Home > Consumer Reviews > Yamaha Electronic 61-Touch Keyboard PSR-275 Free Ship

I received this keyboard as a gift, on top of just sounding better than the Casio models in this price range, the tone generator features 32-note polyphony (up to 32 tones can be sounded at once by the tone generator), casios comparitive model can do around 24.

The PSR275 lives up to being a solid keyboard for someone just learning to play by providing the capability of turning any song in it's memory into a lesson (the song slows down and the keyboard waits for you to play along), it has a good set of 100 songs to playback/listen to. A good number of drum styles and auto acompanyment. Standard MIDI IN/OUT for sequencing using a PC , etc...

The only negative here is that you don't get on board sequencer (you can't record anything) also the keyboard has no internal memory for adding additional songs. This was a big negative for me and why I ultimately returned the PSR275 for the PSR295. If you want all the features of the PSR275 with the additional benefit of being able to do multi channel/track sequencing of songs (recording) and the ability to download MIDIs into the keyboard, the PSR295 is your best bet. PSR295 currently retails for about $50.00 more, but I have actually seen it for less than the PSR275 (supply and demand I suppose).

The PSR295 comes with fewer songs in memory out of the box, but it comes with a CD-ROM full of songs a USB port (can easily connect to a laptop or desktop PC) and a USB MIDI driver (which works great with Cakewalk Sonar, Cubase, etc...) and software to boot. For that reason I give the PSR275 *** and the PSR295 *****

For those who doesn't have enough budget for Piano, this keyboard is for you. This is Yamaha's lowest type among its products that has touch sensitive capability, means you can press the key with your emotion, just like piano. Compare to Casio in the same class LK-50 (also casio's lowest end with touch sensitive), Yamaha produce closer stereo sampled piano sound. This was the highest value of PSR 275 which was being my last minute decision point between the two fighters.

Pros:
- Touch sensitive key
- Very close stereo sampled piano sound
- Wide variety of selectable voices
- The color look fresh and modern

Cons:
- Song bank has 100 songs, but are not coming from wide variety of song genre.
- Doesn't have song memory, to save and edit our performance.
- The sound is not really out loud, even put in high volume. But it's considerably ok and understandable for home use.

I purchased this as a gift for my son who has never played a keyboard.(He is 20 years old.) By the end of the first day he was playing most of a song quite well. He is thrilled with this keyboard and is slowly figuring out all the things it is capable of. We just ordered the midi cable connector so he can connect to his computer. This is a wonderful keyboard for a beginner and experienced alike.He especially likes the sensitive key aspect so that all notes aren't played at the same volume. For the price there is no way you can go wrong with this.

I purchased the Yamaha PSR275 with AC Adapter and Portable Stand at a major membership retailer for $140 on a whim, thinking that I would like to learn to play some music. I am awestruck by the features and value...it's perfect for a neophyte such as myself.

100 built in songs to learn to play along with (and you can download others from the internet), 100 styles of one-touch backup music, and 480 voices...from a real classical guitar to an actual choir to a car wreck or a machine gun. The drum kit voices turn each key into a different drum or percussion instrament. And by activating the Portable Grand button I can made my $140 keyboard sound like a grand piano.

I bought the keyboard thinking I would utilize its ability to connect to a PC and purchase some piano learning software, but the built-in learning suite will keep me busy for a long time! Last night I learned to play the right-hand part of "Greensleeves" in just a couple of hours. Fun and rewarding! The LCD display showed me which notes to play, both on the musical scale and on an idiot-proof keyboard map. Now I will learn to play the left hand part, then finally put the two parts together.

I can either play chords with one finger, or if I want to do the "real thing" the chord dictionary shows me how to play any chord, and the chord name flashes if I am playing it correctly.

Granted, if you think you are a rock star, this may not be the keyboard for you. But did you really expect to sound like Elton John for a hundred and fifty bucks? And yes, it only has 61 keys rather than the full 81. Did you not notice that when you purchased it? Hello! The volume of the keyboard can be increased by connecting it to some portable speakers or your home stereo. Seriously, for the price I don't understand what people are complaining about! I am totally impressed.

My six-year old granddaughter is over this morning and in less than an hour she has learned to play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. She has a piano at home and had never learned to play anything yet! She's stoked!

I'm going to buy headphones, a sustain pedal, a cable to connect to my PC, and a cord to play through my home stereo. This is totally fun!

"pros like me" would know that a full piano is 88 keys, not 81. Generally keyboards come in 61, 76 or 88 keys. 61 is more than ample for a beginner keyboard in this pricerange.

the sounds are nice, but not fantastic. for the price range they blow away the similar casios, especially for piano.

if you are looking for an entry level keyboard this is your best bet.