Yamaha MM8 Music Synthesizer

That's the first and most important thing you look - and listen - for in a synthesizer. Rest assured, this synthesizer delivers. The MM has 418 Voices and 22 Drum Kits on board, based on the sounds of the famed pro-level MOTIF series synthesizers. These exceptionally high-quality sounds range from authentic and natural acoustic instruments to wild, unique and in-your-face synth Voices. An extra set of GM Voices (128 Normal, 1 Drum Kit) is built into the instrument as well, giving you all you need to play back songs recorded in that popular format. So many Voices, so little time...That's why we've also included a convenient Category Search function. Just select the type of instrument you want to play - organ, guitar, synth lead, strings, whatever - then select the specific Voice. All your favorite sounds are right at your fingertips.

When you play live, you want to be able to make sound changes quickly - not just between songs, but in the middle of a song too. The Performance Memory feature is just the tool you need to smoothly switch gears and take things up a notch or two. Each Performance can store combined settings for the Voices you want to use (including special keyboard splits and layers), the Patterns you want as backing tracks, and any other crucial settings for your live work. Then, simply call up each Performance by pressing a single button.

Share the wealth. With the rear panel USB connection, the MM makes it easier than ever before to transfer your valuable data between devices. Plug in a USB thumb drive or memory stick and store the important MIDI songs, Pattern files, Performance settings and all other data you've created, and then bring it to a computer for archiving and organizing. You can also save your recorded songs in the universal SMF (Standard MIDI File) format, then transfer and use those on any another SMF-compatible device, including computers running MIDI music sequencing software.

Generate some excitement, and tap into even more inspiration while you play with the Arpeggio feature. This lets you automatically trigger repeating rhythmic phrases, riffs, broken chords and melodic patterns - and even change them harmonically by the notes or chords you play with your left hand. The MM come with 213 different Arpeggio types built in, providing a variety of musically useful and exciting patterns to get the house jumping or to jump start your song writing. Bass arpeggios and Drum Voice rhythm loops are included as well for setting up dynamic riffs and beats to jam over.

At home or in the studio, the MM can serve as the center of your music production system. Most of today's music is being made on computers and the MM series fits right into any computer music system. Just connect the USB To Host terminal on the instrument to your computer with a standard USB cable, and you've got a compact, yet full-featured recording setup. And just to make sure you get a head start, we've included a free copy of Cubase AI 4 - a sophisticated music production software that has all you need to record your performance data from the MM via MIDI (and even use plug-in synthesizers in the software), edit the data, process the sounds with effects, arrange it in multiple tracks and perform final mixdown.