Yamaha Debuts S90XS and S70XS Music Synthesizers

Yamaha introduces two new weighted action music synthesizers, the 88-key S90XS and the 76-key S70XS. The new S Series combines the sounds of Yamaha's flagship Motif XS, a new handcrafted S6 acoustic grand piano sample and the ease of use of a stage piano to create the perfect live performance partner. The new S Series features all the Voices, Performances, Arps and Virtual Circuit Modeling effects found on the flagship Motif XS Music Production Synthesizer. The S90XS and the S70XS also dedicate 142 megabytes to high-quality piano waveforms for a total of 456 megabytes of instrument samples. They are also the first Yamaha digital keyboards to feature the sounds of the legendary Yamaha S6 concert grand piano. "The new S90XS and S70XS are really the perfect balance of a synthesizer's sonic flexibility and a stage piano's easy of use," said Athan Billias, Director of Marketing, Pro Audio & Combo Division. "Specifically designed with live performance in mind, the S series will appeal to professional musicians as well as the worship and education markets." Every year at NAMM, the music industry's signature trade show, Music Inc. magazine convenes a panel of experts to choose items to include in a "Best of Show Award" round up in four categories. This year, judge Mike Guillot, purchasing director at Mississippi Music in Flowood, Miss., singled out the S90XS and S70XS music synthesizers for "Best in Show" honors. Noting that the sound quality, technical advancement, and durability of Yamaha's digital keyboards are top-notch, he also said that the new XS models "have the unrivaled piano sound of the S6 Handcrafted Grand Piano and a balanced Hammer Action in both the 76 and 88 note models." In addition, he said that "the new XS models have even easier panel operation, the end user can set split points at the touch of a button, advanced layering is easy to achieve and transposition can be accomplished at the touch of a button." Yamaha's unique Balanced Hammer Effect action is designed to simulate the touch and response of a grand piano action, and for the first time this expressive weighted action is available in both 88-note and 76-note versions. An intuitive panel to enhance live performances includes realtime controls for tweaking sounds on the fly. The new Performance Creator makes it easier than ever to create layers and splits and interactive Performances complete with drums grooves with a few simple button presses. The S Series also have a combo input jack for adding vocals or guitar including effects to live performances. Controls for the A/D input are conveniently located on the front panel controls instant access to necessary parameters. Direct USB record and playback functionality lets performers record their performances as stereo 44.1/16-bit .WAV files either to external USB memory devices or internally to the 18 minutes of internal Flash memory. A Song Chain function lets you create a list of 100 songs (either SMF MIDI files or .WAV Audio) for easy playback of backing tracks for your live performances. The perfect companion for computer musicians, the S90XS and S70XS serve as both a master keyboard and a full-function, multitimbral tone generator. A DAW remote function, with 50 different control templates, provides easy control over DAW and VST instruments directly from the panel controls. The S90XS (MSRP: $3,799) and S70XS ($3,699) are expected to be available in September 2009.