Yamaha PSS-A50

Yamaha PSS-A50

Type	Portable keyboard
Keyboard	37 mini-keys (velocity sensitive)
Manufacturer	Yamaha
Release date	November 2019
Standards	None
Parts	16
Max polyphony	32
Normal presets	40
Drum presets	2
Effects	Reverb, Chorus

The Yamaha PSS-A50 is a portable keyboard by Yamaha. It was launched in 2019 together with the closely related PSS-E30 "Remie" and PSS-F30, effectively relaunching the Yamaha PSS series, which had ended in 1997. It has an entry-level price point, retailing for circa 100 US dollars new. As of at least 2024, it is "discontinued" in the US, but it is still sold in other markets (e.g. Europe and Japan), and can be imported worldwide.

Notable features:

• 37-key velocity-sensitive mini keyboard, same high-quality keybed as the (much more expensive) Yamaha Reface series
• Can be powered either by USB or by 4× AA batteries
• USB MIDI functionality
  • MIDI out: can be used as a MIDI controller, sends all performance data including arpeggios and motion effects
  • MIDI in: can be used as a tone generator (32-poly 16-part multitimbral)
• Single speaker and mono 3.5mm headphone output
• 40 normal instrument presets and 2 drumkit presets (Standard and Dance). These seem to come from the Yamaha PSR series.
• 16-part multitimbral, 32-poly tone generator
• Does not claim General MIDI support; this is probably because it does not have the full 128 GM1 instruments and only has mono audio output. However, it seems to be partially GM1/XGlite-compatible, e.g.:
  • Normal instrument presets use GM1-compatible numbering (with Bank Select MSB = 0)
  • Drum instrument presets use XG/XGlite-compatible numbering (Bank Select MSB = 127)
  • Typical Yamaha XGlite Control Change support: Attack, Release, Brightness, Harmonic Content, Reverb Send, Chorus Send
• Various convenient performance features:
  • Arpeggios (not an arpeggiator exactly, more similar to a "styles" system with reharmonization of pre-recorded phrases stored in ROM)
  • Phrase recorder/looper
  • Motion effects (pre-recorded filter/pitch/modulation patterns stored in ROM)
  • Sustain and portamento buttons (no pedal input)
  • Metronome

Quirks

• There is no analog volume control, only a digital one. This means the audio output can be quite noisy at a low volume, because the noise floor is constant at all volume settings. If your headphones don't have their own volume control, you may want to use an in-line volume controller cable.
• The audio output is 2× unbalanced mono on a TRS (stereo, three rings) 3.5mm jack. This can interact badly with audio equipment expecting balanced audio: if you use a TRS cable to connect it to a mono input on your audio interface, you'll get silence. You need something with a TS (mono, two rings) connector, either a splitter-/Y-cable or a simple mono cable.

Trivia

• The rounded design, shared with the PSS-E30 and PSS-F30, comes from the design concept of "eggs for musicians".

External links

• Yamaha PSS-A50 Owner's Manual
• Yamaha PSS-A50 MIDI Reference