Yamaha YC61 61-key Stage Keyboard Reviews

I got this summer 2023. I play with a band, local bars, mainly pianos, organ, a bit of electric piano.

Super easy to use, tweaking sounds to get them to gel with the band is simple and fast. All the parameters that I have used so far to dial in specific sounds to cover specific songs haven't required any menu diving.

Easy to recreate classic Hammond sounds - they sound great to me. The drawbars have a well-constructed/solid feel (in general the keyboard and all various switches/knobs/buttons feels solid and well made) - fun to change on the fly, the Lesley emulation sounds awesome. I'm not a Hammond aficionado, though. Perhaps you'll be unlucky and there will be a Hammond enthusiast in the audience when you're playing at the local bar with your band, grumbling to themselves that the organ sound doesn't have the "characteristic warmth and depth" and is completely ruining "Refugee". But probably not, my guess is they'll absolutely love it...

Layering sounds is straightforward. There are a couple nice pads to thicken up the key sounds, if you're playing open-mic this is kinda cool. Dedicated knobs for volume, tone, filter - and so very fast to get the right sound. There are some good presets, including an old-fashioned upright piano sound that is a good starting template to modify. The electric pianos are great. There's a decent variety of classic sounds here so you can get the right base sound and then tweak it, add effects if necessary. Likewise with the FM pianos. There isn't an *infinite* amount of variation here - but this is a gigging keyboard, not my Korg Kronos.

Lots of comparisons with the Nord keyboards out there... as far as I'm aware there is no way to download new sounds to the YC-61. In one specific review, the reviewer was sad that there was no bagpipe sound. But the cool thing is that the YC-61 has an integrated soundcard - and so I downloaded Spitfire Audio's free bagpipes to my laptop and with a single USB cable can play these via the keyboard - makes for a great "Copperhead Road". Very simple to set up, no separate audio interface needed.

The action is good. Light keys, good for organ playing. I read a review that stated "YC61 keys have to travel 7mm before they'll trigger an organ tone. No thanks" I don't know if this would be make-or-break for hard-core organists, but the travel has not been an issue for me. The action is a galaxy away from a weighted piano-action keyboard. Possibly this is something to do with striking a balance with the other key instruments - along these lines there is great response for expressive piano playing (and I love the CFX piano, it's beautiful - I use a bit of master EQ-ing to bring up the treble a bit with the band). I haven't messed with the velocity curves yet, this is something you can do.

I read a review that the 1/4 inch outputs are noisy. I do not have this problem. Silent. Through my Rokit monitors at home, or through the Behringer XR-18 mixer with the band.

Overall super happy with this keyboard. I love playing it.

Really have loved gigging with this small board. I bought the Yamaha soft case with it. So light and easy to move around. Been doing a Wednesday evening open jam in Toledo Ohio for several weeks. Everyone that has set in has liked it. I'm using a Roland KC400 amp. In the video I'm using the Nashville and CFX piano tones layered. The rig really has a nice cutting through the mix tone.

This keyboard is replacing my Nord Electro 2-73 and Nord Lead A1. At only 15 lbs. I can get everything I need to gig with one keyboard. The patches sound excellent and are plentiful. The keybed feels great although the keys are slightly narrower than the Nords (61 keys of the YC61 is the width of 60 keys on the Nords).

I love it because of the sounds and easy to manage.

For many gigging keyboardists, the struggle is real to find a keyboard that can satisfy the need to play piano and organ. I am a classically-trained pianist, used to sell grand pianos, and have played the B3 for 30+ years for blues and gospel, so am well aware of the nuances in keyboard actions. Wanting the best of everything led me on a journey for several months in researching every conceivable model. I searched for one keyboard that could do everything well, or a two keyboard setup (piano and organ-focused), that would work well for piano, organ, classic EPs, strings, and pads in blues, pop, rock, gospel, and CCM. Thankfully, my Sales Engineer, Matthew Langston, had the patience to fulfill my detailed requests to test the action for the models that I wasn't able to try in person. Having played in a band with Matthew for a couple years, I knew that I could trust his feedback, as he is a very skilled player. He also shared feedback from the manager of the keyboard department, which was was very insightful!

