Electronic Keyboards offer a piano playing experience within an ultra-portable and cost-effective package. There is a vast range of models available to cater for almost every playing requirement or pocket.

In addition many of the Yamaha keyboards come loaded with the YES software (Yamaha Education Suite) which offer intuitive and fun learning programmes for young musicians.

The Yamaha products fall into 2 distinct ranges, namely DGX and PSR.

DGX Keyboards
The DGX range is a keyboard designed principally for the piano player as a portable and practical alternate to playing an acoustic instrument.

Headphone sockets facilitate private practice in almost any situation.

DGX 205 The DGX 205 features 76 full size touch-sensitive keys together with a good piano sample. In addition of course, there are a large number of additional digital features such as 6-track sequencer and over 480 voices. Lightweight and easy to carry, the keyboard can be battery operated.
Other features include USB MIDI connection, foot switch socket (allows connection of a sustained pedal), 135 preset accompaniments (adding backings to accompany any melody), and dual-split play (play 2 instruments simultaneously or a different instrument in two areas of the keyboard).

DGX 305 Building on the DGX 205, the 305 is enhanced with “box style” keys, USB and Smart Media storage, two-way speakers and larger LCD screen.

DGX 505 DGX 505 has 88 full size “box style” keys (the full 7 1⁄4 octave range of a grand piano) and comes complete with a matching stand.

PSR Keyboards
The PSR range encompasses a huge diversity of price points and feature levels, catering to everyone from very young children up to professional musicians. Common to all models however are full size keys and headphone sockets for private practice.

Progressing through the range the keyboards steadily increase the quality of sound samples, power of amplification and features.

PSR175 The PSR 175 features 61 full size keys, a good quality piano sample, MIDI connection and the Yamaha Education Suite 2.

PSR-E203 A new “Evolution” keyboard featuring improved sounds and the new version (YES5) education software. 61 full size keys and 32 note polyphony.

PSR-E303 The PSR-E303 is the lowest price model in the range to include touch-sensitive keys. This means it responds to how hard you play each key, just like a piano. In addition, there are a lot more (482) voices and the dual-split feature (play 2 instruments simultaneously or a different instrument in two areas of the keyboard). The back-lit display clearly shows the notation for the Yamaha Education Suite.

PSR295 The PSR 295 has a 6-track sequencer, with flash ROM and save facility (save your performance and export to a PC). USB MIDI connection allows you to connect your keyboard via USB to other MIDI compatible hardware. The pre-loaded Yamaha Education Suite 4 includes 700 built-in lessons. In addition there are more voices and preset accompaniments.

PSR450 The PSR 450 contains a Music Database of 500 titles that configures the entire keyboard for that song. There is also a 6-track sequencer that writes MIDI files to the built-in floppy disk drive.

PSR1500 With the PSR 1500, the instrument specification is considerably enhanced with a multitude of new features and high quality voices. The large LCD displays song lyric data and makes keyboard operation easy.

There are multi-storage options (write data using the on-board Smart Media facility or export to external USB storage) and the Music Finder enables you to choose from a huge list of built-in titles. In addition, there is Internet direct connection enabling you to connect directly through USB to the Internet (without going through a computer) to access Yamaha’s exclusive on-line music website with downloadable song files.

	PSR3000 The PSR3000 builds on the PSR1500 by offering more voices and better samples together with a high quality colour display and Optical Out feature that allows you to display the contents of the LCD onto a TV.
Microphone input and vocal harmony allows your vocals to be amplified and voice transformed with incredible 2 or 3 additional harmonised parts.

TYROS The ultimate in electronic keyboards, Tyros features an unsurpassed level of features and quality of sounds. Tyros is designed with innovative features and functions tailored to the special needs of live and studio musicians.
In particular, gigging musicians will find its ergonomic controls, large adjustable colour display and back-lit transparent buttons great functional aids to performance, and its lightweight build (just 12.4kg) is perfect for the musician on the move.

PC Storage – You can extract Data via a PC when using Songfiler software available from www.yamahapkclub.com
FDD Storage – 3.5” Floppy Disk Drive
SM Card – 3.3 volt Smart Media Card Storage up to 128 MB
USB Storage – You can connect a range of USB storage device’s e.g. hard drives, memory sticks and Zip Drives.

What other people choose
Electronic keyboard customers fall in to a few general categories:

Schools and colleges
Usually opt for low-end PSR keyboards (175, 275 & 295). Where saving work to floppy disk is an important consideration, the PSR450 is preferred.

Very young musicians
The PSR 125 is often chosen as an introductory keyboard for very young musicians as their first elementary instrument.

School music students
Youngsters who want a keyboard in their bedroom for piano practice and to help with GCSE and A Level coursework typically choose a PSR295 or 450 which feature good sequencers, storage facilities and PC compatibility.

Piano students
Young pianists wanting an alternative additional keyboard to an acoustic piano (for use in their bedroom- with headphones!) usually opt for one of the DGX range.

Adult enthusiasts
Usually buy the best PSR model they can (typically 1500 or 3000) and sometimes treat themselves to the Tyros.

Gigging musicians
Again will usually opt for a high specification PSR model or Tyros.