I have a PSR-740. Should I keep it, and get A PA-80, or trade the PSR-740 for a PSR-2100?

Opinions Welcome.

psr2100 is the "make sense" upgrade for you.

Either the PSR 2100 or Tyros would be my choice...but there is nothing wrong with the PA-80 if you don't mind taking the time to learn the navigation.
Eddie

How many user styles can be stored/accessed on the PSR2100 without loading from a floppy? On the PSR-740 there are only 3 spaces available for user styles which is not enough. I can't bring myself to pay more than $2,000 for any keyboard-no matter how good it is so Tyros is out of my price range.

I say exactly the opposite is true in my case, which is why you should go to the music store and play them both so that you can see which one YOU like better. I had the 740 and PA80 together for a while, until I upgraded the 740 for the 2000. Each one has it's distinct qualities and advantages. I recently tried the 2100 out and found that the 2100 has a few added features / sounds / styles over the 2000, but is very similar to it.
My take :

PSR2100: Pros: easier OS to understand and navigate, especially coming from a 740, ( but not necessarily easier to operate in a live setting ). Good sounds overall: for my tastes superior on ac pianos, woodwinds / sax. Good styles, that work well for a variety of songs. Less expensive than PA80, basic synth sound editing features. Fully programmable multipads that can play short phrases and are dynamic and very useful. Lot's of useful aftermarket products and apps made available by users.

Cons: Poor key feel, not a very sturdy feeling piece of equipment. Drums and bass sounds are useful but bland ( for my tastes ). Not very good for detailed editing and creation of synth sounds. Harmonizer is fair but adequate for live play.

PA80: Pros: Excellent soundset overall. Detailed editing capabilities for making very good emulations of other synths or for making unique synth sounds. Styles have more life and can be useful for composing original songs. Excellent organ, drums, bass, guitars, synth pads / leads. Good electric pianos, strings brass sounds. Decent key feel. Velocity controller that can be set up to trigger fills. Very functional and intuitive pattern sequencer. Decent harmonizer, but less options for triggering chords. Multipads can be used as controllers for midi / style data. Good support / extras from users and from Korg. Any of the internal styles can be replaced by user styles. Lots of power overall to customize the board as the user sees fit.

Cons: Multipads are limited to "one shot" sounds, no phrases and no user pads. "Break" button only silences the style that is playing. Fair piano ( but can be edited ). Only 2 fills per style. Styles are a little more complex, but that isn't necessarily desirable when trying to emulate a range of cover tunes. Some fills aren't good matches for styles. OS learning curve can be difficult for a user not accustomed to it, but the board is intuitive once you learn it.

Ok there it is. If you like the styles and sounds and OS of the 740, you will probably like the 2100 too. It's a very worthwhile upgrade, as the 2000 series has much more functionality than the 740. The PA80 is a very different animal, and coming from the 740 you may not like it at all, or, like me, you may love it.

AJ

I actually did get to play around with the PA-80, enjoyed the musical differences in the styles, and how it got me thinking in different directions than my psr. However, I'm not sure if it is worth $900.00 more than a psr-2100. I think I will get the psr-2100 now, and I hear a rumor of a PA-X 61 key board with speakers coming out in the future. If Korg can release that board for around $2K I would be interested in having that board in addition to the psr-2100.

There is NO load time to play styles. Unlike your PSR740 which makes you load from disk up to 3 user styles on the PSR2100 you can have a few dozen in the user area OR you can just select them in the floppy disk area and at the beginning of the next measure the new style is playing. If you have 65 styles on the floppy, you can play all 65 in real time. I hope you understand this. You can also do this on the Korg PA80. You can load 48 into user style area OR you can hit the floppy disk button and call up styles from the floppy disk while playing other styles. If you install a hard drive, you also have access to 3 complete sets of styles on the hard drive.
I sell both of these products and I know alot about both. Please call me if you have any questions or email me.
George Kaye
Kaye's Music Scene
Reseda, California
818-881-5566

Hi, look at new Technics KN2600 too.

