Customer Reviews

Yamaha PSR-295MS Portable 61-Key Touch-Sensitive Electronic Keyboard with Adapter and Stand

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

[This review holds for Yamaha PSR-295. Please note that this product is currently available from Amazon under two packagings: PSR-295AD (includes adapter) and PSR-295MS (includes adapter and stand).]

I got this full-length keyboard at a great price of $190 with included adapter and keyboard. Both accessories are a must, since this thing is huge.

The product shipped in two days (from PA to MD) with free shipping. I was delighted to find a helpful instructional DVD in the package to get started with the basics, so I didn't have to go through the manual, except for detailed and advanced features.

Also included was a Song Book, with staff music for some popular songs. It's great for someone who knows how to read music - I'm still learning to. There's also software to transfer music between PC and keyboard.

"Portable Grand" is just a one-touch button option to set the keyboard to Grand Piano mode. Of course, this cannot be expected to sound as great or realistic as a high-end digital piano or an expensive wooden one. However, the touch sensitive feature makes it as realistic as possible.

Here are the features I liked:
* Display shows notes and chords being played in three ways - staff notation, note name (ex. E# m7 aug etc.), and graphical (actual keys on a diagram).
* Truly Touch (Force) Sensitive Keys (can be toggled on/off).
* 487 Voices (incl. ~360 XGLite voices).
* 136 Accompaniment Styles to play along.
* Built-in songs which can be practised using Yamaha Education Suite. (Buil-in feature).
* Jog Dial to move between voice/style/song numbers.
* Flash memory to record your songs.
* Direct USB connection (MIDI-USB connecter cable *not* required - that cable would cost around $40).
* Software to transfer songs and voices between PC and keyboard.
* Truly stero output (not just two speakers).
* Phono/Line-Out socket.
* Sustain pedal socket (pedal not included).

Here are some things I didn't like:
* USB cable not included. ($7 extra from Amazon).
* Volume sometime seems a little low. But then, you can always pass output through amps if you really need it that loud.
* No mic or line-in socket.
* Phono out uses 1/4 inch pin. Had to buy a 1/8 to 1/4 converter from RadioShack.
* LCD display is highly "directional", visible only when looking at a particular angle. This is not much of a problem when playing sitting. However, if playing standing, this may be a little inconvenient.
* No sustain toggle switch. If you don't have a sustain pedal, turning sustain on/off manually takes a couple of steps.

Overall, at under $190, free shipping and included adapter and stand, this is a great buy for beginners as well as advanced users.

I had a Yamaha PSS-11 long back. It was a good beginner keyboard but it soon outgrew me, since you couldn't play it with two hands. Overall, I like Yamaha quality and find their keyboards much more professional than Casio ones (maybe I'm wrong). Of course, "real" professionals would use KORG, but that'll be upwards of $1000! :)

In addition to a myriad of musical sounds, this keyboard has the "Portable Grand" button, which was the reason I bought it. Yamaha claims this keyboard produces a "stunningly real and authentic piano sound." Not so. It still sounds like like a cheap electronic keyboard. I was very disappointed and had to pack it up and return it to Amazon.

If you are looking for a keyboard with almost endless musical sounds, tempos, and computer features, this is a good buy; but be advised it will not sound like a piano.

Kona

I bought this for Christmas (2005). All my family members love it.

It has lots and lots of features, many of which I still haven't learnt nor tried yet, but the bottomline is this: Despite all the features, the basic functionality as the keyboard is simple enough even for my kids (younger one still in kinder), and the sound quality is very good for the price.

1: Simple to use
Switch it on. Play it. Simple as that.
Use jog dial to change sound (like organ, saxophone, vibraphone etc.). Lots of fun (some sounds really good, some bad). Press "portable grand" button to immediately go back to piano sound.
A dedicated metronome button conveniently lets me access metronome for practice. I especially liked this. Useful functionality with simple interface. Press "tempo" and use jog dial to change tempo.

2: Good sound
I don't think the portable-grand mode sounds like "cheap electronic keyboard". Rather, it sounds to me like some piano on my car stereo. It's good, somewhat hampered mainly by the built-in amplifier and small speakers (and probably to lesser extent by sampled sound itself). Using a good headphone helps a bit if you have one, and I assume using an external amp should also help.
No it doesn't sound like a really-real piano. If you need that, probably you'll need a good "digital piano" (not digital keyboard) plus good amplifier. You have to pay MUCH more for digital piano alone, even for entry level instruments like YAMAHA P90. Me, I'm just satisfied with this.
(However, all of the "guitar"s, especially acoustic ones, sounds very crappy. Maybe I'm too harsh because I play real guitars, but when I played this "guitar" sound, my wife couldn't tell what instrument it was supposed to be.)

3. Stand was the correct one
At first I didn't understand one of the spotlight reviewers' complaint about the stand. Mine was good for the keyboard, and the dimension of the thing was just the same as on YAMAHA web page.
Later it occured to me that probably he misunderstands the "built-in arm-rests on the underside of the keyboard". There are two straight short grooves underside of the keyboard. These are meant for bolting on sturdier, fixed-height stand, like YAMAHA YZ and YAMAHA L3C. These models are supposed to fit snugly into the grooves and be bolted, for heavier use. OTOH, YAMAHA PKBS1 has oversized arms because the edges on the bottom of the keyboard would sit on them.

