Yamaha MX88 88-key Weighted Action Music Synthesizer Reviews

I ended up returning this unit but only because of its size. My fault completely. Other than the menu screen being a bit small I have nothing bad to say. Excellent feel hammer action keys, very versatile, and the sounds are stellar
I only wish they made the 61 with hammer action as well.
I purchased a yc73 to replace this and missed the mx sound engine so much I picked up an mx49 just to get that back in something compact.

I started on a PSR 433, which was decent. Then I got a MODX-7, which was more board than I could ever use, but had the Motif sounds. I own a DX reface, which is a little small. While I can't play all 88 keys, the feel of the keybed for a board at this price is excellent. I bought an MX49 that I keep at home to learn the features of this. The interface is intuitive, the sounds are great, and while it doesn't "do" more than 3 layers without hooking it up to a computer, I find it to be plenty of board for my needs. 120+ bass voices! While it's not perfect, at its price it is an excellent board.

This is my first real keyboard. After doing some homework on this and talking with a few of my keyboard friends I found that the Yamaha MX88 was the perfect choice. I love the weighted keys and all of the versatility this keyboard offers.

I bought it used for half retail but the condition was very good

The feel is nice
The weight makes it great for transporting
Editing is useless
Capabilities are somewhat week; can only blend 2 voices (split or layer)
No sliders which is a real weakness

Sounds
Piano - Great
Rhodes - not bad
Dx7 EP - lovely
Clavs - ok
Organs - nice
Guitars - great
Basses - very good
Strings - only Yamaha can make them
Brass - useable
Leads - decent
Pads - ace
Drums - varied

Arpeggios- too danced based

Build quality - get wha5 you pay for

Overall - a great buy

The Yamaha mx 88 is phenomenal.ive owned much more expensive units and this is rates up at the top . equally great for studio as well..

The Yamaha MX88 is the perfect keyboard for a giving musician who doesn't want to break their back carrying heavy gear around.
Keyboard feels really nice to the touch and is perfect for jazz.
Piano sound is first class. Good selection of EP's, organs, strings and pads.
Easy to navigate on the fly.
For under $ you get a lot.
My only niggle is the power supply connector.
Bit flimsy.
Otherwise
Perfect

I don't believe that you'll be able to find a stage piano as versatile as this one for the price. Even if you were just to buy it for the piano/electric piano sounds it would be money well spent, in my opinion. Beyond that, though, there is a pretty deep bench of organ/synth/pad/orchestral patches in this, and they are all tasty. I don't think you can beat it for just over a grand.

I have two of these and I play them in three very different bands, and I'm extremely happy with them. Big thanks to Joe Schafer for his uncanny ability to steer me in the direction of the gear I need, when I need it.

Been playing this keyboard for a year and it's been great! About to buy a 2nd for other purposes.
I do prefer some built in speakers somewhere, but not complaining.

Tammy Dunaway
Dunaways

Straight OOTB jammed with the default sound through Event studio monitors. Landed on some phat major 13-esque chord and let it ring...for a full 1.5 minutes!! The sound coalesced, shimmered, and breathed as true piano would and left me realizing this was a true instrument, not just a sample player. I've been using a Triton Studio as my main axe; the MX-88 has forced me to restyle my playing (no voice stealing). It even feels great to play. The price and my exclusive use of Cubase (DAW-wise) made it a no-brainer to buy.

This keyboard sounds awesome specially on the Concert Grand it's the piano I use most this synth keyboard has a great sound and playability I really like that it has a great lower end bass sound with the high end it has a lot to work with it's my favorite of the Yamaha in its price range don't take my word go find it at a music store try it out It's worth the money

Really love this keyboard. It has opened up so many opportunities for production as well as creativity. I have just received this product and I'm anxious to really discover the unlimited possibilities that it is capable of presenting.

The controls on the front were pretty intuitive. I was able to create layered patches quickly. Sounds and feels great.

