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Fireguy8402 « Great for an Inexpensive Starter Piano or Midi Controller. »
Published on 11/19/11 at 14:04The PSRE413 is a discontinued 61 key portable keyboard from Yamaha. It is very lightweight and is completely made out of lightweight plastic. It can be powered by an adapter or 6 AA batteries. It has a built in arpeggiator that provides 100 different patterns and beats, 5 types of master EQ, recording capability with onboard sequencer, and Performance Assistant technology. The keyboard also comes with Yamaha Education Suite and tools to help beginners learn new songs.
UTILIZATION
The keyboard is well laid out with it’s controls. It does have two knobs located on the left hand side of the keyboard that allow real time tweaking of different parameters to cope some syth like tones, or layer effects on the patches and Yamaha even throws in a pitch wheel. It’s extremely lightweight so traveling with the keyboard is easy. It has USB and Flash connectivity so you can download songs over the internet and learn them or use it as a MIDI controller like I do a lot of times. It works very well as a MIDI controller. It has a six track sequencer, but I don’t find it useful personally. Sometimes I’ll play along with the included drum machine as a metronome. It has the ability to set the tempo and rhythm of the drums and then cues the drum loop as soon as you start playing so you don’t have to turn on the beats and then fumble through the first few chords of the song. The keyboard has an input for a sustain pedal, and an output for a PA system with a variable master equalization section.
OVERALL OPINION
This keyboard has over 500 voices that can be tweaked to give a ton of tones from this thing. Some are great and some are just OK, but all could be usable for certain situations. The one I use the most is the Yamaha Portable Grand voice, which sounds very convincing as a baby grand for coming out of a cheaper electronic keyboard. There are a few string and organ patches that sound super too. There are some sounds on here like the drum and percussion patches that I find cheap and useless, but there are a few really good patches and a lot of very usable sounds in the PSR. Overall this is a decent practice keyboard for someone looking for a couple of good patches or as a starter keyboard. I like it much better than the competition in this price range like that offered from Casio. It is inexpensive and has a good basic piano sound and is touch sensitive with output for a PA. That’s all I was looking for in a starter keyboard and this fits the bill. If I could go back I would probably try to find something with weighted keys, which would cost a little more, but I feel a big jump in feel from playing this keyboard and a real piano. A lot of bells and whistles on this little guy, and some of them are pretty useful. It would make anyone a great starter piano or a great travel piano for someone who didn’t want to tote around their professional keys to small jams.
UTILIZATION
The keyboard is well laid out with it’s controls. It does have two knobs located on the left hand side of the keyboard that allow real time tweaking of different parameters to cope some syth like tones, or layer effects on the patches and Yamaha even throws in a pitch wheel. It’s extremely lightweight so traveling with the keyboard is easy. It has USB and Flash connectivity so you can download songs over the internet and learn them or use it as a MIDI controller like I do a lot of times. It works very well as a MIDI controller. It has a six track sequencer, but I don’t find it useful personally. Sometimes I’ll play along with the included drum machine as a metronome. It has the ability to set the tempo and rhythm of the drums and then cues the drum loop as soon as you start playing so you don’t have to turn on the beats and then fumble through the first few chords of the song. The keyboard has an input for a sustain pedal, and an output for a PA system with a variable master equalization section.
OVERALL OPINION
This keyboard has over 500 voices that can be tweaked to give a ton of tones from this thing. Some are great and some are just OK, but all could be usable for certain situations. The one I use the most is the Yamaha Portable Grand voice, which sounds very convincing as a baby grand for coming out of a cheaper electronic keyboard. There are a few string and organ patches that sound super too. There are some sounds on here like the drum and percussion patches that I find cheap and useless, but there are a few really good patches and a lot of very usable sounds in the PSR. Overall this is a decent practice keyboard for someone looking for a couple of good patches or as a starter keyboard. I like it much better than the competition in this price range like that offered from Casio. It is inexpensive and has a good basic piano sound and is touch sensitive with output for a PA. That’s all I was looking for in a starter keyboard and this fits the bill. If I could go back I would probably try to find something with weighted keys, which would cost a little more, but I feel a big jump in feel from playing this keyboard and a real piano. A lot of bells and whistles on this little guy, and some of them are pretty useful. It would make anyone a great starter piano or a great travel piano for someone who didn’t want to tote around their professional keys to small jams.