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YAMAHA S03 Details
Introducing the newest and most portable member of Yamaha’s S series synthesizers—the S03. Whether you’re an aspiring artist, a performing keyboardist, or you simply want to try your hand at making music, the S03 is just the keyboard for you. Bridging the gap between professional sound quality and affordability, it gives you over 700 incredible voices, including many sounds from Yamaha’s top-of-the-line S80 synthesizer. It also features full XG/GM compatibility, 64 notes of polyphony, 16 multi parts, and complete synthesizer editing capability. There’s even a “To Host” serial interface that lets you connect it directly to your Windows® or Macintosh® computer. And what better way to turn this fantastic-sounding synth into a complete MIDI home studio than with Yamaha's original style and sequencing software, XGworks lite V3.0A. Compatible with both Mac and PC platforms, this bundled software package combines a full-featured MIDI sequencer, an intuitive voice editor, and a complete range of ready-to-use music styles. With the S03, you’ll have everything you need to satisfy your musical creativity—right out of the box!
OVER 700 INCREDIBLE VOICES
Never before has a keyboard this affordable offered so many high-quality sounds. Packed into the S03's huge waveform memory (equivalent to 25MB in linear 16-bit conversion) is a complete range of voices for virtually any style of music. All the essentials, including an exhaustive selection of stunning grand pianos, punchy basses, ultra expressive solo and ensemble strings and more, are included—many of which have been taken from Yamaha's acclaimed S80 and S30 professional synthesizers. But that's not all. There's also a vast collection of breathtaking synthesizer textures and avant-garde sounds suitable for anything from movie soundtracks to dance music. And because the S03 features 64 notes of polyphony, you can play long sustaining passages and rich multi-layered chords without worrying about notes cutting off.
QUICK ACCESS TO THE SOUNDS YOU WANT
Although the S03 is loaded with hundreds of high-quality voices, finding the one you want is quick and easy. Simply press the Category Search button and select an instrument type, such piano, organ, bass or strings. The S03 will locate all the related factory voices, allowing you to browse through them one at a time. Perfect for when you need to quickly find a particular sound on stage, or for comparing the different voices within an instrument category.
FULL XG COMPATIBILITY
General MIDI (GM) is a standardized set of synthesizer voices and MIDI parameters that allows song data to be exchanged with other GM-compatible devices, regardless of the manufacturer. Although quite useful, the GM standard has a relatively limited number of instruments and voice parameters, which in turn limits the expressiveness and variety of music that can be created with it. Yamaha's XG standard, however, addresses these shortcomings by providing more voices (480 + 12 drum kits), more effects, better dynamics, and greater control over MIDI parameters—all this, while retaining full compatibility with the original GM standard. Because the S03 is fully XG compatible, you can be assured that GM MIDI song files will sound their absolute best.
A COMPLETE MUSIC PRODUCTION SYSTEM
With so many song-inspiring voices at your fingertips, chances are you'll want to get started making music right away. With the bundled XGworks lite V3.0A sequencing software, you can! A total of 100 MIDI tracks are available for you to lay down your musical ideas on the S03. Plus there's a music database complete with drum patterns, bass lines and chord progressions, so you'll be able to put together professional-sounding backing tracks in virtually no time at all. You can even record or import audio tracks into your composition and transform and edit any of the S03's onboard voices. All custom voices and multi-setups can be stored in the S03 for instant recall at any time.
LARGE EASY-TO-SEE DISPLAY
Unlike the small 2-line displays used in most competing keyboards, the S03's custom backlit LCD screen makes it easy to see the names of voices and other parameters at a glance.
HIGH-QUALITY DIGITAL EFFECTS
Just as important as the waveforms themselves, a high-quality effects processor is an essential part of a synthesizer's voice architecture. And Yamaha—a world leader in digital effects processing technology—has equipped the S03 with rich reverb and chorus effects as well as a wide selection of variation effects such as delays and distortions. A total of 64 different effect types are available.
YAMAHA S03 Specs
Functions
Keyboard 61 Keys/Initial Touch
Tone Generator AWM2
Multitimbre 16 parts
Polyphony 64 Notes
Effect Reverb: 11
Chorus: 11
Variation: 42
Voice XG Bank Normal: 480 Drum Kits: 20
Preset Bank Normal: 128
User Bank Normal: 128 Drum Kits: 2
Multi User Multi 32
Controllers
Pitch Bend Wheel 1
Modulation Wheel 1
Master Volume Knob 1
Controllers & Terminals
Output L/MONO, R ( 1/4" Jack)
Foot Controller 1
Foot Switch 1
MIDI IN/OUT/THRU
To Host Mini Din x 1
Dimensions, Weight
976(W) x 285(D) x 87(H) mm, 6 kg
384 1/4" x 112 1/4" x 34 1/4" , 13.23 lbs.
Accessories
CD-ROM x 1 (Voice Editor, XGworks lite V3.0A for Win/Mac)
YAMAHA S03 How to Choose
How To Choose / Useful Information for Pro Keyboards
Click a question to see the answer.
- Why a Pro Workstation keyboard vs.a Portable/Electronic/Arranger keyboard vs. a Synthesizer?
