The PSR 3000 has an outstanding sound no matter what price it is.

its main weaknesses in comparison to the higher priced boards are Drums, Acoustic Nylon Guitars and Brass...

to have those extra mega voices (Sax, brass, trumpet, strings, Nylon Guitar) alone would be a MASSIVE improvement... the fact it ha SA voices is also a big jump.

I think the S900 will be a great jump over the PSR 3000... keyboard features are pretty much all there, its just the sound quality that needs improvement and I am sure the S900's sound quality will smash the PSR 3k...

in a lower priced keyboard (S900) honestly what do you expect? Hard disk recorder, bigger speakers... you cant everything and never will.

And just to add to that, there will always be value in purchasing a T2 over the S900.. the better keyboard feel, ability to layer 3 voices, better DSPs and over sound engine is still again worth the extra cost... it was definitely worth the jump from the PSR3k to the T2

I acknowledge that the main thing to improve upon is the voices. 47 new voices + 2 new drums is not that much improvement for three years.

Look at all you get in a cell phone now that you couldn't get three years ago.

Look at all you get in software voices. There has been an explosion in new technology - in voice technology, speaker design, key design, display technology, etc., and Yamaha is not taking advantage of it with this keyboard. It is indeed a facelift on the PSR3000, kind of what the PSR2100 was to the PSR2000 - a few extra voices and that was it.

And are there any new features? Any new buttons, capabilities? Probably not.

Beakybird

I'm not sure ANYTHING in these price ranges should be considered 'disposable'! It's one of the reasons I'm prepared to put up with a bit extra weight - durability.

At these prices and above (especially the T2 and G70/E80) you can buy a passable upright piano, that with care will last your entire lifetime. For this kind of money, I expect a keyboard whose switches, keys and internal components will last at least as long (or well over a decade to be realistic). Unfortunately, component life seems to be one of the things that mid-priced (and sometimes TOTL) are prepared to compromise on.

I don't like changing my gear very often (unlike some here!), got 8 years out of the G1000, hope to get that long out of the G70 (unless they add a chord sequencer to its' successor!), and good quality switches, LEDs, displays and keys are needed to stop it being 'disposable'. Nothing worse than HAVING to get another arranger 'cause the old one died... (trade-in on my old G1000 saved me over a grand on the G70)

But, all that aside, those SA voices (especially if they've been 'tweaked' a bit more now they've been used a while) certainly make the new S900 worth it for all other than those already wedded to a 3K. For them to upgrade, I guess a used T2 might be the appropriate step up, although there ARE some here who downgraded to the 3K for some reason (?)......

Me, I think I'm going to wait and see if Yamaha will do a rack module MotifXS, and add the SA to my Roland rig (especially as Yamaha STILL don't consider that any arranger player could WANT 76 keys!)

From my perspective, the S-900 specifications don't make me want to jump in the van and drive to the nearest retailer and buy a pair of them. (I always buy keyboards in pairs.) For now, I'll wait till one shows up within 100 miles, then I'll sit down with it for an hour or so, let my ears be the judge and then make a decission.

Currently, those 3000s have so much to offer that it would be difficult to part with them. Over the years I've been able to tweek and tune the keyboards, added hundreds of incredible third party styles, created some fantastic voices, and I still have only scratched the surface of what this keyboard has to offer.

I would miss that Smart Media Card, which in my case is used similar to a hard drive. I would also miss the auxiliary output and a few other features that seemed to have went by the wayside. As for the SA voices, I'm really not sure how they can be effectively used in live situations, but I'm sure they would be great for studio work.

As for keyboards being disposable--NAH! A $1,500 item is not a disposable keyboard. Of course, I'm against disposable anything. I've always considered that throwing something away for the sake of convenience is just plain stupid. Some folks have a lot more money than brains I guess, and for those individuals cars, homes and people fall into the disposable category as well.

