YAMAHA Digital Saxophone YDS-150

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.

Le son en général est bien , en cours de jeux parfois les touches ne répondent pas , et le son parfois sort différemment et ça coupe tous le morceaux ,catastrophe en plein milieux de séance .. si c’est que pour de l’entrainement cava encore , mais à 900€ , on a le droit d’avoir de la qualité sans problème quand même …

I purchased a Yamaha YDS-120 digital saxophone a few months ago as a retirement gift. It is one of the most affordable digital saxes available with a sound that I would call “sax adjacent.” However, it is easier to play than an actual saxophone and has a lot of different sax “voices” for soprano, alto, tenor, and baritone saxes.

For a retired hobbyist like me, it is perfect. It is fun to play and close enough to a real sax for me. I do have a real alto sax that I have played for decades, but I am finding it harder to keep my embouchure without my mouth hurting. For my digital sax , I just need to blow into it like recorder.

Many of the digital “voices” have vibrato built into them which is great for a vibrato lover such as myself. The voice sensor is fine at sensing different types of attack on notes. As with most digital saxes, the key responsiveness can be a bit slow. I have adjusted the appropriate settings on the digital sax to get the fastest response it is capable of. Of course, at my age my fingers are slower than they used to be!

Perhaps the best feature of the digital sax is the ability to accept a headset so that I do not bother my wife or neighbors when I play. I have been aware of digital saxes since their introduction in the 1970’s. I am happy that the price point has come down so much in the last couple decades that I can finally afford one.