As being a piano player this mx88 fits my needs. Im not going to write a full review because there are so many via youtube. The sound and feel are perfect for any type of performace. A shout out to my sales engineer Robby Resnick for always being there.

SO FAR SO GOOD. LEARNING THIS KEYBOARD, BEEN HAVING A LOT OF FUN WITH ALL THE COOL THINGS I CAN DO.

I initially purchased the Yamaha MX49. But after thinking about it I wanted to have the same internal sounds but wanted the full weighted keyboard instead So I returned the MX49 and purchased the MX88 instead. Glad I upgraded!! Same internal system but with the full 88 keys and Weighted keys is giving me a more real performance feel. Light weight and works as a controller as well.

I've been considering various keyboards for the last year. I needed something that can be used live for recording or jams at my home studio, as well as a production tool for recording and writing. So I needed good DAW integration, good piano action, good voices, a decently light weight and a price toward the lower end of the spectrum. After checking out everything currently on the market via videos and reviews I narrowed it down to the Yamaha MX88 and the Kurzweil SP6. The only way to tell for sure was to play them side by side so I made the journey to Sweetwater to check them out.

BTW, Sweetwater was great. There wasn't a Kurzweil SP6 on the floor so they got one fro the warehouse and set it up side by side with the Yamaha MX88 through the same speaks system. I found the actions to be pretty comparable with the Kurzweil seeming to be a little lighter. When I started running through the voices I immediately started gravitating toward the Yamaha. Overall the voices were more natural, fuller sounding, smoother sounding, and needed little tweaking, While the display was not as big and nice as the Kurzweil it worked just fine and allowed easy selection of voices and options. Some of the things I thought in advance that I would like about the Kurzweil turned out to be not quite up to snuff. While the B3 emulations aren't half bad and the pseudo draw bar controls seems really flexible I found the Yamaha organ voices to be a tad better. You can't make drawbar adjustments but the core, useable Hammond sounds are there in the patches. I used to sell Hammond organs so I'm quite family with how they sound. Also, the Leslie simulation while not the best was still perfectly acceptable and melded with the voices nicely.

One distinct difference was the overall feel of the controls. The Yamaha definitely felt higher quality, had a more substantial resistance and tactile feedback. I found the Kurzweil to feel kind of cheesy and it also looked kind of simplistic and cheap. Overall the build quality just seemed to be better on the Yamaha. After about a half hour of examination I asked my niece who was with me to listen to me play the two and give me her impressions as a non-musician. I played a bunch of different stuff including percussion for about 10 minutes and asked her what she thought. She said they were both good but the Yamaha had a distinctly warmer and fuller sound. That clinched it for me.

Now that I've worked with it for a few weeks I really like the look, feel and sound of the Yamaha. This is a great DAW integrated device, a great stage piano, a wonderful song writing tool. While the build quality does show signs of penny pinching that is reflected in the price. I'm not sure how working with it on the road would be but I do know Yamaha support is very good. So for the price point I've found this to be the best option out there.

You can just turn this thing on, hit the layer button, hit the tempo button, adjust the tempo and start playing with a piano and those tempo locked arp'd pizz strings. the menu and display looks 1990, BUT there is seriously not much you need to look at and it is fine. there are so few buttons that you can quickly just learn where everything is and not really have to look much anymore. I have had my MX88 for 7-8 months now and I still have not tried out all the sounds way down the line. The organ patches and the leslie sound on the mod wheel is pretty fun. the effects mix etc for each voice is the old 3 bank button and 4 knob setup which was nothing new since I have a korg x50 with the same type of deal. quickly slap on some reverb and adjust relative volumes of the 2 voices WRT the drum part.
It sounds clean and rich and has a very quiet noise floor.
The keybed plays great. I got this because I am learning boogie woogie. You need something tough because that brutal boogie woogie left hand beats the stuffing out of the keybed. 7months of 1hr/day+ punishment and it is still just fine. I broke a synth key in a few days of boogie bass.
The MIDI control just locks-in all the slave modules great. If you have other MIDI modules, get one of those 4-way passive splitters from Sweetwater here... and drive them all from the MX88. you can even use split which sends the upper half to ch2, so you can run 2 "racks" of MIDI from one keyboard split in half or wherever you want to split it. I have even another drum machine (old alesis) and the korg x50 arpeggiators lock to the MX88 solid as a rock for insane rhythm possibilities and the tempo control is so easy, even on the fly.
In summary, it's a 2 voice+rhythm deal, super EZ2 use and really nice 88 keybed for a grand. KILLER!