It is same priced than PSR2100, and it has with a great great plus: SD card. You may store a lot of Mb (for reg, styles, songs, audio!!!, mp3!!!) in this "little thing", and loading from it is very speedy, a lot more than from a floppy. It is like to have a Hard disk, or more, not only one Hard Disk, but more (all sd card you buy).
Afterwards, its key feeling is good, if you don't like it in PSR.

By the rest, you may read a recent review and comparison in this forum
http://www.synthzone.com/ubbs/Forum37/HTML/006798.html

Good look

Do yourself a favor and get a psr2000. Save yourself $200 bucks from getting the PSR2100. You can get one for $900. I can't even call myself a musician but this baby has allowed me to compose songs I thought I was not capable of.
Psr2000 all the way.
DJ

Just wondering why you would want to move to a different keyboard. I got my PSR-740 in preference to the 2000 as I found it much more ergonomic for my personal style and the extra features and sounds didn't add anything for me. From what I can see, most PSR users don't use a tenth of what's available on their keyboards. I'm sure most would disagree but I wonder what they would say if they were really honest about it (and I mean REALLY honest - no strutting of male egos allowed).

Bryan

Wow Bryan..... you're opening a huge can of worms here. I can't speak for anyone else, but I am SURE that I could find at least 10 ways to benifit from the added features in the 2k over the 740.
For starters:
1)sound system - no contest
2)vocal processor - no contest
3)sounds - HUGE improvement in some ares
4)navigation - large screen
5)insert effects ....

I'll stop at these 5 and leave room for some others who " don't use a tenth of what's available on their keyboards.."

I, for one .... use EVERYthing I can in each keyboard I buy. That 10% comment was a little underestimated, I think. If you read these post alot, you'll learn alot about how others use these instruments to make life on stage much easier !

Hi Bryan

I went from a PSR530 to a PSR740 and thought it was a big improvement. Then I got a PSR2000 and let me tell you - it's a fantastic improvement over the 740. At first, I missed some things. But the sound - wow! It is really a great deal better. I'm not a pro, but I know what I hear and the difference is there.

Tom G.

[This message has been edited by TomTomSF (edited 07-10-2003).]

I went from a PSR630 to a PSR2000. Huge superiority in sounds and features, and far easier to navigate live.

Yes, I opened a can of worms all right just to see the response. It certainly got people to make some good comments. Even so, I didn't find the 2000 to be all that much better than the 740. And I didn't like having to fight my way around all those menus and screens. And no telephone type keypad which I use a great deal. As some of you know, I paid very close attention to the details of the 740 and 2000 when I did the updates for XGworks and there weren't too many changes from one to the other in that regard. I did notice a significant difference between the 740 and 9000 however, and was almost tempted to get the 9000 but lack of funds and the fact that the 740 was adequate for my needs stopped me from upgrading. Besides, the 740 makes a very good sound when hooked up to an external amp and speakers, particularly my 600W/channel amp and speakers to match.

As for the 10%, unless you're using a realtime sysex editor like XGworks, most of the synth is unavailable at the keyboard, though I noticed that the 2000 was a big improvement in this respect, providing some access to the DSPs. On the 740 all I can do at the keyboard is select some of the preset effects and only change the wet/dry parameter. No access at all to the Variation DSP except for style recording. With XGworks (with my updates) I can get at the entire synth, all 5 DSPs, all the parameters, with up to 16 for each effect, all the multipart and the A/D input. Just like having a young MU100 with a built in keyboard.

Bryan


[This message has been edited by Pilot (edited 07-11-2003).]

The main reason I want to upgrade the psr-740 is I want to work more with user styles and to be honest the psr-740 is pathetic in how it handles user styles. I know that the psr-740 is a good keyboard, but it does hinder my ability to work with user styles. I am happy with several sounds on the psr-740, and I have a motif rack to compliment the 740's sounds that in my opinion falls a little short. Also, I was using a Studiologic SL880 88 key controller with the Digitech Vocalist VR in conjunction with the psr-740. I really want the capability of having many user styles to work with.

