Yamaha PSS-A50 - Portable, Digital Keyboard with Phrase Recording, 42 Built-in Voices and 138 Arpeggio Types with a Lightweight Design, in Black, 50.6 x 20.1 x 0.54 centimeters

Purchased for my 8 year old daughter as a first non-toy keyboard. I like Yamaha (used to have a TRB bass guitar) as it is well-priced for the quality you are getting. The size is great for getting little hands capable of some interval stretches (she can manage about a perfect 5th on this) and chord playing. The sounds are impressive and there are some effects to muck about with. You can also record phrases and play back. Hooked it up to Garage Band just to see if you can (you can). I would recommend this for anyone who doesn’t want a toy and is wanting to progress to beginner level.

This isn't for everyone - especially if you don't like minikeys, but if you are already looking into getting the PSS-A50 then you probably know what the keys will be like. They are actually ok - small of course, but these same keys are on the Reface series keyboards and they were 5 times the price at launch - so they are quite usable and the touch sensitivity (velocity sensitive) is usable although not amazing. The speaker sounds a bit rubbish and probably doesn't add anything to the already mediocre piano sounds, however, its reasonably loud and as a practice/composing tool is really useable. The arp features are good and can be applied to all the different instrument sounds which makes for some interesting experimental playing around. This would not be good for a beginner in piano for learning to play (keys too small), but for practicing learning chord structures etc could be useful and is what I have been using it for.Its small enough to squeeze into a (larger) daysack, which is pretty amazing, so for a take anywhere keyboard that won't break the bank if it gets stolen or damaged, you can't really go wrong with the little Yamaha. As others have mentioned, it could be used in the same way someone might carry a guitar for composing / singalong etc and is even smaller. The batteries seem to go on for ever too (just 4 AA's).Happy with it so far, my only gripe is that he finish and screen look rather cheap - but then maybe this makes it look more like a toy (unlike the Reface series) which actually adds to the charm and makes it a little bit less of a target to would-be thieves.Maybe it's a little redundant if you already have something like the Reface CP, but if you don't and need an ultra portable keyboard, then this would definitely do the job.

I've wanted a small but functional USB MIDI keyboard for some time. I like composing, but at 5am in the morning it's not great to play my piano or my larger keyboard. I also have a small office which is ideal if I could find a smaller keyboard to place on the desk 'at will'. Enter THIS keyboard. Small footprint, compact, USB or battery powered, light, reasonably well featured and sensible MIDI instrument set if slightly imperfectly chosen.If I was to design my OWN keyboard it wouldn't be far away from this model. It comes boxed and with a USB lead. The keys are semi sized, but relatively easy to play despite my slightly oversize hands. One feature I use a lot is the drop/raise octave as there are only three octaves which doesn't quite cover full vocal range for all musical keys.All in all it does what I hoped it would, performs well, doesn't need additional power, and with a decent pair of headphones serves my purposes.If there was one tiny criticism I would say that some of the sound samples aren;t of the best quality, causing some winces when playing some tracks. That's a minor observation but at its' price-point it is sufficiently adequate.

A wonderful little keyboard that in my opinion is just the right amount of portable. Not too small to where you are very limited in your playing, but not so large it becomes cumbersome.Obviously the keys are smaller, but they feel very nice to use, and there are a decent variety of sounds, although as another review mentioned they are not normalised- some are far louder than others.There are some other functions I won’t get into, but in general they’re certainly serviceable at the very least.The speaker was a large part of this purchase for me, and the quality is quite good although there is a constant static fuzz which isn’t much of a big deal for me as I’m not particularly focused on getting clean audio, but you may want to consider how you’d feel about it.

Velocity and touch sensitive mini keys which actually are not that bad to play. It has some nice on board sounds, the arpeggiator is so much fun, as are the effects, and the speaker does a half decent job. this is a great keyboard for pro's and beginners alike, and its portability makes it an ideal product to chuck in a bag and go, or just chill in a chair and jam. The price is a give a way. its not a toy.