Needed a utility board for those gigs where you need to travel light and missed some of the sounds from my motif rack. Last night my wife and I had a duo gig opening for Booker T's band at a theater and had to rush off to a club gig after so it was the set up at the club, travel light to the theater and run back to the club thing. Used the MX88 at the theater through their system and it killed! Very dynamic! Just used the Concert Grand and Bright Wurli for that gig and both sounded great, it also PLAYED great. To me it's worth the price of admission just for the stage piano and ease of use. Don't need anything more. And then it IS so much more. Purchased the Melas sound editor which basically gives me all the filters on all the oscillators. It's actually a full blown synth with that Yamaha sound. Entry level my %ss. Great stand alone or bottom tier board period. Going to look into the workarounds for using it with my 61 key Kronos. Think they'll compliment each other. (and I haven't even touched on the connectivity.) 32 lbs! Can't speak on durability yet...Yamaha has done quite well in that department though. Get it and spend some money on good amplification. You'll be set. Very happy with the purchase.

My first instrument is guitar. I'll be retiring soon so my fun money is being dramatically impacted. With the money getting short, I had to think really hard on spending it on a keyboard. My old Alesis QS 8.2 has been serving me well for years and I was tempted to stay with it and live with the so so piano sounds and light action. Now that I've made the leap I'm thrilled I did it. The sounds are amazing, and the action is very much like a real piano. I haven't even scratched the surface of what this board can do, and probably never will, being a tech idiot, but just playing it I feel like I spent the money well. This has got to be one of the best keyboard bargains out there. It's all I'll ever need! Now it's time to practice.

Having owned an MX61 and looking for an 88 weighted hammer action piano I was naturally drawn to the MX88. I was already familiar with the beautiful sounds of the MX series. The MX 88 has a very realistic acoustic piano action but not so heavy that you"re uncomfortable playing other voices and gliding almost as easily as on a standard synth keyboard. The controls are very simple to master. The MX88 rivals other stage pianos costing 3x as much. I"m very happy with my purchase and as always with the prompt service from Sweetwater.

This is exactly what I wanted. The sounds are fantastic, love the layering and splitting. I love this keyboard. The touch and control are great.

Great sounds so far! Can't wait to see more of what it can do! Such a wide range of tones, useful for so many situations!

I was going between this and the Juno 88 that I have with a group I direct. After talking with Dennis, I decided to get one of these for my studio. Admittedly I'm a hack when it comes to keys, but knew I wanted weighted hammer-action for when I get real key players in the studio. From my perspective, this thing is huge bang for the buck. Thanks, Dennis!

This was a purchase for our Church, After receiving the keyboard, our organ player and myself tried it out. Both of us will be buying one for ourselves. This is a fantastic keyboard for any situation; Church; Home; and or Gigging. I give it two thumbs up for feel , price, and performance.

I am thrilled with the MX88. Best feel ever and the sounds are great! I also appreciate that the things I need are easily accessible without digging through menus. The Performance Feature allows me to keep my combinations handy which also makes it much easier to navigate in a live performance. I haven't had a lot of time to interface it with my iPad or Mac yet, but what I have done is cool. Sweetwater is great! I tell my wife I order from them just to get the little candy bag (especially the fireballs) :-) I love working with Chris Nunley. He is awesome!

