I'm almost ready to buy a S80, but thought I'd post my thoughts here and gather some comments before I do.

My requirements (all equal):

1. Good piano action (weighted)
2. Good piano sound
3. A controller to interface to an SB Live Platinum, Cakewalk, Soundforge
4. A synth that sounds good on it's own
5. Resale value (in case I replace it 3 years down the road with a real piano)
6. Not very heavy (under 60 pounds)
7. Web resources, downloads, user groups
8. Want to spend around $1500
9. At this time, only home use.

I have looked at the Korg N1 & Roland A90

The concerns/questions I have about the S80:

1. Cannot download samples to it (though apparently you can download voice banks such as the 'pseudo' GM). What makes a voice bank different from a sample? Can you make your own voice banks or just modify existing ones?

2. How good is the arpeggiator? I actually like this 'dated?' feature a lot.

3. One shop told me that Korg has 2/3's of the total synth market (Obviously, they sell Korgs). This can't be true, or is it?

Please post any comments you have.

Regards

Hey DK, first of all let me name a few synths in your price range...... the S-80 and N1 are two good ones....... I've heard many great comments about Ensoniq's ZR-76 also (Only 76 keys..... not the full 88), The Roland RD-600 is a good stage piano and the Alesis QS8.1 is also worth looking at. Now for your requirements:

1. Good Piano Action...... I am a piano player and I really liked the action on the S-80..... more than the N1..... the Roland RD-600 was pretty good too

2. Good Piano Sound..... the S-80 to me had the best sound of the ones I tried.... except maybe the RD-600, Try Ensoniq's ZR-76, I've heard great things about their piano

3. A controller to interface to an SB Live Platinum, Cakewalk, Soundforge...... the S-80 is pretty good here.... It doesn't have it's own sequencer but I'm pretty sure you can set up multiple splits/zones and it has many pedal inputs for midi control changes. If you're looking for a synth with it's own seq. look at the ZR-76 I've heard it's pretty good

4. A synth that sounds good on it's own, s-80 is good.... but keep in mind it only has 256 presets, you'd have to edit some sounds or buy an exp. board to get more... The Korg N1 and Alesis QS8.1 have many more presets... so you'll spend less time making new sounds and more time playing..... if you don't need that many different sounds though the S-80 is great

5. Resale valus...... I really don't know here...... you'll prob. get around $500-$1000 for just about any synth in the price range you mentioned.... don't expect more than around $1000

6. Not very heavy...... I don't think any of the ones I listed were more than 60 lbs.... so no prob. here

7. Web resources, Downloads, User groups....... don't know...... I think the S80 has a web page that has downloadable patches and other stuff..... www.yamahas80.com I believe..... can't say I know about any others

8. Want to spend about $1500..... S80 is right there.... N1 and QS8.1 are around there...... the RD-600 may be a little more and the ZR-76 I would guess around $1700 since it has a sequencer

9. At this time, only home use...... use for what???? just playing, sequencing midi's??? anyway I would recommend the S-80 prob. it has a good feel and is fairly easy to understand...... some people said the manual was confusing...... but I looked at it and it made pretty much sense to me

Concerns and Questions now:

1. Samples, Voice Banks, etc....... You can edit your own voices using the wav's on the S-80........ I think they even include a computer program that helps you somehow.... as for loading voice banks.... a voice bank would be a collection of patches(voices) prob. using the samples on the keyboard.... There is one user bank on the S-80 with 128 different assignable patches.... and you can save voice banks on the SM cards I am pretty sure. I believe the only way to get new samples for the S-80 is to buy an Exp. board. Yamaha has a Piano, GM/XG, and a Vintage Synth exp board right now..... I don't know if any more are coming or not

2. How good is the arpeggiator?????? I don't know much about arp's but I believe this one is pretty good...... it has around 45 preset patterns and I think you can edit them to make your own

3. Korg has 2/3 of the market........ I don't know..... it's possible with the Triton's and Trinity's they make..... I really would doubt it though, maybe in the Sampling/Sequencing over $2500 category. Don't believe that stuff..... it's really hard to imagine they sell that much.... I wouldn't be surprised if someone sold more than they did.

Also if you don't mind spending about $2000 look at the Roland XV-88....... this is my synth and it has wonderful action and sound..... I haven't used it yet with the computer but it is capable. The only complaint I have is it cannot play midi files from it's SM card drive. In my opinion the sound on this is better than just about anything else out there..... at least in pianos and stuff like that. Also it is very expandable........ 18 SR-JV boards out right now and 2 new SRX boards...... and the XV has 4 slots in all. If you can spend about $500 more..... I would say really look at this one, but if not I would recommend the S-80 or maybe the ZR-76. I hope someone else here will give you a second opinion, but there's my two cents.

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John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Don’t confuse the Yamaha Plug-In Boards (aka PLG) with simple ’expansion boards“ that the competition offer. All those do is add more ROM sounds. The Yamaha PLG boards add whole new synthesizers complete with their own DSP effects units, added notes of polyphony, etc. For instance, when you add the PLG150-AN board, you get the equivalent of a Yamaha AN1X synth, which in turn is a modernized digital analog-physically-modelled equivalent of the classic Prophet 5 synthesizer of yore. Complete with five notes of polyphony in addition to the S-80’s own! 256 presets and room for 128 user patches at a time! It also has its own DSP effects units, including a Guitar Amp Simulator for realistic overdriven-amp distortion effects, its own 3-band EQ, and an EQ that works on the S-80’s own sounds!

