Well I've used the Tyros on seven jobs now, and, at the urging of several SZ members, need to give my impressions.
I've really been too busy to get into the thing very deeply. Mostly I just set up one bank of registrations and started playing.
It is quite similar in operation to the PSR2000/2100, but different in some important areas.

Things I really appreciate:
The dedicated intro and ending buttons!!!
The mic volume adjustment knob on the front panel.
The aux inputs (I run the laptop through them).
The nice, big screen.
The overall feel of quality in the buttons and keys (compared to 2Ks)
The improvement in the sounds and styles, using the mega voices and new voices. I particularly like the new guitars such as Blues Guitar, Stratosphere, Dyna (I'm calling on memory).
The Vocal Harmony presets work as they should. The first to do that since the PSR9000. Both the 2000 and 2100 had mistakes, minor though they were.
I like the little tray on the right-hand side. I suppose it's to hold floppies, but I use it to place my wireless mouse for the laptop.
I like the large amount of User memory. Not sure how much there is, but so far I've put everything I need there, and haven't put anything on the hard drive yet. The hard drive was fairly simple to install, btw.
The vocal processing and effects seem to be improved. I've had several people comment on the way the vocals sound.

I'm sure there are more features I like a lot that I'm forgetting right now.

Things I don't particularly like:
I don't like the locations of the Fill button. I liked it better next to the intros because I often use it during a song and play an intro as an extra fill variation immediately after or before. It won't be difficult to adjust to it.
The pop-up screen is very nice, but created a problem with the keyboard stand setup I was using, so I'm having to work out a new setup. Also, when using the removeable Yamaha speakers, I have to make some stand adjustments.
There are two button pushs necessary to go between preset styles and User styles. Only one on the 2K.
The sax voices are still the same. I think it's time Yamaha worked on the Tenor sound.
As you can see, there isn't a lot to dislike so far.

As I use the Tyros more and get deeper into it (next I plan to work with the overall compressor/limiter--the defaults didn't work for me), I will post more.

Overall I like the Tyros much more than I even thought I would. It is well-suited for what I do. I would really hate to go back to 2000 or 2100.

DonM

Thanks for the informative review Don.

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Yamaha Customer Support
YCASupport@yamaha.com
714.522.9000

Good review Don, and it sounds as if you are enjoying the Tyros learning curve.

Cheers,

Gary

Hi Don, welcome to the Tyros fan club. I'm still enjoying mine as much as ever, having owned it for 1.25 years already.

My only continueing BEEF with the Tyros is its 'sorely missing' feature ability to trigger a continously 'repeating' fill' via assignable FC5 foot pedal. WHY hasn't Yamaha released a Tyros OS update to add this feature, especially since all other Yamaha arrangers (9000pro, PSR9000, PSR2000, PSR2100, and I am willing to bet, even the upcoming PSR3000)?

Steve Deming, any news from Yamaha Japan about this? I only hope Yamaha hasn't decided to ignore this issue, and just leave me in the dust.

- Scott

My friend Dean heard the Tyros for the first time today, as we did two shows together.
We had previously used the 2100, 2000, 8000, and 9000. He immediately noticed the improvement in sounds, so much so that he wants to get one himself.
Dean has an ear for sounds and music that is virtually unsurpassed. For many years he produced records in Nashville, during and after his career as a recording artist. He was the founding member of The Newbeats ("I Like Bread and Butter", "Run, Baby Run", and others) and is an excellent musician, excelling at piano, fiddle, mandolin, guitar and vocals.
For him to get excited about an arranger keyboard is truly exceptional, and I think that speaks very highly of the Tyros sounds.
DonM

OK, Scott, I'll display my ignorance here and ask you, why is that important? What does that allow you to do that you can't do now?

Another question. Where can I find information about using "rootless" jazz chords and why I would want to do that if I'm playing by myself with no bass player to supply the "root" notes?

Thanks for any info,
Tom

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Bigger is not always better

Tom, a FAIR question.

On all other Yamaha arranger kbs (except the Tyros), if I assign 'fill to self' to a foot pedal, and then depress & hold down the foot pedal, the fill 'repeats continously' until I release the pedal. On the Tyros, the fill will play only once, irregardless of whether I release the pedal or not.

The BIG advantage, especially for LIVE arranger keyboard entertainers, to have the 'continously repeating' fill feature is for during a song's transitionary section where you need to build up the excitement & ancticipation leading into the next section (style variation). An example where I like to do this is on the classic Van Morrison tune "Brown Eyed Girl". If you know that tune, I think you know 'where' in that song I'm talking about where the lyrics go: "Do you remember when we used to sing". I like to repeat the first part "Do you remember when " several times (3 or 4 times) with the fill continuously repeating, before singing "We used to sing: Sha la la la la la la la.... etc". I realize one could, to trigger the desired continously repeating fill, just continously hold down the fill repeat (variation button) with a left hand finger, but as a two handed keyboard player, my left hand is already occupied playing rhythm comping parts (full chords) so must assign a foot pedal to perform the 'self fill' function. I had grown to really appreciate the 'repeating' self fill feature on my PSR2000, especially when performing LIVE, and it is sorely missed (by me) on the the Tyros. On the Tyros, I've struggled unsuccesfully in my attempt to trigger a repeating fill via foot pedal by pressing the pedal down, releasing, and then pressing it again, but it requires a degree of precise foot pedal depress/release timing between fills which I've found difficult (nearly impossible) to consistantly achieve. I still don't understand WHY Yamaha has not yet added this feature on the Tyros via a simple Flash OS Update. I'm still convinced that it's only missing on the Tyros alone, because of a mere innocent programming oversite on Yamaha's part. Why has Yamaha not released an OS Update in MANY MANY months? Have they decided to no longer put in any effort or money into supporting the Tyros OS?



huh? No Bass player? When playing the arranger in auto accompaniment mode, you ARE playing with a bass player, albeit an auto accompaniment one. When you play rootless chord voicings with your left hand, it triggers the accompaniment to supply the root notes in its bass lines.

Tom, since you asked, more information on rootless chords:
http://www.synthzone.com/msg/hansen/hansene/5151.html
http://www.theothersidebbs.com/html/Music%20Spaces/PlayersTips%20&Tricksdb/Roo tlessVoicings.html
http://www.eddielandsberg.com/goldensec.html

Scott

I HAVE ANOTHER BEEF.....

Why can't Yamaha come out with an O/S upgrade to allow you to AUTOLOAD a registration at startup? I want the keyboard to set itself up for my personal tastes at startup. It's such a big PIA to remember to load my default registration bank when I first turn on the keyboard.

The Motif does this with an AUTOLOAD.

Why is it sooooo hard to get this done?

Al

I concur with Al here. This has been suggested MANY times to Yamaha over the years (PSR9000, 9000pro, PSR2000, PSR2100, Tyros) and they somehow still don't want to implement customer's wishes (including mine) on this. I agree that a custom default Autoload registration just makes good sense. - Scott