Tom:
I was a bit surprised to hear your disappointment with the PSR2000's voices. As much of a Technics devotee I've been for so long, I think that many of the 2000's voices sound far superior. My beef with Yamaha is more with it's styles and poor (unusable) full keyboard mode chord recognition. Keep us posted on your keyboard exploration progress. I hope you find one that finds YOUR needs best. - Scott

IMO, its a matter of taste. Having played on the xp60 for a while before playing the 740, i did feel the 740 sounds were toyish in the beginning. However, as i played it more and more I started to like the difference they offered. They didn't seem toyish any more. In fact there are some sounds I love on the 740 as compared to the xp60. I think its a matter of perception.

Yes I agree it can be perception. Some people like milk chocolate some like dark chocolate. Some like Swiss and heaven forbid some like Dutch. (I threw that in there for John's benefit). I've even convinced myself that I prefer diet soda to regular. I love my wife's pumpkin pie. I think it is the best. Have you ever had a piece of pumpkin pie that looks great but tastes like cardboard? That is not perception. I've played in a 16 piece big band for 30 years. I know what saxes, clarinets, and trumpets are supposed to sound like. I played clarinet and sax in high school. You can probably convince yourself that the woodwinds and brass on the 2000 sound good but they are cardboard.

Tom,
Since reading your impressions of the sounds, I went back and listened to several minidisk recordings of myself on both the 9000 and the 2000. I honestly can't tell the difference without listening for style differences.
But then, about the only woodwinds I use are a couple of saxs-Growl and Sweet. I played trumpet for years, and think the Sweet Trumpet is o.k.--not wonderful but as good as most keyboard trumpets. I love the Growl Sax! Surprisingly, I think the Growl Sax on the PSR8000 sounds better than the 2K or the 9k. Probably effects.
While doing this, I also played some recordings of the X1. As is generally conceded, the overall sound is far superior. The live drum sounds are fantastic. You can hear every little detail throughout the kit. The bass player is very tasteful and much more "aggressive" than the Yamaha bass man. It sounds like a live combo and you wouldn't suspect you are listening to a keyboard.
I don't regret selling it to you because it was so very difficult for me to operate in real time, with the buttons on the right side (which is where you prefer them).
The PSR2000 is perfectly adequate and very well suited for what I'm doing right now. I will take a close look at the new GEM, the Technics KN7000 (it will have to greatly improve the vocal input and harmony and accept a standard HD) and the SD1 before getting "this year's" keyboard.
Despite Yamaha's generous gift to Ryan, I remain almost totally disenchanted with them for the way they are handling the PSR2000 situation. It has been two months since I first notified them of my problems, and I fully expect it to be another couple of months before they address any of the updates in the U.S. Then, I expect them to totally disregard the bugs in the harmonizer.
I hope they prove me wrong.
DonM

Don,
I recieved a call from a "Honcho" at Yamaha who picked my brain dry about sytles, sounds, features and bugs. We spent over 90 minutes on HIS dime, and he assured me that the bugs are being dealt with. It takes time to delelop new software (and hardware), but I beilive that they are really doing it. There is such a small percentage of users in the psr world that demand the kind of service that WE do from the instruments, and I understand why Yamaha drags their feet a little before making changes, or "fixes" that will only affect a very small part of the market. I don't think they are shying AWAY from responsibility .... just playing the odds. Sit tight - there is still NOTHING for a thousand bucks that does what the 2000 does. I want something better, too - but for now, this is the best offer with the fewest compromises out there ........ and you KNOW I'm right !

Don, U.D. and the others,

I worked as an organ tech for 10 years. One of the dealers for whom I did service was a Yamaha dealer. (That enabled me to buy my PS6100 at cost).I can't speak for them now but back then Yamaha was VERY VERY fussy about giving their customers good service. Many times they would ship whole boards when normally we would replace discrete componants. Unless Yamaha has drastically changed I do believe they will make happy customers out of you 2000 owners. I also do think that the 2000 is a very good value even though I think it may be slightly overpriced. It just didn't do it for me. Be cool Don, no sense elevating your blood pressure.

Don,
Lets say I'm playing a song in the key of C and I 'm comming to the end. My left hand is holding a G7 chord and I want the ending to start when I switch to the last chord the C. I use my right hand to select the desired ending because my left hand is occupied. That's why I like the switches on the right. How do you do it?

Well in that situation, since I would have to quit playing with my right hand to hit the buttons, it would be easy enough to reach over to the left side and hit the ending. At least it is the last button on the right (of the buttons on the left side).
The problem I had is that I play a lot of fills and all the leads with my right hand. It was a far bigger problem to stop playing with the right hand than the left for me.
I even play along with the endings.
Don