I am considering to purchase this to replace DGX-202. Any negative feedback is appreciated.

Can I save all the settings(transpose, voices, styles) into a button ?

How many can I save ?

How about other negative comments if any ?

Thanks
Han

Hi Hans,
Ask my friend Squeak!
He has one. He can tell you all about it!
I've played it in the store its a nice board.
But I went on and bought a 2000. Has some great sounds & styles!
Buy the best your buget will stand!
Nobby

Hey Nobby how's it going?? Yeah I have the PSR-550 too.. I get a lot of emails from people regarding the keyboard.. There really isn't many downfalls that I can think of about the PSR-550.. I and a lot of people here on the forum feel it's the best keyboard in it's class and price range. The 550 has improved sound quality over the 540, plus some new sounds as well... Many of the styles have been redone and renamed.. There's the addition of the Music Database.. Which would come in handy depending on what you wanted to do with a song. You get a floppy disk drive, 16 track sequencing, style recorder that does loop and overdub recording. The screen has 3 differern backlight colors, and they change depending on what function you're in, for example if you press the record button the screen turns red. Yes you can save your settings as far as voice, style, transposition and several other things in the registration banks and call it all up with the push of one button.. I cannot remember how many user banks there are but there are quite a few and you can even custom name them as well.. You have a pitchbend wheel however there is no wheel for modulation... Overall the PSR-550 has a lot of features for such a low price... If you have been following the posts lately you may have noticed that my only real gripe with my 550 was the drum kits, but that complaint was about Yamaha's drum kits in general in regards to the PSR models.. I personally couldn't use them anymore and bought an external drum machine. It's a great keyboard with good sounds and styles.. I think you'll be happy with it.. Is the DGX-202 76 keys? If so this may be your main gripe if you buy the 550.. If you get used to having 76 keys and go down to 61, it may bother you... If you need anything else just let me know..

Squeak

[This message has been edited by squeak_D (edited 09-18-2002).]

I own a PSR540 and I have saved new styles to 3 user areas. I'm sure it could save voices and transpose configurations, but haven't done that yet. I love the Sweet flute voice. I'm thinking of upgradng to PSR550 just to get that flute. You can read the manual online if interested.
Negatives: I don't like the piano and orchestral voices. Unless you have a battery backup or keep it plugged in, you will lose your styles. Probably configs as well.

Starkeeper,
Hey I owned the PSR-540, and upgraded to the 550.. Personally I wasn't too thrilled with the piano sound of the 540, but with both the 540 and 550 you can combine voices and just by messing around with the DSP get a pretty nice sounding piano.. That's what I did with the 550 I combined 2 piano voices, adjusted the DSP and I think it sounds great now.. Yeah that's one downfall to many of the PSR models.... Many don't have internal batteries for back up.. You have buy regular batteries and keep them installed to keep your settings if you unplug the keyboard.. It's not really that bad either. If you don't use the batteries to power the board they last a REALLY LONG TIME for memory back up...

Squeak

Squeak,
Thanks for the reply. I haven't played with the DSP or merging sounds (You can do that??). How can I do that and save the resulting new voice?
I will get batteries, and stop complaining. I never use the keyboard on batteries only, so that is a good tip. Thanks
Starkeeper

I need at least 7-10 settings that can be recalled by a push of a button (to save transpose, voice and style). In my old KORG i30, there are 8 buttons (8 banks for total of 64 settings) that I can just press to switch settings.

If someone can test it out for me - it's greatly appreciated.

Starkeeper,
You can combine two voices by pressing R1 and R2 on your keyboard.. You can use the didicated blue buttons to toggle between the two and select the two sounds you wish to combine. Also you can adjust the volume level of each voice, panning, DSP return and all that other stuff.. You then just store that in a registration.. If you want the keyboard to remember just your voice settings and not the change the auto accomp everytime you press a registration button just press the accomp freeze button before you store the registration.. This is all explained pretty well in the manual. If you still need help just let me know and I'll walk you through it....

Squeak

Lukitoh,
Well with the PSR-550 you only have 4 buttons for each registration bank.. 8 would be good to have on the 550 but they only give you 4 per bank... However you can save everything you're asking about to one button...., but again you only have 4 per bank...

Squeak

[This message has been edited by squeak_D (edited 09-18-2002).]

thanks squeak. So to recall the setting, can I just pust the bank and one of the 4 buttons. So essentially two buttons to recall a setting ?

Thanks for answering

Squeak,
Thanks for the reply. Totally forgot about that, you are layering the two sounds, Duh. Layer two piano sounds..hmmmm. Never tried that. The new Yamaha S90 is supposed to have a new triple strike piano, so I would have a double strike. All try different combinations. Do you recommend which two you found usefull?
Starkeeper

Lukitoh,
You really don't have to push two buttons... Of course you'll first select the bank you want.. Then you can push any of the 4 registration buttons to recall your settings.. After you select the bank you don't have to push 2 buttons to select a registration within that bank.. What's also useful is you can set the footswitch to change banks.. Making performing a lot easier.. You just set up the banks in the order of your performance, and when you want the next bank you just press the foot switch and voila..

Squeak

[This message has been edited by squeak_D (edited 09-19-2002).]

starkeeper,
I'm not right next to the board at the moment, but if I remember correctly I used the grand piano (001) and selected a bright piano in the XG set which I think was (234). I then adjusted the volume between the two of them to balance it out, and what I wanted was a nice mellow grand piano (that sounds like it's played with the lid shut).. I select the (3 band EQ) under the DSP (it's closer to the end of the selection) I adjusted the reverb on both sounds to balance out, and it worked out really nice...

Squeak

Squeak,
Thanks, I will try that out. I appreciate your replys.
Starkeeper

Squeak,
What was the deciding factor for you to upgrade from the 540 to the 550?
Starkeeper

Many thanks Squeak. I will let you know in a post about my impression once I got my hands on it.

BTW music123.com that you recommended is indeed awesome. Lowest price anywhere.

Starkeeper,
Actually when I had the PSR-540, it was only one of several keyboards I owned.. I got married, and things got pretty crowded with all my stuff and my wifes.. It actually was best for me to sell some of my keyboards because we really didn't have the space for them, and I was working so much that many of them rarely got played. I ended up selling it, and later on down the road wanted another small affordable keyboard like it.. The PSR-550 seemed to be the best choice for me because I really liked the 540.. Only now it was better because the 550 had improved sound quality with new voices, better styles, music data base, looked way better, and had a multi color back lit screen.. This to me was a great choice. If I remember correctly, music123.com sold it to me for less than the killer price they're selling it for now! I think they're selling it now for $469.00 I got mine for less than that! I gave them a few price quotes I got and they blew all of them out of the water...

Squeak

Lukitoh,
Look foward to hearing your impressions on the keyboard.. While playing this keyboard keep in mind the price it's being sold for and what all it does for that price..

Squeak

Squeak,

music123 quoted me $469.99 which includes:
-Keyboard PSR-550
-Yamaha keyboard stand (not the music stand)
-Survival pack
-Free shipping
-No tax

This is a promotion that ends on Tuesday of next week 9/24. I have not even bend their arms at all. If you have another price quote that is lower, pls email me.

How much did they charge you and when ?

Lukitoh,
Wow that's a really good price for all that.. When I got mine it didn't include the survival kit.. I paid $460.00 for everything you're getting minus the survival kit.. The price they gave you is awsome.. GO FOR IT...

Not even the mighty GUITAR CENTER can match it. They said that they will match any advertised price. But not this one although it is not advertised - it was quoted by email.