Not having roadies at my disposal, my preference was to find an all-in-one keyboard to cut down on weight and set-up time. IMHO, most of the stage keyboards on the market do pretty well at either the piano or organ end of the spectrum, but not in a way that's satisfying for natural and expressive playing on both ends. In other words, I found myself both pleased and highly-frustrated with most options. Since I knew that I wouldn't be happy with anything that wasn't a great Hammond clone, I decided to get the YC61 as an all-in-one, knowing that I could always add a 88-note weighted board for certain gigs. To my surprise, I found that I could play the piano sounds with far more dynamic range than I anticipated, so it has worked very well over the last few months meeting my diverse needs.

For my friends who are on the Hammond end of the spectrum, this may delight 100% of your desires. It's simple to do palm smears, chops, squabbles, and machine-gun effects, and it sounds terrific! Without having to menu dive, it's simple to tailor the sound with the desired tone and distortion, but you can also change the type of Hammond and Leslie with a knob. The Leslie sounds great, but if it's not quite perfect for you, you can adjust the ramp up and slow down of either speaker. I've often found myself saying, "This sounds better than my C3!" It can sound pristine or nasty- your choice! The LED drawbars are a huge advantage over other keyboards that utilize one set of drawbars. Via the settings, you can change how the drawbars function when changing patches, since this is when the sound doesn't match the physical position of the drawbars. The lights help eliminate any sound surprises and make transitions very smooth.

Who are the 2% of Hammond players that this might not satisfy? If you're in the league of Joey D, or consider most authentic Hammonds to be unplayable, then this may not be for you. Also, if y'all are caught up in the multi-contact debate and play a style where the absence of a multi-contact keybed would negatively affect your playing, then move along. For me, it does everything I want.

For you piano players, this is where you can pay attention. Obviously, there are limitations on a 5-octave board that doesn't have a great weighted action. For me, I realized that most of my time playing popular music with a band that I normally stayed very central in my range, typically using the upper end for solos, while intentionally staying away from the bass end. If you are primarily gigging as a solo artist in classical or jazz, I would look elsewhere for something that gives more feedback and control, plus allows you to reach the bass and treble extremes. For playing piano (or EPs) in a pop or rock band, this works extremely well. Most of the popular music doesn't require an exquisite action, nor can the audience hear the dynamic or tonal nuance in the band setting. With this kind of action in the YC61, you may find yourself needing to be a bit more aware while playing octaves so that you don't nudge the notes to the sides, but as an advantage you'll likely find that it's easier to play blazing fast solos.

The YC61 is a great practice instrument due to the USB audio interface. For those who don't have another mix or interface to play backing tracks or sound files, this is a great addition! I can now play YouTube videos or music tracks from apps on my iPhone and hear it on the same headphones that are plugged into the keyboard. Plus, I can even change the volume of the track independently from the keyboard volume! It's a great feature and I've found that it helps me be more prepared for band rehearsals.

PROs: fantastic sounds for all the keyboard staples, physical and LED drawbars, USB audio interface, downloadable OS updates, hands-on controls to shape the sounds while performing (without using menus), and Live Sets (beyond simply setting up patches in order for a gig, you can assign different settings like EQ, split points, amps, and octave).

CONs: Nord fans may not like not being able to download individual patch files, but this has only affected me once when a song required a bagpipe (the YC61 has a bagpipe sound, but it's not very convincing). As an alternative to downloading patches, Yamaha users can download Live Sets that are customized by Yamaha and other users. Due to the flexibility in shaping sounds, it can be argued that this is similar to downloading new sounds, but these are really just customized sounds and not entirely new waveforms. Other than that, some users are reporting a noisy action, but I can't discern it when playing at a normal volume.

MISC: Unless you need a hard case, get the Yamaha bag. It's perfect. It fits great and there is plenty of room for a music folder, cords, cables, and pedals.

This unit really holds its own against my Nord Stage 3, and in some ways is actually superior. The learning curve is not very steep, the control layout is fantastic, the sounds are very good/useable, and it seems overall very user friendly. And it is LIGHT WEIGHT, soooo very nice to carry 25lbs (full rig: keyboard, case & accessories) vs the 70lbs that my 88-key NS3 weighs. Had I bought this before the Nord, I probably would never have spent the $$$$ on Red. Highly recommended!

