Yamaha YPG535 88 Key Digital Keyboards
Background Story
There is a background to this story. I was enrolled in piano lessons for about five years, starting when I was eight. I hated the piano — even more so after watching The Beatles during their appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1964. We had an old upright piano, and I would leave notes to my mother that I didn’t want to play the piano anymore. She ignored them for several years. Finally, I got so angry that I bit the piano. My teeth marks were prominently displayed on the fall board that covers the piano when it isn’t being played.
Well, that did it because my wish was granted. Mom didn’t want me to leave too many bite marks on the piano. From the Ed Sullivan Show onwards, I wanted to play guitar. My parents decided to purchase a cheap electric guitar and a small practice amp when I was about 12 years old.
Now that I had my coveted guitar, I fooled around with it, never learning more than a few basic chords until I got to high school. I learned about the final large group in the high school auditorium that would allow students to display their talents. Two of my friends and I decided to form a band. We signed up for a slot and agreed on “Hang on Sloopy ” as the song we would learn to play.
We learned to play our instruments (two guitars and a bass guitar) well enough to play the song. Then came the moment of truth: I was singing and playing the guitars when the other two just stopped playing. I looked at them, and it was a reaction of “What?” They couldn’t hear me—we didn’t think about monitors. So the students thought we were a comedy act and not a “rock band.”
The return to the piano
I attended Minnesota State University where I joined a gospel rock group. The student chapel had an ampliphier, and by this time, I had purchased another “inexpensive” guitar and a bass guitar. I was starting to get pretty good at playing the guitar, but the chapel thourht I went a little off topic during and after each service. I would inject a lot of rock into the songs, many were taken from Godspell and JC Superstar.
It was around this time that I joined a cover band – all of us were students at the university. My parents had given me their old heathkit organ that my dad buitt and I along with a couple of band members stripped it down — basically removed it from the cabinet. Still played well and was easy to tote around to gigs.
Guitar Center in Marietta, Georgia
I was browsing through the store in 2009 — I often stopped in at every section they had like guitars, PA Systems, bass guitars, acoustics, keyboards and synsesizers, drums, etc, and I kept going back to the keyboards section. I don’t even remember what happen to the heathkit organ but I missed having a piano to play. After about an hour trying out different keyboards, I decided to buy the Yamaha YPG-535. It was around $500 and change. and disassembled, it would fit into my ’97 Honda Accord.
The keyboards had a lot of features, few of which I ever used. The Yamaha had a spin dial to select various instuments and sound effects. I always like the grand piano and church organ (for playing In-A-Godda-Da-Vida and songs from The Sound of Music). I mostly play the keyboards wearing AKG studio headphones. I don’t disturb my neightbors and the sound is fantastic. Without the headphones, you can get very good sound quality from the built in speakers.
Features
• Keyboard: 88-key box type (Al-C7) with Touch Response, Graded Soft Touch
• Display: Large backlit LCD (320 x 240 dots) displays notation, lyrics and chords with LCD
Contrast control
• Yamaha Education Suite: Waiting, Your Tempo, Minus One, Chord Dictionary
• Songs: 30 Preset Songs + 5 User Songs + 70 on CD-ROM Song Clear, Track Clear, Song Volume, Song Recording
• Song control: REPEAT & LEARN, A-B REPEAT, PAUSE, REW, FF, START/STOP
• Performance Assistant Technology: Chord, Chord/Free, Melody, Chord/Melody
• Music database: 300 setups by song title + external files
• Digital effects reverb: 9 types
• Chorus: 4 types
• Harmony: 26 types
• Sequencer: 6-Tracks to record your own songs< 5 songs
• Realtime control: Pitch bend wheel
• Auxiliary jack: PHONES/OUTPUT, DC IN 12V, USB TO HOST (MIDI IN/OUT), USB TO DEVICE (optional storage devices), SUSTAIN (Note that USB was incorporated into the newer versions of this model. Older versions and a standard 3/4″ Plug for Phones.)
• Amplifier: 6W + 6W
• Speakers: 12cm x2+ 3cm x 2
Voices
• Total number: 500
• Compatibility: General MIDI (GM) & XGlite compatible
• Piano voice quality: Stereo high resolution
• Sweet! Voices: Clarinet, Trumpet, Muted Trumpet, Flute, Pan Flute, Soprano & Tenor Saxes, Trombone
• Cool! Voices: Galaxy Electric Piano, Suitcase Electric Piano, Electric Piano, Organ, Rotor Organ
• Live! Voices: Grand Piano, Warm Grand Piano, Orchestra
• Dual/Split:Yes/Yes
• Drum kits: 10 Drum + 2 SFX Kits
• Polyphony: 32 note max.
Auto accompaniment:
• Styles: 160 + 1 user style
• Variations: Intro, Main A/B, Ending, Fill-in x 2
• Control: Accompaniment on/off, sync stop, sync start, start/stop, intro/ending/rit., main A/B (auto fill)
• One Touch settings: 1 per style
• Registration memory: 2×8 banks
• Fingering: Multi finger, full keyboard
• Comes with stand shown
Specs
• Rated voltage: DC 10 – 12V
• Power Supply (Adapter): Energy saving PA-150 included goes into low power mode when adapter is turned off
Dimensions
: 52-3/4″W x 5-3/4″H x 16-5/8″D
Weight:
24lb., 40Z.