Yamaha MM8 88 Key Synthesizer Keyboard Item #: YAM MM8 

Yamaha MM8 88 Key Synthesizer Keyboard

The Yamaha MM8 Synthesizer delivers all the musical power and creative control you need and a whole lot more.
Taking its sounds from the highly popular pro-level Motif series instruments, the MM8 has an enormous variety of dynamic, authentic voices to help you create and perform in virtually any style of music. The MM8 gives you total control over your sound, letting you dynamically change sonic textures as you play with real-time tweakable knobs. Also built-in are special Patterns that provide full instrumental backing - drums, bass and chords - to accompany your live performance and song creation.

Yamaha MM8 Features

• Super-high-quality sounds
• Tons of real-time control
• Dynamic music creation tools—including automatic Pattern and Arpeggiator generators
• Performance Memory for instantfull-panel setting changes
• Versatile song recording features —with eight normal tracks and one Pattern track
• Convenient, easy-to-use data storage solutions

The MM8 has 418 voices and 22 drum kits on board, all based on the dynamic, realistic sounds of the advanced Motif series synthesizers. These exceptionally high-quality sounds range from authentic acoustic instruments to wild, unique and in-your-face synth voices. An extra set of GM voices is built into the instrument as well, giving you all you need to play back songs recorded in that popular format. With so many voices to choose from, you might think it's difficult to select the ones you need. Not so. The convenient category search function lets you choose the type of instrument you want to play, organ, guitar, synth, lead, strings, whatever, then select the specific Voice. All your favorite sounds are right at your fingertips, ready to play when you are.

Piano-Like Expressiveness - Graded Hammer Keyboard
Drawing on its long experience (over 100 years!) in crafting fine acoustic pianos, Yamaha has equipped the MM8 with a remarkably expressive GHS (Graded Hammer Standard) keyboard. If you're a piano player, you'll notice and appreciate the difference as soon as you touch the keys - the instrument feels and responds like a grand piano! The GHS keys are weighted heavier on the lower notes and gradually become lighter as you play up the keyboard, giving you detailed expressive control over the sound.

Patterns For Jamming
Want some instant inspiration? The MM8 has a full set of patterns that give you powerful rhythmic backing in a wide variety of music styles including Hip Hop, Rap, R&B, Dance, Ambient, Pop, Rock, Jazz and even World styles. These patterns are just what you need to get your music moving in the right direction. What's more, these patterns are as close to the real thing as you can get. patterns that stay solidly in the groove, but never sound mechanical. Drum loops with a truly human feel that dance and float around the beat, yet remain firmly in the pocket. Riffs and licks that get you inspired, make you move, and help you create some serious music.

Song Creation And More
The MM8 are also ideal tools for song writing and demo making. The powerful, authentic sounds of the MM series as well as its dynamic Patterns and Arpeggios ensure that your tracks sound completely professional. Up to five User Songs can be recorded to the instrument, and with the built-in rear panel USB terminal, you can store up to 400 Songs to a USB memory stick or thumb drive. In fact, the USB connection lets you store Pattern files, Performance settings and all other important data you've created, and then bring it to a computer for archiving and organizing. Songs can also be saved in the universal SMF (Standard MIDI File) format for use on any SMF-compatible device, including DAW software.

In the Studio
At home or in the studio, the MM8 can serve as the center of your music production system. Most of today's music is being made on computers and the MM series fits right into any computer music system. Just connect the USB To Host terminal on the instrument to your computer with a standard USB cable, and you've got a compact, yet full-featured recording setup. And just to make sure you get a head start, Yamaha has included a free copy of Cubase AI 4, a sophisticated music production software that has all you need to record your performance data from the MM8 via MIDI (and even use plug-in synthesizers in the software), edit the data, process the sounds with effects, arrange it in multiple tracks and perform final mixdown.