Keyboards & Synthesizers > Yamaha Keyboards & Synthesizers

Advantages: lightweight
Disadvantages: too many - look at the review..

The microKORG is one of the best selling synthesizers worldwide and has been used by several electronic bands such as Enter Shikari and Massive Attack. The box simply contains the tiny 2kg microKORG itself, the vocoder microphone, power supply and manual. Users may at first be surprised by exactly how small the product is if they haven't seen it in real life before. It has only 3 octaves, and the keys are reminiscent of those found on a toy keyboard. ...
...any Bach or Beethoven on this baby, as it is almost impossible to get any articulation or expression in the cheap, plastic, weightless keys. The preset sounds that are supplied are the epitome of mediocrity. On the other hand, the modulation wheel on the left of the keys is extremely handy and easy to use. However i felt that apart from the modulation wheel, it was very hard and complicated to change any of the attributes of the sound - mainly because ... Read review

Advantages: Price, Amount of Keys, Ease of Use, Runs off USB power, Mixer Incorporated
Disadvantages: No Grand Piano, No Record Function, No weighted Keys

The Novation X-Station is bursting with a large variety of functions and features well suited to any avid musician. It is ready to use straight out of the box, and extremely easy to understand. I would highly recommend this product to any musician - particularly those interested in the Electronica/Dance genre. This is due to the synthesizer's lack of grand piano sounds. I would also say that the price is one of the X-Station's greatest assets. At ...
...than its market competitors. Another advantage of using the X-Station is that it has a mixer incoroporated in its design; a feature that will have all bedroom musicians laughing. It has all the necessary inputs and outputs that one would expect from a synthesizer, as well as space for one IN/OUT phantom powered microphone. To add to this, the X-Station runs off your PC or Laptop's USB power. However there are a few negative points to the X-Station. ... Read review

Advantages: Great budget synth.
Disadvantages: Tricky to program.

...budget version of the infamous Yamaha DX range of synths. It may only have minikeys, and a limited range of sound compared to it's bigger relations, but you get still get some incredible sounds from this little DX-100. Warm rounded basses, thin string pads and nice smooth solo sounds are all here. Where it really comes into it's own is when you want those harsh sounds to cut through the music like a chainsaw. You have to have a DX in any synth ...
...Believe me, you'l thank me when you start to play it! A little difficult to program, but worth the results. Polyphony - 8 notes Oscillators - Compact Digital 4-operator FM synthesizer Keyboard - 49 minikeys Memory - 192 presets, 24 user Cheers, BigHairyKev :) ... Read review

Advantages: Easy to use, sounds are big
Disadvantages: Not very robust

The Novation Bass station keyboard is a small and portable multi use synth able to produce not only low bass sounds but also high frequencies (and noises). It has a two octave keyboard scale with two VCO's. It is able to produce some fantastic analogue sub bass sounds similar to the Roland TB303 as well as Moog like synth lead sounds. I have found that some of the control knobs can be a little temperamental but that could be due to lack of use, also ...
...on the ground, it wouldn't stand much chance of survival. A great feature of this piece of equipment is that you can store up to five sounds which is really useful and very easy to do. Also this works well in live situations, giving ease to tweak the knobs to get a desired sound. This is a small synth with big fat sounds and although not built with robustness in mind, can really pack a punch. I think in a few years time, this piece of kit will become ... Read review

Advantages: Fat Analog Sounds
Disadvantages: Hard to find a unit in mint condition

...the proud owner of a Roland Juno 106 from 1984. It is a classic polyphonic analog synthesizer. If you are looking for a true analog instrument and you are on a budget, look no more!. The 106 produces fat basslines, and wonderful 80's style leads. It'ss very intuitive and easy to use. The digital chips in my unit are not working, but I can still produce outstanding sounds via the Manual function. No analog modelling, no gimmicks, this synth will work ... Read review