Yamaha SO8

[Music man 53]

Anyone out there have any experience with the Yamaha SO8? I'm looking for feedback on the piano sound and synth capability. I know this is low end on a unit like this, just wondering what kind of a compromise it is over the MO8 for instanc. There has been a recent price drop to 799 on this unit which made it worth a another look for me. I was strongly considering the MO8, or even saving a while longer and going for the S90ES.

The write up on the SO8 says it has 700 voices, 64 polyphony is fine (yes the 128 would be even better) I'm wondering what the 700 voices are. Good synth sounds too?

I'm getting ready to ruch out the door so hopefully some of this makes sense.

 

Thanks for the feedback!

 

Mike

[ChasIII]

Hello.

 

I have a Yamaha S08. I have not tested the MO8. The acoustic piano sounds in my opinion are not that good. It is just not there. The electric piano sounds are much better than the acoustic piano sounds. There are some descent synth sounds to pick from. My experience with the synth sounds are mainly involving pad type sounds.

 

If you have a chance try and test one out. I believe they are still in some stores. You can also go to the Yamaha site and check out the pdf manual. This may provide you with more details on which waves the S08 has.

[nolights]

I used to have a MO8 -- and I've played the S-08 a few times. The keyboard feel is similar - but the MO's soundset is a big improvement. It's based on the Motif-ES waveforms; the S-08 dates to a couple of generations previous and is more closely based on the S-80/CS6X board from the late 90's. If you can swing it, the MO would be a better board (imo!).

[Gunslinger69]

I have one; I've had it for just under three years.

 

I have to say that I'm not big on authenticity in sounds, I just go with what sounds good. I also had a JP-6 at the time I purchased it (still do), so I wasn't worried that it had to cover everything.

 

That being said, these are my impressions:

 

1. one of the big reasons I bought it was that I wanted the weighted action. I like the keybed. I've heard conflicting reports as to whether it's the same keybed across the S08, S80, S90Es, Motif8 line.

 

2. the pianos are okay. they're not absolutely authentic, but they are fine for me. There's a honky-tonk style that's well suited to SRV-kind of stuff.

 

3. synthy stuff - pretty okay - I tend to use two presets in particular - US69 and US73. 69 is a portamento lead and 73 is bigger and more splashy.

 

4. other stuff - there are some decent oooohhh and ahhhhh pads and some okay ensemble stuff. For brass and string stuff, I always find myself gravitating towards the presets where they're trying to mimic analog stuff - it's more pleasing to my ear. Not surprisingly, it tends to do DX-like stuff really, really well.

 

Okay, now the downsides.

 

It's not particularly easy to tweak the presets. I've altered the portamento time and stuff like that, but I have not really messed with the sounds much, because the interface is not well-suited to that. Similarly, it's not always easy to split or layer, and it seems like sounds can sound weird when transposed.

 

It's kinda going to depend on your budget. If you have $800 to spend, it's a decent choice IMO. If you can scrape together some more dollars, you can probably get a bit more bang for your buck.

 

FWIW, I think I paid $900 NIB at CG when I bought it.

[Music man 53]

Thanks Gunslinger, I appreciate the feedback.

[Music man 53]

Thanks NoLights. I appreciate the feedback. I could probably agree with your assement of the MO8 vs. SO8.

[Music man 53]

Thanks ChasIII. Your input on the piano sounds are appreciated.

 

Thinking now with several responses I need to hoold out for either the MO8 or S90ES.

[Mediterranean]

Here's a Yamaha S08 piano preset I recorded in 2004.

[Birdienumnum]

Here's a Yamaha S08 piano preset I recorded in 2004.

 

That's lovely, did you make that up or is that the preset?

 

I need 88 weighted keys, and I'm thinking about saving up for a MO8. The S08 is tempting for the price but the MO8 blows it out of the water in every respect. It should, it's exactly twice as expensive.

[Mediterranean]

 

That's lovely, did you make that up or is that the preset?

 

 

Thank you, Bird:)

 

It's a factory preset. It has that beautiful pad layered with it [use a good pair of headphones for better listening]. It was the only piano preset I liked in the Yamaha S08. It can be very inspiring for composing quiet, piano-based melodies.