Yamaha S03 Keyboard

With chorus and reverb. AWM2 tone generator.

Overall User Ratings

Overall:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10
Features:
* * * * * * * . . . 7 out of 10
Quality:
* * * * * * * . . . 7 out of 10
Value:
* * * * * * * . . . 7 out of 10
I Want It:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10
Sound:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10
Ease of Use:
* * * * * * * . . . 7 out of 10
Support:
* * * * * * * * * . 9 out of 10

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"This is a wonderful keyboard for the price."

Overall:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Features:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Quality:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Value:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
I Want It:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
 
 
 
I am a professional keyboard player and this is the first keyboard that I ever bought for the price that does so many things that you wouldn't get for a keyboard that money. I play gospel Quartet music and I use a lot of piano,horns and synths.This keyboard just amazes me.
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"Rocks on stage"

Overall:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Features:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Quality:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Value:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
I Want It:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
 
 
 
Okay, the 5's are subjective. Stand it next to a Triton or Motif, and it wouldn't rate as high, but for 1/5th of that price, it rocks, and you get more than what you pay for. I use it on stage for a church, and bang for the buck, it is awesome. Sound selection is awesome. If you know anything about synths, you know that for most of them, only 10% of the tons of sounds are usually decent, and the rest are just buttons you click through on the way to the decent sounds, but there are a bunch of actually useable sounds here, and they are easy to find. I use as a top tier keyboard, and it really is fantastic.
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"Best synth around for that price !"

Overall:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Features:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Quality:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Value:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
I Want It:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
 
 
 
Huge amound of quality sounds coming from his S80 big brother, easy to use and well crafted, this is what the S03 is about. Exellent choice for the beginner. And it's certainly the best synth for that price !! (Yamaha just raised the price due to that sucess !) Oh, and one last thing: when we say that it is a S30 without the knobs, it is true: The sound module is exactly the same ans supports aftertouch and such...
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"some challenges for the beginning MIDI user"

Overall:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10
Features:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10
Quality:
* * * * * * . . . . 6 out of 10
Value:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10
I Want It:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10
 
 
 
Some comments below.. still in the process of getting everything working properly. I hope this proves useful:

The documentation is not obvious for the
rank beginner.. and without very specific examples ( dummy stuff..), there
is opportunity for going off into left field.

Regarding the MIDI stuff.. almost there. Some significant breakthru's
recently:

1) to play back a midi file ( from the computer "sequencer" ), the syn
must be set on "multi-timbral". If set to "voices", all the different
tracks play back as the same instrument. This does not happen automatically.
With no examples in the manual, or any statement of the sort 'in bold',
this passed me by for a while. I suspect everybody already knows this..
2) to record individual midi tracks, it turns out to be very simple. I thought
it was much more complicated, which made the 265 page manual even more
distracting: getting straightforward information is elusive.
3) one problem, related to #1, is that each voice you record needs to be stored
in one of 32 user defined "multi-timbral" banks. Otherwise, as you record
a 2nd track ( while listening to what you did on the first track ), that first
track assumes the voice of the instrument selected for the 2nd track. By the
way, they forgot to mention this, too. Arghh.
4) so it appears that my last remaining challenge is to properly program particular
"voices" I like into "multi" memory. Since the "walk-thru" show in my manual
appears different from what really happens.. this may take just a bit longer.
5) now that light appears at the end of the tunnel, doing 16-part midi songs should
be a breeze. Then the question becomes quality content ( see paragraph 1 above ).

If you already knew all this stuff.. I'll scream. After the 7th re-read of the manual (last nite),
I found a comment about how the "multitimbral edit mode" does not work if the "category
search" mode is active. Well, that's what I've been using to peruse all the different voices.
Hopefully, that's been the reason for my difficulties. By the way, this is the Yamaha S03
coupled with the XG Works lite sequencer software. Other horror stories about that another
time. The final challenge will be to hook in the Roland TD-10. ...more sleepless nites...
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"Steep Learning Curve- But after a few weeks..."

Overall:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Features:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Quality:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Value:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
I Want It:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
 
 
 
This thing rocks! At first when I plugged it in, all I could was play the piano (I even had to look in the manual to change the voice!!!). Now, however, I am using it to synthesize and change effects on voices and everything!! No reason to pay more... this has all the budding musician needs!
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"Amazing sounds and control at this price point."

