Advanced teaching tools and PC connectivity for a song!

The Yamaha PSR-293 61-Key Portable Keyboard is a wonderful keyboard for people who want to learn to play music. It has the improved Yamaha Education Suite (Y.E.S.) Version IV which includes Your Tempo and Repeat & Learn modes. The keyboard comes with 30 preloaded songs, Flash ROM internal storage for adding more, and 70 additional selections on an included CD-ROM. Simply connect the keyboard to your computer via the convenient USB connector and transfer songs to the keyboard for learning or listening (PC only). The PSR-293 is the first in the line with recording capability and also features performance assistant technology that allows you to play along with songs and not make a mistake - even if you're a complete beginner!

Learn to play with the Yamaha Education Suite IV

Keyboard lessons/songs are designed for learning one hand at a time

Your Tempo learning mode - progress at your own pace

Repeat and Learn - repeat difficult-to-learn sections

Lesson Grading - monitors your progress as you practice each lesson

Lessons work with internal as well as downloaded song files

Chord Dictionary - shows you how to play chords and tells you which chords you are playing by displaying the notes and chord name on the LCD screen

Learning to play songs moves to a new level of simplicity with the Your Tempo learning mode. Call up a song, press Left Hand or Right Hand or both at once for 2-handed learning, and the keyboard will speed up and slow down as you do, literally following you through the song. Once you get accustomed to where the notes are, you can keep the keyboard at one fixed tempo to learn correct timing. If you find one section of the song a little difficult, simply engage the Repeat and Learn button and the PSR-293 will stay on that section, repeating it until you feel comfortable. Then move on to the next section. And to top it all off, the Yamaha Education Suite also works with Standard MIDI Files (SMF), allowing you to learn songs that you choose. To add songs to the keyboard, simply connect it to your PC via the convenient USB jack on the back, and head out on the Internet (example:www.yamahamusicsoft.com) in search of your favorite songs.

PC Button & USB: This keyboard loves your computer

The PSR-293 has many state-of-the-art features to make connecting it to your PC as quick and easy as possible. These features include the PC Button, which takes a snapshot of your MIDI settings so that you can instantly return to them with just the press of a single button, and a USB port for transferring song data from your computer. In addition, the USB port acts as a MIDI interface, freeing you from having to purchase other MIDI peripherals like cables and adapters to play music. Simply connect it to your computer, open your favorite music software program, and hit PLAY. That's it.

Portable Grand

Playing piano is fast and easy with Yamaha's Portable Grand function. One dedicated button brings up a great-sounding piano, stunningly rich and authentic in its sound and exceptionally responsive to your playing touch, as well as setting up the keyboard to play as a piano in full keyboard mode. On top of all this, a wealth of special piano-only "Pianist" styles, like Slow Rock and Stride, provide professional-sounding piano accompaniment that change chords automatically as you do, while you play a piano melody on top!

General MIDI and Yamaha XGlite makes for great sound

The PSR-293 comes equipped with 487 voices that include stereo-sampled Piano, a selection of Sweet! Voices including Trumpet, Flute, Pan Flute, Soprano and Tenor Saxes, Cool Organ and Electric Piano, 10 Drum Kits, and 2 Sound Effects Kits. Sweet! Voices are special voices from Yamaha that reproduce all the natural expression and vibrato of their respective acoustic instruments. Cool! Voices feature long samples of electronically amplified instruments.

And for the utmost in compatibility, the PSR-293 is both General MIDI (GM) and XGlite capable. The Internet has thousands of MIDI song files available and you can rest assured that your PSR-293 will be able to competently reproduce these files.

Mix and match

You are also able to create sound mixes of your own using Layer and Split modes. Split mode allows you to have 2 different sounds on the keyboard at the same time, like piano on the right and bass on the left. Layer mode allows you to combine 2 sounds across the keyboard range. For example, you could play piano and strings at the same time. You're only limited by your imagination.

Performance Assistant Technology—Now anyone (yes, anyone!) can play

Performance assistant technology is a feature from Yamaha that guarantees that you can't play a wrong note or chord. Here's how it works: Select a song and press the Performance Assistant button. Play the keyboard—any notes you like. Every note you play will fit the music! If you move up the keyboard, the pitch goes up. If you move down, the pitch goes down. Play a perfect arpeggio, or play chords in time with the music, or really "go for it" and play a solo. How about stride piano? No matter what you play, as long as the Performance Assistant button is "on", you're "on". Imagine being able to give a concert to your friends or relatives the very first day that you bring this remarkable keyboard home. Well, with the PSR-293 and performance assistant technology, you can! This feature also works with any XF MIDI files you download into the keyboard (for example, search for XF at www.yamahamusicsoft.com).

Sound Quality

2-Way Speaker System: Separate woofers and tweeters deliver sounds with clarity and precision for more lifelike instrument voices.

Bass Boost System

A special port on each speaker adds a powerful impact to bass sound reproduction.

Stereo (Not just 2 Speakers)

We all know that stereo sound adds realistic character and spatial depth. But how can you tell if the portable keyboard you're looking to purchase is stereo or not? With Yamaha, the answer is simple. All Yamaha Portable Keyboards are true stereo.

