Well folks I finally did it. Two weeks ago I went to the Guitar Center in Grand Rapids and I bought the Yamaha PSR2000. They have a no hassle 30 return policy so I thought I'd put it through its paces. If anyone cares here is my review.

Vocal processing - Excellent sounds and lots of simple to use descriptive presets. The harmonizer, compressor, eq and effects are all great. DanO and AJ, Ketron could learn a valuable lesson from Yamaha on this one.

Ease of use - Great! In less than an hour I was doing most of the normal basic things. It is very straight forward. Don, for me the buttons are in the wrong place. I use my right hand to select starts, stops, fills, varations and breaks. I did find some of the style groupings to be a little strange.

Balance, weight, and transportability - Great although the whole unit seems a little flimsy. The only way I found to turn off the internal speakers was to insert a plug into the headphone jack.

Styles - Fair, typical Yamaha except I thought the moonlight ballad with the OTS really sounded Glenn Millerish. The swing/bigband stuff was ok. I thought the ballads were a little weak. I really didn't find a great style for "After the Lovin" or "Wonderful World" or "Crazy" or a really good gospel. Sure there were some that worked but nothing great. I didn't find a good style for "Tuxedo Junction" or "NY NY". I'm sure there are some somewhere that will do the trick, if Yamaha doesn't send the style police after us.

Sounds - This is where I was appalled at the lack of sound quality. The "Sweet", "Live", and "Cool" voices were very disappointing. The muted trumpet sounds like a muted kazoo. The soprano sax sounds good for about a 4 note range then starts to sound like a muted oboe. I've heard better clarinets on 20 year old Lowrey organs. The woodwinds and brass were very disappointing. The guitars however I found to be very good. The organs and pianos were fair. The Leslie simulation wasn't very good. I didn't hear any difference between "Vintage" or "Sine" when using the organ flutes. Maybe that was my fault. You could really tell that Yamaha only used 16 megs of ROM on this thing.

If this were the best sounding keyboard out there I would of course use it. It isn't and I won't compromise my performance by using it. I would rate the sounds only slightly better than a Casio WK1800. When I had my PSR740 Uncle Dave told me that it wasn't up to the standards of the top of the line pro models. The 2000 is a 740 with the vocal processing from the 9000. It is a mid range model with mid range sounds at a mid range price. I gave up sound quality when I bought my PS6100 and stopped hauling an organ and external Leslie. I'm not going to do that now just to save 20 pounds and a few bucks. Dave, Don, Scott and the others, your vocals must be strong enough to carry the performance because the 2000 is too weak to carry itself alone in the sound department. It is slightly overpriced. I would double the price $350 of a Casio and add $200 for the onboard harmonizer. That would price it at around $900.

I'm taking it back tomorrow. I'm going to buy the PSR9000 and try it. It has 32 megs of ROM and hopefully better sounding voices. I know that the styles will not be any better and in fact may be a little worse but it is worth a try

Don't have a hairy folks. This is just my opinion and you know what they say about opinions. Opinions are like ...................... everyone has one.

Regards,

Tom

Hi Tom

I am surprised at the negative evaluation of the "sweet" "cool" and "live" sounds, as this have been positively received by others when on the PSR-9000. Was you evaluation based on their sound from the internal speakers--or did you also try them through headphones and/or external speakers.

Clif

I don't think you will like the sounds on the 9000 any better, with posssible exception of the organs.
Your description of the sounds doesn't sound right. Maybe there was something wrong with your particular model?? Or maybe we have different tastes.
That's why there is more than just one keyboard!
DonM

Tom,

I agree on many of your opinons of the PSR2000 except that the 2k vocalizer is no where near the 9k one.

( "The 2000 is a 740 with the vocal processing from the 9000." )

Have you played the SD-1 yet? I enjoyed many of the sounds on that unit. Many sounded very realistic to my ear.



[This message has been edited by Dnj (edited 02-08-2002).]

I'm gonna help deflect some of the heat for you Tom and take some of it for myself ( LOL ) with this but I agree with your assessment of the board.. almost completely in fact. There is nothing wrong with my 2000 either. It sounds pretty similar to the 740 I replaced it with. The only thing we might differ on is the guitar sounds. The acoustics are pretty good, but I don't care for the electrics whatsoever. I had better ones on my M1 which was made what..15 years ago already ? I bought this keyboard for live play though, and I think it could probably be useful for me in that capacity.., but now that I have finally figured out the OS of my PA80, I would rather use it instead. I find many of the 2000s internal sounds, however, to be virtually useless for any serious recording. I wish I still had the option of returning mine. Still, I'm contemplating putting it up for sale and using the funds toward a good module ( probably a Roland ). The only other point I will comment on were the Casio sounds. I don't know from the W1800, but I had the MZ2000 and I like many of its sound better than the PSR2000s. ( Ok I'm ducking now.... sorry but that's what I hear anyway) The MZ had other issues though, so it's now gone. Still, if I were not looking for a module at this point, I'd seriously consider a straight up trade with someone to go back to the MZ from my PSR2000

I also agree with Don M on this one Tom. I doubt that you will find the sounds in the 9000 to be a whole lot better. It seems to me that you, like me, might not be a big fan of Yamaha sounds in general Tom ( at least the ones from their arrangers ).