...I wrote a glowing review of the YC a while back but griped about possibly the worst Leslie sim I've ever had the misfortune to hear. I knew Yamaha could do so much better, and they have. The Leslie sim in the new update is truly stunning. I A/B'ed it with the Ventilator 2, my personal favorite Leslie sim, and was amazed. The YC's rotary effect is very similar to that of the Vent - made me wonder if Yamaha based their new sim on the Ventilator rather than a real Leslie. The YC's sim isn't as 'thick' sounding as the Ventilator, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. It is a great, musical sounding simulation; the only internal sim that comes close would be in the XK5. I will certainly use it for playing a job where there wasn't room/time to set up the real Leslie. There's a bunch of other new stuff in the update including a few new FM combo organs that are fun to play with. It'd be nice to see a model of the original YC combo organs built in, but I'm not complaining. Yeah, the YC 61 is really a perfect choice for the one keyboard you could bring to just about any job and play all night - and now you can leave your favorite Leslie sim pedal at home...

My prior review noted the poor rotary simulation that was in the factory YC boards. In Feb 2022 Yamaha came out with update 1.2 which added another Rotary Sim. This update addresses the complaints of many users. The new rotary sim ("Studio") is a great improvement that was very much needed, with a much better stereo spread and separation between the horn and rotor. Of course the extensive editing parameters are all the same.

To my ear, the new rotary is still inferior to Nord and Hammond, but not by much. The other sounds and functions of the YC are still superior to other keyboards in my opinion and make the YC THE stage keyboard to get.

Also in the 1.2 update are added EQ effects and 3 new FM organs that are unlike anything on the market.

Buy the YC, install the update if it hasn't already been done, and you will be a happy keyboardist! The 1.2 update includes everything that came in the 1.1 update, so you only need to update to the most current (as of Feb 2022).

It took me a long time to get around to writing this review, because I couldn't stop playing the YC61. The feel of the keyboard is the perfect compromise between organ and piano. While the instrument sounds are not as full and expressive as the real thing, they are still very good, and I am anticipating an update early next year. The Leslie effect is not as strong as I'd like it to be but I was able to make it acceptable by changing acceleration / deceleration and horn and rotor speeds two more closely approximate my Leslie 122.

Here are my settings: horn slow 47.9, horn fast 328, rotor slow 39.7, rotor fast 292.7, horn acceleration .97, horn deceleration .97, rotor acceleration .43, rotor deceleration .49. These settings also seem to work well with the vibrato and chorus.

I can't say enough good things about Ray Gonzalez and the entire Sweetwater staff. They have helped me countless times, and although I can buy many of these products less expensively elsewhere I will always go to Sweetwater for their excellent service and selection.

I agree...I did find it so..for players like myself who have been playing Hammond Organ for 5 decades you will always run into the problem of any clone just not sounding the way you think it should...it's just the way it is....SO, if you find the Leslie Sim lacking to your satisfaction there is a very simple fix...buy yourself a Lounsbery Tall and Fat and Wide pedal...this pedal ( I own one and run it thru my Viscount Legend which has an excellent simulator) provides the warmth of the Pre-Amp (tube) built into every Hammond B-3 console...it produces a warm..edgy and raw tone if you want that...it will make you YC sound like a B-3...not kidding...you can't go wrong...

Ok, imagine you're a player who spends most of his or her time at a job playing the organ and loving it. But, there are a few times you'd like some rocking electric piano and a couple times a beautiful acoustic piano is what you need. And, you need pitch and modulation levers for a couple of searing synth solos or smooth sax parts. Of course, you'd want a good '60's combo organ sound in case anyone requests '96 Tears'. You want something small (61 keys) and light (around 15 pounds) with an absolutely world class drawbar organ, really great other sounds, and an incredible feeling keyboard. You want to bring this keyboard (and nothing else) to a job, plug it in, and use it for everything. The YC61 seems like the perfect instrument for you. And, if you don't mind bringing your favorite Leslie Sim pedal with you, it is.

