Yamaha PSR-S900 Arranger Workstation Digital Keyboard

YAMAHA Updated: 2007-10-03

Main Features at a Glance
The PSR-S900 gives you the same ultra high quality sounds found on the top of the line model and features a newly designed panel layout that makes operating and playing exceptionally easy and intuitive. All panel controls and buttons are right in front of you, logically arranged for optimum performing convenience allowing you to seamlessly switch settings as you play. The new USB audio recording feature makes it incredibly easy to capture your entire performance including your singing, and files are saved as wave files for porting to a computer. Want more? Theres Super Articulation Voices for incredibly realistic instrument sounds, 5.7" color screen, mic input with 3-part vocal harmony, video out, MegaVoices for enhanced playback of the built-in Styles, organ flutes that use modeling technology, USB to DEVICE for connecting hard drives, thumb drives and floppy disk drives and a LAN port for connecting the keyboard directly to the Internet for on-line, on-demand music. And finally, there are still features that even a beginner would appreciate like performance assistant technology for song playback that, when enabled, insures that even a non-player cannot make a mistake. Top quality sounds, amazing ease of operation and performance — the PSR-S900 has it all.

USB Audio Recorder
Here's one of the most impressive new features of the PSR-S900 — the USB audio recorder. It allows you to directly record the sound of the instrument to an optional USB drive as digital audio data for pristine, absolutely noise-free audio quality. Naturally, you can record your voice, guitar or other acoustic and electric instruments as well, and mix them with the PSR-S900 sound. Once complete, transfer your files to your computer and share your music. Imagine going from a brilliant idea to a recorded CD in minutes.

Super Articulation Voices
The Super Articulation Voices of the PSR-S900 are truly inspirational. These 23 remarkably authentic Voices feature the unique performance characteristics of each instrument — for example, the expressive finger-slides on guitar, or the breathy, legato phrasing of a saxophone — and are perfect for playing solo passages and legato melodies, intelligently adding just the right expressive nuances to your performance. Never before have stringed, wind and brass instruments — played live with a keyboard - sounded so convincing or so real!

Large 5.7" QVGA color screen
PSRS900 Main LCD Display PSRS700 LCD Display The LCD on keyboards is your connection to the instrument, whether its selecting a voice, reading sheet music or browsing songs and styles on the Internet; bigger is better and color is better yet — like the 5.7" QVGA display found on the PSR-S900. Color adds a new dimension to the different screens you use to control your music, but is most appreciated on ones with a lot of knobs and faders like the mixing screen. As with your TV or computer screen, after seeing and working with a color screen, youll wonder how you ever got along without it.

Microphone input, Vocal Harmony and Video out for real time performance
microphone Whether you sing for fun or for a living, the PSR-S900 has features that help you sound great. The keyboard is equipped with a microphone input (Mic not included) and a professional 4-part vocal harmony function (4 parts including your original voice), which transposes your voice in real time to provide authentic sounding harmony. Add a choir to provide more depth and emotion to a ballad or expand your singing range with the unique Gender function. The harmony function can be triggered in real time from 3 different sources; left hand chords, right hand notes or from a track in a MIDI file. There are literally thousands of song files available from many different sources on the Internet that contain lyric and harmony information that makes the whole process plug and play. Call up the song and follow the lyrics in the screen, or connect the video out jack to your television for a family get-together or for audience participation in a club environment. The lyrics advance as the song does and the harmony will come and go at the appropriate times. And because it's MIDI, you can change the key without altering the sound. Once your friends and family try it, your biggest problem will be getting the microphone back!

MegaVoices
The MegaVoices feature various playing techniques and performance sounds — such as finger slides and fret noise on guitar Voices — designed specifically to enhance playback of the built-in Styles. Simply hold down a chord while you play, and enjoy some of the most astonishingly realist, expressive accompaniment you've ever heard.

Virtual Drawbars — all of the sound, none of the weight!
Virtual DrawbarsIf you are a fan of that vintage organ sound, then look no further than the PSR-S900 Organ Flutes. One press of the Footage button calls up a graphical representation of nine virtual drawbars and assigns the increment/decrement buttons under the screen for controlling them. You can make adjustments in real time that Virtual Drawbars Display include flute footage volume, rotary speaker speed and type, organ type, vibrato, percussive attack and length, response and EQ. Once you get it the way you like, then simply save the new voice and call it up any time you like. And because the PSR-S900 has two Foot Pedal jacks, you can assign one to control rotary speed for smooth, hands free operation.

Ease of operation
There are many tools in the keyboard that make it easy to be a power user from the first day you own the keyboard.