Please remember, this is X-style, height-adjustable stand. First check out PKBS1 on amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00006AMBW/103-4081268-0691001?v=glance&n=172282

Or you can go to YAMAHA website and see the picture if you like:
http://yamaha.com/yamahavgn/CDA/ContentDetail/accessorydetail/0,,CNTID%253D15268%2526CTID%253D209100%2526CNTYP%253DPRODUCT,00.html

Imagine what happens if the arms fit snugly into the grooves underside of the keyboard and you cannot change the distance between two arms. Can you still adjust the height? I think I can't.

Anyway, this stand is good enough for my family learning at home. For home use, I think you don't have to buy another stand unless you want the ultimate stability or something like that.

I recently purchased this keyboard and am very satisfied with the value I got. Of course, be aware that you are buying an inexpensive keyboard and it is not going to be as good as they a $1000+ keyboard. This is def. NOT a professional device.

But for what I paid, I am very happy. Sure, the stand doesn't really fit the keyboard, but it works well enough. It sounds OK, even though for loud output, you need external speakers. Keys are touch sensitive but not weighted.

But for home use, you get a lot fo your money. Some of the features are aimed at amatures and people who want to learn.

The Yamaha PSR295 is a very nice keyboard, and our family has been very excited about it in the few days we've had it. However, Amazon made a mistake in bundling with it a keyboard stand that doesn't work with the Yamaha (the "PKBS1" from some company ashamed to put its name anywhere on the product or the packaging). The supporting arms are simply too large to fit in the built-in arm-rests on the underside of the keyboard.

So we're going to buy another keyboard stand, one that Yamaha recommends for use with the Yamaha PSR295. We suggest you do the same.

I am absolutely thrilled with my purchase! This keyboard sounds absolutely beautiful! I love all the features it has, and in less than two weeks, without any prior musical training, I have learned to play three songs on it just by using the large digital display that shows you which keys to play. I was so amazed at the realistic piano sound of this keyboard and so were my friends and family. This item has certainly exceeded my expectations and I would recommend it to anyone who is thinking about purchasing a keyboard. This is a real high quality keyboard and I got it for such an unbelievably low price. I highly recommend it! -Deborah

I've had the keyboard about a month now, and I have mostly positive things to say about it. I'm an actual piano player who would rather have just a regular piano (can't afford it) so I haven't even read the manual to find out about the special features, computer compatibility, etc. Mostly I just like to play, and the sound and touch-sensitivity is the most important thing for me. The grand piano sounds pretty good, and there are tons of other "voices" as well (again, I don't explore much). Touch sensitivity is good, but I noticed the sustain pedal doesn't hold the sound for very long. It fades very quickly, which was not the case with my previous Yamaha keyboard. That's about the only thing that I don't like about it. The stand that comes with the package works just fine -- don't listen to the reviewers who say otherwise. It's adjustable, and is not supposed to fit into the slots on the bottom of the keyboard. It's quite stable and easy to put together.

I got this keyboard close to a year ago. I've been pleased with it ever since. I've had very very basic lessons in piano playing, and that was several years ago. This keyboard has probably...I'd say 200-300 different *instruments.* It has a whole section of sound effects (i.e., fireworks, footsteps, animals, etc). There's plenty of instruments to keep you occupied. Then there are dozens of songs that you can learn. A few I've done are Fur Elise, Killing Me Softly, The Entertainer...and there are several I'm working on. All in all, this is an excellent keyboard if you want a relativly inexpensive instrument that's versatile and easy to use. The sound is quite good too. Naturally it doesn't have the acoustics of a true piano, but most keyboards don't. (Unless, of course, you'd be willing to spend $3,000.) I have the sustain pedal as well, which is about 20 bucks extra, and I love it. It's excellent. However, if you're a serious pianist or learner, then this probably isn't the keyboard for you, since the keys aren't weighted (which means they don't have weights to make them feel like real piano keys) and it's not a full keyboard, so you won't be able to play many "real" songs on it. (Most songs such as David Lanz or really any artist require the use of all the octaves and this keyboard chops off about 2 and a half.) But keyboards that have all the octaves and are weighted run around $500 and up. So I'd say this is a good investment if you don't plan to be a serious player any time soon, or if you want it for your kids or whatever.

I will say that the stand it comes with doesn't fit right. My dad had to drill a hole in the stand to bring it to the right position and we fiddled with it for a while before getting the keyboard to sit well on the stand. Also, you can't just plug headphones in. You MUST have a headphone adaptor, or it won't work.

Other than that, I'd say this is a good buy. I certainly love it.

I hesitated at first to purchase this keyboard, after reading some of the reviews given. But I have no regrets in purchasing it. I got it for a bargain, and though the stand cannot actually be fitted into the keyboard slots, the keyboard fits firmly on the given stand.

KES, Jamaica

Having no practical experience with real pianos, we purchased this keyboard for our young daughter who is just starting piano lessons. So far, we're very pleased with it. The keys are full-sized, touch-sensitive (variable loudness), and polyphonic (simultaneously pressed keys produce multiple notes) -- so it approximates a real piano in a learning situation. It has a fairly nice sound as well -- but don't expect a grand piano sound for $200. It seems like a good starter for a child that allows a parent to gauge their level of interest and commitment before making a major investment in a digital or traditional piano. The stand is OK for the price -- the base is a little narrow and makes the setup a bit wobbly on a rug.