The YC's Hammond model is sweet and rich and creamy – not quite like any Hammond model I've heard (and I've just about played them all). Add some of the built in eq, and you can come up with some gorgeous organ tones. It is complemented by a smooth, ultra-comfortable keyboard that it's hard to keep from playing. The electric pianos through the amp sim are great and respond perfectly when you dig into the keys. The acoustic pianos are excellent. The other sounds I've listened to are great, and there are synth, sax, and fretless bass patches so you can use those pitch and mod levers (which are oddly missing on some other instruments like this). Even the FM generated 'combo organs' are pretty fun – they don't exactly sound like a Vox or Farfisa, but they sure do have a '60's vibe to them.

But, why, on an instrument of this caliber, they would include such an inferior Leslie sim is beyond me. Hopefully it will be addressed in a future OS update. Turning the bass rotor all the way down, you can hear the treble horn at high speed is a mess. On top of the sound of the spinning horn sound there is this cluster of high-pitched noise bouncing around much faster than the speed of the horn – it's just irritating. But, in all fairness, most of the 'clonewheel' instruments out there need an outboard sim to sound their best.

This would be the perfect instrument to play an entire job on (as I plan on doing) as long as you can deal with the very minor inconvenience or bringing a good outboard Leslie sim and a few extra cords. I was hoping Yamaha would nail the Leslie sim, but very few companies have been able to do so – I'm hoping they may do so for the YC in an update. Weighing the overall excellence of the YC against that one shortcoming, I'll give it the highest rating, but be aware that if you are a true organ lover and get the YC, you'll want to invest in a good Leslie sim (and Sweetwater has the best right here!)

All that I was hoping for and more. It feels solid. Looks great. The "other" sounds are much better than I expected. It looks a little complicated at first but after a few minutes - Aha. This thing is great. A pleasure to carry.

Yamaha has obviously studied Nord's success, and they've come up with a solid alternative to the Electro—and I think it competes with the Stage as well. But there are some caveats, which I'll elucidate.

Ways in which the YC61 might be better than the Electro:

1) You get pitch bend and modulation, of course, which is a huge plus. And the build quality on the pitch/mod knobs is quite high. I had a Stage 3 and had to fix the mod wheel several times—a cord kept coming loose from repeated abuse at gigs. User error? I think not. Nord needs to understand that while I don't play punk rock, I frequently "go punk rock" on my mod wheel.

2) I *love* Yamaha's piano sounds. With the YC61 you get high-quality samples of the CFX and a collection of Rhodes patches that to my ears are smoother, warmer, and more realistic than Nord's (or Roland's, or anybody else's). I'm not an EQ master, so my issue with Nord's EPs might be related to my inability to manipulate the out-of-box sounds to my liking, but Yamaha has knocked it out of the park as far as the default settings are concerned here. The voices are simply outstanding.

3) This is tough to explain in a brief text review, but I prefer the effects routing on the YC61 to that on the Nord Electro/Stage. Simply put, Yamaha gives you more options, and more potential permutations, which means more opportunities for expression.

4) YOU CAN CHANGE THE COLOR OF THE ORGAN DRAWBARS YOU GUYS! HOW COOL IS THAT?


But Nord will likely still reign victorious in this fight for a few "key" reasons (see what I did there?):

1) This is an organ-focused board, and the organ sounds are weak. Not just weak: they're quite possibly the worst on the market at this price-point. Many people have rightfully complained about the sucky Leslie sim, but the problem is much deeper—the timbre of Yamaha's "clonewheel" is thin and abrasive, lacking all warmth. If you're an organ player who loves B3 sounds I have a feeling that you are not going to like this board. I, however, don't play much organ. I bought this because I need an all-purpose 61-key board for my rig with killer electric and acoustic piano sounds, and this fit the bill. If that's not you, run home to Mama Nord or Papa Hammond immediately.

2) Compared to Nord's beautifully faux-analog interface, the Yamaha does require some menu-diving. It's not as bad as on a Roland but it does obscure some potentially useful features.

3) Yamaha's sounds, as great as they are, can't compete with Nord's ridiculously voluminous sound library. With Nord's sample synth, you can even MAKE YOUR OWN sounds, which you can't do with a Yamaha.

4) Y'all know you WANT that red, don't deny it.

It all comes down to which of these opportunity costs you can live with. I, for one, am happy to see more competition in this space.

