Yamaha S90 XS 88-Key Weighted Synthesizer

When you're on stage, your focus is on connecting with your audience and making every moment magical. You don't need some clunky workstation keyboard, with its complex sequencing and arranging functions getting in the way. It sure would be nice to have all of the premium piano and synth sounds that come in most workstations, though. Meet the Yamaha S90 XS, a professional performing keyboardist's dream come true. The keyboard features the same powerful sound engine that's at the core of the incredible Motif XS workstation, but with a streamlined design and interface that's geared towards explosive live performance.

A Lean, Mean, Gigging Machine

The sleek look and low-profile of the Yamaha S90 XS testify to its role as a finely tuned performance instrument. Not all are lucky enough to have a road crew haul their gear around, but with a weight less than 50 pounds you won't mind carrying your keyboard around by yourself. Once you've loaded it in and set it up, you'll find the controls are intuitively laid out, with each button and slider clearly labeled to eliminate guesswork. The large, super-bright LCD screen gives you instant feedback as to which patch is selected, what parameter is being manipulated, and what effect is active, and can be read even under low-light stage conditions. Actually playing those patches is a breeze, too. The keyboard features 88 keys for the full piano range, letting you switch from support player to lead player without fussing with octave up/down buttons. The keys themselves are full-sized, with weight, action, and rebound that respond like those on a real, top-notch piano. They're weighted just enough to feel like you can dig into them, but not so much so that you'll get fatigued, even during long, demanding sets. The final touch on this intuitive instrument is the placement of the pitch and mod wheels--moved from their above-the-keyboard position on the older keyboard to the left of the keys for quick, painless access. Every aspect of the physical design has been honed for effortless performance.

Powerful Motif XS Synth Sounds

The Yamaha S90 XS may do without the arranging, sequencing and compositional tools of its workstation brethren, but that doesn't mean it doesn't boast extensive sound-sculpting options. Just like the Motif, the Yamaha S90 XS has a huge and varied sonic palette, and gives you the ability to tweak every aspect of those sounds. Whether you simply want to adjust EQ, reverb and LFO, or get into the nitty-gritty and edit waveforms, velocity curves and the like, the editing functions are self-explanatory and comprehensive. And don't worry about getting lost in a whirl of editing madness; if you ever feel like you've gotten too far from a patch's original character, a press of the "Compare" button will instantly switch between the preset sound and the edits you've made. Of course, the factory presets already sound phenomenal; getting great synth tones is as easy or as complex as you want it to be. No synth would be complete without a killer arpeggiator, and this keyboard's is second-to-none. You get 1,787 different arpeggio patterns included, and while they sound sweet on synths and drums, special things happen when you combine the arpeggiator with one of the keyboard's "Mega Voice" patches. Select an electric guitar, for example, and the arpeggiated phrase will automatically generate hammer-ons, pull-offs and fret noises, turning an automated process into an breathtakingly organic musical passage.

142MB Of All-New Acoustic Piano Sounds

The perfect gigging keyboard needs to have great synthesizer capabilities, but it also needs to have great acoustic piano sounds. There is no point in making it lightweight if you're going to be lugging a second "digital piano" around with you anyway. Luckily for you, the Yamaha S90 XS boasts amazing, stereo-sampled acoustic piano patches that'll have your audiences doubting their own eyes. Across the entire digital keyboard line, Yamaha is proud of their stereo sampled grand piano sound, but the piano emulations are the cream of the crop. The keyboard's designers dedicated a whopping 142MB of sampling memory to the sophisticated acoustic piano sounds, all sampled from a hand-built Yamaha S6 concert grand piano. By allocating so much on-board memory, Yamaha was able to construct the piano voices from longer stereo-sampled waves. The longer waves make for exceptionally natural pianissimo decay; on down tempo, sparse piano ballads, where other digital pianos are exposed as thin and lifeless, this keyboard remains full and complex. Special note should be made of the piano half-damper capabilities: when paired with the FC3 sustain pedal, the keyboard reads half-position movements to simulate the effects of a gently or partially applied damper, a huge improvement over most keyboards' rudimentary on-or-off operation. This sophisticated playability, combined with incredible stereo sound, makes for one of the most expressive and realistic multi-sampled pianos available on any digital keyboard.