Buy the 2000 or the 2100 and you'll never use the 740 again. I have two 740s and a pair of 2000s, and believe me there is no comparison--especially when it comes to handing styles. Accessing styles from a floppy with the 740 takes forever and there are several steps to load them. With the 2000, just push the user button and you can select from a dozen that you've stored in the keyboard's memory, or up to 60 that can be stored on a floppy disk. In both instances, access time average just a second or two at best. Last night, while performing for 600 roudy folks in Ocean City, MD, I used dozens of styles directly from disks and the dead time between songs was less than three seconds at most. You could never do that with the 740.

Buy the 2000 or 2100 and never look back!

Garty

Well it just goes to show that everyone's needs are different and that you can't make recommendations unless the requirements are more specific. I don't need a whole bunch of styles other than the few I have so the 740 is OK for me. Still, it brought everyone out of the woodwork and made a good debate.

Bryan

Bryan,
Unless you actually know "most people" or "most psr users" I'd suggest that you refrain from quoting what their behavior is. Regardless of the validity of your post, it was irresponsible of you to assume how any of us use anything. My Mom was always good at quoting "madeup numbers" .... like:

"90% of all teens are ......."
or
"Half of the couples in this town are ...."

I'm trying not to generalize so much. As a full time musician .... I truly do try to use as many of the features that are available to me in my instruments, and I'm sure many hobyists do, as well.

All the best to you, and keep enjoying your 740. It still has a lot to offer, especially if you don't need to rely on the internal speakers or mic input.

Pilot,
Every time I read your positive posts about using XGWorks, and how it will unleash the synth power of the keyboard I get really anxious to try that editor. I have XG Works, and MIDI cables. All I need now is a PC. Looking for a laptop.
Starkeeper

Mom.. I mean Uncle Dave

Thank you for the advice. I'll bear it in mind. You're right about the mic input. I'm about to upgrade it as it's not the greatest design in the world.

Starkeeper

I got my laptop at @computers plus in Burlington for $600. It's an IBM 380Z, PII 300MHz and 96MB. I don't know if there's one in TO but you might want to check it out.

Bryan

"And no telephone type keypad which I use a great deal"

That explains our difference of opinion. I could never get on with the keypad on my 630; and I have no problem with the menu structure on the 2k.

Hi,
the yahoo psr style user group has lots of styles available for free download, some good some not so good.

Simons SVP World has free software programs & utilities to help you create & edit styles for psrs. http://www.svpworld.com/psr_software.htm

Also like Bryan ( Pilot) I've found XG Works sequencer great. I use it with my 9000pro (home use only). It has the ability to use my pro styles and create backing tracks (in a similar fashion to Band in a Box) ie type in chord progression, type in style progression ie intro, variations etc and explode it into midi tracks for further editing.
I can also use it for creating styles in conjunction with one of the free style creation programs on Simons site.

best wishes
Rikki
p.s personally I prefer my kn7 as far as onboard style creation goes. It's one of the easiest to create styles for, because of all the onboard style creation functions.

I have loved Yamaha's PSR series of keyboards for years. Most of the models i have owned over the years were the lower priced models with lesser features. In the last 5 years I have seen the 550, then 740, but neither really made me want to get a new one. The PSR1000 really caught my eye (ears really!) and I started saving for it. Then I saw a 2000 and was actually sold. I bought my PSR2000 in February and I can honestly say this is the BEST keyboard I have ever owned at any price. I am still in awe of its power and features and am actively converting styles and still playing it every day....................because I want too!!!

Here's a post I found on the Yahoo PSR Songs group:


"Hello

I have PSR 740, and i think about selling it and buy PSR 2000
But after compare PSR 740 and PSR 2000, I found that PSR 740 have a much better sound quality.
So i decide to keep my old PSR 740

Is there any body have the same opinion with me?"

Maybe you'd all like to go and shoot him down.

Bryan

Sound is certainly an objective subject, but to say that the 740 has better sounds than the upgraded 2000 is not going to be the popular opinion. Maybe some will prefer the older sounds, but the added sounds like
!live! and !cool! voices are worth the upgrade, I think.