Yamaha reface YC Mobile Mini Keyboard

Yamaha reface keyboards are designed around the practical needs of contemporary musicians. The name of the series, “reface,” is a conflation of the idea of reimagining and the legacy of Yamaha’s many groundbreaking keyboard instrument interfaces. Among the innovations that it hearkens back to are the legendary CP80, DX7 and CS5 keyboards. This is the reface YC, which has as one of its chief orientations the authentic organ timbres from the Yamaha Combo Organ.

The reface Series is small. Incredibly small. But unlike miniature keyboard instruments of the past, the reface touch is satisfying and expressive, and the sound is nothing short of spectacular. The reface family of keyboards features built-in speakers and is battery operable so you can create on the go. An aux line in allows you to play along with MP3 players or whatever other audio device you wish to use. Add MIDI and USB connectivity, and the reface’s capacity to interface with external devices is vast.

Reface YC gives you the unique expression of drawbars, rotary speaker, percussion and effects for a complete organ experience that fits under your arm. Five different organ models take you from vintage tonewheel to transistor to classic Yamaha YC combo organ at the turn of a dial. Each organ model features unique percussion behavior plus distortion and reverb effects to get that perfect sound – just pick your model and start shaping your sound using the nine retro-style drawbars. Take your playing to the next level and plug in a Yamaha FC7 expression pedal for the total organ experience.

For keyboardists needing great organ sound you can carry under your arm, Reface YC is a Mobile Mini Keyboard with five unique organ characters and realistic organ control and behavior. Unlike expensive “clonewheel” organs, Reface YC features a complete organ interface you can hold in your hand and easily fits into your keyboard rig.

WebMIDI and the reface Keyboard
It had to happen, so it did. WebMIDI. And of course, Yamaha is one of the first to offer a way to use it. WebMIDI connects MIDI devices to the internet, allowing musical instruments to play online synthesizers, as well as save or share sounds. Reface Mobile Mini Keyboards can use WebMIDI to songs to YouTube (video) and SoundCloud (audio).

BROWSE shows all available sounds (currently thousands), and you can refine your searches using tags. Once you find a sound you like, click on it and hit SYNC. This will send the sound to your connected reface and show them you to move the controls on your keyboard to recreate the sound. How cool is that?