Review of the Yamaha PSR-E313 Keyboard: A Great Starter Keyboard for Around $150

Recently I purchased a keyboard because I've been wanting to learn a new instrument for a while now and I love all the things that keyboards can do. I was drawn to the Yamaha PSR-E313 because of it's price and what it can do. This is not what I would call a top of the line keyboard for a beginner such as myself, it's perfect and comes with a ton of sounds. This is my review of the Yamaha PSR-E313.

Right off the bat from the first time you turn it on, you will hear the wonderful "portable grand voice" effect which is the top piano sound for this keyboard. Yamaha's grand piano sound is considered one of the best for any portable keyboard and it sounds pretty darn good for a portable. Amongst the many piano sounds, there are over 480 different voices (sounds) you can use. The Yamaha PSR-E313 has anything from string instruments, to guitars, bass, drum kits, organs, sound effects, and more. It's ridiculous the amount of sounds this thing comes with. Not all instrument sounds are the greatest but the majority of them are very good and for a keyboard at this price, you can't beat it.

The Yamaha PSR-E313 comes with a 2-track recorder that lets you record up to 10,000 notes per song with a five song capacity. There are 102 songs and 100 music styles on the PSR-E313 that you can play along with. The keyboard's inputs are a MIDI in and out, headphone jack, input for a sustain pedal and an input for a power supply. I highly recommend getting the power supply so you don't go through a lot of batteries. The keyboard itself doesn't go through batteries too bad but it's a lot more cost effective just to get the adapter. You can run the keyboard on six AA batteries if you wanted to.

There are 12 different drum kits available on the PSR-E313. Each having their own unique sound from rock to electronic and so on. You can find different things like gong's for example on each kit. Doesn't come with many effects outside of the nine reverb and four chorus effects. The Yamaha PSR-E313 has the option of splitting the keyboard so you can play two different sounds on each end. You can have orchestra instruments on the lower end while having choir sounds on the higher end. The PSR-E313 has 61 keys and they are all touch sensitive. There is a button you can switch to turn off the pressure sensitivity.

Yamaha has this package called the Yamaha survival kit, and I highly recommend picking one of these up as well, mainly because the power supply is included with it, along with a sustain pedal, headphones, a felt key cover, a DVD with some instructional lessons on it, and some coupons. The price for the survival kit is around $30 and it's worth it for the power supply and pedal alone.

Overall, the Yamaha PSR-E313 is a great keyboard for a beginner or anyone looking to add some depth and more sound to their music. The keyboard prices at right around $150 before tax and is worth every penny. The amount of sounds you get with the keyboard and the grand piano sound is awesome. Plus if you have anything like a BossMirco BR, then you can plug a ¼ jack into the headphone jack on the keyboard and record onto that. You can also use MIDI onto your computer if you have the setup for it. I highly recommend the Yamaha PSR-E313 for anyone looking to learn the piano or just wants to have some fun with their creativity.