Grande Yamaha EX5 Demo

[@PureAmbientDrone]

These are fantastic instruments to own and play. I have the 76 keyboard and it sounds incredible!

[@jan-martinulvag1962]

Stop bragging about it, idiot

[@snuppssynthchannel]

Beautiful sounds from a beautiful sounding instrument. I am a proud owner of one, its undouptedly one of the top 5 most powerful Workstations ever made, With all of its various synthesis types, and its undouptedly the best sounding one, atleast in my opinion.

[@midnightwolfplayzz3984]

That reverb is amazingly good lush

[@bradleylinemihler]

love it. never even heard of this yamaha keyboard

[@dvamateur]

It was a flagship Yamaha synthesizer in 1998. I remember checking it out in Sam Ash music store, but it was like $2,500 at that time, so it was totally out of my reach. After that was an excellent expandable CS6x synthesizer (not a workstation though), and after that Motif. You can consider the EX5/EX7 synthesizers are precursors to Motif line.

[@bradleylinemihler]

Andrew Piatek well for 1998 it easily gave the rolands of that time a run for the money

[@dvamateur]

bradleylinemihler Roland lineup included XP-80 and JP-8000 at that time. EX5 looked and felt higher quality than the XP-80, that's for sure.

[@fl00d69]

This is my 2nd kb, and my favourite.

[@rhopsutorius]

I am trying to find an accordion sound in my old EX5. Any suggestions? Thnx a lot.

[@Zipwardlol]

Use Sampling memory .

[@ChrisNova777]

how much do u think one of these is worth in 2015?

[@jensmandreasen2230]

$400

[@sm7x7]

$2,000 in 2018

[@miguelrejas5034]

400/500/600 bucks present day. All depends on how the kd is been cared.. I mean the condition.

[@antonbriggs5680]

$800 for a mint one in 2021

[@yeoldmedic7572]

2021 there going for 800 to 1100 in good condition, beat up 600 to 700

[@deauvillevrienden]

Hi, are these factory patches ?

[@Musicology1975]

Jazeker

[@EgoShredder]

The last decent range of keyboards released by Yamaha, along with the classic SY series. Everything since then has been sterile, characterless, synth boxes instead of being inspiring and truly different like the SY and EX series. Even back in 1998 when the EX5 came out, the other brands like Korg were trying to innovate but concentrated on whizz bang features and touchscreens etc, but the sounds were for me rather plastic and over produced; the Yamaha series were bold, raw, beautiful and breathtaking in their sounds.

[@dvamateur]

Yeah, sure, it's a nice keyboard. It bit me hard though. Hardest than any other instrument. I bought it 4 years ago for $1,650 ($1,250 for the keyboard + $400 for the 16MB flash RAM). Then I decided to get rid of it, Guitar Center only gave me $150 telling me there's no market for it.

[@EgoShredder]

Andrew Piatek They routinely go for around £300 to £400 on Ebay UK, so basically three times more than that music store gave you. I bet they made a nice profit on that. I once worked in a music store and these older keyboards are very sought after by stores like this, and they always give the people trading in peanuts. My own Yamaha SY55 has slowly been rising in price over the years, but I have no plans to sell it ever (I bought it in May 1991).

[@dvamateur]

EgoShredder Well, I paid more, supposedly for the condition, which was very good, aside the fact that the LCD was a big misaligned, meaning someone had their fingers inside before I bought it. I know, I should have fixed it. Just didn't have the energy. Anyway, I kind of prefer the SY77 and SY99 anyway. EX5 is a bit too overwhelming to me. A bit strange aesthetic too with that blue color and soap box type rounded case. I was hesitating to get it, but the seller was nagging, and it was very easy to twist my arm with the EX, so I plunged in, then I lost big at sale. Oh well, big mistake. Sad part is I'll probably never own an EX5 again, especially with the 16MB flash RAM installed. It was a great instrument, but one can't everything. If I had a choice between EX5 or SY99, I'd go with SY99, so that's what I have. I guess I shouldn't be complaining.

[@EgoShredder]

Andrew Piatek I absolutely love the EX5 sounds and the keyboard has one of the best actions EVER of ANY brand or model. The reason I have never bought one apart from lack of space in my room, is that I have four Yamaha MU100R rack modules with six different PLG boards (VL, VH, DR, AP, DX, AN), so apart from one or two features of the EX5, I have an overall better system. I think the SY series have more serious synth abilities, although I am not a synth programmer so I rely on presets mostly (I own all seven WAVE + DATA card sets). This website has most of the SY keyboards, with some really good demo mp3 files; very expressive and push the SY beyond what I thought possible when I bought mine. www.polynominal.com/yamaha-sy55/index.html

[@dvamateur]

I was thinking about getting the MU100R at some point. I didn't know it takes the PLG-DX15-series cards. I thought that the VL engine is built into the MU100R. Anyway, to be brutally hones, I got the EX5 for the VL engine in it. I used to have the VL-70m, but the form factor didn't fit the 19" rack, and the overall build quality, the buttons seemed rather on the budget side. So, the EX5 being a flagship Yamaha product, would give the VL capability in a nicer package. But I sold the EX5 in the end, for reasons I mentioned before. I also had Yamaha SY80 with PLG-150 piano and DX boards installed. The sound was excelent, but the S80's potentiometers started skipping bad, rendering the instrument unediatable, and they keyboard feel was unusually unplayable in the upper range, so I sold the S80 as well. The most advanced keyboard I still have left is probably the XV-88. But that recently started to develop a whine from its LCD that find its way into the line outs. So, I haven't been too lucky I guess with same pieces of equipment, I guess. Surprisingly all my Yamaha DX/TX/SY-series and Roland D/S-series hardware still works. Knock on wood...