Cheers,

Gary

------------------
Travlin' Easy

I believe SA voices are more to be used for solo leads...

for OMB performers who sing the lead instead of play them using a guitar or sax voice wouldn't really require the SA voices.

to be honest when you are using an arranger keyboard in a live situation and you are singing, mostly you are just changing sustained chords and playing a few fill ins to compliment your voice. thats why solo voices aren't always essential... IMO

thats just why i think some people might not care about the fact that the S900 has SA voices...

Nick

We may not want to accept that our keyboards are "disposable", but they are They're made with cheaper parts, not lasting as long as they should, parts breaking down way before their time. It's a sign of the times.

If you follow other forums and read the complaints about keyboards now there are some issues out there concerning build quality with ALL the makers. It's the "build them as cheap as you can and charge as much as you can" mentallity that's at the root of it all.

Hell even our expensive kitchen appliances are considered "disposable" now. Remember when a water heater lasted you 15-20 years? Not any more, their average life span now is 10-12 years. I was lucky and bought a house that had one of those 20 year water heaters (of course I was 18 1/2 years too late)

All my playing is instrumental music...no vocals.

Great solo voices are essential to me...so are built in speakers(convenient for set up at home)and a light weight/size( I use a small car for gear).

I LOVED the SA voices on the Tyros2...the Sax and guitars were especially awesome.

What I did not love was the price and the weight/size...the fiddly(and poor quality) add on speakers were not favorites, either.

The 3k is perfect for MY needs...the PSR-S900 sounds even more perfect.

A new keyboard with fresh sounds and styles always gives me a musical lift...and that gets passed on to my audience.

I realize there were some features removed...they weren't that important to me, although they will matter to others.

BUT, if removing those features allowed the addition of the new SA voices and still kept the price the same as the 3k, then I'm all for it.


Ian






------------------
Common misconception...size and weight equal quality and performance. Don't be fooled.

How's that song go they can build a beer can that will last forever in a landfill but can't build a car to last 10 years. It's marketing repeat customers planned obsolescence.
I think a lot of people shop for price, do you want to pay 500 more for a better built keyboard with all the same features, especially since you know it will be obsolete in 5 to 10 years at best.

I'd pay more for a better built keyboard. Especially if ALL the makers got their shi@#t together and realized that the future in keyboards is "open source units". Sure.., give me a $3000 unit built like a freakin tank The unit becomes obsolete only if the makers idea of an upgrade costs $3000 and more.

All these so called "major" advances in the keyboards aren't really so major. They are years behind what they could be doing. The advances are coming primarily in "software related" items for the keyboard. HD's in keyboards isn't anything new either.

The Mediastation is an excellent example here as well.... Sure the styles may be a thing in question by users, but the concept is one of the most logical things in today's market. Give the buyer a great unit, good "shell", and have an open source unit. What's the biggest thing you hear with the new arrangers. It's all sounds and styles. Not much really changes in "hardware". Open source units let you upgrade at a fraction of the cost. Would weight always be an issue for some when the new models come out if you can keep your current model and just upgrade the
software?

Seriously think about it. Look at the keyboards that have USB drives now. Is that NEW technology? Nope the keyboard makers could have added those a long time ago. They don't for "marketing purposes". Even though the technology has been out for a while, it's those little things like USB slots to hook buyers.

Look at the SA voices... I think some of them sound great. The saxes make me wet my pants every time I hear them. However, is that NEW technoloy? Hell No! That's just another use of "velocity switching". Guitars for example are now triggering say a finger slide instead of just "changing the sound" when the velocity curve is reached. Velocity switching has been around for years. They just repackage the old, slap a new lable on it, and market the hell out of it Then they hold back on adding technology that's been out and used for years to ensure the sales of the upgrade models. That's just business in Today's World.... It has always been "green", but there was a time when "more money often meant better quality".

How's this for an example: Would you rather buy a Rolls Royce when it was "built by hand", and took months to build and deliver (knowing each hand built Rolls was of top quality), or spend MORE money for a Rolls built today on an assembly line (which is how they're done now... Damn BMW buyout)

I'm not saying build every keyboard by hand, but "quality control" sure as hell went out the window a long time ago. (Cough, Cough.., ALESIS)

Squeak



[This message has been edited by squeak_D (edited 04-04-2007).]