Synth Site |  Yamaha |  YS-200

The output signal quality is very good, almost completely noiseless. I have recorded onto 4 track and then tape and even after that the sound is still good. Chuck it through a big amp and still little noise.

The onboard sequencer is useful for quick and dirty loops but I prefer a sequencer on the PC anyhow (useful sometimes). I have composed whole songs on it but it is a labour of love, as soon as I got my PC and software sequencer I kind of forgot about it, but I guess not many people do use keyboard sequencers though. You can play along to it as well which is useful for many people.

The keyboard action is nice although the after touch/velocity is not as sensitive as I would like but it does give you a lot more control. Pitch bend wheel and modulation wheel are nice and playing aftertouch responsive sounds from my DS100 is quite fun. The keyboard aftertouch and the modulation wheel can be set to various FX vibrato, tremolo, wow-wow and tone (the timbre changes, very nice).

I have managed to get the beast to sound quite analogue although you will probably need a heavy duty compressor to get this sounding right.

On board effects are stereo delays, reverbs (room, hall, reverse, plate) and distortions to combine with them. They sound OK but not as nice as my FX units. The delay is not very long (300ms) and there is no control over feedback levels (it just loops a few times). Reverb is silly and goes up to about a minute(!)

The YS200 is very handy for sequencing as it can be setup to receive from up 8 MIDI channels simultaneously in multi mode with a different sound on each. The only snag is that there is only 2 LFO's plus vibrato so some sounds much share or have no LFO effects. Another boon for the programmer is the inclusion of a MIDI Thru socket which is absent from so many other synths (Doh!)

Dont know what else to say!? Oh, Sound editting is very quick and easy as an array of buttons with function labels are right next to the LCD screen, underneath the screen are 4 pairs of up/down keys for modifying the parameters displayed on screen.

The range of sounds possible from this synth is mind-boggling, however to achieve some really nice ones expect to put in a lot a evenings and smokey late nights...