Yamaha PSS-A50
| Type | Portable keyboard |
|---|---|
| Keyboard | 37 mini-keys (velocity sensitive) |
| Manufacturer | Yamaha |
| Release date | 2020 |
| Standards | None[infobox 1] |
| Parts | 16 |
| Max polyphony | 32 |
| Normal presets | 40 |
| Drum presets | 2 |
| Effects | Reverb, Chorus |
|
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The Yamaha PSS-A50 is a portable keyboard by Yamaha. It was launched in 2020 together with the closely related PSS-E30 "Remie" and PSS-F30, effectively relaunching the Yamaha PSS series, which had not seen any new products for many years prior. It has an entry-level price point, retailing for circa 100 US dollars new (though as of at least 2024, it is no longer sold in the US; it is still sold in Europe).
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.
References
TBD
External links
TBD