Yamaha Modus H01
- Thread starter bongman
- Start date
Cheez
Moderator
OK people. I've tried the Modus in TST Tom Lee, HK.
1. Touch. Excellent as usual. Standard Yamaha graded keys. Excellent response. Can't expect anything less from Yamaha.
2. Speakers. Subwoofers located at the bottom (underside) of the keyboard. Tweeters located on the top left and right. A stretch of hole imprenated metal bar stretches across on the upper end of the keys across the entire keyboard, which I take to be the standard speakers. But because Tom Lee was no noisy (a Clavinova was playing the repetitative demo piece behind me all the time), I can't tell for sure. The speakers system created the usual nice reverberation on the keys and body when played, giving the feeling of an acoustic piano.
3. Connections. The Modus seems to be created for design and eye-candy, not user friendliness. Headphone jacks are located at the left underside of the keyboard, and it's for 2x 1/8" small jacks. I find that a joke. A left and right RCA output is also located on the left underside. USB jack is located on the right underside. No midi connections. You can imagine the Tom Lee staffs staring at me down on my fours crawling underneath the Modus looking at the bottom all the time. But for the purpose of the Modus, I don't think people will be using the RCA or the USB much. As for the headphones, it depends on the user. But 1/8" jacks????
4. Sound. Firstly, the patch selection is a small box located on player's left side, front edge of the keyboard. No LEDs. Only a few buttons - one for demo songs, one for patches. Then a "+" and a "-" button to select the patches. You will have to make sure you know where the patches are to select them, although they have only a few sounds. I don't quite like pressing "+" or "-" button all the time to "scroll" through the patches, half guessing all the time which patch I'm playing. Piano sound - standard Yamaha with the thin and "tinkly" higher registers. Lower registers are OK. E-piano is a Rhodes, not the nice FM DX-7 type. One piano patch comes layered with strings. The strings decay naturally even when you press the keys down. It doesn't sustain. Polyphony saving method? Pure strings patch OK. Also has vibraphone patch. Cannot layer or split.
5. Design. Tom Lee only has the Amber Rouge version. Looks really nice and shiny on the outside. The cover closes nicely in 2 parts - first cover comes over the speakers, then the second cover attached to that covers the keys. There is a metal rod that holds the cover up, which hinges and folds down when the cover is down. Because the rod lies on the front panel when folded, it is obviously not flat. This means that when the cover comes down, a slight gap will exist between the cover and the front panel,held up by rubber stoppers. That also mean the small gap between will let in dust from the side which will get to the keys. The music stand is a separate piece that sits on top. It has rubber stoppers with the right gaps that is quite stable when put on top. But it does give the flimpsy feeling to it. When putting the cover down, the music stand will have to be stored elsewhere. The music stand is not foldable, and not entirely lightweight either.
So, for 65,000HKD, the question is whether anybody would want to pay that kind of money for a nice looking keyboard that lacks user-friendliness. But I guess because it's meant to be a "piano" (just open the cover and play), the lack of functions and ergonomics may be overlooked. But I would rather get a medium/high end acoustic piano with that kind of money.
1. Touch. Excellent as usual. Standard Yamaha graded keys. Excellent response. Can't expect anything less from Yamaha.
2. Speakers. Subwoofers located at the bottom (underside) of the keyboard. Tweeters located on the top left and right. A stretch of hole imprenated metal bar stretches across on the upper end of the keys across the entire keyboard, which I take to be the standard speakers. But because Tom Lee was no noisy (a Clavinova was playing the repetitative demo piece behind me all the time), I can't tell for sure. The speakers system created the usual nice reverberation on the keys and body when played, giving the feeling of an acoustic piano.
3. Connections. The Modus seems to be created for design and eye-candy, not user friendliness. Headphone jacks are located at the left underside of the keyboard, and it's for 2x 1/8" small jacks. I find that a joke. A left and right RCA output is also located on the left underside. USB jack is located on the right underside. No midi connections. You can imagine the Tom Lee staffs staring at me down on my fours crawling underneath the Modus looking at the bottom all the time. But for the purpose of the Modus, I don't think people will be using the RCA or the USB much. As for the headphones, it depends on the user. But 1/8" jacks????
4. Sound. Firstly, the patch selection is a small box located on player's left side, front edge of the keyboard. No LEDs. Only a few buttons - one for demo songs, one for patches. Then a "+" and a "-" button to select the patches. You will have to make sure you know where the patches are to select them, although they have only a few sounds. I don't quite like pressing "+" or "-" button all the time to "scroll" through the patches, half guessing all the time which patch I'm playing. Piano sound - standard Yamaha with the thin and "tinkly" higher registers. Lower registers are OK. E-piano is a Rhodes, not the nice FM DX-7 type. One piano patch comes layered with strings. The strings decay naturally even when you press the keys down. It doesn't sustain. Polyphony saving method? Pure strings patch OK. Also has vibraphone patch. Cannot layer or split.
5. Design. Tom Lee only has the Amber Rouge version. Looks really nice and shiny on the outside. The cover closes nicely in 2 parts - first cover comes over the speakers, then the second cover attached to that covers the keys. There is a metal rod that holds the cover up, which hinges and folds down when the cover is down. Because the rod lies on the front panel when folded, it is obviously not flat. This means that when the cover comes down, a slight gap will exist between the cover and the front panel,held up by rubber stoppers. That also mean the small gap between will let in dust from the side which will get to the keys. The music stand is a separate piece that sits on top. It has rubber stoppers with the right gaps that is quite stable when put on top. But it does give the flimpsy feeling to it. When putting the cover down, the music stand will have to be stored elsewhere. The music stand is not foldable, and not entirely lightweight either.
So, for 65,000HKD, the question is whether anybody would want to pay that kind of money for a nice looking keyboard that lacks user-friendliness. But I guess because it's meant to be a "piano" (just open the cover and play), the lack of functions and ergonomics may be overlooked. But I would rather get a medium/high end acoustic piano with that kind of money.
keybdt2000
Banned
so many fanatics here ?