Yamaha's Astonishing $50.00 Keyboard (PSS-F30)

Many of my followers have wanted to see me review incredibly affordable digital pianos with the goal of seeing whether or not they actually have some musical value, or simply are toys. It's hard to imagine that for only 50 USD ($59.00 including shipping from Texas) you can buy a simple, fun keyboard instrument on which a beginner could learn note names, scales, and simple melodies, but it is possible with the Yamaha PSS-F30.

[ivanriverooo]

Piano at 6:35 | Harpsichord at 8:12 | El. Piano at 9:10 | More El. Pianos 9:42 | Organs 9:52 | Guitars 10:52 | Bass 11:18 | Strings 12:00 | Violin 12:42 | Double Bass 13:05 | Flute 13:27 | More flutes 14:19 | Saxes 15:05 | Brass 15:56 | Trumpets 16:15 | Vibraphone 16:37 | Marimba 17:00 | Synths 17:16 | Pads 17:52 | World 18:28 | I got tired, sorry...

Love that you, as a professional, are able to make a great demo and review even of the cheap instruments for beginners, like this one. Thanks!

[dirkmonson]

Whatever you played at 12:12 is exciting and truly unique.

[WowIndescribable]

This will change lives when it finds its way into the right hands.

[sidibill]

I play no instrument and have no musical talent, but when your videos come up I always watch and enjoy them.

[GrantJacksonUSD]

I got the PSS-A50 when this series of keyboards first came out. FUN is the most important word you used in your review. I use it as a midi controller for apps on my phone. I use it to transcribe now songs I want to learn, and to study music theory. I find it to be a highly portable and useful tool in addition to my other instruments.

[ElGregos]

Feels like listening to a 30 mins soundtrack of an unreleased LucasArts game.

[rahulgawale]

I must say the skills are more important than the gadget you have... you have impressive piano skills!!

[marvinlusk]

I am amazed by the voices in this unit also. I am MORE impressed with YOUR skills. I could listen to you play for hours on this keyboard. Thank you!

[mymiqua]

This video is great! I actually passed by my local music shop and say one in the window, thought I’d check out a review video about it. Saw about 20 mins of this and was sold. Went back and bout it straight away. Played with it for about an hour and had loads of fun. Watched the rest of the video the next day and you go through all the fancy things about it. Perfect for me to learn with. Cheers for this mate!

[STSGuitar]

Man you have such great teaching energy. It's clear you are passionate about this stuff and you do a great job of sharing your enthusiasm with us. I'm a guitarist who knows about maybe five or six songs on the piano but I truly love your videos. I first saw you a few years back in your videos about Hammond organ, and had one suggestion I wanted to throw out to you: I would love to see a series similar to this but just dedicated to the classic Hammond organ sound.

I play lead guitar in a band with an absolutely phenomenal keys player who grew up playing B3 every sunday at his church. Unfortunately, for many reasons, we don't have access to that organ for our purposes, so our keys player is relegated to using just a standard multi-voiced keyboard that has maybe four or so decent organ sounds. As a huge fan of classic music with all of those great, lush, swirly Hammond sounds, it is honestly a dream of mine to have my keys player getting all of those great real sounds in our music. A dream which has yet to be realized.

What I am curious about is seeing at what price level do the organ sounds and options (like rotating speaker effect, percussion effects, drawbar settings, etc.) get to be anywhere close to a real Hammond? Essentially, what is the cheapest option to get great and truly customizable (like with drawbars) organ sounds? Obviously you can go up to the high end of stuff with Nord's and even Hammond XK-1 and get all the regular organ options, but how cheap can you go with organs and still get a lot of great sounds? What is the best option to get true Hammond tones that don't cost an arm and a leg, or weigh 400+ pounds?

Would love to hear your top picks for how to get the best Hammond sounds with all (or most) of the standard options that you would find on a real Hammond. This is just something I haven't been able to find a good answer to. Thanks, and keep up with the great content!

[tomnesler]

Yamaha's digital sounds are always amazing and seem to be relatively uniform up and down their instrument line. What causes this keyboard to be so cheap is the number of keys (30), lack of screen, and chicklet buttons. If you fixed those shortcomings, you would jump the price up $100 easily. What I like about it is its portability. You can take this anywhere someone could take a guitar which is great for campfires, parties or trips. My only concern would be the speaker. If you are drowned out by the sound of singing, you will be disappointed.

[michaelmichael]

You actually found something this cheap, great job. Love your vid!

[MartaBuck]

if it's good enough to perform at a children's birthday party, it's good enough for me.

[Trex]

I’m a guitar player and like to goof around on keyboards. I’m not ambitious, I’m not very talented and I don’t want to invest in anything big or expensive... but I could see myself hanging out on my couch having a ball with that thing for hours.

[jjryan]

Reviewer: Not enough keys to play Bach.
Me: SOLD!

[fredacuneo]

My five-year-old son enjoyed the heck out of watching you play. Thank you for applying so much talent to a simple keyboard. He really enjoyed 12:11. And 17:54 - Reminds me of my old Korg M1.

[mcp]

This reminds me of my SHS-10 purchase way back in late 80's. I still have it and it works without flaws. Amazing product that brought lots of smiles over the years. Especially during the christmas period. And the sound of the FM chip...well let's call it vintage.

[interestedErvini]

In my opinion Yamaha make excellent entry level keyboards, I have a Yamaha YPT 230 and it was sufficient enough for me all the way up till grade 4, even though it wasn't touch sensitive nor had weighted keys, but now I use it as a perfect midi controller and that keyboard has never let me down, and all just for £100

[Ruinah]

Nice to see someone give a simple entry-level keyboard a fair shake in a review. I was a little confused how this got recommended to me. Was wondering if it was because of some videos of old synths I'd been watching, then 17:19 happened....