played in hardware. In fact, I own software pianos that aren't as nice or versatile as this board. They sound great and there are several of different styles. None of them are bad and the good ones are pretty much great.I have been in a cover band for the past three years that plays a lot of 80 pop and I am also a huge Van Halen fan of the synth-era stuff. I immediately prgrammed sounds for Love Walks in, 1984, Jump, Subdivisions, Tom Sawyer, etc. No real problems getting all the tones I want and I am a tone snob when it comes to programming. THese versions I have made have lots of sweet punch and sizzle. Love it! So why 4.5 stars instead of 5. Well, two reasons and this may or may not bother you. For one, the deepest patch editing (element level) has to be done through the VST editor. Not a big deal for me because I keep my baord right there at my PC anyway as my main controller. You can edit quite a few things without but I like to be able to fully dig in when I want to. For two, as great as the arpeggiators are and all of the 6000+ patterns, they are not programmable...... at all. Not from the board and not in the editor. There is one song, "Hella Good" by No Doubt, where I need a really standard little step sequence of 3 notes and a rest. Nope, cant do it. This is the only thing that I am having a hard time dealing with. Otherwise, I am totally satisfied with the tone and my ability to make about any sound I would ever want. Bottom line, I love it. I dont think I've ever had my fingers feel so connected to the sounds that they are triggering. The action is sort of buttery smooth. Love it love it love it!!!
Mystic Radiofrom Ontario Canada May 6, 2010Music Background: recording and live performance. HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOYThe musicality of this board is amazing............its easy to sound great.People tell me i sound like a whole band live. I would like to see the ability to make or import your own beats n grooves and drum patterns The only thing I dont like is scolling through 6000 arpegios... its pain staking.........other than that its a joy to use. I use this through QSC K12s and a PRESONUS STUDIO LIVE......... its sounds stellar 
Rodfrom Orchardville, IL. USA September 14, 2012Music Background: Church Worship Director Yamaha s90 XSThree different players play this at our church and they all fell right in and felt very comfortable after just a little training they all could navigate and find what they were looking for on it. The keyboard sounds great. We have two of these now at two different branches at our church and everyone seems to like it very much.
Johanfrom MI December 16, 2009Music Background: Home Recording - Beginner s90XSThis is an exceptional piece of equipment. At this price you can't do better. Put a software sequencer to it and you have pretty much everything the Motif has. The sounds are great, the feeling on the keys quite piano-like. I am no expert at this, and there is a lot to learn, but I have every intention of keeping this instrument around for a while.
Yamaha S90 XS88-key Synthesizer and Stage Piano with 1,024 Voices, Microphone Input, USB Flash Drive Recording, and DAW Controls — Mac/PC 
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