Yamaha MM8 review

Yamaha and “quality” are two words with a deep association in the world of instruments. Indeed, as we composed our Yamaha MM8 review, we found that the association is still largely intact.

This is a good keyboard, with a fairly moderate price tag. But just because it is a good keyboard doesn’t mean it is the right keyboard.

The Yamaha MM8 is a high-quality instrument with a range of features that will suit a very specific type of musician.

Today, the objective is to find out if that musician is you. Of course, there is only one way to do this. Read on for a Yamaha MM8 review!

Important Features

We will now take a look at some important features for you to consider. The following reflections mostly pertain to things that we like about the board. We will also go over some issues that we had a little bit later.

Excellent Keyboard

When we look at electric pianos, the keys are one of the first things that we check. It makes sense, right? After all, that is the only part of the instrument you are in regular direct contact with.

With acoustic pianos, key quality isn’t a huge concern. Obviously, there are issues that can crop up, but the average acoustic will have fine keys.

That isn’t always the case with keyboards. Manufacturers need to make a special effort to get this part just right.

The gold standard is to have keys that feature a weight and feel similar to that of an acoustic. To that end, the Yamaha MM8 is quite successful.

This is great to see, especially since synth keys are often a little bit different.

Not only is the keyboard that you get here weighted, it is also graded. This means that high notes are going to have a lighter feel, and low notes are going to be a little bit heavier.

All in all the keyboard leaves nothing to complain about. It produces the “piano” like feel that we always hope to find.

Incredible Range Of Voices

With electric pianos, the “voices,” really just refer to the sounds that the instrument is capable of making.

In this case, the range is very robust. You get access to 418 different sounds and tones. To put that in perspective, many boards (sometimes available for a similar price) might feature twenty.

A robust range of sounds is common to synths like this one. Still, by any standard, 418 is quite impressive.

The quality is also consistent throughout the library, which is always what we like to see.

All in all, we didn’t find anything to complain about when it came to sounds. This is another thing that Yamaha did very right.

Easy To Use Interface

Given what we mentioned in the last heading, it is also pertinent to mention that the interface here is quite good.

One of the problems that many synth boards suffer (especially ones that are this comprehensive) is that they can be hard to navigate.

Of course, depending on how much you use the board, the learning curve can be overcome. Still, no one wants a complicated playing experience at any stage of familiarity with an instrument.

You shouldn’t have issues here. The 418 sounds may sound like an overwhelming range, but that isn’t really the case. We found the user portal to be very navigable.

The way that they do it is simple but clever. The tones are broken up into the category of instrument. Piano, guitar, etc. You enter the instrument you want, then you get to see all the different version of it that they have available.

This simple but effective menu makes it as easy as possible to explore the hundreds of tones that you get.

Issues

The things that we took issue with were really pretty small. Many of the limitations mostly pertain to its ability to perform as a synth board.

For example, the recording capacity for saving songs onboard wasn’t great. You get room for five tracks here. This number is somewhat to be expected for the price.

However, there are definitely options out there that are a little bit more robust without costing an arm and a leg.
We also found the pre-installed rhythms to be a little bit lacking. For one thing, they include no intro or outro. These features are not necessarily a part of the standard, but they are both available and helpful.

Other than these factors there wasn’t much to make mention of. Does this board compete with the higher-end options?

Of course not. Nor should it be expected to. But it does stand on very solid ground when considered for its price range.

In fact, our overall opinion was that it performs the way that would expect from something with a much larger price tag.

Restrictive budgets might need to give this one a pass. People with a few dollars to spend are going to appreciate the high-quality features that are available at a moderate price.

Pros And Cons

You’ve just about completed our review. The information is a little bit overwhelming, isn’t it? As we approach decision-making time, it may help to reflect on what was learned. Let’s do that as we now take a look at some pros and cons!

Pros Of Yamaha MM8

Cons Of Yamaha MM8

Conclusion

Perfect? No. But very good. Synth boards like the one we saw today really do appeal to a very specific type of person. If all that you want is a piano for lessons and for playing at home, you will probably gravitate towards something else.

However, if you are the type that takes their instruments out for gigs, this is one to think about. The quality is solid, the features are very reliable.

All and all there is plenty to like. If you have a little bit of experience, and a budget that isn’t particularly restrictive this is one to think about.