Yamaha Soprano Saxophone (YDS-120)

My short and sweet review is this instrument is good for anyone who plays sax and either has a noise issue that prevents them from practicing, wants to experiment with alternate sounds no different than a pianist who also owns an electronic keyboard, or just wants a lighter more convenient instrument for travel or playing in a local park. This instrument is NOT for someone who has never played sax and is looking to pick it up. This is a new product on the market so I'll also give a wordy review for potential buyers. I'll start off with the bad first: Cleaning the inside of this thing seems difficult. It's not included in the instructions. I seem to generate more spit with this than with my tenor sax and it gets everywhere. I think it's because the fake reed doesn't soak it up like an ordinary reed. There's a drain tube in the bell. I think removing the mouthpiece and blowing compressed air both into the "neck" and into the drain tube in the bell is all that's needed to dry it out but there will be no scrubbing of the inside of this thing. I'm storing mine vertically so that the spit can effectively drain out of the drain tube. It doesn't sound like a sax. I think that's the #1 complaint from others and I do agree. My tenor sax sounds way better. The sound is less rich like a real horn. There's no nuanced change to the tone from me changing my embouchure. There's a toggle on the bottom for mimicking that effect but it'll take some practice before it's useful to me and using it will not back-translate to bending notes on my tenor. For a total beginner purchasing their first sax, this instrument shouldn't be considered unless they are buying it along with a real sax. This instrument will not allow a new player to develop their embouchure the way they need to in the beginning. Without headphones or a speaker, it's pretty quiet and it does sound like a toy. It's fine for playing alone but if you are playing with a band or you are performing for others, you should run this into an amp or a speaker. It doesn't take a lot to get volume and a clearer sound out of it. I use a 10 dollar portable speaker and it makes a big difference. The soft case has limited storage. The manual says only carry the instrument and the neck strap in there but you can probably stuff some earbud headphones and maybe a 2 foot long usb power cable in there too. It'd be a stretch to put anything else in there. Ipads, songbooks, and sheet music would be better off in a second backpack. The good: The sounds are good enough for playing. I have a Casio electronic keyboard with a few sax sounds on it. All of the sax sounds on this instrument sounds better. If I'm playing a piece that is built on the rich but nuanced sounds of a sax, I'll only get an impression of what the song sounds like with this instrument. However unlike my tenor sax, I can practice that song all night without disturbing my fiance. Plus, music can still be made with synthetic sounds. If you read other reviews, people say the synth sounds are better than the sax sounds. I disagree. The synth sounds are awesome but as long as you understand the sound is that of a synthetic sax and not a real sax, the sax sounds are also great. It's not a replacement for the real deal but it's a solid musical instrument in it's own right. I don't gig but I could see someone gigging with most of the sounds this instrument produces. Go to youtube and you'll see professionals playing their favorite genres on this. It's not fake or a sales gimmick. I've played a lot of music that I'm very pleased with. I like the interface. I picked it up and was immediately playing my favorite sax songs and scales and I even did a little jazz improv for the fiance over a backing track. The only real difference is the high octave key is a high octave button but it takes a few minutes of playing to get used to it. Out of the box, the key response is just a tad bit slow but that's easy to fix if you read the manual. I played it for hours before I decided to change that. The keys do feel plastic but so do the keys on my Casio keyboard. I like the bluetooth/aux in and aux out. It keeps things simple. If you can connect your device to a bluetooth speaker, you can connect to this thing and run your favorite backing tracks into it wirelessly without downloading any apps. Others have said this is difficult. I disagree. The manual has instructions and there is a youtube video on how to do it. I think if they did bluetooth in AND bluetooth out, it'd be more complicated to set up that feature. My set up is backing tracks from my ipad to the instrument through bluetooth, and backing track plus the sax out to my headphones or my speaker via auxiliary cable. I've seen where other owners plug a wireless transmitter into the aux out to play on a speaker or amp wirelessly. I'll be investing in one of those soon and with that, I'll be able to play with backing tracks 100% wireless. I like that all of wires enter the lower left side of the instrument. They are very much out of the way. The breath control is extremely responsive and that's fun. I like the tremelo effect. I like the ergonomics. I'm glad that they built it like a straight soprano as opposed to a curved sax. I never realized how nice it is to play while reclining back on my couch. There's a thread on the internet debating if this thing can be carried on an airplane in the factory soft case. I've flown a lot and this is absolutely allowed to be taken on the plane. At least it is here in America. I doubt you can fit it under the seat in front of you but it'll fit in an overhead bin or you could always ask the flight attendant to store it in the closet. It's light in the case. It would be easy to carry this to a park at lunch to play. It's a lot more portable than my tenor sax. Tenor and barry sax players should really appreciate this. If you think this is an instrument to replace your horn, don't get it. Maybe you used to play in grade school, sold your horn, and 20 years later you're looking to get back into it. Go buy a regular horn. Save this for later. If you are looking to expand your playing to different sounds, this is a great instrument. If you would like something that is more portable and quiet so that you can practice more often, it's better than a great instrument. It's a gamechanger.

