The current trend in arranger keyboards seems to be the reduction of controls - knobs, buttons etc. I don't know what others think but I for one deplore this trend. I would like to see a few more controls and I don't mean touch screens. One of the reasons I haven't moved from the PSR-740 is the disappearance of the telephone type keypad which allows me to select voice, style etc. directly by number. Several times I've played a PSR-2000 and had to fight my way around the menus on the idiot lantern they've so thoughtfully provided. At least on the 2000 they've added more registration buttons (4 on the 740) but that's still not enough because sooner or later you have to switch banks (you can use the foot switch but that's not very practical). This may be OK for playing at home but when you're out on a gig you want to be able to move pretty rapidly from one scenario to the next, particularly if you are playing several choruses of the same tune and want to switch instruments between choruses. For my money, they can take out the multi pads as I never use them, or even make them programmable so you can use them for registrations as well. One of my favourite keyboards was the old PSR-510. Everything was on buttons and you could switch very quickly. Only problem with it was that it ran out of steam too soon and couldn't manage the polyphony. (Mind you, the 740 exhibits the same problem. There's a 28MHz processor in there which is running at only 7MHz. You can't speed it up as the support chips are too slow). The way things are going, everything will be displayed on a screen with no controls on the keyboard except for a mouse. Maybe this is the reason for all the real estate on the Tyros. They're getting us accustomed to a mouse pad.

I agree.. I don't know why they drop the numeric keypad.. It's so much easier at times entering the numbers in directly. All the makers are just going with the trend..

Squeak

Because all is based on registrations (performances in Korg's language). Very usefull if playing kb is your first job and you have a lot of time to program all the settings you need. If not, you will need several months to make your kb operational.
And do you know what?
When you are ready with it, it si too late because they are new kb more powerfull, with more features, and new fantastic sounds...

hehe that is called trade.

Pilot,
My Andromeda has about 70+ bottons knobs etc and I love it. The more direct access buttons and less menus to sift through for me the better.
Terry

I thought the selection of voice on the PSR2000 is pretty good IF your voices happen to be on the FIRST page of that particular category.

They should also have the numeric keypad in addition to the category selection as in PSR2000. OR they allow the users to move the voice selections within the voice category and save that into the registration memory.

The category method is good if you want to switch quickly from say pianos to brass. Just press the category button for the trumpet and you can immediately play the brass. Provided that brass is the first entry. If not then you have to press another button to select the voice.

Worst case, just save it on registration memory and switch just by pressing one button.

User interface design in general is a fascinating topic. It's a rather fine art. In my opinion, Yamaha does an impressive job most of the time. Certainly compared to other keyboard companies. The absence of a numbered keypad (and, for that matter, numbers altogether) might be annoying to those who are used to just punching in numbers quickly. However, the fact is that any numbering scheme would get tricky when it comes to integrating user styles (flash or disk). Think about it. If you were designing the PSR-2000, how would you work in a numbering scheme that works for user styles as well? Having numbers for ROM styles only, and only names for user styles, would be inconsistent and quite confusing. The same is true for user voices. In any event, proper use of the Registration Memory should alleviate any quick-access issues.

Yamaha could possibly implement a "Bank" button for the registrations that works like the sound banks - subsequent pushes take you through each bank, one at a time.

Well Dave, you can do that already on the 740 by assigning the footswitch as a registration switch. After you get through one bank it will switch to the next. However, you can only cycle through one by one - there's no switching back and forth. To switch banks you need four button presses or you have to take both hands off the keyboard and use five button presses. That's what I mean about ergonomic.

Bryan

Dave,

The PSR 9k already has a forward/reverse dedicated bank button...Hmmmm?

As far as ergonomics goes, I'm hoping for future KB's to be Thinner all around, Lighter all around, plus a BOSE style smaller speaker concept for great sounding onboard monitors.



[This message has been edited by Dnj (edited 11-18-2002).]

I don't use it myself, but I'm pretty sure I remember reading that the 2000 can switch over to numbers for the styles and voices. So, if you prefer to use the numbers, you can do so on the 2000. But I guess there's no direct number pad, so I'm not sure how good it would do you.
Tom G.

I gotta say that I find the PSR2K streets ahead of the PSR630 I used to use in terms of "operability". I never really got into use the numeric keypad on the 630; if I used something a lot it ended up in the registrations memory and the rest of the time I just scrolled using the data wheel. I find the PSR2K much more intuitive, despite the extra button pushing you do for stuff that isnt on the first page. I do much more "on the fly" patch changing that I used to!

I think YAMAHA should put two buttons on the panel, "BANK+" and "BANK-"

Maybe what we need is a combination of the 740 and 2000 with all the good features of both - large screen with all the trimmings and all the useful buttons of the 740 (plus 16 registration buttons). It would also be nice to be able to access all the features of the internal synth without having to use a PC to get at them. Maybe the next model will incorporate some method of sending sysex directly from the keyboard to itself.