Hi Chico ,

I believe the 'midi file to Yamaha Style' utility program that AJ is referring to is called: 'StyleMaker' and is available for download (free) on Simon William's terrific site: http://svpworld.com/util_stylemaker.htm

Michael P Bedesem's many other highly useful Yamaha PSR utility programs are also available on the SVP World site as well: http://svpworld.com/psr_software.htm

Much gratitude & kudos to Michael P Bedesem for all he has given to the Yamaha user community. We are indebted.

One BIG reason I'm happy I went the Yamaha PSR keyboard route (PSR2000) is because of the terrific community support (free software: styles, utility programs, etc) & huge user base (Yahoo forums, etc).

Scott

I have never owned a Casio, but tried helping a friend who bought one. All he cared about were the organ sounds...and they were good. But, I had trouble with navigation.

The Roland EM2000 styles felt too busy to me and many had l-o-n-g endings and only two variations.

The PSR2000 required a little extra effort to understand the operating system, but I love the styles, the speed, the lightweight, most all the instruments and editing capabilities. Because of it's "economical" construction it requires a little more care in handling...but overall, its the suits me best for the one nighters I play.
Eddie

Hello there,

well I am quite overwhelmed by all the replies! I didn't expect it to be such a great functioning forum (since I know it different from other ones).

I live in Germany so I will be buying the board here and I would definitely get a greater deal on Casio (around 20% less than Yamaha), but the price is less important to me than the quality and musical possibilities. I do love the design of Casio and the "manual" drawbars seem to be more practical for making own music. But listening to this forum - none of You really adviced me to buy it. I guess I am better off with Yamaha then - especially since there are so many knowledgable owners and specialists inhere who can help me discover "what all those bottons are" .

Thanks a lot,
jrudnitz

Hi Sqeak,

it is kind of funny, because You keep on saying how great PSR is, but list all the great features of MZ at the same time. So what is exactly the advantage of PSR then?

See, my problem or my worry is - I might be able to work as arranger later on, but first of all I do want to try to write my own music (I have songs and my sister is a singer, so what we want to do is make our own "relatively" professional CD). I need rather good editing capabilities (like making own rythmes, mixing etc. etc.). Is PSR better at that??

Thanks for Your help, jrudnitz


[QUOTE]Originally posted by squeak_D




[This message has been edited by jrudnitz (edited 09-28-2002).]

Hi George,

You are so very right - that is exactly why I don't really want to purchase this keyboard online, although it would be almost 15% cheaper for me this way. I do have a feeling that I need someone who can answer my questions live and who can mediate between me as an end user and the manufacturer.

But I am from Germany though, and I don't really have to many choices on dealers here. Too bad California is so far

Thanks for Your response,
jrudnitz

[QUOTE]Originally posted by George Kaye



[This message has been edited by jrudnitz (edited 09-28-2002).]

If the price is not a problem go for a psr2000.

I think it is the best choice. It has a "yamaha" logo that the casio has not,
and it has a vocal harmonizer too.
And you will find much more support from other users than with mz2000.

I have read that the mz2000 has been discontinued.

???

I did break the chain once, buying a casio wk1200 before I promptly took it back and exchanged it for a psr740. Ok, so these two boards can't fairly be compared but having extensively listened to all of casio's offerings in the keyboard front, I'd leave them well alone. In my opinion Casio styles are dreadful, over complex, overquantised, and very "Japanese" sounding (whatever that means!). I still can detect that digital buzzy raw thin sound in casio keyboards, they seem to lack warmth and remind me of the days of the old ck's and casiotones which sounded like a clarinet with a cold! They also seem to have a little "chiff" of noise to their sounds, weird! The yamaha sounds have much more interesting dynamics, they change with velocity in timbre and are warmer, fatter and thicker. Don't get me wrong, casio are very good at squeezing technology into cheap small boxes and they drip with features and flashy buttons, but they lack musical warmth for me. Saying this, I still love my Casio VL-1 !!!
Yes I think its a settled vote that the PSR2000 is the choice to make, value for money and quality/support. Its good to fix the amount of money you are planning to spend and then see what you can get for that, there's also a lot of 2nd hand bargains in the arranger world!

Regards
Simon



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________________________
Simon G.K. Williams
simon@svpworld.com
Creative Music & Multimedia
http://www.svpworld.com
________________________

Hello Bluezplayer,

> The one area where the MZ outshined the PSR was in voice editing parameters. The MZ offered editing on par with a good workstation including access to and the ability to combine the raw samples.

Are You saying that for writing own music MZ would be better then??? I mean editing is exactly what I need, because I will be trying to instrumentalize my songs my sister is going to sing. And PSR doesn't have this combining capabilities?

Thanks a lot for Your help,
jrudnitz
_________________


[QUOTE]Originally posted by Bluezplayer



[This message has been edited by jrudnitz (edited 09-28-2002).]

Jrudnitz,
Bluezplayer is talking about editing the sounds/tones/patches. Changing the sounds so that it effectively creates a new tone. Sounds like what you want to do is create arrangements. Both units can be used to do that. They both have sequencers, or you can use a computer for your sequences and both can be used to do that also. My PSR540 can do this.
Kevin

I looked at several models before I purchased my PSR2000 (from George!). I had played the PSR 550 and then the 740. That was the highest the local music store had. Then I went to another store and they were selling teh MZ2000. I was not impressed with it compared to the features I knew that were on the PSR2000. When I finally made my decision, based on the trials on the keyboards I could find and a LOT of research on the web, I went with the PSR2000 untested.
I have not been dissapointed with it. I performs as advertized and is a remarkable keyboard for the money. The MZ2000 was the same price in my area. It did not have the vocal harmonizer (an option that is getting very popular with my kids for karaoke) as well as other options that I use.
I would not hesitate to recommend the PSR2000 depending on your needs. I am pleased with the support that I got through George Kaye as well. The people on this forum know their stuff and I would recommend going through the archive to see if previous discussions help you make your decision easier.
Good luck,
- Brian