Digital Signal Processing (DSP)

Enhances sound quality with sophisticated digital effects like Harmony, Reverb, and Chorus.

Advanced Wave Memory (AWM)

Yamaha Advanced Wave Memory technology delivers amazingly realistic sound.

32-note Polyphony

What's polyphony, you ask? Simply put, polyphony is how many notes a keyboard can reproduce simultaneously. The PSR-293 has 32-note Polyphony allowing you to play intricate arrangements and dense musical passages.

Keyboard Styles and the One Touch Setting

The PSR-293 comes with 135 built-in styles, waiting for you to play along with. It's just like having a built-in band. Call up your favorite style of music like Rock, Big Band, or Country, press a chord or play Single Finger mode, and the PSR-293 will follow you through a piece of music, providing all of the drums, bass, piano, guitar, horn and string parts for you. And to make it easy and fun, when you select one of the styles, the One Touch Setting function will automatically configure keyboard parameters, such as voice selection and digital effects, to match that selected music style.

Get all the accessories you need with a Yamaha Survival Kit!

Yamaha PSR-293 61-Key Portable Keyboard Features:

• New ROM loaded with Sweet and Cool voices 6-track sequencer to record your creations
• Performance Assistant and EZ Song Arranger help you to develop and rearrange your songs
• Improved Yamaha Education Suite includes Your Tempo feature
• Repeat and Learn function
• USB port serves as MIDI interface
• One-touch PC button
• Flash ROM memory lets you store new songs

This is a phenomenal bargain on a whole lot of keyboard. Click or call now to order!

Yamaha PSR-293 61-Key Portable Keyboard

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Average of 13 User Ratings

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Very nice keyboard!

Posted by Anonymous Musician on Oct 2, 2006

Experience w/product: I own it

Reviewer's Background: Casual hobbyist

Reviewer's Play Style: N/A

I've had this keyboard for about a year now, and our family loves it. It looks nice and is built very well. We have had no problems with it, whatsoever. The various sounds are incredible, and there are many very useful functions. We use it for teaching our kids piano lessons, as a MIDI controller, and for just messing around having fun. I researched quite a while for keyboards in this price range, and this keyboard won hands down. I would highly recommend this keyboard for anyone who wants an inexpensive keyboard with loads of options to keep them busy.

A pitch bend wheel and more synth sounds would be nice - maybe on our next keyboard!

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Great Keyboard for Recording!

Posted by Tommy Bizzle from Orchard Park, NY on Aug 6, 2006

Experience w/product: I own it

Reviewer's Background: Active Musician

Reviewer's Play Style: Emo/Rock/Pop Punk

My dad bought this keyboard for me and i must say its quite a beauty. Its very useful for recording piano and strings, the reverb is nice and it has good control. Its also nice as a midi controller, in programs like ACID PRO or FRUITY LOOPS. I use this thing in almost all of my recordings, and i'd certainly recomend it to anyone wanting to add synth or things like that to songs. Very very good product!

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Too Good to be true!

Posted by Keyborg Keyboardist from Washington D.C. on Mar 20, 2006

Experience w/product: I own it

Reviewer's Background: Active Musician,Recording Engineer

Reviewer's Play Style: Jazz, Blues, Rock, Funk

I brought this keyboard mainly for the USB connection and the tones.This is a nice keyboard, however you will soon out grow it....it has nice tones...nice drum kits. However the drum kits are outdated and after awhile you are bored.The Grand Piano sound is great!There is a sweet trumpet sound and the flutes are ok. It would have been nice to have a pitch wheel, however if you just want to learn how to play keyboard or just jam with the "FAMILY" then this board is ok.Don't use this board on a gig.It will not stand up to pounding. The after touch is ok.Buy this board and you will have fun,but don't think that you are CHICK COREA! Great board to learn on!

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YAMAHA PSR 293

Posted by Troy from Seattle on Feb 26, 2006

Experience w/product: I own it

Reviewer's Background: Active Musician

Reviewer's Play Style: Rock / Metal

This keyboard is the bomb! I play in a very well known band and we all have very high end gear. I wanted to play around with some pre-production ideas on keyboard for our next CD. I looked and looked everywhere only to find all the keyboards that were in the price range I wanted to spend were all lame low budget boards. I did not want to spend a lot of money on a keyboard that I was only going to use for pre-production. Then I found the PSR 293. This keyboard is very good quailty, compared to boards I played that cost much, much more. You will not find a better quality keyboard anywhere for cheaper or even the same price. Grab this baby before they go up in price!

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Very Nice!

Posted by YoungLink12 on Feb 14, 2006

Experience w/product: I own it

Reviewer's Background: Piano, oboe, and Bass Guitar Student

Reviewer's Play Style: Jazz, Alternative, classic

I really am pleased with this model. Even though it has quite spongy/unrealistic feel. I find it very handy for recording, due to it's easy MIDI interface, and large cache of high-quality samples. The only drawback to it is its functionality of storing tracks on the memory (it has small memory). But that is nothing if you have another recording device such as a digital track recorder.

Besides all the technical stuff, it is a really great thing to have around the studio.

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Yamaha PSR-293 61-Key Portable Keyboard

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