I am not sure how anyone could do much better than this, especially at this price. The keyboard has a excellent feel and the tones and various effects included are so much more than I thought they would be, from traditional pianos to synth effects and instrument sounds it's all good. I don't understand how anyone could be anything but happy if they dig on the feel and sound of the MX88. Cheers!

I've been a Yamaha fan for years. Had an old Motif 8 years ago and sold it but regretted it ever since. Bought this recently and love it. Amazing sounds, easy to navigate, fantastic touch/feel. Zero issues using it with Logic both as a controller or as an external MIDI instrument. Works seamlessly. Can't recommend enough.

Beginner keyboard player awesome still much to learn with this new instrument.Lots of bell and whistles built solid.I'm a solo guitar player.Adding this instrument just for home use and creativity.Thanks Pat.from Sweetwater.

I purchased an MX88 back in February, and have been very happy with it since. I went with the 88 because I wanted something more "piano-like," with 88 full sized keys, and I am not disappointed at all. I was afraid that I would be leaving behind that synth feeling that I've grown accustomed to over the years, but that has not been the case. The MX88 has a great piano feel without sacrificing response or play-ability.
I have been a big fan of Yamaha's AWM2 synthesis since it debuted in the 90's, and the sounds do not disappoint. Pianos sounds great, orchestral/instrument sounds are rich, rotary organs are astonishing, and it can even emulate analog synths pretty well. I could go on about the sounds, but there are just too many.
Wonderful synth, and a lot of fun to play.

My only two complaints (and the reason it lost 1/2 a star) is that the keyboard does not have aftertouch (although the sounds do, if you run through another controller), and I wish that the display were larger and more versatile.
All, in all, though, this synth offers a lot of bang for the buck, and although I've still a lot to learn (and the more I do, the better it gets), I'm glad that I ultimately decided to go with the MX88, and I feel that it will be a synth I'll be using for a long time.

I have had my MX88 for about 6 months now and I am very happy with it. I have had the Motif series in the past and many sounds are similar. I love the weighted feel of the keys, compared to, say, Roland, that has more of a synthesizer feel. I also have the Roland VR-730. The Yamaha is built well, though I would rather have the metal casing like in the "old days", but it is probably lighter with the current material. I have tried many other keyboards and Yamaha has the best feel. If you use mainly organ, other brands have the traditional Hammond keyboard feel. Very "fast" gliding over the waterfall keys. Thanks to Justin Rix, my Sweetwater associate for guiding me through the buying process! Thanks for the great service, price, and delivery.

I play piano on the MOXF8 for all my shows and it's fine but I was disappointed that it did not have the CF piano sound. It may be available via expansion but it certainly is not in the rom memory. I've just spent some time on the MX88 and low and behold, the CF piano sound is in the rom memory! That piano sound cuts well 'live' and has always been a favorite of mine, going back to the S80. It's a great sound. As well, there are lots of stellar Motif XF sounds and the weighted keys felt quite nice... not too heavy but still allowing for dynamic play. Some may say the sounds are a little dated and worn out but I disagree. Motif XF sounds for a grand? Good deal, I say. Perfect board for anyone who doesn't need boutique, is on a budget and has contemplated getting the MOXF8. Yamaha makes quality gear. I enjoyed playing the MX88.

THe MX 88 has the Motif engine which sounds awesome. Creating favorites using the "Save song" feature is cumbersome, as is adding an arpeggiator to a sound, The manual is none too helpful either. Customer service from Sweatwater and Yamaha have been top notch

I've been using the MX88 at gigs for several years now. Often times I play it out 2 or more per week ( especially summer and fall) and I hope my honest opinion and experience will possibly help others.