I am a retired professional woodwind player. I have many instruments in my home but I've downsized. For example, I own a soprano sax and an alto sax but would generally rent an instrument if I needed to play a tenor or a bari. This looked intriguing. The pros: The instrument's response to your breath control and articulation and vibrato are remarkable for an electronic instrument. Build quality is good. The key work is plastic rather than metal but it is very responsive and fits under your fingers nicely. It's very light weight. It's the size of a soprano sax but is lighter. Still, I ended up using the included strap because it aids in stability for figuring etc. It's great to be able to play with headphones. The mouthpiece is a version of a basic Yamaha 4c but the neck has o-rings rather than cork to hold it in place. The reed is a Legere type synthetic read. It's vibration is not what generates your sound but it's key for doing the articulation. It will vibrate, especially when you flutter tongue but it's isn't what is driving your sound. A regular cane reed works two if you prefer. Shifting from Soprano, to Alto, To Tenor to Bari with a push of a button is great. It also works as a Midi input device. There aux-in jack is useful. You can feed backing tracks into the aux-in, for example. plug your headphones in and practice with accompaniment. Cons, The digital voices (samples) are just that, samples. So you'll get a pretty great sound but you sound like a digital instrument, not an acoustic saxophone. The key work is good but the instrument is so light weight that it feels a little fragile. I definitely feel like I have to be very careful with it. This instrument doesn't replace an acoustic sax per se. It's a fun addition for a player than already plays sax and perhaps has an instrument or two. The way you approach the breathing/blowing part is different enough from a regular sax that I'd say it's not so great for a beginner. Overall, I feel it's worth its price and I would recommend it, especially for an established player than wants to try some different things but still be in the sax world.

First, I will say that this is a great practice instrument and midi controller! It’s great that you can play through headphones and with certain wireless guitar adapters (3.5mm types with 1/4”) you can easily run into a mixer or practice speaker. Using the usb mini connector with the appropriate cable adapters, I can hear SWARM instruments from my iPad out through the headphones. The secret to getting the best sounds are through the free Yamaha App to control and change parameters and save them in your user menu to easily switch between later. Although it has a small speaker, it does not do justice to the sound capabilities of this instrument. The non-Japanese YouTubers are guilty of recording the little speaker and it does not sound very good. If that’s your point of reference, you are in for a very pleasant surprise with headphones or direct connection! Now, with that said, my biggest issue is in how the upper octave key works. It is a very sensitive on/off switch that can easily disengage at the wrong time. As the YDS-120 is a lighter than my proper soprano, it seems to be a struggle for me to keep it engaged while going for high C# unless I am using the neck strap as leverage. I really hope that the next generation of these instruments have an improved version of this button soon. I would love to use it in a live performance as it can create very realistic saxophones and other instruments and save me from carrying my tenor, alto, and soprano when you can just click between them. Midnight saxophone practice is a great use after work or after late night inspiration.

After 50 plus years of playing alto and tenor sax, I had to all but give it up in the past few years due to asthma, breathing issues and arthritis in my fingers as well as moving to a smaller apartment with lots of neighbors. I have previously tried an Akai EWI which was much more expensive than the Yamaha and I hated it. Akai tries to make their unit adaptable for all woodwind players (not just sax players like me), so the layout with sensors was difficult, the learning curve was high and the sounds were terrible. However, the Yamaha YDS-120 is a godsend for me. Is it the same as playing my beloved Selmer? No, especially from an embouchure perspective. However, it is set up just like an analog sax with the same keys instead of sensors. It takes very little breath and it's easy on my hands even when playing fast passages. The onboard sounds are OK coming through the tiny speaker on the bottom, but are much better with headphones. I use the headphone out jack with an adapter to run it into my Fosusrite audio interface and DAW in my home studio and with a little bit of tweaking the sound is superb! The breath sensitivity is very good though it takes a little practice to get used to the finer control features like subtle pitch bend and vibrato. The downloadable app helps with these settings, though you have to provide your own micro-USB cables to interface with your phone. The unit is all plastic but seems well made as all Yamaha products I have bought in the past have been. There are hard cases available but my gigging days are long over so not a problem for me. These are minor limitations compared to the fact that I can enjoy playing the sax again. For $450 It feels like getting a part of my life back. Thank you Yamaha!