More New XS Features
If you've played the last-generation S90ES, you already know what a powerful performance machine it is. The Yamaha S90 XS steps up the live game even more by adding a microphone input (with dedicated input gain and peak metering) and a whole suite of effects specifically tailored for vocal processing-including a robo-tastic vocoder effect. The ES also sported a bunch of studio friendly features that the XS preserves, and adds to. You can still connect to your computer via USB to turn it into a plug-in-host and DAW controller, but now the keyboard boasts its own internal flash memory for up to 18 minutes of recording time! For even more recording time, connect a USB thumb drive. This isn't MIDI information; this is real audio data. The Yamaha S90 XS is its own sophisticated, portable studio! Make use of recorded audio in performance, too, for custom-tailored backing tracks or instant vocal harmonies. You can even import audio files from external sources and play them back.

It takes a very special instrument to make a great musician even better. With its depth of sonic variety and expressive playability, the Yamaha S90 XS could easily be that instrument for you, as well as the last performance synth you'll ever need to buy.

Power Supply: AC Power Cord (Included) zZounds is an authorized dealer of Yamaha products.

Specifications
Keyboard: 88 keys, Balanced Hammer Effect Keyboard (Initial Touch/Aftertouch)

Tone Generator block
Tone Generator AWM2 with Expanded Articulation:
- Maximum polyphony 128 notes
- Multi-Timbral Capacity 16 Internal Parts + Mic Input Part
- Wave 456 MB (when converted to 16-bit linear format), 2,772waveforms

Voice:
- Preset: 1,024 normal voices + 64 drum kits
- GM: 128 normal voices + 1 drum kits
- User: 128 x 4 (Bank 1 - 3: selected and copied from Preset bank)
- Normal Voice + 32 drum kits

Performance:
- User: 128 x 4 (up to 4 Parts)

Multi:
- User: 128

Filter 18 types

Effects:
- Reverb x 9 types, Chorus x 22 types, Insertion (A, B) x 53 types x 8 blocks,
- Vocoder x 1 (uses both Insertion Effect A and B blocks), Master Effect x 9 types, Master Equalizer (5 bands), Part EQ (3 bands, stereo)

Sequencer Section
Sequence Play:
- SMF Format 0/1 (playback only)

BPM (Tempo) 5 - 300

Number of Chain Steps 100

Arpeggio:
- Preset x 6,779 types
- User x 256 types (when loading the User Arpeggio data of MOTIF XS).

Audio Rec/Play Section
Format:
- Recording: WAVE (.wav/44.1kHz/16-bit/stereo)
- Playback: WAVE (.wav/44.1kHz/16-bit/stereo), AIFF (.aif/44.1kHz/16-bit/stereo)

Other
Master:
- User: 128
- 4 Zones (Master keyboard settings), Assignable Knob/Slider settings, Program Change Table

Sequence Software compatible with the Remote Control function:
- For Windows: Cubase 5, Cubase 4.5, SONAR 8
- For Macintosh: Cubase 5, Cubase 4.5, Logic Pro 8, Digital Performer 6
- Functions to be controlled by the S90 XS/S70XS differ depending on the software you use.
- Controllers Pitch Bend wheel, Modulation wheel, Sliders (4), Knobs (4), Assignable Function button (2), Data dial, Input Gain
- Display 160 x 64 dot graphic backlit LCD

Jack and Terminals:
- OUTPUT L/MONO, R (standard phone jack)
- ASSIGNABLE OUTPUT L, R (standard phone jack)
- MIC INPUT (combo jack)
- PHONES (standard stereo phone jack)
- FOOT CONTROLLER 1, 2
- FOOT SWITCH x 2 (SUSTAIN, ASSIGNABLE)
- MIDI IN/OUT/THRU
- USB (TO HOST, TO DEVICE)
- AC IN
- Power Consumption 25 W

Dimensions (WxHxD): 58 x 6 3/4 x 15 1/4 in.

