Starkeeper, I use only the XG organs on the 740 as the panel organs don't have touch response, just like the 2000. I can layer 2 voices on the keyboard (R1 and R2) which is often good enough but with XG I can layer up to 18 (but usually only 3 or 4). For this I use XGworks and I've updated all the tables for the 740 (and 2000) to give me access to the whole synth - 5 DSPs and all the voices and effects. I run the whole thing from the laptop for portability. I just save all the settings to a .syx file which is instantly loadable and that gives me a lot more settings than I can store in the registration memories. You can probably use XGworks straight out of the box with your machine as it doesn't have all the DSPs. Or a cheaper way to go would be XGEdit which does all the sysex but isn't a sequencer. It's shareware so you can download and try it. There's a link to it in the Yamaha Zone of Synth Zone.

Sorry you didn't like the book. I'm not exactly a beginner myself but I thought it was a nice book to own. It's good for showing to visitors who think they would like to learn a keyboard.

Idatrod, I measured my two PSRs and my grand piano. Five octaves is 33 inches on the piano and 32 1/2 on the PSRs. I can't tell the difference. I can stretch an eleventh on both and it feels just the same.

Bryan