Korg AJ

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Tom Cavanaugh:
[

Vocal processing - Excellent sounds and lots of simple to use descriptive presets. The harmonizer, compressor, eq and effects are all great. DanO and AJ, Ketron could learn a valuable lesson from Yamaha on this one.
***************
****************

Tom .......
I do not manufacturer the keyboards.
AJ + dano do not need a lesson !
The vocal kit adds value to Ketron products. IMO
I am getting excellent results . dano



[This message has been edited by DanO1 (edited 02-08-2002).]

With all due respect Tom, I have found the cool voices to be VERY acceptable. I have had to tweak EQ a little here and there...but the 9000 and 2000 have made a distinct difference in the comments I have received from those in the audience who have commented to me.

Tonight I used the 740, and while the crowd seemed motivated, I had no such comments as mentioned above...and noticed myself the guitars and sax (especially) seemed lacking when compared to the 2K and 9K.

If I had to make a negative comment about the 2K, it would be about the Session Styles.
It seems some chords on swing tunes just go out of kilter... not even good jazz, in my mind.

Eddie

I agree as well. I actually bought a PSR1000 and brought it back after 2 days, "besides the harmonizer and a few sounds it's identical to the PSR2000". I had a chance to play the Casio MZ and I also liked the sounds better then the PSR, but it's lack of support for available styles etc.. steered me away, plus it's a Casio. My first band the keyboard player used a Casio until he made enough to buy a more serious KB, and you always had 1 or 2 people come up to you on a gig and say I have one just like it, I thought they were toys for kids to play with(MZ is by no means a childs toy)come to think of it I do remember getting that with the Yamaha's as well. It is a good thing that some companies are not that money hungry to go into the home keyboard toy market so you never have a to run into the situation mentioned. I lost some respect for Roland (Big Fan) when they joined the Casio and Yamaha market segment (creative series I think it's called). I wonder how many companies have actually stayed higher end only. It's funny I was just thinking the so called toy keyboards from Yamaha, Casio, Roland actually sound better than the pro boards did not to long ago. Technology has reached a peak and there will be a day that you just can't improve the sound quality any more than it already is, besides personal preference tweaks.

Does Korg make any so called toy keyboards for the home???????????

I haven't seen any Korg home keyboards and I'm not really sure whether they exist. If they do or did, it wouldn't change a thing for me. I am not an "image" kinda guy, so I don't care what Korg or Roland puts out in the home market, so long as the boards I want to play from them meet my standards. As far as gigging, yeah I've heard comments from people who said .."hmmm, Yamaha.. I thought they made motorcycles", or "I saw a Yamaha at Kmart, did you get yours there"? ( yeah a CP25 at kmart imagine that..lol, ) It really doesn't matter to me, but I guess if it did I could always cover up the logo on the back, like some other players do. ( There was a thread here on that topic about a year ago that had a huge life of it's own ). The keyboard is a tool for me to express what I want to create musically, so I don't care who makes it, or what else they make besides as long as the board I have at hand fits my needs. The PA80 and Triton series in general ) just happen to be keys that fit me very well, both for sounds and the way they respond to my touch. Not really a Korg expert though, but for the most part, for synths, I do prefer Korg.( The name "Korg AJ " really came about because Ketron AJ is also a member of the forum and it was confusing for some here when I signed off as "AJ" ). I don't care if Roland makes home keys or not, I like Roland sounds a lot, and have played with a few that would be the equal of the Triton series for me, so that's where I'm going next, unless I can get DanO or AJ to bring a Ketron up to NY for me to try ouy ( LOL ). As far as the MZ, yes it had some sounds I like better than the PSR, but it also had some that were not so good. The drums and pianos in particular were not to my liking ( neither are the PSR's though ), and I really had to tweak some sounds to get them to sound better. The Velo Alto Sax however, was awesome, better than any other sample I have ( I have quite a few of 'em ). So was the distorted guitar. I wish I had sampled a few of the better sounds though before I got rid of the board. It's fatal flaw for me though was that it saved recorded accomp "midi" data in a "Casio" format rather than a standard midi file. Utterly useless for importing in to a real sequencer. Anyway sorry all for straying from Tom's topic here...
I don't think ALL of the Yamaha sounds are of mediocre quality. In fact there are some that I find to be very good. It just so happens that many of my staple sounds are also my least favorite in the 2000 ( electric guitars, drums, brass )

Korg AJ



[This message has been edited by Bluezplayer (edited 02-09-2002).]

You stole my thunder, AJ. The reason I LOVE my PSR2K is that MY staple sounds are clearly represented on this keyboard. The sounds I regularly use just so happen to be the ones I love on this keyboard. Now, don't forget, I am a songwriter of mostly ballad-type songs, so to your point, this whole thing is very objective. But then again, I love Yammi sounds in general.

Angelo