Overall:
* * * * * * * * * . 9 out of 10
Features:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10
Quality:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10
Value:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
I Want It:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
 
 
 
Aftertouch would be nice. I'm not a keyboard player so piano feel is not important to me.

Menu nesting on the keyboard itself is a bit cryptic making it slow to program. Use the included software for quicker editing and multi-voice parameter setups.

Could be a quirk with Performer but multis don't save on the S-03 if you have a track record-enabled in Performer.

16 channels, 64 voices and 700+ really usable sounds for under $500. Apparently Yamaha thought this KB was so good they made the S-08 based on the S-03 engine at triple the price to recoup their losses. Pick up an S-03 while you still can.
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"Is anything better at this price?"

Overall:
* * * * * * * . . . 7 out of 10
Features:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10
Quality:
* * * * * . . . . . 5 out of 10
Value:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Sound:
* * * * * * * * * . 9 out of 10
Ease of Use:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
 
 
 
zZounds has verified that this customer bought this product from us.
Feature:
It's missing aftertouch...

Quality:
They cut some corners... plastic cabinet, lightweight pitch & mod benders, surface mount external jacks (like the power jack, which was broken on the used one I bought. I wish these companies would stop doing that. I know it's cheap, but it's not built to last). The action is mushy, but it's OK for what I'm using it for.

Value:
Excellent value for the money.

Sound:
Sounds are terrific... I am adding this to my rig that includes two QS series synths and it does some things VERY well.

Ease of Use:
You couldn't ask for an easier interface.

Support:
Don't know.

Overall:
If you need a passle of high quality patches that are quick to get to, this is not a bad choice.

5 of 6 people (83.33%) found this review helpful. Did you?

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"great sounds..cheap price. Great for computer sequencing."

Overall:
* * * * * * * * * . 9 out of 10
Features:
* * * * * * . . . . 6 out of 10
Quality:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10
Value:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
I Want It:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
 
 
 
This board has alot of the sounds you'll find on the
s30, but it doesn't have the "live" knobs for tweaking sounds. Also, you can't expand it with any plug-in boards.

I bought it primarily do to MIDI sequencing, but when I really heard it,
I was blown away. The organ sounds are very nice, and the Rhodes sounds
are the some of the best I've heard from a synth (they come right from the S80).
It comes with XGworks, and a S03 voice editor plug in. GM and XG compatible.
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"A steal for around $500"

Overall:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Features:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Quality:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10
Value:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
I Want It:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
 
 
 
The Rhodes sounds are outstanding. The organs and piano sounds are not bad after a little tweaking. The strings are cool. One nice feature is you can adjust the playing velocity on the keyboard. The feel is not all great but the action can be sweet. Mainly used for sequencing. Would not recommend for live performance. A nice addition. I have compared it to the Korg X5D, Roland XP-10
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"Yes!"

Overall:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Features:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Quality:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Value:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10
I Want It:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
 
 
 
I have owned s03 for 8 months, and i can still find some new attriputes from it. At start i was little disapointed, but after a week it was a best synth ewer. The sounds ar much better, if you edit them little.
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"Great synth for the money"

Overall:
* * * * * * * * * . 9 out of 10
Features:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10
Quality:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10
Value:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
I Want It:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
 
 
 
Has tons of HIGH quality voices. only thing I have a problem with is the keys are narrow, so you tend to click a couple of keys by mistake. But if you don't want to spend over $600, I'd defintly look into picking up this one.
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"great sounds"

Overall:
* * * * * * * * * . 9 out of 10
Features:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10
Quality:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10
Value:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
I Want It:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
 
 
 
Great Value for the money. The S03 has excellent Electric piano, Organ, and Rhodes sounds.
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"MY FIRST KEY AND I'M INLOVE.GOOD SPECS FOR THAT PRICE(I PAYED IT 640 EURO)ANLY NEEDS ON BOARD SEQUNCER"

Overall:
* * * * * * * * * . 9 out of 10
Features:
* * * * * * * * * . 9 out of 10
Quality: