yo ppl. i was trying out some of the voices, and i very much dislike the sweet trumpet and flute. the trumpet has this sickly timbre to it, and the flute has that really harsh attack. i was wondering if any of you have had similiar experiences. thanks. Zack

Zack, I like the Sweet Trumpet, but it's one of the voices that are better on the 9000 because of the aftertouch. On the 2000, they have to program more if the parameters into the voice. It is better to control them with aftertouch.
Same is true with the flute and Growl Sax.
On the Growl Sax there are certain notes that when played activate the growl. On the 8K, 9K, Pro, the aftertouch totally controls the effect.
Don

the 1k doesnt have aftertouch. what is it? and ive found that a lot of the presets are far more realistic than the sweet things. although i do like the cool electric guitar. Z

oh, and whats more, i noticed that when i had the touch sensitivity turned off, the grand piano sounds much worse than when its turned on. when its on, the piano is very very good. but when its off, it sounds more harsh, less, um, pianoish. more like a xylophone. anyone know why that is?? thanks. Zack

Zack,
sorry you don't like the sweet trumpet and sweet flute.. I personally think that both sound great, and yes as stated they sound better on the higher end models due to more memory. I don't think the chiff on the sweet flute is harsh at all. That's exactly what a chiff really is.. On a flute you get this by overblowing thus the sound jumps an octave. It takes some getting used to.. It's possible that the velocity curve on the PSR-1000's sweet flute might be set differntly too. On my PSR-550 I found that you can adjust the velocity curve just by adjusting the touch sensitivity. I wish Yamaha would add this feature to the PSR-1000/2000. Being able to adjust velocity curves within voices will not only make it easier on the player, but will also make those flimsy keys and keybeds last a little longer. The sweet trumpet really isn't bad IMO. I've heard MUCH worse on more expensive boards. I spent $1,399.00 on a Roland XP-60 and the trumpet in that board didn't even come close to the sweet voice on the Yamaha. Even my old Yamaha EX-7 didn't have as nice a trumpet, and both these keyboards were fully loaded professional synths...

Squeak

You can easily adjust the velocity setting on the 2K. I have it set very light. Maybe that's why I have't broken it yet.
Don

whats velocity setting?

the reason you don't like the piano when on fixed velocity is because when the velocity is on you are hearing the filters open and close with different levels of touch. When you turn this off, the filter are wide open at their brightest. This would not be a desirable way to play your PSR1000, or any other piano in any of the newer keyboards. Back some time ago, only the volume changed when you used velocity, but today, the tone and dynamics of harmonics are affected with touch sensitivity. That why so many electric pianos sound so much better today.
George Kaye
Kaye's Music Scene
Reseda, California

got it. and now i get what velocity is. thats very cool. wouldnt it be smart to offer an option that you could change what exactly is affected by the touch? thanks for the reply. i guess from now on i'll be playing with touch on! :-) Zack

You can change what's affected by aftertouch, but not initial touch.
Don