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Even if you will only use it to play and perform, and not doing any fancy stuff with Cubase or some other software, it is an exceptional value for the money. The light weight is due to an all-plastic construction, but is is very well made with ease-of-use in mind, and the keys have a very pleasant action. I like the the 45-degree back edge with the names of the various sockets that you can see easily from the top. With 1,106 voices and a MOTIF engine, you may have to spend time trying them all and finding the ones you like, but this can be fun! Has very good organ sounds with rotary effect, and vintage keyboards too. Tons of rhythm riffs and cool ambient sounds you can compose from. If you have other Yamaha gear this thing is MIDI plug and play. USB connection is a breeze. Hard to find better value for money. Well done Yamaha.

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Verified Customer zZounds has verified that this reviewer made a purchase from us.

The rapidly advancing world of musical technology (and especially that of sequential workstations for computers) has forced keyboard manufacturers to play a game of "catch-up"-- a game which they created for themselves!... For many, many years us poor keyboard players had basically two choices: be fortunate enough to afford the most expensive synth in each manufacturers product line (Roland, Moog, Oberheim, Yamaha, Korg, etc.); or, as I did, try to become the best possible synthesist & programmer with the "low & mid-range" priced keyboards -- having to sweat over every detail of each sound that I would need in order to cover whatever song we were attempting!... Now, Yamaha (along with other manufacturers) has almost SOLVED the issue! Knowing that keyboardists will nearly exclusively turn to DAWs, Yamaha (and others) realized that if they DON'T put their BEST sounds in even their mid-range (price-wise) instruments, then they won't be able to sell any of them!!! So, this is quite a lot of words to simply tell you this: Yamaha has taken their awesome sounds from the Motif and put them in HERE, the MX61! I even that as the motivation for the letter "M" in the name! Anyway, the MX61 contains some fairly accurate emulations of the OBXa, the mini-Moog, Jupiter-8, ARP2600, Mini-Korg, Juno-106, Prophet-5, ...and I could continue on, but you get the picture!... FOR THE MONEY this keyboard has no rival! No one else will provide so much for so little! The MX61 punches FAR above its head and is a fantastic addition to any synth rig! But don't take my word for it -- try it... then buy it... you'll LOVE it!!!... Great work Yamaha! This little keyboard's a keeper!...

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I wanted to add a Yamaha to my keyboard arsenal but I didn't need another arranger or large sequencer keyboard. I thought the MX61 seemed to be priced too low to have an extensive usable sound library but I was happily mistaken. This is a full blown synth with fantastic sounds. And it has plenty of other features that can make this keyboard the centerpiece of most home studio DAWs. My only complaint is the tiny display screen but you can't have everything at this low price.

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Not a B3 clonewheel. The organ sounds are only decent but everything else is fantastic. I only need a live performance board so DAW connectivity and workstation ease I can’t comment on. Pianos, acoustic and electric, are amazing. Guitars, acoustic and electric, same story. Brass, saxes, flutes all excellent. Basses varied and punchy. Great synths with cutesy names (the Jump sound is called After 1984) and strings are wonderful. 10 lb. weight makes for an easy load in. For a B3 sound I’ll still take a Roland VR09 but everything else on the Yamaha is far superior. Negative? Not easy to program and the manual is not much help. I’m playing 50 years and have gotten sounds out of many keyboards.The fact that there’s an Mx61 group on Facebook so owners can explain to each other how they make it work…that should tell Yamaha something. zZounds terrific shipping, payment plan, they’re the only ones to make a major purchase from.

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I am still thinking I may want to go for the better MODX6, even though it is twice the price I love the idea of a touchpad and a better interface for layers, splits and arranging parts. That notwithstanding, this is a really nice keyboard. I got one as a blemish/return since it is on backorder, so I saved even more and for the price you're getting the Motif sound engine, which while not as robust as the Montage series and MODX, it is full of incredible sounds. I was able to use layering and a few part tweaks to get an amazingly realistic Rhodes sound, which is what I was after. Too bad you can't download the Chick Corea Mark V Rhodes like you can on the MODX series (and I'd really love to do that as I am a giant fan of Chick, may he rest in peace). Still, I do love this, especially in blue. It's very lightweight, which is wonderful, and I actually happen to love the keyboard action. I wish it had a bigger screen for the interface - it's really no bigger and not all that much easier than my old Roland U20 from the mid 90s - but it sounds WAYYYYYYY better, of course. Motif is and will always be a great sound engine. The organs are incredible, by the way, and I was surprised by how good the acoustic guitars were. Of course great pianos. The saxes and flutes are fine, but on this board or others in its price range, they all are lacking. Synths are super fat and you can get in and do lots of tweaking - it just stakes time. Found a nice Chick Moog style lead I like already as well. Buttons and knobs all feel very solid and the slanted panel towards the rear helps you to see what you're plugging in. I really may end of switching it our for the MODX6, but at this price it's a really great board and having found this cool Rhodes sound, it's hard to give up. I don't really need to pay twice as much and if I end up with the MX61 for awhile, I'll have all the keys and pads and synths I need to play around with for quite some time.

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I used to primarilybhave Roland and Yamaha Motif XS6. This is easy to transport, sounds are strong and only issue I occasionally have is in wanting to setup a preprogrammed performance mode to switch sounds per song in a programmed method.Like it so mych, that I bought a second and play with 2 of them!Nice job-

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I play for choirs, needed a drummer when i strike the keyboard the drums kick in. My performance is save for each song. BPM, sound, drum kit are program. Singing through voice live touch the choir don't sing any more I've become a one man band. Mx 61 yamaha thanks. Note if it had a built in sequencer i could play my guitar on some songs.

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Haven't had any problems deep bass easy split love this board with a Roland 550 is best sound I ever had

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The only problem with the Yamaha MX61 and most 61 key keyboards is the width. They are narrow for most X stands therefore not sturdy enough. Other than that, this keyboard has some of the best keyboard and piano sounds ever! I sold my MX61 but would buy the MX88. I love Yamaha! I love zZounds!

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It's hard to beat this synth for the price. With the MOTIF sounds and FM patches it's fantastic. Add on to that downloadable libraries from Yamaha and FM Essentials which is PURE 80's FM goodness and you have a beast of a board. Also full integration with Cuabse AI and Cubasis LE, for free I might add, and you're off to the races in no time!