Yamaha Sonogenic SHS-500 Keytar - Digital Keyboard with Jam Mode, USB Audio and Bluetooth MIDI, Black

This is a reasonable and totally fun keyboard!

cards on the table .im a guitarist who started taking a keyboard to gigs around christmas, so not advanced keyboard player. that said the shs has good on board sounds although only 30 it has a jam function which is of no use to me but it is very usable compact and of course dosent require a stand all in all compact easy to use and sounds great and as an add on tip a hard case for this doesnt seem to exist so i use a carbine rifle case the right size and shape and about 20 quid second hand as keytars go with on board sounds good bang to buck ratio .

Not many people know but I come from a classically trained background. My studio set-up includes a Korg Kronos and SGX Piano with Propellerheads Reason 10. When the SHS-500 came up for review, I really wanted to see if it ticked the boxes in helping non-musicians to jam along.Yamaha’s SHS-500 comes in two finishes – Black or Red. It’s a compact unit that is very light and comes with a strap. The unit that arrived was finished in red which makes it stand out. The SHS-500 comes with a power supply block (it can run on 6 ‘AA’ batteries too), a DIN/MIDI splitter adaptor which is used to connect the keytar to other MIDI enabled instruments. The keytar itself has quite a buttons and controls on it. There are a number of controls and button ranging from bend, modulation through to octave changes. The small LED display provides information pertaining to the status of the keytar. The whole unit feels well put together judging by the number of screws underneath it.The sound library comprises of 30 sounds. 28 instruments and 2 drum kits. The tinny speaker is dreadful but plugging it into a proper speaker system and some of the sounds are actually not bad. The flute is the best out of the bunch here sounding realistic. Synth sounds such as Undrheim sounds warm whilst the piano is a tinkling cheap one without any depth. The drum kits are ok – a power kit for traditional drums sounds and a House kit for electronic ones. There are effects built into the SHS-500 which are functional but not brilliant.The SHS-500 is intended for the younger generation who don’t want to necessarily learn about chords and scales – they just want to play along without hitting any wrong notes. The built-in demos are dance orientated and you can play along in tune as the SHS-500 configures the notes accordingly. Unfortunately, you can’t exploit the sequencing facility which is a real shame as it show cases the SHS-500 in a positive light. Yamaha have left it out so that users buy costlier keyboards. The SHS-500 is also intended to be used in conjunction with Yamaha’s Chord App tracker so you can play with your favourite songs but the app is only available for Apple devices at this time. Not a smart move Yamaha because there are more Android users than Apple users the last time I checked.One positive thing about the SHS-500 is that it can act as a USB enabled MIDI controller. It works very well with Reason on the PC with minimal trouble.So, I’m in a bit of a quandary about the SHS-500. I understand it is aimed at individuals who just want to jam along. There’s nothing wrong with that and I encourage anyone to enter the world of music creation but at £250, that’s a steep price to pay. Being unable to exploit its sequencing capabilities is short sighted and the Apple-only Chord Tracker app locks out people who use Android. I’m generous giving the SHS-500 3 stars because of Yamaha’s good intentions but the price really needs to come down to reflect its limited functionality and appeal. At this time, I can't recommend the SHS-500 to prospective buyers.

Disappointed with the quality

Useless device. Whoever designed it needs shooting.If you want a keytar, you'd be better off gluing a broomhandle and a strap to a PSR-473.

My son loves this excellent product

Reviewed for me by my musical neighbour who plays guitar and keyboards in a band.Yamaha describes the Sonogenic SHS-500 as 'a new type of instrument...that is perfect for music lovers who want to participate in makingmusic, but maybe haven't learned how. This 'Keytar' ('Key'board +Gui'tar') gives you the freedom to dance, jump and move around whileyou play.'It certainly is good fun, with its clever chord recognition software,it mutes notes which would be considered 'out-of-tune', replacing themwith in-tune notes. It will recognise chords in many existing tracks(it has a couple of internal tunes to try and recommends other trackswith clearly identifiable chord sequences) and then allows you to playthe keyboard over them. You can connect and select tracks from yourexternal device (iPad or iPhone for instance). You need no skill toget going and you can be as enthusiastic as you like, jump around, hitany keys and still sound in tune.I think it's a great 'gateway' instrument, allowing music-lessonaverse kids to experience the 'buzz' that the making of music candeliver, maybe encouraging them to learn more. If you have someability, then you can simply turn the clever stuff off and play alongwithout assistance. There are enough fairly sophisticated on-boardsounds to be satisfying, all of which can be modified using adjustableonboard effects (such as reverb). It also has vibrato and pitch-bendcontrols for the left hand, which can be operated whilst playing thekeys with the right hand. The keyboard has 37 smaller than usual keys,which is useful for children, but they are not too small even for my largehands – it still plays like a full-size keyboard. For those who wantmore, there is MIDI (accessible via Bluetooth), allowing you to accesssounds in an external MIDI device, or in recording software packages,for instance. It may well occasionally tempt me away from my full-sizekeyboards for fun, but it is particularly great for the children (orindeed any musical novice).

Compact and from a trusted maker ; this keyboard is basic but has great features : you can download an app to provide other sound effects .It’s easy to carry about . Is lightweight and doesn’t need a stand .As a pianist it’s certainly different and useful to keep me occupied during this current Coronavirus lockdown .I can see it will be useful to take to music lessons and to use when accompanying choir and school groups when out of lockdown !