Keyboards

Two and a half years after the launch of Yamaha's impressive Motif workstation synth, the range has been further enhanced and upgraded. How much better can it get? We find out...

Yamaha have taken a weighted keyboard from their latest digital pianos, added high-quality piano samples and Motif sounds, and thrown in a playback sequencer and arpeggiator, and master-keyboard facilities. Left to simmer, the S90 is the result...

Finding an affordable keyboard with a good weighted action and a healthy selection of sounds suitable for studio and live use isn't as easy as you might think. Could Yamaha's S08 be the Holy Grail?

In the second instalment of this two-part retro, Gordon Reid recalls FM's finest hour, and describes the heyday of what was perhaps the most successful family of synthesizers ever developed.

In these days of virtual instruments and fully featured software sequencers, why should you even consider spending £2000 on a cumbersome hardware synth workstation? If the workstation is as well thought-out as Yamaha's new Motif, perhaps you should.

Although FM synthesis has its roots in the sixties, the instruments that popularised it were to dominate the synth scene of the eighties. Gordon Reid uncovers the origins of FM and charts its rise to fame from its unlikely beginings in academic research in the USA.

Rumours of a new Yamaha synth were circulating at January's NAMM show, but nothing was confirmed until a few weeks later, when SOS were invited to Yamaha's London R&D Centre. Matt Bell meets the Motif...

Looking like a 23rd-century Minimoog pumped full of anabolic steroids, Yamaha's sequel to the hugely successful DJX offers more of the same sampling, sequencing and performance features. Paul Farrer doesn't want to rock, DJX — but it's making him feel so nice...

In Part 1, author Gordon Reid told us how he found one of the world's rarest synthesizers in Australia, and of the trouble he went to to get it home. In Part 2, he explains what it is about the Yamaha GX1 that made it all worthwhile...

In Part 1 of a special two-part feature, Gordon Reid tells the amazing story of Yamaha's ultra-rare GX1 analogue megasynth — and how it ended up in his living room!

With their latest workstation, Yamaha have clearly taken the view that the difference between a 'dance' instrument and a general-purpose one is more to do with control facilities than sounds. Nick Magnus tries out the S80.

The CS6X has more features than any previous Yamaha Control Synth, with plenty of polyphony, real-time controllers, onboard effects, and basic sampling. You can even fit PLG expansion cards, giving you access not only to fresh sounds, but also other forms of synthesis.

Yamha scored a big success with their famously blue, knob-endowed CS1x Performance synth, and now they seek to build on this with the silver-grey CS2x — but does the 1-digit increment and change of colour scheme constitute revolution or evolution?

When such an established name in the world of electronic pianos comes out with something new, you'd be wise to sit up and take notice. Yamaha's latest offering, the P200 promises up to 64-note polyphony, state-of-the-art on-board sounds, and a brand new fully weighted 88-note keyboard. Interested? Paul Farrer finds out if it has all been worth the weight.

If you thought home keyboards were all about cheesy organ presets and bossanova backbeats the chances are you are just like Paul Farrer, but as he takes the wraps of Yamaha's new baby and rotates his baseball cap by 180 degrees he is astonished to find that he was completely and utterly wrong...

Yamaha's new flagship workstation mixes 'n' matches several of the company's existing synthesis technologies and throws in a new one for good measure. But have they over-extended themselves? Simon Trask spends some time with the EX5 to find out...

Paul White returns from the land of the rising Sterling with tidings of a whole new range of Yamaha hi-tech and pro audio products.

At £899, the AN1X is one of the most affordable physical modelling synths on the market — and it's no less than 10-note polyphonic, with a host of features designed to bring out the control freak in you . Martin Russ follows up on our exclusive preview with this in-depth studio test.

This year's Frankfurt MusiKmesse was virtually stuffed with digital synths in analogue clothing. Martin Russ takes an exclusive first look at Yamaha's eagerly awaited entry in the 'analogue for the '90s' stakes, the AN1X.

True, the name harks back to the CS-series synths of the '70s and '80s, but with their new CS1x, Yamaha definitely have their eyes set on the future. Critics Derek Johnson and Debbie Poyser analyse Yamaha's blue period...

The CBX-K1XG looks suspiciously toy-like, but conceals a versatile GM sound source and a host of MIDI controller functions behind its simple exterior. Derek Johnson nearly loses it down the back of the sofa...