Weight: 22.4kg (49.6 lbs.)

Accessories:
- AC Power cord
- Owner's Manual
- Owner's Manual CD-ROM (containing Reference Manual and Data List)
- DVD-ROM (containing DAW software)

Power Supply: AC Power Cord (Included)

Dimensions and Weight in Packaging

Base Item

Shipping Weight: 70 lbs

Shipping Dimensions: 65 x 19 x 10 in

Product Description

Designed specifically for players, particularly those who want the highest quality piano sounds and expression, the Yahama S90 XS is a performer's dream. Yet, casual players and hobby musicians will appreciate the exquisite sounds, advanced features and superb playability just as much as top professional artists.

Sounds That Satisfy

The best musical instruments start with top-quality sounds, and the Yamaha S90 XS delivers all that - and more. It features all the Voices, Performances, arps and Virtual Circuit Modeling effects found on the flagship MOTIF XS Music Production Synthesizer. Plus they've added a huge 142 megabytes dedicated exclusively to high-quality piano waveforms, for a total of 456 MB of instrument samples.

Conventional keyboards in the past had their sounds designed primarily for the listener. This time, however, Yamaha's development team set out to primarily satisfy the player instead. They reasoned that when the performer hears and experiences the best possible sound, the performance would be the best possible, too! The result? The Yamaha S90 XS is a genuine musician's instrument, one that truly inspires and stimulates the live performer as well as the music creator and arranger.

Streamline Your Performance
The Yamaha S90 XS also lets you quickly and conveniently create your own custom Performances, with the amazingly fast and easy Performance Creator feature. It's never been easier to select a Voice, then quickly program Layers and Splits - even assigning a Drum Voice complete with arps to create your perfect Performance.

Plus the panel controls of the Yamaha S90 XS have been designed and positioned for optimum, intuitive operation, especially for live performance. For example, you can quickly select a Part, turn it on/off, set Arpeggio on/off, switch Arpeggio Hold - all done easily with the top panel controls - and instantly tweak important synth parameters via the Knobs and Sliders. The perfect Performance has never been easier to create and control.

Ideal for Live Performers
The Yamaha S90 XS has a host of other features that live performers will appreciate - such as the combo input jack that accepts mic input. Simply plug in a microphone, tweak the INPUT GAIN knob (while checking the convenient PEAK lamp), and you're all set! Plus, you can use the Control Knobs to finely adjust the volume and even directly apply reverb or chorus to the sound.

Recording Direct to USB / Internal Memory
If you've got a USB memory device or thumb drive, you can plug it into the Yamaha S90 XS and record your performance as audio data. This remarkable feature lets you instantly capture what you play on the keyboard - including arpeggio playback - to your USB device.

And keep in mind that anything you've recorded to the memory device, even audio files created on your computer, can be played back on the Yamaha S90 XS - which means you can create your own custom audio backing tracks and perform along with them. For example, you can create a basic song track beforehand, then sing and solo over it during your performance. Or add guitar parts and vocal harmonies to be played back with your live performance. There's also a useful Song Chain function that lets you string together separate recordings and create a convenient backing track "set list" for your gigs.

88 key keyboard
The S90 XS provides an 88-key balanced hammer effect keyboard for those players who need a full-range, full-scale keyboard.

Software Integration
Cubase AI - a powerful and versatile audio/MIDI sequencer - is included with the instrument, giving you complete music production capabilities right out of the box. And for editing the keyboard from your computer, there's the S90 XS Editor. This provides convenient, comprehensive control over absolutely all the sounds, settings and functions.

DAW Remote Function
The Yamaha S90 XS is a perfect companion for your computer music production system, too, serving both as a master keyboard and a full-function, multi-timbral tone generator. With the DAW Remote function and its 50 different control templates, you get amazingly easy, intuitive control over your main DAW software and VST instruments - directly from the panel controls! Moreover, the Voice Editor and Remote Editor software gives you convenient, comprehensive computer control over all the sounds, settings and functions of.