Pros:
1. It is an absolute workhorse. It always turns on and always works .. even in those high heat, high humidity outdoor gigs .... I love my Rolands .. to me the sounds are much better ... but honestly they shut down in heat, screens go blank, volume knobs go scratchy, etc ... This Yamaha just works and the sounds are adequate.
If I have any worry about heat, sunlight, etc. at an upcoming gig then the Yamaha goes in the car.
2. Good piano sounds*
3. Once you get the hang of it nice to program and set up your performances for the gig.
4. Not too heavy. By the time you get it in a gig bag w/ accessories and stuff you're in the 35 lb range.
5. Nice to have octave switch, adjustment knobs, mod, pitchbend and everything right up there on the deck so you tweak your sound real time.
6. I like the weight and feel of the keys (almost as good as my favorite which is the Yamaha p115 or p125 ... if I only needed piano sounds I'd use one of those)
7. Turn the wheel. Nice to have plenty of user performances that you can program and set up to just turn the wheel to next one.
8. It just feels good to play. I can't honestly say that about some of my other keyboards past and present. I often will set this one up to play in the house during the week.

* I needed to adjust the piano sounds and save my own user settings by adjusting the EQ quite a bit. In the voice insert effect it is called VCM EQ 501. Additionally people have complained about the piano sounds being too quiet and this is true. Using the VCM EQ 501 I have adjusted all output levels OUTLVL +7dB for every acoustic piano sound that I actually use at gigs.

Other Neutrals:
1. See * above. When you set up your performances you will likely spend a significant amount of time balancing volume levels of different sounds. For example with the stock settings your EP will be really loud then you switch to grand piano and it's all quiet ..... You need to make user voices for gigs or you'll be riding the volume knob all night.
2. Splits are good ... not nearly as nice as you do with Rolands ... I mean you have a voice for your left and a voice for your right. It's nice to have but with Rolands you can "easily" make layers, have 4 or more splits with voices that gradually fade into each other.
3. I do a lot of left hand bass playing and the bass sounds are okay. Much better than a Casio but not even close to a Roland.

Cons:
1.plasticky
2. A bit chunky for the car trunk. It's tall and deep so it takes a bit of work to get it in the back of the car.
If I need room for a suitcase or a lot of extra gear I usually bring a Casio Privia which weighs almost 10 lbs less and is not as deep .. I can then put stuff above it in the car.
3. Have had some trouble with the keys ... one got crunchy for a bit ... I had to take it apart and clean and regreased the front part of that crunchy key. Taking it apart is a bit scary I will admit but not absurdly difficult. I do a lot of outdoor gigs so I don't really blame the instrument for that.
4. Rhythm patterns aren't very good or useful at all for gigs in my opinion. Audibly looped sounding with no intros, outros or fills.
5. Strings don't sound very good to me.
6. As stated above ... out the box the piano sounds aren't sufficiently loud they also need some EQ adjustment in my opinion. You will need to program this thing but it is worth it.

I played one of these last week. I love the way it easily integrates with mainstage via USB for audio and midi. If it had one more foot controller input, I'd probably buy one. I need one for sustain, one for continuous controller and one for patch change. I think it is very strange that the choice was made to only have two pedal inputs.

I replaced my Kurzweil PC2X with the MX88...primarily because of weight. However, the piano sounds - both acoustic and electric are superior to the dated sounds of those instruments on the PC2X. I prefer the button assignment selection the MX offers as opposed to the scrolling menu that most all keyboards have today. The keyboard feels great. some of the solo instruments such as flute, and soprano sax are outstanding. Doing splits and layers is a snap, and adjusting the instrument volumes of the parts is easy also. The drum rhythm s aren't too bad, but for me there are many that i would never use. My biggest complaint is that the first 100 performance slots are locked in with pre set performances - none of which i would ever use...so it seems to be a waste of memory that could be better off used for and individuals preferences. I like the solo sounds so much that i bought the 49 note version as a second keyboard for leads.

I love this keyboard a yamaha mx 88. I love the sounds besides, it's a synthesizer and I can also use it for studio recordings. That is why I really need it.

As I have gotten older, the heavier boards have proven somewhat cumbersome to transport to and from gigs

So when I saw this, I thought great, and motif sounds too. What could go wrong?

