Yamaha S90 ES – Best Touch Keyboard

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I spent several hours at Guitar Center in Seattle, WA yesterday playing all of their 88-key keyboards. I was looking for the best overall controller; a keyboard that I could play legit piano on, but also fast synth runs, control zones and utilize aftertouch for samples. The internal sounds were not important to me.

From their selection I like the Yamaha S90 ES best for overall touch for all applications as a controller keyboard. Players that have to do piano and complex synth on the same board know what a challenge this can be. For piano tracks you need the weighted action so you don’t realize it’s not a “real” piano, and for synth you need a quick action to do the fast sixteenth note runs without getting bogged down.

Some nice extra perks on the Yamaha S90 ES include four zone control sliders on the front that are easily accessible for mixing samples. Also has variable velocity curves for different styles of playing (light for synth work and heavier for legit piano feel). When I clicked on the Performance bank to just check out the sounds too, I was surprised that I really dug the internal drum samples. Found myself actually jamming for a bit with the grooves and most important of all: Forgetting I was playing a synth, not a piano. To me that’s the bottom line. If I have to think about the instrument, it’s no good to me. I need to get lost in the feel and lines of what I’m doing.

And a little plug for Guitar Center. As much bad press as they get for customer service, I had a salesman who got me all the manuals for everything I wanted and was there to answer any question I had. I never felt like I was bothering him. I’m not exactly a salesman’s dream at a music store – I’m very picky, always want to read manuals and don’t care for small talk. Thank you to Jovonn who helped me out.

Often people ask me what the best keyboard is to get. You really can’t go wrong with any board by Roland, Yamaha or Korg. In general, Korg has the best variety of sounds and Yamaha has the best feel. But my overall favorite is usually Roland, so I was surprised to see that a Yamaha board won my heart (I own several keyboards by all three manufacturers).

OVERVIEW

Is the S90 ES an 88-note weighted action digital piano with the sonic flexibility of a synth or a synthesizer with the best sounding piano samples ever available? Actually, it’s the perfect balance of both. The new multi-velocity stereo samples of Yamaha’s hand-built S700 grand piano, the damper reverb effects, and half damper capability all ensure the S90 ES has the most expressive acoustic piano sound Yamaha has ever offered in a synthesizer.

The 128-note polyphony tone generator based on the award winning Motif ES (including 8 inserts, 2 system and separate mastering effects) and Studio Connections, mLAN, and PLG expandability give it all the sonic power and control flexibility of our Motif ES workstation lineup. The new S90 ES, the perfect balance of synthesizer and piano.