Happily surprised to see this review pop up in my feed. I snagged one of these little F30s a couple years ago and immediately recognized the fun-potential and got the Arp-and EDM based PSS-A50 as well. Glad I did as they seem to be sold out now. I always pack one or the other on trips. You absolutely can’t beat the small portable cheesy fun. Working up a new tune on a plane? -check. Playing some fully-arranged singalongs poolside after some beers? - check. Passing it around at a party and letting everyone take a crack at performing a tune? -check. Embracing its obvious limitations while bringing out its hidden ability is part of the charm. Best $60 music gear purchases I ever made!
This is a great little keyboard. I just wish Yamaha can combine this with features in PSS A50 with a three and a half octaves velocity keyboard and a scaled down feature set of Yamaha PSR E425. A tiny keybaord like that with speaker and long battery life is a great fun tool to play at camp or composing songs on the go.
I have the model up A50 I believe . The sounds are great but getting the rhythms and arpeggio mode can be tricky . Kind of left me wondering if maybe a bit more thought could have been put into the basic controls . Great sounds though and a great review !
I'm looking forward for Yamaha to expand their PSS mini keyboards into something more advanced, maybe a miniature version of the PSR-E473, or even a miniature PSR-SX600. 49 keys would be better
That would be awesome. For me the main appeal of this F30 starts and ends with its size and portability. I cannot imagine how much more fun a super lite PSS/psr-sx600 could be. But I’d pay a few hundred bucks to find out!!
This is LITERALLY a tiny PSR-E243/343 or the like. Calling it a small E273/373 would be a bit of a stretch... it's got over 200 styles, which is insane!!
I have this and unfortunately I don't think you can trigger soft synth sounds in your DAW ....wish I had bought the other one that can. The other one has lots of arpeggios as well.
Great, just the kind of thing I've been looking for. Gonna buy a second hand one, drill some screws into it for a shoulder strap, and run the output into my guitar pedal board.
For the price it makes sense. Especially the keybed is nice. Except the black keys which are matt not glossy, it's the same keybed as in Yamaha Reface. Except it lacks touch sensitivity. And that's quite sad as it could make a difference. I had also PSS A-50 which has touch sensitivity, but it lacks many voices, which PSS F-30 has. Yamaha Should make something like PSS A90 haha, with PSS F-30 sounds and touch sensitive keyboard. I think there is still a niche in the market - good quality sounds, touch sensitivity and small footprint. Medeli MK 49 seems nice, but the keys are same size as Yamaha. I would love to see 3 octave keyboard with full size touch response keys and nice sounds.
Medeli MK49 is not available for buying in my area. I was looking at it to buy as a gift. Also if Casio picked up the glove in department of small midi keyboards I would be interested as well. BTW I have PSS-A50 and I'm never giving it away. It's a great concept and construction. However I wouldn't mind something that's an octave longer.
@@dwsel yeah it's not avaiable in Europe, so i also can't buy it at the moment. I hope it will be there somewhere in the future. Popular Medeli practice is selling it at some other brand. Maybe Thomann will be interested, as they already have smaller 37 keys medeli keyboard as startone bk37.
I got the e30 for my niece, i was jealous lol especially if you go to your buddies house like a singer who doesnt play instruments and their midi controller is like just trash bc theyve never played a piano lick in their life literally unplayable. You could just bring this and have a decent set of keys and honestly so many of those sounds, sound nice and crystal clear. It reminds me of the good speakers on old yamaha keyboards where they could really chirp not the new muddy ones.
Happily surprised to see this review pop up in my feed. I snagged one of these little F30s a couple years ago and immediately recognized the fun-potential and got the Arp-and EDM based PSS-A50 as well. Glad I did as they seem to be sold out now.
I always pack one or the other on trips. You absolutely can’t beat the small portable cheesy fun.
Working up a new tune on a plane? -check.
Playing some fully-arranged singalongs poolside after some beers? - check.
Passing it around at a party and letting everyone take a crack at performing a tune? -check.
Embracing its obvious limitations while bringing out its hidden ability is part of the charm. Best $60 music gear purchases I ever made!
Yep, limitations = innovative thinking! Glad you liked the vid :)
It's really a size reduced PSR-F50. Same voices, same styles, same demo tunes, same chipset. It just has less and smaller keys.
Spot on.
2:28 From what I know PSS-F30 isn't MIDI capable. On this model USB is just for power purposes. USB MIDI is only available in PSS-A50.
