I was fortunate to be asked by Yamaha to try their new Yamaha Digital Saxophone YDS-150. I was chatting with Deborah from Yamaha about their latest products, and we got talking about their range of digital saxophones. Yamaha were generous to gift my recipient of the 2023 Ralph Markham Award, Keana Miller with their Yamaha Digital Saxophone YDS-120. I was given their flagship Yamaha digital saxophone YDS-150 to test.

The digital saxophone from Yamaha is very user friendly. It feels familiar as a saxophone, with the reed and mouthpiece set up and moving keys making it easy to get started. I was able to very quickly navigate the sounds through the function button and start playing. Scrolling through all the saxophone sounds (SATB) and other instruments was easy to do through the function key. Adjustments of pitch, reverb etc is also very easy. I quickly found that if you hold the up or down button you can quickly scroll through the sounds to find the sound you want. The instrument responds well to the breath input, giving me a control of dynamics and vibrato. The bend button is fun.

The digital saxophone is very user friendly due to its ease of use and simplicity. Also, with its moving keys, the feel of the movement is more reassuring than others on the market that just use sensors. I also spent some time experimenting with the YDS-150 as a midi input, for me the best use is as a digital alternative to a regular saxophone where it functions very well and is well crafted. Having played the Yamaha WX 7 and Yamaha WX11 in the 1990s it feels like a welcome return to the feel and response of those ground breaking digital wind controllers.