No, not exactly. I'm very aware of the ranges of various instruments. You should vertainly be able to play C below middle C on a trombone!

Maybe I forgot about the Bass trombone. Maybe Yamaha was going for that, or maybe a cross between bass and tenor trombone?

To make it sound like the tenor trombone we all know and love, I can't play louder than mezzo piano on D below middle C or lower. That helps a lot. For some reason, I've noticed trombones get softer in the low range, while a tuba gets fat and loud.

The harp is the opposite. With the harp voice, you have to play high notes pianissimo. I've played a little harp (very little) and if you pluck the high strings as hard as humanly possible, you get what you get on the Yamaha at about mp. Any harder than about p on the Yamaha gives you a very hard, piano-like sound. Punching up the reverb a little helps the harp too.

I think I can work with the trombone and the harp. I should probably not play them now for a week, then try again. I might be getting used to the Yamaha sounds.

The violin I can't work with. The YPG violin sounds almost (not quite) exactly like the YPG cello played an octave higher. The problem is a cello, when played way up in the stratosphere, doesn't sound anything like a violin. It gets strained and unstring? like. Tremelo sounds more like a breath instrument (more AM than FM). And there's a breath attack between middle C and G when you play the violin too loud! The violin does SOMEthing when you bow too hard, but it's not a breath attack!

I'll have to go to GC and try the violin on their DGX-505. I can't believe it was THAT bad... Seems like I would have remembered.

I also have an issue with Yamaha's "support beam." It might come down to their use of the word "portable" again. I'm going to start another thread about that. I'd be glad to hear your reaction, and George K's.

Rick