Yamaha PSS-A50 - Portable, Digital Keyboard with Phrase Recording, 42 Built-in Voices and 138 Arpeggio Types with A Lightweight Design, in Black

This is a good keyboard for its price. I use it to try out chord progressions and its been really great due to its light weight and energy efficiency. The drum kit is good! Only thing is when there is headphone jacked in there is some white noise. As a midi keyboard it works as expected. Love this keyboard for its versitility

The Yamaha PSS-A50 is an awesome portable keyboard that lets you have/create your music on the go (via AA batteries)! Great touch/pressure response! The ability to connect it to a DAW or music notation software via the supplied USB-midi cable is a welcome feature, allowing me to draft music compositions w/ ease. The headphone jack is a plus! There's a limited selection of voices, but the grand piano & some woodwinds are convincing enough in timbre & delivery, given the price. Packaged well. 😊

Very portable. Easily can be used. Suitable for crafting out some musical ideas. But I doubt the sound is usable for a recording or a live performance. I have tested with both headphones and amps.\n\nAnyway it serves my primary purpose of being portable, battery operated and with speakers. Put next to my work desk and bed and play whenever I want.\n\nThe seller is good and the item arrived at the next working day. Thanks to both the sell and ninja van. This is my third time buying from this seller.

It's one of the best purchases that I made. Lyric also sent a receipt. one of the good stores that does its duty. Well appreciated. This small keyboard has great functions. You can see a lot of reviews on the internet. I like all of its functions. The sounds are superb, specially when connected to an amplifier. It really has touch response even for its size and price-point. Its portability is a plus...good for quick practice, composing and even performing at gigs. It now sits at my workstation

A good portable keyboard

I was surprised how good this keyboard is. The pressure sensitive action means that it's a bit like a "good keyboard" and not just a portable child toy like other brands in this price/ size range. The piano sounds quite good. It's not like my 88 key electric grand piano, but it's not just beeps like the keyboards we all had in the 1980s. I've not played around with midi or other voices really. I'ne not tried the record and playback or arpeggios - but I will. Having 37 key rather than 32 (like a few portable keyboards in this price range) does actually make a difference if you are trying to learn. I've got a 32 key portable and you run our of notes when trying to play with both hands. The ability to change octaves is also good. "Another brand" set's their portable ... MoreI was surprised how good this keyboard is. The pressure sensitive action means that it's a bit like a "good keyboard" and not just a portable child toy like other brands in this price/ size range. The piano sounds quite good. It's not like my 88 key electric grand piano, but it's not just beeps like the keyboards we all had in the 1980s. I've not played around with midi or other voices really. I'ne not tried the record and playback or arpeggios - but I will. Having 37 key rather than 32 (like a few portable keyboards in this price range) does actually make a difference if you are trying to learn. I've got a 32 key portable and you run our of notes when trying to play with both hands. The ability to change octaves is also good. "Another brand" set's their portable keyboards in a higher octave than middle C and the Yamaha allows you to change the octave up and down - which is nice. It's a good keyboard and possibly the best in its size/ price range.

Better than you might think

This little keyboard delivers more than you might think. It's small, has small keys, has a small speaker that sounds..like a small speaker. The sounds of this keyboard are surprisingly good. The motion effects and the arpeggio are a lot of fun the play with. But plug into an amp and the sounds hold up. This is a surprisingly fun, feature-rich little board. Wish I bought this years ago.

Good sound engine

I'm 67 and can't carry the heavier gear these days. I bough the Reface YC to replace my heavier Hammond B3 clone but I still needed quality piano, brass and string sounds to gig with my band. This keyboard does exactly what I need. Does it sound as good as my Yamaha MM6 or Kurzweil KME61? No, but only a discerning ear would identify the difference and the trade off is well worth it. The arpeggiator and drum loops would be very useful if I were writing songs but I didn't buy it for that. Could I have used a clavinet, harpsichord or sustain pedal jack? Maybe lighted voice buttons? Sure, but for the price the quality of sound is excellent when put through good amplification. All in all a killer board!

Insanely great for the REAL price of a new A50 ($100).

Great keyboard...but don't pay more than what it costs brand-spanking-new ($100). I disagree with many of these reviews. First, this is not a toy, although given its price I can understand why folks might think that. Second, it is not only for kids. There are some fairly advance features that are clearly NOT designed for your average 8 y.o. learning to play piano. In addition, some of the sounds are truly superb (Yamaha designs excellent sound engines). So for $100, you get a lot right there. Oh, but there is more. Because this little keyboard does MIDI. And does it pretty well. (It's baby brother, the F30, does NOT do MIDI and sells for the same price, so caveat emptor.) I actually have two of these: One "serious" A50 in a hard case with power supply (if needed) ... MoreGreat keyboard...but don't pay more than what it costs brand-spanking-new ($100). I disagree with many of these reviews. First, this is not a toy, although given its price I can understand why folks might think that. Second, it is not only for kids. There are some fairly advance features that are clearly NOT designed for your average 8 y.o. learning to play piano. In addition, some of the sounds are truly superb (Yamaha designs excellent sound engines). So for $100, you get a lot right there. Oh, but there is more. Because this little keyboard does MIDI. And does it pretty well. (It's baby brother, the F30, does NOT do MIDI and sells for the same price, so caveat emptor.) I actually have two of these: One "serious" A50 in a hard case with power supply (if needed) and the cables necessary to do MIDI on iOS devices as well as my MacBook. The other is for noodling and general knocking about without necessarily caring if I harm the cosmetics of the instrument. (I also figured these might get snapped up and/or run out of supply as, IMHO as a keyboards-buying guy, they are seriously underpriced and undervalued.)

NOT PERFECT BUT PERFECT FOR ME

4 Star Mini Keyboard. Has scalable velocity, decent sounds, fun arpeggios, battery operated, very portable and very playable keys. It has a few bugs as well and requires user corrections for individual preset volumes on the fly and a few others that aren't a deal breaker but Yamaha should offer a firmware update at some point and then I'd give it 5 Stars The main one that gets me is the Sustain and Effects buttons are not Togglable. The Sustain is either on or off and you have to keep clicking it instead of just holding it when you want to simulate a Sustain Pedal and the Effect is only on when held in. That should be the other way around. You would want to lock the Effects more than the Sustain Pedal, for me, and hopefully that is something that can be obtained ... More4 Star Mini Keyboard. Has scalable velocity, decent sounds, fun arpeggios, battery operated, very portable and very playable keys. It has a few bugs as well and requires user corrections for individual preset volumes on the fly and a few others that aren't a deal breaker but Yamaha should offer a firmware update at some point and then I'd give it 5 Stars The main one that gets me is the Sustain and Effects buttons are not Togglable. The Sustain is either on or off and you have to keep clicking it instead of just holding it when you want to simulate a Sustain Pedal and the Effect is only on when held in. That should be the other way around. You would want to lock the Effects more than the Sustain Pedal, for me, and hopefully that is something that can be obtained with an update. Other than those small issues the portable PSS-A50 is a fun little keyboard and works great for me because I use it in my Busking Rig to add bass and other band type instrumentation and it offers better quality sounds and playability than the Casio SA46 I was using haha. Honestly, it's a decent little keyboard for the money and if you are in the market for something portable and playable check one out for yourself.