Multi-Timbrel issues, only 2 sounds at a time
The screen is too small
No sliders
Real deep editing has to be via software
Build quality is cheap

Can it really be that bad? No

Pianos are decent
Rhodes are more than useful
Strings lovely (we'll kind of)
Drums have nice variety
Motif quality bass, guitar, lead and pads
Having the slightly heavier keys is useful


So for pure playing; great sound wise

Not a bad board but not a Juno DS or Krome EX but a great value instrument

Afraid online with multiple sites that many other people have had the same complaint about this particular keyboard and that the volume is limited. I had high quality jbl monitors close to my head but it plays quiet. So if you're not worried about a softer sound then this is the keyboard for you. I love sweet water and their staff so I will be ordering another keyboard for them. They have been very helpful for the whole process

I bought a MX88 in December of 2017. Although I've been a full time musician in the past, I only play for my own enjoyment now. I played the keyboard about an hour or so per day, about 5 days a week in my home. After a year and couple of months, I noticed the keys in the high traffic area of the keyboard getting noisy - a clunking sound and the keys were bouncy and sloppy. I emailed Yamaha and explained the problem. They were very nice, and even though the keyboard had been out of warranty for 3 months, they agreed to have the problem corrected via a special warranty repair. The entire 88 note key bed was replaced, and it feels like it did when I first bought it.

I've owned several Yamaha keyboards in the past and have never experienced any keyboard problems - until the MX88. My concern is for those who are playing full time - 4+ hours per night, 4, 5, or 6 nights per week. I'm not sure that the keyboard is built to take that type of playing. Other than that issue, the keyboard is nice.

You get what you pay for it feels cheap, looks cheap its just a big hunk of plastic you can easily get a midi controller for way less for the same quality and half the price

"Using the cheapest materials and the worst manufacture to build, Using the highest possible price to sell it." I buy the brand new MX88 in the late 2021, gig and jam using it now becomes a disaster. It's keys gets loosed, and there is a very marshmallow felling to the key bed. The sound engine is low quality and this keyboard is ULTRA heavy. A good keyboard will let you enjoy the time playing it, This one is the opposite, even when it is brand new.

Beware! The Yamaha MX synth line is a scam like the iPhone SE by Apple. Their cooperation already shows. Old and useless tech wrapped in ugly plastic at a premium price. I was unfortunate enough to have fallen for the "Entry level synthesizer that combines the sounds of the Yamaha Motif XS synthesizer with an 88-key weighted keyboard"

It's a lie! The MX line has NOTHING in common with Motif XS. You could buy a $50 toy that can sample sounds and play them back. In that way it is true that the MX has the Motif XS sounds. If you talk about VOICES, however, and put them side by side, the difference between Motif and MX is such that they are incomparable. Moreover, the MX is totally incompatible with any other Yamaha synth soundbanks and file formats because the MX sound engine is absolute crap made just for the occasion of selling this thing to customers not familiar with shady selling tactics. All the internet advertisement hype takes advantage of the fallacy by association: Show the MX88 and have known DJs or musicians play it, talk about Motif, talk about Montage, synthesizers, performance etc. It doesn't even have a seqencer or a wave generator or voice preset buttons for convenient switching between voices during a performance. If you modify a voice, the modification will affect all your voices until you reset. That is why they promote the "EASY RETURN TO DEFAULT PERFORMANCE" by pressing Shift+Select. It's a design flaw they never bothered to fix, so they promote it as a feature.

The Yamaha MX88, MX61 and MX49 are nothing more than ugly overpriced master MIDI keyboards. You could smash the sound engine inside with a hammer and it would be no loss. All you'll ever do with the MX line is use it as a master MIDI keyboard to play sounds from your sampler or DAW. It is absolutely useless as a synthesizer and also as performance piano because of the lack of preset buttons and the aforementioned design flaw. If they sold more units it'd be a good idea to take class action against Yamaha for false advertizing. The MX "synthesizers" are not fit for purpose. Just because you can adjust the envelope of default voices it doesn't mean it is a synthesizer, Yamaha!