* Direct Access Button: Press this button and the function you would like to adjust, for example pitch bend, and the LCD screen instantly takes you there. Saves wading through menus and sub-menus.
* Music Finder: Complete keyboard setups by song title. The keyboard selects an appropriate voice for the right hand melody, the correct musical style and the correct tempo. Simply call up a song title and start playing.
* Quick Record: To record a song, just press the Record button. Recording starts as soon as you start playing the keyboard and will record everything you play — the Style, Left & Layer Voices and Multi pads or a single track.
* One Touch Setting (OTS): Provides you with a recommended voice with effects for each Section of each Style (4 per style). Can be set to change automatically or you can select one of the four buttons. For example, on a jazz style, one OTS might be piano, the next jazz guitar with a little echo, the third sax with reverb and the forth might be piano and vibes layered.
* Multi Pads: These four buttons change to match the genre of each Style (or you can change them yourself) and can be used to play a number of short pre-recorded rhythmic and melodic sequences that can be used to add impact and variety to your keyboard playing. Translation: MIDI-Loops.
* Built-in Help: Help messages give you explanations & descriptions of the main functions and features found in the keyboard. Language choices include English, Japanese, German, French, Spanish or Italian.
* Demo: In addition to the main demos showing some of the more advanced features found in the keyboard, there is also a short demo for every sound.
* Mixing Console: To change voices, adjust levels, panning, transpose, tuning, pitch bend and effects on various tracks or parts that you play, simply press the Mixing Console button and make adjustments using graphical representations of rotary pots and faders.
* Registration Memory: Set the keyboard up just the way you like and take a digital snapshot by memorizing it to one of the Registration buttons. Load and save banks of eight registrations to User memory, SmartMedia or USB device. The eight Registration buttons are conveniently located just above the keyboard.
* Performance assistant technology: Guarantees that you can't play a wrong note. Here's how it works. Select an XF compatible song, press the Performance Assistant button and every note you play will fit the music. If you move up the keyboard, the pitch goes up. If you move down, the pitch goes down. Play a perfect arpeggio, or play chords in time with the music, or really go for it and play a solo. As long as performance assistant is "on", you're "on".

PSR-S700 USB Connectivity

* The PSR-S900 has 2 USB ports on the back, USB To HOST and USB to DEVICE. USB to HOST is plug and play simple for recording and playing back MIDI files from your computer.
* Storage Device USB to DEVICE is for connecting optional peripheral USB devices like floppy disk drives, thumb drives and hard drives for storing data like song and Style files and audio recordings.

LAN Port for on-line, on-demand music
Youll need your computer to activate an account, but once thats done, you can browse through Songs and Styles and download music directly into your keyboard, play it, score it and learn it — no computer required. All you need is an appropriate high-speed Internet connection (not dial-up) and network, and you have full access to the convenient Internet Direct Connection services.

PSRS900 Pro Connections
The PSR-S900 features Styles (accompaniment patterns) in a variety of different musical genres including Rock, Jazz, Latin, Country and Dance. As you play chords with your left hand, the selected Style will automatically provide drums, bass, guitar, strings, organ and horn parts. This is live playing at its best. For even greater diversity, the PSR-S900 offers four sections to the built-in Styles. For example, you could use the A section for the Verse, B section for the Chorus, C for the Bridge and D for a Solo. In addition, each Style has three different Intros and Endings with dedicated panel buttons, and will automatically fill, if you like, between sections.

Dynamic Voices and effects
# A keyboard can only sound as good as the speakers that reproduce its sound. The stereo speaker system in the PSR-S900 has been specially designed to faithfully reproduce the powerful dynamics and subtle overtones of the onboard voices and music styles. The keyboard comes with 891 voices, is 128-note polyphonic and has 4 Effects blocks plus Reverb and Chorus. Additional sound features include a selection of special samples called Super Articulation Voices, MegaVoice, Sweet!, Live! and Cool! voices. Super Articulation Voices are perfect for playing solo passages and legato melodies by intelligently adding just the right expressive nuances to your performance
# MegaVoices bring incredible realism to the built-in accompaniment
# Sweet! voices reproduce all the natural expression and vibrato of their respective acoustic instruments
# Cool! voices feature long samples of electronically amplified instruments
# Live! voices use stereo samples to ensure the most accurate reproduction of each instruments natural presence, resonance and vibrato

Professional Connections
Starting at the upper left, connectivity ports include the following:

* LAN Port for connecting to the Internet
* USB to DEVICE
* USB to HOST
* MIDI In/Out
* Foot Pedal 1/2
* Video Out
* DC IN (PA-300 Adapter included)
* 1/4" R/L Output Jacks
* 1/4" R/L AUX IN Jacks
* MIC/LINE IN with input volume rotary knob and LINE/MIC switch

The PSR-S900 is compatible with commercially available song/style data including:

* GM — General MIDI
* XG GM2 — General MIDI 2
* XG — Yamaha extended Voice set
* GS — for GS song playback
* DOC — Yamaha Disk Orchestra Collection
* SMF with lyrics — Standard MIDI File
* KAR — Karaoke files
* XF — Songs with lyrics and/or chords
* SFF — Yamaha style files