Buy Yamaha EZ-250i Portatone Lighted Musical KeyboardYamaha EZ-250i Portatone Lighted Musical Keyboard Product Description:
- Includes interactive software from Konami which plays songs and teaches musical skills like timing in game format
- YAMAHA Education Suite (Y.E.S.2) teaches timing and note ready using lights ? even grading your performance
- 80 built-in songs to learn, organized by degree of difficulty
- Built-in flash ROM allows downloads of new songs into the keyboard
- Plays any MIDI file using lighting system and interactive teaching system
Product Description
YAMAHA EZ250i - The Ultimate Learning Machine guides you on the path of musical mastery, with 61 piano size touch sensitive keys that light in sequence to help you play any of 80 built-in songs. USB interface makes it easy to connect to computers PC Button for quick computer connection Includes Portable Grand - The most realistic piano sound available General MIDI (GM), MIDI In and Out via USB 480 Instrument Voices and 100 Accompaniment Styles to play any type of music Two way stereo speakers, bass ports, and Bass Boost System Includes song book Headphone jack for private practice (headphones optional)
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
90 of 92 people found the following review helpful.
Let there be Light
By Steve Conslaw
We got this keyboard just before Christmas 2003. Due to the pace of daily life, I haven't gotten too deeply into it. But since it has been several months and no one else has reviewed it, I'll start the ball rolling. The reason why I purchased THIS keyboard because it has a touch sensitive (velocity) and lighted keyboard. The only other model that fit this description was the Casio LK-55. I just thought the Yamaha sounded a bit better and was made a bit better. It is also more expensive. The sounds are quite good. There is an XG lite implementation as well as the standard General Midi soundset. The lighted keys make it easy to learn.I have been too busy to hook it up to my computer yet to try out the downloading of General Midi sequences, but I am looking forward to it. The supplied USB cable is too short unless your keyboard is right up against your computer.I was disappointed to find out that the only MIDI implementation is through a USB interface. There are no midi in and out jacks, so I couldn't hook this up directly to my other MIDI keyboard.I'd love for Yamaha to come out with a version that had regular Midi jacks, pitch and mod wheels and an audio input (with reverb) for sing alongs. I'd pay double the price for those additions. For what you pay, I'd say you get your money's worth and then some.UPDATE DECEMBER 2004We've now had this keyboard about a year. Since my initial review, I've solved the computer problems that kept me from loading the software that came with the computer. (The problem was in my computer, and not in the Yamaha keyboard.)I love the sound-filer software. This software allows you to load general midi files from the computer to the keyboard. The built-in flash memory on the keyboard will hold about 10 new songs, give or take. You can remove them and replace them at will with the songfiler software. Once loaded into the Ez-250i, the sequences play back just as the built-in songs do, lights and all, but with one exception, you can choose which instrument sounds are assigned to the left and right hand regions of the keyboard. This allows you to learn any of the orchestral parts of the song, and to see any of the parts assigned to the lighted area of the keyboard.The software also allows you to use the EZ-250i as a midi slave instrument to play back sequences played by your computer's midi player or sequencer. This means the EZ-250i will play back any of the midi files you have stored on the computer without having those files actually loaded into the flash memory of the EZ-250i. In my experience, most songs sound better played by the Yamaha keyboard than the computer's Microsoft general midi instruments.I'm not that thrilled with the Konami game that came with the computer. It seems like a Japanese home market game that doesn't translate well to American audiences. My kids aren't even that interested in it. I had no problems getting it going though.Since my earlier review, I've explored the depths of the sound engine. There is a lot of synthesis horsepower under the surface. There is dynamic digital filtering on the voices, something you don't see on el-cheapo keyboards. In addition, the keyboard can split and layer voices, giving you up to four distinct sounds playable from the keyboard at any given time. The sound engine responds well over midi to pitch-bend and even portamento (gliding from note to note). It's a shame there's no pitch-bend wheel or portamento switch for live playing.Since my earlier review, Casio has come out with a new lighted keyboard, the LK-90TV, that competes directly with the Yamaha EZ-250i. I haven't seen this personally, but it has some interesting features. It has a TV output to display Karaoke lyrics from sounds loaded by the user. It also accepts smartmedia cards for user-loaded sounds, though, as I understand it, this is a read-only slot. In other words, you can't load the card with sounds while hooked up to your keyboard. The card must be loaded from a reader attached to the computer. Though I haven't heard it live, it appears the sound-engine is the same as the LK-55, which, to my ears, sounded distinctly inferior to the Yamaha's.In summary, a year after my purchase, I'm happy with my purchase, and I'd make the same choice today. I think Yamaha should add the lighted keyboard feature to its upmarket products, including keyboards with microphone inputs, pitch & mod wheels and sound editing features.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful.
Pretty good, but could be better
By Vladas Mazelis
The Pros: After a decade since its creation, the Yamaha's proprietary soundset of XG MIDI (Extended General Musical Instrument Interface) is still unmatched in quality of sound and its versatility. As all Yamaha products are, it seems well-built, sturdy, reliable.The Cons: No 64-bit drivers available. Old USB v. 1.1 connection (at least on my unit. I would expect them to change that into the 2.0 eventually). Comes with no dust cover, which is an essential accessory. Part of these keyboards are packaged without an AC adapter. Included (and boasted shamelessly) Konami Piano learning software is incompatible with Windows XP. It installs well, but crashes when launched. Konami CSR said this version of software is for distribution in Europe only, so they don't support it in the USA. When I objected that I've purchased it from Amazon.com in the U.S., as a part of new, full retail Yamaha unit, they said it's an outdated software and they don't support it anyway. Translation: Konami piano learning software is a piece of junk, if you have Windows XP).
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful.Found driver for XP/2000 and maybe fix for bundled software
By P. E. Lightfoot
I have been tracking this product in a number of forums. Re a newer driver, it appears that one can be downloaded from the yamaha.com website (http://www.yamaha.com/yamahavgn/CDA/ContentDetail/ModelSeriesDetail/0,,CNTID%253D21387%2526CTID%253D205300%2526RLTID%253D715%2526DETYP%253DRELATION,00.html), or find the keyboard under the "products" link, then go to "downloads."Under the "knowledge base" link, there is an item "Bundled Computer Game will not Start with an EZ250i If the EZ250i is connected to the computer, and the game won't start, the Yamaha USB MIDI driver has probably not been selected as the preferred MIDI Music Playback Device in Windows.For Windows 98/ME:Browse to My Computer/Control Panel/Multimedia/MIDI.Select 'Yamaha USB OUT' as the default MIDI device.For Windows 2000/XP:Browse to My Computer/Control Panel/Sounds & Multimedia/Audio/MIDI Music Playback.select 'Yamaha USB OUT' as the default MIDI device."I'll check back here. If these items fix your problem, please post the results. I have 2 sons (8 and 4) and think this would be the perfect unit but am a little worried due to the problems you uncovered.I also understand that the yahama educational suite is now up to version 4. I don't see a download to upgrade and the office is closed today (Jan 2).Pam
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