🚀 go-pugleaf

The Pervert wrote:
> 
> "Tiny Human Ferret" <klaatu@clark.net> wrote
> 
> > Actually, I recently bought a nice Yamaha which has excellent technology
> > sensing key rate-of-descent and initial forces, etc etc., all of which
> gives
> > it an extremely piano-like response. With it set to "portable grand" it
> > sounds just about like a very nice real Yamaha grand-piano... plus it's
> got
> > about 255 other settings and is fully MIDI controllable, 16-voice
> > polyphonic. And it talks to my computer, which has a SoundBlaster Platinum
> > 5.1 Live which itself has full MIDI and another 32 voices...
> >
> > the computer would be hard to carry around, but the Yamaha isn't, and it
> was
> > something like $149.99.
> 
> Where did you get something like that?  88 full sized keys?  Self-contained
> (decent) speakers or able to be connected to my stereo amp?  Dayam!  Give me
> a website or phone number and I'll get one tomorrow!

Lessee -- it was, I think, a PSR-280. 
http://www.yamaha.com/cgi-win/webcgi.exe/DsplyModel/?gPPK00005PSR280

Yup, that's it. Sorry, only 61 keys, but they're full sized, and the
action's nice. I'm annoyingly fond of the Full Church Organ settings, which
of course I use to play assorted variations mostly along the line of Bach's
Tocatta and Fugue in D Minor (you can't hardly get more Gothic without
actually being Vincent Price as the Abominable Doctor Phibes) but it's got
all of the standard MIDI patches as well as a very good reeds (accordion,
harmonica etc) section, decent strings and brass, and the cello is also very
good for that mopey strings thang. 

The sound quality of the included stereo speakers are excellent, there's a
headphone out, I think a line-out jack as well, MIDI in and out (no thru)
and a jack for a sustain pedal. There are buckets of effects, and a rather
annoying but educational program as well as drum machine etc built-in. It
runs on batteries as well as plug-in power, and with the right instrument
selected, you can get the walls to shaking quite nicely. Operate only in
earthquake-safe zones. ("Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball.")

You can also get a software kit and instruction book with it, sold
separately from Yamaha, sorry, Win9x only, but if you run M$ warez you can
get it to talk to your computer via the joystick port on the soundcard if
you've got the right soundcard.

I got mine at Circuit City which is a "big box" store chock full of
electronica, if it was discounted from OEM it wasn't by much.

Yamaha also has quite the line-up of very professional full-88 and I think
even 108-key sets, but some of those can cost the big bucks and if you're
good enough to tell the difference, probably worth the big bucks. 

--
Be kind to your neighbors, even     | "Global domination, of course!"
though they be transgenic chimerae. |			-- The Brain
     "People that are really very weird can get into sensitive
    positions and have a tremendous impact on history." -- Dan Quayle