Finally, after spending a few weeks with the YC61 I've grown to enjoy it, but I've also recognized some quirks. There's a cosmetic manufacturing error visible on my unit's keys, which I didn't notice immediately. It doesn't affect how the unit plays or feels, but it's occasionally distracting. I'm furthermore finding that the unit's quarter-inch outputs are, compared to other boards, extremely noisy—I'm not sure if this is a problem with my gear, my set-up, or the board itself. I've never had this problem with Nords, but I'm still experimenting to get a clean signal from the YC61. If I can't get one without a DI, I would feel inclined to knock off half a star from my rating.

All in all, though, I think this board is a great buy for the money, and I can't wait to test it out on some post-COVID gigs...probably in 2022....

The "YC" in the name implies this is an organ-focused keyboard, but I'd say the YC61 is better thought of as a keyboard that does everything well. The Hammond emulation is gets high marks for authenticity in every respect: basic Hammond tone, percussion, C/V, key click, leslie sim, etc. People will debate whether it's as good as Crumar, Nord, Hammond, but at least it's in the conversation. The pianos and EPs sound like those from the CP series, so they are excellent. Though the synth sounds are samples, there's a broad selection of then and all very useable. The YC61 could get you through most cover band gigs if you don't need to get every synth patch exactly right. The main reason I like the YC better than the Nord Electro is the high quality keybed that works well for both organ and pianos, whereas in my opinion the Electro's Fatar keys are optimized for organ but make it difficult to play piano with dynamics. The YC's keys are a better compromise between the two modes of playing, and just feel like a higher quality construction. However, the YC's keys are slightly smaller than the "standard" size used in most other keyboards, enough that you'll notice it but not so much that you can't adjust. I'm fine with the smaller keys but I wish it had "high trigger" for organ. Because of these differences you'll have to recalibrate your organ technique when moving from real Hammond keys to the YC, but it's certainly doable.

The workflow is incredibly easy, efficient, and tailored for on the fly modifications.

The YC sets a new standard for the all-in-one lightweight gigging keyboard. I give it 4.5 instead of 5 due to the non-standard keys and lack of organ high trigger. The smaller keys may be an issue for some people, but those who can make the adjustment will be richly rewarded.

There's a lot to love about this keyboard, from the solid construction that should withstand years on stage, the incorporation of many of Yamaha's top-end sounds, user-friendly controls, and all the outputs and connections you'd expect from a professional board (but no 8-pin Leslie output). The different organ models are the centerpiece of this CP series-inspired board, and they all have wonderful, rich tone and character. I especially LOVE the Pre-drive control in the organ section. Warms it up perfectly. Dial up the Drive control in the amp section and you can put out a sound that would make J. Lord himself sit up and take notice. The waterfall action keyboard is pretty much standard fare. The soft, semi-weighted action feels great. The keys are as long as piano keys, but a tiny bit more narrow.
Like the other CP series keyboards (or most keyboards these days), it's designed with future updates in mind. Just go onto the Yamaha website and look for YC61 downloads.

It should go without saying, but the pianos, EP's, synths, pads, horns, and all other non-organ sounds are exceptional. If you have a Motif, Montage or Clavinova, you will recognize many of the sounds here. You're paying a lot for this board, and Yamaha delivers.

The only real drawback - and it's pretty big if you're a tonewheel aficionado - is the rotary speaker effect. As great as this board is in every other regard, the rotary speaker is perhaps the worst I've ever heard. Yamaha gives you all of the speaker controls you'd expect, such as acceleration/deceleration, speed, drive, and relative volumes, but the presence and stereo spread of the effect are minimal compared to pretty much everything else out there. The YC gives you an option to choose between mono or stereo on the speaker effect, and the difference is very noticeable. But compared to other rotary speaker emulators, the one on this board is weak and empty, hence 4.5 stars vs 5. Even the Montage/MODX rotary speaker is better, which strikes me as odd since the YC61 was designed with an emphasis on the tonewheel organ. If you're going to build an organ-focused keyboard, the rotary speaker needs to sparkle. Hopefully that will be addressed in a future update, because this board is superb in every other way.

YC61 keys have to travel 7mm before they'll trigger an organ tone. No thanks. I can play cleaner, faster riffs on my piano-action Kurzweil PC4 which triggers organs at 4mm. Crazy, huh? Too bad. I'd have kept it but for that. I did like the sound of the organs and those lighted drawbars are damn cool.