Main Features - Yamaha PortaTone PSR-280 Owner's Manual

Congratulations on your purchase of the Yamaha PSR-280 PortaTone!
You now own a portable keyboard that combines advanced functions, great sound
and exceptional ease-of-use in a highly compact package. Its outstanding features
Read this Owner's Manual carefully while playing your new PSR-280 in order to

Main Features

The PSR-280 is a sophisticated yet easy-to-use keyboard with the following features and functions:
I Yamaha Education Suite
The PSR-280 features the new Yamaha Education Suite — a set of learning tools that utilize the latest
technology to make studying and practicing music more fun and fulfilling than ever before!
The Yamaha Education Suite includes:
G Lesson ............................. page 60
The convenient and easy-to-use Lesson feature, guides you through the parts of a song — just like a
patient teacher! Select from any one of 100 songs on the PSR-280, and learn the left- and right-hand
parts independently at first, then together. Lesson features four easy steps that help you master each
song: Timing, Waiting, Minus One, and Both Hands.
G Grade & Talking ............................. pages 65, 66
The PSR-280 also has the Grade and Talking features. Grade is a virtual "teacher," evaluating your
practice sessions and rating your performance. The convenient Talking function "announces" each
Lesson step and your "grades," among other things.
G Dictionary ............................. page 45
Dictionary is a built-in "chord encyclopedia" that teaches you how to play specific chords by showing
you the appropriate notes in the display — perfect for when you know the name of a chord and want to
quickly learn how to play it!
I Portable Grand ............................. page 20
The PSR-280 also has a Portable Grand function for realistic piano performance. Pressing the [Piano]
button instantly calls up the stunningly authentic "Stereo Sampled Piano" voice and configures the entire
PSR-280 for optimum piano play. Special Pianist styles — with piano-only accompaniment — are also
provided.
I DJ ............................. page 22
The DJ feature is an exciting new addition to the PSR-280, that puts a wealth of contemporary sounds and
rhythms at your fingertips. Pressing the [DJ] button instantly calls up one of the special DJ songs ("DJ
GAME") and a DJ style, and provides the appropriate voice and sound effects to match.
Other powerful features include:
• 256 exceptionally realistic and dynamic voices, utilizing digi-
tal recordings of actual instruments.
• Special Split voices, with two different voices playable from
separate sections of the keyboard.
• 10 different Drum Kit voices, with individual drum and per-
cussion sounds on each key.
• High-quality Reverb, DSP, and Harmony effects for enhanc-
ing the sound of the voices — and your performance.
• 100 auto accompaniment styles, each with Intro, Main A and
B, and Ending sections. An Auto Fill function adds dynamic
fills when switching sections.
• Powerful, easy-to-use song recording operations, for record-
ing and playing back up to five of your original songs.
4
also make it a remarkably expressive and versatile instrument.
take full advantage of its various features.
• Registration Memory presets for storing all of the PSR-280's
panel settings to a single button for instant and automatic
recall.
• One Touch Setting function for automatically calling up an
appropriate voice to match the style or song you select.
• Touch Response and Dynamic Filter that give you extraordi-
narily expressive control over the voices. They automatically
change both the volume and tone according to your playing
strength — just like a real musical instrument!
• Full MIDI and General MIDI (GM) compatibility, letting
you easily integrate the PSR-280 into a MIDI music system,
and use the built-in GM voices with all GM software.
• Built-in high-quality stereo amplifier/speaker system.