Originally Posted By Uncle Dave
Here's my "gig-notes":

Very few minuses: (and these are Yamaha in general)
1) I miss the chord triggering method that Korg uses. I don't like to play 3 note chords all the time, as I started playing only LH bass. The Yamaha 1 finger method is either (a) stupid, like early Casio with a non musical approach to Maj-Min-7th, or (b) "mostly" correct, but when I forget to play enough notes, I get empty chords with no 3rd to identify it. I can get used to this, but I have never liked it. Again - not specific to SX .... it's a Yamy-thang.


Yes. That.
(a) isn't worth bothering with. VERY limited, only 48 chords and no provision for on-bass.
(b) is called "Multifinger." But not all multifinger are created equal. The implementation on the YPG-535 works pretty well, and is actually BETTER than the one on the Genos and SX. Why!? Try it and see for yourself.
Unfortunately neither of these are compatible with the the Korg-Roland-Ketron-GEM approach. If you play C and Bb expecting C7 you're gonna be disappointed because you'll get C minor! The fingering is so different, you might as well play a clarinet!

So I knuckled down and tried to learn the "AI Fingered" system that everyone on PSRTutorial brags about. It's pretty logical with a few quirks, and it is helpful if a song has a lot of slash chords. BUT-- the burn is, a single note is recognized as a UNISON. What?!? I mean, how often do you use that? Someone should make Steve Deming write on the blackboard 100x "One finger equals a major chord!" Seriously, Yamaha should allow the user to choose whether a single key is silent (two notes minimum), major chord, or unison for those who like it the way it is now.

I mostly play simplified scores. They have a lot of major, minor, 7th chords with the occasional slash chord thrown in. Being able to play a major chord with one key facilitates fast transitions and often saves me the need to reposition my whole hand. By contrast, Roland's Chord Intelligence allows one-finger majors, two-finger minors, 7ths, Maj 7ths, and Dims in pretty much any inversion. All of the trigger notes are part of the chord. When you activate Bass Inversion, it will also permit playing many slash chords with just two notes. It doesn't penalize you for playing all the notes, and it will accurately recognize 9ths, 13ths, etc. if you are skilled enough to play them. I've found that I can play more music accurately and easily with the Roland system, compared to any other.

To make songs with occasional slash chords easier, I figured out a way to use the Midi Solutions footswitch controller to make Bass Inversion a MOMENTARY function. (This should have been an option from the factory!) When I press and hold the pedal, the lowest key controls the bass. As soon as I release the pedal, it plays the root bass for any inversion. The factory requires one push to turn it on, and another to turn it off. That's hard to do if the chords change on every quarter note.

Korg's Fingered 1 is similar to Roland's approach. If you don't play any slash chords it might be better. But Korg tried to give the player a shortcut for everything, and sometimes it gets in the way. For example, if you play G-C expecting C/G you get Gsus4. If you really want C/G you have to stretch for the 3rd above. If you want C/E you had better get that G in the middle down, otherwise you get Eaug. I rarely encounter augmented chords, so this logic is frustrating.

If Roland abandons the arranger market, I hope they license their Chord Intelligence to a third party, or even release it into the public domain. It's been around practically unchanged since 1996, and it's truly ingenious! I'm done with Yamaha for real-time play unless they swallow their stubborn pride and make the changes I describe. But all brands would benefit from more customizability in this important facet of arranger operation.


Edited by TedS (12/01/19 12:19 PM)