I was just about to comment on that myself. I do have a PSS-F30, and it definitely can't be used as a MIDI controller.
Supposedly it's actually possible to mod in a MIDI port with some soldering, but that's quite advanced.
@@hikari_no_yume no, it doesnt have the chip for usb communication. the f50 model has an extra physical chipset for that.
I didn't say a USB port, I said a MIDI port. There's unused pins on the tone generation chip.
Can u solder usb midi chip on that empty spot and make it work?
This is a great little keyboard. I just wish Yamaha can combine this with features in PSS A50 with a three and a half octaves velocity keyboard and a scaled down feature set of Yamaha PSR E425. A tiny keybaord like that with speaker and long battery life is a great fun tool to play at camp or composing songs on the go.
💯:)
I have the model up A50 I believe . The sounds are great but getting the rhythms and arpeggio mode can be tricky . Kind of left me wondering if maybe a bit more thought could have been put into the basic controls . Great sounds though and a great review !
Thanks Kim! 👍
You are right. The A50 is capable of quite a bit - but it is definitely not as intuitive as the F30. Takes more prep work.
I'm looking forward for Yamaha to expand their PSS mini keyboards into something more advanced, maybe a miniature version of the PSR-E473, or even a miniature PSR-SX600. 49 keys would be better
I’d like to see them remake the PSS synths if the Kate 90’s. I’m certain that they won’t though!
That would be awesome. For me the main appeal of this F30 starts and ends with its size and portability. I cannot imagine how much more fun a super lite PSS/psr-sx600 could be. But I’d pay a few hundred bucks to find out!!
Yowsa, yousa, yowsa! It make noises, be tiny and can even fit in my poise! Nice review keyboard dude guy.
A Boston accent? Kwazy!
This is LITERALLY a tiny PSR-E243/343 or the like. Calling it a small E273/373 would be a bit of a stretch... it's got over 200 styles, which is insane!!
Yep I agree with that 👍
as other guy mentioned in the comment, it's literally F50/F51
The mini Yamaha PSR-F50 keyboard looking cuuuute.
Yeah I wish there was more color in home keyboards. Thumbs up to Yamaha on this one.
I have this and unfortunately I don't think you can trigger soft synth sounds in your DAW ....wish I had bought the other one that can. The other one has lots of arpeggios as well.
Great, just the kind of thing I've been looking for. Gonna buy a second hand one, drill some screws into it for a shoulder strap, and run the output into my guitar pedal board.
I love that customizing spirit! Nice one :)
For the price it makes sense. Especially the keybed is nice. Except the black keys which are matt not glossy, it's the same keybed as in Yamaha Reface. Except it lacks touch sensitivity. And that's quite sad as it could make a difference. I had also PSS A-50 which has touch sensitivity, but it lacks many voices, which PSS F-30 has. Yamaha Should make something like PSS A90 haha, with PSS F-30 sounds and touch sensitive keyboard. I think there is still a niche in the market - good quality sounds, touch sensitivity and small footprint. Medeli MK 49 seems nice, but the keys are same size as Yamaha. I would love to see 3 octave keyboard with full size touch response keys and nice sounds.
Medeli MK49 is not available for buying in my area. I was looking at it to buy as a gift. Also if Casio picked up the glove in department of small midi keyboards I would be interested as well. BTW I have PSS-A50 and I'm never giving it away. It's a great concept and construction. However I wouldn't mind something that's an octave longer.
@@dwsel yeah it's not avaiable in Europe, so i also can't buy it at the moment. I hope it will be there somewhere in the future. Popular Medeli practice is selling it at some other brand. Maybe Thomann will be interested, as they already have smaller 37 keys medeli keyboard as startone bk37.
Can you decrease the volume and play it to avoid disturbing your neighbours?
yes
Is this a new model? If not what year was released.
Fairly new, I think it was 2021/2022 something like that.
It was actually late 2019.
@@gearfacts I see..
I got the e30 for my niece, i was jealous lol especially if you go to your buddies house like a singer who doesnt play instruments and their midi controller is like just trash bc theyve never played a piano lick in their life literally unplayable. You could just bring this and have a decent set of keys and honestly so many of those sounds, sound nice and crystal clear. It reminds me of the good speakers on old yamaha keyboards where they could really chirp not the new muddy ones.
I believe these also have a high polyphony which is very important to me and beats out the old cool mini synths just for that reason, unfortunately.
I enjoyed it
the answer is no! lol. Brilliant.