An excellent gigging & lightweight instrument to compose and perform for next-level or advanced players.

Looks like I'm the first to comment on this so here goes. First a couple of general things.1: Be prepared to wait if you're considering buying this board. I ordered mine July 4 and Yamaha didn't get it to GC New Orleans until November 30. 5 months, but not the fault of GC. Seems they had big problems with the display on the 61 key E 473 model, so that probably caused a lot of delays.2: be prepared for a lot of button pushing, especially when trying to get into the DSP effects. 3: like most keyboards in this class the user's manual is not written very well, so you'll need patience with that. 3: if you already have the PSR-EW 410 that this board replaces it and you're happy with it, it's probably not worth the expense of getting the new 425. Yamaha did update the ... MoreLooks like I'm the first to comment on this so here goes. First a couple of general things.1: Be prepared to wait if you're considering buying this board. I ordered mine July 4 and Yamaha didn't get it to GC New Orleans until November 30. 5 months, but not the fault of GC. Seems they had big problems with the display on the 61 key E 473 model, so that probably caused a lot of delays.2: be prepared for a lot of button pushing, especially when trying to get into the DSP effects. 3: like most keyboards in this class the user's manual is not written very well, so you'll need patience with that. 3: if you already have the PSR-EW 410 that this board replaces it and you're happy with it, it's probably not worth the expense of getting the new 425. Yamaha did update the sound engine a bit so main instrument tones are better, particularly the main organ and electric piano tones. They also added some whiz-bang stuff like articulation and motion effects and volume boost, but that's about all. Everything is pretty much the same as the EW 410. Overall it's probably the best board you can get in this class and price range but it still leaves several things to be desired. If you're looking for something with better instrument sounds or more advanced capabilities you'll have to look at boards that start around$1,000. Certainly great for advanced beginners, home entertainment, and small venue and gig players. My pro's and con's on this board: Pros: Very fair price for this group or class of keyboards. Materials, fit, and finish are excellent for a board in this class. Keys are mounted well and are snug with no wobbling, clicking, or clattering and a very good synth-type action. Control knobs and buttons are firm with a slight resistance or "feel" to them. Far better than Casio boards which still feel like toys. On-board speakers sound very good at half volume though I have not cranked them all the way. Excellent organ and electric piano tones. Most of the guitar tones are very good. I haven't gotten into the synth tones because I rarely play synth. Glad to see Yamaha include the AC power adaptor with the board. Cons: 1: The display screen is still small and hard to read. The frame around the screen just eats up space and is unnecessary. To me it looks like there's enough space to put a larger screen if they would have eliminated the frame or made it smaller. 2: Still only has 32 on-board memory slots for pre-sets. That's ancient history in today's world. Should have been increased to at least 64 slots. I used 24 of the 32 slots in the first 2 days. That has to change on the next version. 3: Still only 64 notes polyphony, that also needs to be increased. 4: 820 voices but a lot of goofy old 1990's stuff like car horns, phone ringing, duck quaking, gun shot, etc. That's for 8 year old kids and needs to go. 4: Still just 1 pedal input. Would be nice to have separate ports for sustain and expression/trigger pedals. 5: Lots of button pushing, especially when trying to get DSP effects settings. The board can really use a few more on board controls, even if it means knocking it down to 72 notes instead of 76. That is still more than enough keys for 95% of players. I would love to see Yamaha add a second keyboard split function to give 3 sections, 1 for chords and arpeggios and 2 for split and dual voice capability. I think most people are willing to pay a bit extra for more functionality. Well that's about all I have. Overall a very good keyboard at a good price from Yamaha that just falls a bit short on layout, controls, and ease of function.

Downsizing is a hassle. Making room for an aging five hundred pound console organ? Don't even think it! Time for something portable. An arranger keyboard seemed to provide the most organ-like specifications, but I wasn't sure a single split keyboard would satisfy me. A few practice sessions settled that. A generous variety of voices and added organ sounds brought me to this Yamaha model. With little practice, setting up presets with rich orchestral sounds and solo voices was a breeze. Those, like me, who like to tinker with the complexity of sounds will enjoy the many options to customize their final product. Sam Ash was the dealer of choice, not only because they stocked this new, hard-to-find model, but they'll be handy in the event of service issues down the road.