Like another reviewer, I put mine away for a few months and when I tried to use it about 3/4 of the keys would not function. I sent it to the address that the service center told me top. Fedex said it was undeliverable and the service center outside of Chicago just tole me to re-send it. Based on what I saw other people reporting, It's going to be a minimum of $250 to fix it plus the now $50 that I will have to pay for shipping it twice. I contacted Yamaha and told them all of this and they never even responded. I would recommend getting the new ASM Diosynth instead. I have one of their synthesizers and the quality and customer service with their stuff is excellent. Also, you can never go wrong with Roland. The AE-30 while twice the cost, won't stop working while sitting in it's case like this piece of junk did.

I have about 10 years of saxophone experience, up through my college days but stopped largely because it's a loud instrument and I moved into a city & apartment units. There's no good space to wail without bugging everyone around and the alternative is spending time and money tracking down a studio just to diddle around in. This Yamaha is a fantastic solution for anyone who's not die-hard about getting a 100% perfect sax sound & feel, and just wants to be able to pick up and play without worrying about noise for others. The controller lets you switch between soprano, alto, tenor, and bari very easily, and each of those saxophones has 15 different voice types. Some are robust and classic, some breathy, and some have their own vibrato built-in. There are also voice pre-sets that let you play as a chorus of saxophones simiultaneously, by playing at 3rd or 5th intervals to what you're actually fingering. I mention vibrato settings and the not 100%-accurate playing feel because this digital sax doesn't make noise through a vibrating reed. There's a mouth piece, and a plastic/faux reed to give you the embouchure feel, but this thing makes noise by detecting your air flow and subtle changes to it. There IS a volume up/down control, so you can configure it to let you put as much or as little air into it as you want, while keeping the volume as high or low as you need at the same time. There are some available configurations for how the sax feels as you play like the sensitivity of the airflow response and key assistance. The key assistance is designed to reduce bobbles as you transition from note to note. It's a cool feature and is set to 5 out of 10 by default. I turned this feature off completely in order to make playing feel as realistic as possible - real saxophones don't assist the player that way, but it's easy to turn off once and forget about it. As with any wind instrument, spit is a factor. This digital sax has a tube running down the entire body and out the bell, so saliva from playing will drip out the end, as opposed to accumulating around the electronics. As for cleanliness, I make a point to just take the reed off and dry off it and the mouthpiece when I'm done playing. The saliva tube does curl up into the bell, if you place the sax on an upright floor stand. It's easy to stick a pen up there and pop it back out, but be careful not to store it this way with too much force. When I'm not playing, I simply hang this thing off a nearby guitar stand by the strap, rather than letting the tube sit with pressure on it over time. I know the unit has a standard headphone jack and bluetooth capability, although I haven't played with either of these modes yet. The headphone option seems great for practice without bothering others, or potentially as a monitor during performance. I haven't experimented with any other types of connectivity, but I'm hoping to be able to find a way to get this usable with a looper, so that I can record and play over multiple different samples at the same time. All in all, this was definitely pricier than just buying a real, beginner-intermediate saxophone, but it's absolutely worth the cost to have a quick and easy way to pickup and play, without disturbing neighbors, and while being able to easily switch between different saxophones in a single unit.

Great sound quality! Perfect for practicing indoors without disturbing anyone!! Great key response. As a seasoned saxophonist I recommend this product!!!

I'm in the process of returning it. It played well for a few days, without the key issues that others have reported. Very good sound when connected to an external amplifier. Then all of a sudden it felt as if something inside had disconnected and the air pressure sensor would not work correctly anymore. The sound volume dropped to almost non-audible, both with the internal speaker and with an external connection. I changed various settings, replaced batteries, used an external power bank, nothing helped. Also, when putting my ear close to the body, I could hear faint random sounds even without blowing. I think the main board is about to fail or something like that. The instrument was never treated roughly or dropped. Too bad because I was enjoying usingbit for practicing with headphones on.