Would you prefer a slightly more modern ’vintage” synth? How about the PLG150-DX, which is the equivalent of the classic Yamaha DX-? Note: this is not just a collection of DX-like sounds, this is the actual FM synth engine of a DX-7, on a single plug-in card! You can download any DX-7 (and DX1, TF1, TX116, TX816, TX7, DX5, DX72FD, DX72D, DX7S, TX802, etc.) sounds from the Internet or third-party voice banks into this thing and they’ll work (not to mention making your own patches from scratch)! Because they“re the real thing, they can respond wildly to velocity and aftertouch controls, etc., just like the original, but unlike any mere samples can even think about imagining about dreaming about doing! Sixteen notes of additional polyphony all its own, and a whopping 912 presets included! I’d hold off on it if I were you, though, since I suspect that Yamaha may be replacing it soon: their new FS1[R] synthesizer is a wonderful modernization of the FM synthesis technique, with Formant Shaping and Formant SEQuencing capabilities added for awesome new powers far beyond what the DX could do, yet it remains fully DX-compatible. I expect that before too much longer we’ll be seeing a PLG-150FS board (Yamaha would be fools not to), which would make the DX board obsolete.

Others include the PLG100-XG, which adds the equivalent of an MU-50 into your S-80, which makes it fully Level 1 XG compliant (it’s already XG compliant in terms of effects and NRPNs, but it lacks the XG voice set). Note also that the Level 1 XG voice set also includes a “TG300B emulation mode” which is a legal euphemism for “completely compatible with Roland’s original Sound Canvas and its GS, right down to the SysEx/NRPN level!” This PLG card adds three DSPs of its own (Reverb, Chorus, & Variation/Insertion), each of which has at least a dozen, if not dozens [especially the Variation/Insertion unit], of fully parametric settings), and 32 more notes of polyphony, to support its 480 XG voices (676 total counting the ones for the Roland GS mode) and 12 drum kits (21 total counting the ones for the Roland GS mode). For most XG units that take plug-in cards, adding this unit would be mostly redundant, but not for the S-80 (and S-30) which lack the XG voice set.

On the other hand, the situation is reversed somewhat with the PLG150-PF board. This one has 136 high-quality sampled piano and other keyboard sounds, but I think they’re pretty much the same as the sounds already in the S-80. It does add 64 notes of polyphony (the main reason for adding one to an S-80), and four DSP units (Reverb, Chorus, Insertion, and a two-band EQ) of its own.

The PLG100-VH adds no sounds or polyphony, just an effects unit: but what an effects unit! This is the same Vocal Harmonizer chip found in the PSR-740, 8000 and 9000, and the Clavinova CVP-107 (also, this very board, and the one I will describe next, were the first two PLG cards ever and came pre-installed into the first PLG host unit ever: the MU-100R rack-mount professional Level 4 XG tone generator). Sing into the microphone while playing a chord and get up to two additional voices (and your own continues to sound unless you say otherwise, for a total of three-part harmony!), perhaps even gender-shifted, singing musically-proper harmony in your words and your voice, right back at you! (Let’s see a mere expansion board for a Roland or other competing synth do that!)

Finally, there’s the PLG-150VL, which is my personal favorite. This baby only adds one note of “polyphony,” but what a note! VL stands for “Virtual Lead,” and that’s exactly what this is. It has 255 presets, of which 128 are designed especially for use with a wind controller such as a Yamaha WX-5 (looks like a truncated clarinet). This is Physical Modelling at its best! It’s the equivalent of a Yamaha VL-70m. Imagine truly realistic, right down to the very real expressiveness, wind or brass solo such as performed by a very capable soloist. The VL can do that. Bowed or plucked strings with all the nuances the most competent player could do? The VL can do that. Wild new synth effects with awesome expressiveness that can make you forget all about “vintage” sounds? It can do that, too. Roll your own sounds? Yep! DSP effects engines of its own? It’s in there!

With all of this available, the only real problem (besides moolah) is trying to pick just two to install, since the S-80 only has two PLG slots! Fortunately, there are rumors of an external 7-slot expansion unit coming, that will expand any existing PLG slot into seven, with its own power supply. Something else to have to lug around to gigs, though.

" VL stands for “Virtual Lead,” and that’s exactly what this is. It has 255 presets, of which 128 are designed especially for use with a wind controller such as a Yamaha WX-5 (looks like a truncated clarinet). This is Physical Modelling at its best! It’s the equivalent of a Yamaha VL-70m. Imagine truly realistic, right down to the very real expressiveness, wind or brass solo such as performed by a very capable soloist. The VL can do that. Bowed or plucked strings with all the nuances the most competent player could do? The VL can do that." - A digital E-bow? -- " Would you prefer a slightly more modern ’vintage” synth? How about the PLG150-DX, which is the equivalent of the classic Yamaha DX-? Note: this is not just a collection of DX-like sounds, this is the actual FM synth engine of a DX-7, on a single plug-in card! You can download any DX-7 (and DX1, TF1, TX116, TX816, TX7, DX5, DX72FD, DX72D, DX7S, TX802, etc.) sounds from the Internet or third-party voice banks into this thing and they’ll work (not to mention making your own patches from scratch)!" - THEY SAVED HITLER'S BRAIN! A real 80s BritPopChip in a new controller? Yikes!!! The concept makes me so horny I must dash, and find out if that EX7 I've been lusting after can birth that baby.

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"Do your duty to Futurism, despatch a lawyer." - Mortimer's Nerd