S90SX and S70SX Synth News from Yamaha: The S70XS and the S90XS are naturally expressive synths with a piano sound to die for...
The Yamaha S90XS and S70XS synth pianos are high performance synths offering huge versatility and a rich feature set for the serious live keyboard player. The two models are characterised by a huge range of highly detailed sounds and music creation capabilities carefully crafted to enhance and inspire that ‘perfect performance’.
The S90XS and S70XS share the same internal operating system, connectivity and sound engine and are only
differentiated by their physical keyboard lengths. The S90XS features the full length 88-note balanced
hammer action while the shorter S70XS features a more compact 76-note balanced hammer keybed making it
a practical, easy to transport gigging partner.
Both models have a huge 456 MB of onboard wave memory. This 456 MB of waveROM is almost twice the
size of competitor models and allows the Yamaha sound design teams the scope to create the most
expressive, impressive and realistic sounds to-date in a professional music synthesizer.
Yamaha is the world's most successful producer of acoustic pianos and their professional synth line up has always been acclaimed for the highest quality acoustic piano sound sets. The new models build on this
reputation offering expanded and enhanced piano sounds. With 142 megabytes devoted exclusively to piano
type waveforms, Yamaha has taken grand piano sounds on digital instruments to new levels with a vast
collection of samples taken from Yamaha's very own S6 Handcrafted Concert Grand which fully capture all the
nuances, dynamics and rich tonal textures of the acoustic counterparts.
Both models have been created by listening to the needs of the live performance player. The new
Performance Creator feature makes it simple to create layers and splits and removes the usual complexities of combining voices that can often be found in music synthesizers. New display modes make it simple to see the settings onstage and 16 new illuminated performance control switches make intricate parameter changes in the dark a simple and risk-free operation. Four real-time knobs and faders also add to the hands-on,
uncomplicated interface giving access to the most commonly used parameters during a performance. An
extremely useful and sensible ‘panel lock’ feature is also incorporated preventing accidental changes during any over-physical performances.
New to these models comes an invaluable audio recording and playback feature. CD-quality audio data can
easily be recorded to the internal flash memory or to external USB storage devices allowing players to
instantly capture not only everything played on the keyboard, but also audio sources connected to the
¼”/XLR Combo jack input with front panel controls. Creative players will find this an invaluable feature as it allows for personalised backing tracks to be incorporated into the performance or for live recordings to be made without the need for additional recording hardware. By using the internal virtual modeling effects
section its even possible to apply the highest quality compression, reverb and effects to the mic input to help capture the live performance but enhanced with studio quality effects processing.
There is even a full-featured vocoder onboard for the ultimate in expressive performance.
Along with the easy to use functions, massive wave memory and audio recording features, the new S series
also integrate tightly with the computer. With internal templates for editing softsynths and with hardware
control of the host DAW plus a VST3 editor allowing the S90XS and S70XS to appear and be controlled as VST
instruments, the new synths can also become the backbone of a computer-based composition environment.
Shipping August 2009, pre-order your Yamaha S70SX or S90SX Piano Synth today from DV.