Pro keyboards have a multitude of other features like audio recording,
editing the sound to the most elemental part of the sound, a 16+ track sequencer
with detailed editing, a lot of synth sounds, they will run 4 to 18 simultaneous
higher quality effects like reverb, … and have no arranging or styles other than possibly
arpeggiators or drum patterns, . . A fully orchestrated sound/song can be accomplished
with a pro keyboard but it assumes you want to create each part or instrument sound in
a song much more closely (from scratch) than a portable ++
Portable/arranger type keyboards are more for fast songwriting,
for backing tracks when you play or for one person band with drum patterns,
bass, and other sounds with the accompaniment having different song style genres
(blues, swing, rock,...) with different patterns for the verse, chorus,...
of the song. The song styles and performances are very educational as well for
learning genres that you may be unfamiliar with. You can have many instruments
follow what your left hand plays in real time and chord recognition for
fast performing,
portables have more meat and potato sounds and fewer synthesizer sounds
Synthesizers- typically do not have workstation features
like sequencing, recording audio, having all types of sounds, . . .
but rather focus on doing a few or sounds extremely well which usually
are not acoustic or real world instruments but 'other worldly' sounds
with many ways to manipulate the sound.
- What affects the price you will pay and what should you look for?
The level of realism and selection of the sounds-
each keyboard typically does some sounds better than others so decide
which main sounds are important to you and play each model (or listen to sound files)
you are interested in to find the one that sounds best to you. Does it have all the
sounds you are looking for to make a completed song?
Ease of use- hardware knobs, buttons,... amount and location and logically placed
Display size- touchscreen, color, icon based, easy to read, backlighting not too dark,...
Sequencer- depth of editing features, ease of use as you could spend most of your time here, linear recording only or pattern based recording as well, ...
Quality and number of effects- reverb, EQ per part, compressors, master FX, number of part insert FX, master/global FX, does it have enough DSP to finish a 16 track song without needing external processing
Audio recording/sampling -2 to 8 tracks or more- how easy is it to actually record and playback, does it have enough recording memory/time- re: roughly 10 meg a stereo minute, how is the recording backed up,..
Drums- does it have ‘easy to chain’ patterns or is the arpegiator easy to use, does it have pads on top of keyboard or none at all,...
The number of simultaneous notes the keyboard will play (polyphony)- important if you write denser arrangements or use instruments that use a lot of polyphony (piano,...)
Control computer software via hardware sliders, knobs,...
Computer control the keyboard with editor/librarian- as VST plug-in,
standalone, 100% editing, the visuals on a big
computer screen can shorten the learning curve (much more intuitive)
Operating system- is it intuitive or obtuse, ...
Maximum RAM memory- will determine possibly how much recording time is available
or how much room you will have for adding external samples/sounds
Connectors- # of audio outputs, balanced or unbalanced input,
data storage- memory card, jump drive, USB to computer connection
- Comparison Chart
- How good do these pro workstations sound?
Please notice that almost every keyboard on our site has a sound file
you can play on your computer to hear for yourself.
- What about speakers?
For home or studio use we prefer powered studio monitors
for the best audio quality without spending a lot and keep
the sound in stereo (versus a mono keyboard amp) which is much better with full orchestrations,...
All have headphone jacks if you prefer not to be heard.
For stage, keyboard amplifiers come in all sizes depending on the size of the venue
- What accessories should I consider?
- Stand- stabds come in many shapes and styles- X style, Z style, ...
- Bench- consider a more sturdy 4 leg bench if you do not need portability,
X style if you do -- the wider the better.
- Headphones- full size will be more comfortable and quieter
and may offer better quality audio
- Pedals- most come with a sustain pedal, some have jacks for more control
- volume, expression, etc.
- Bag or case- we recommend the manufacturer bags and cases first,
then Gator Cases and bags. Do you need wheels? Will only you be carrying it? Will it be on planes? (should have ATA rating)
- Jump drive/Storage card for audio, midi ...
- Computer interface if no USB connection- need multi-port midi,
how many channels of audio ...
- Dust cover
Glossary
-
What is a Style?
combination of sounds like drums, bass and keys with rhythms and chord progressions
in a certain genre (rock, big band, jazz,…) which create backing tracks that you can play a lead part over
-
What are Song Sections?
these are divisions of a song that portable arranger keyboards identify as an intro, verses, choruses,
bridge, fills, outro,… with performed by musicians that reflect the mood/feeling of each of those sections that enable
faster song arranging
-
What is MIDI?
an
interface to connect a keyboard to the computer like USB port for printers. It
sends note and other data from the keyboard to the computer or vice versa.
Basically says play this note at this time at this volume level- it is not an
actual audio recording. It also makes it possible for one keyboard to play
another keyboard.
-
What is polyphony?
the number of
simultaneous notes that can be played, though if it’s a stereo sample/recording
each note can use 2 notes at once. Its important for anyone who plays a lot of
notes at the same time and holds down the sustain pedal. The earliest notes
played will cut out when the limit is exceeded. This can happen with pianos
with 32 note polyphony especially.
-
What is a sequencer?
a
recorder with 1 to 16 tracks usually so that multiple instruments can be played
back for fully orchestrated songs and can have elaborate editing capability.
Typically digital pianos have only 1 or 2 tracks for playing back a piano
performance and archiving another. These can be downloaded to the computer with
a midi interface
-
What is sampling/samples?
a short audio
recording of a note. For more realistic sound, digital pianos can be recorded
at different velocities so that when you strike a note harder, the timbre
changes for better realism
-
What are effects?
to modify and
enhance the sounds in the keyboard including non- piano sounds. e.g. - reverb
will put the piano in a small room or up to a large concert hall.
Don’t see the answer to your question?
Call us toll-free at 1 877 778 7845 and speak to our piano experts
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