Entry-level arranger workstation with professional features.
The Yamaha PSR-S550B is an entry-level music arranger keyboard workstation that offers professional features. You get 16-track sequencing; 64-note polyphony; unique regional voices and drum kits including Chinese, Indian, and Middle Eastern; USB MIDI and storage, and full XG compatibility (Yamaha XG sound modules).
The Yamaha PSR-55508 is a wonderful addition to any serious musician's keyboard collection. Like other Yamaha arranger workstation keyboards, there are dedicated Registration Memory (snapshots of settings), One Touch Setting, and Octave buttons on the panel, as well as Style and Voice category buttons to get you where you want to go quickly. Other pro features include a mixer function for song playback, 3 Intros, 4 Variations, and 3 Endings to the Styles, a Style Creator function, and great Sweet!/Cool!/Live! Voices inherited from the flagship Tyros and PSR-S900/S700 systems.
Ease of Operation
There are many tools in the Yamaha PSR-S550B keyboard workstation that make it easy to be a power user from day one. The Mixer function allows you to change track volume, panning, reverb, and chorus during song playback. It's Music Database (MDB) has 600 complete keyboard setups by song title. There are four factory-recommended setups for each Style giving you the convenience of one-touch settings in the keyboard. The Registration Memory takes digital snapshots of all of your keyboard settings (8 memory buttons x 8 banks) for quick recall. Other useful functions include a transpose function to easily transpose the keyboard and songs to the best key for you, a metronome for practice or for recording tracks to the built-in sequencer, and Tap Tempo so you can set the tempo for the next song exactly where you want with a simple button press.
Sound Quality
The PSR-S550B gives you realistic voices for sounding your best, drawing on some of the recent technologies of other Yamaha Arranger Workstation keyboards. You'll find a vast selection of 294 true-to-life instrument voices, 480 GM/XG voices, and 22 drum/SFX kits. Included is a selection of regional voices and drum kits (Chinese, Indian, and Middle Eastern), as well as special piano, guitar, brass and flute Voices from Yamaha's Tyros, PSR-S900 and PSR-S700 arranger workstations.
Just below the voice-category buttons are buttons that allow you to split and layer voices; Harmony, Touch, and Sustain on/off; a dedicated DSP button; and Upper Octave transpose buttons.
16-track sequencer and 64-note polyphony
With the PSR-S550B, you have the equivalent of a built-in multitrack recorder to record one or multiple instrument parts at a time, and assign each part to a different track. Sixteen tracks are provided to accommodate sophisticated melodies, chord accompaniment, and rhythm parts. During playback, use the Mixer function to change track volumes and balance. And to keep you from running out of notes with all that great music playing, the PSR-S550B features 64-note polyphony.
Three effects blocks: tailor your sound
Whether it's a rotary speaker effect you're after, flange, overdrive guitar, or just simple compression, the PSR-S550B offers the utmost in control over your sound. You'll find 35 Reverb, 44 Chorus, and 237 DSP effects, plus 26 Harmony and 5 preset types of Master EQ. The 237 DSP effects can be added to the Main, Dual, and Left Voices.
LCD displays lyrics, chords, notation
Have you ever played a song and wondered what it would look like as sheet music? The PSR-S550B can display the score of a song whether it comes from the Internet, the internal selections, or songs that you record yourself and the pages scroll automatically when a song is played back. No more page turning! This is a great way to learn how to read music. And, for singers, the screen also displays chords and lyrics to XG compatible songs.
Digital Music Notebook
Digital Music Notebook is a multimedia Internet service that enables you to preview, purchase, download, and print learn-to-play music books and chart-topping sheet music. From scales and chords to your favorite riffs, Digital Music Notebook is jam-packed with all the secrets you need to master your instrument. Add accompaniments, record and mix yourself, sing karaoke with friends, learn new techniques while having a blast—Digital Music Notebook delivers everything you need to bring music alive. Check out the Flash Demo on the included CD-ROM.
