A few nights ago, while playing at the local "Blood & Guts Saloon," a fellow performer stopped by to see me and was astounded to find that by pusing the ending button twice on the keyboard causes the ending to gradually slow down. Ironically, this guy has been playing keyboards longer than anyone I know, has owned a half-dozen Yamahas and all of them had the same feature. A bit of research revealed that most folks did not know of this particular assett.

The ritardando feature can be found on nearly every Yamaha keyboard produced during the past decade. This includes the PSR's 2000, 1000, 630, 740, 5700 and lots of others. For those of you that were unaware of this feature, which can add a lot to the endings, merely push the ending button twice and it will gradually slow.

Cheers,

Gary

Gary,
Good tip, I have to admit to not knowing that either.
thanks,

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jam on,
Terry
http://imjazzed.homestead.com/Index.html

Gary,


I have known of that feature for years.
Its a very usefull effect. I think its labeled next to the button also. Its on the G1000 and a few other different KB's.

[This message has been edited by Dnj (edited 02-12-2003).]

Yamaha does this very well. Do any other brands have this feature? If not, they should copy the idea!

There are some other little Yamaha tricks also.
Pressing three adjacent keys (while in fingered mode) stops everything except the drums. The Arranger starts again when you hit a chord.
When you hit an ending or intro by mistake, pressing a variation button gets you out of it. If your Yamaha has auto-fill, pressing the variation button twice quickly will change variations without fill. You can use Intros as breaks (not possible on many other brands).
You can start a song with the Ending (press a Variation as the last part of the Ending plays). Many people may not know that pressing plus and minus buttons at the same time gives the factory default settings for most functions (tempo, transpose, etc.).
Also often overlooked is the direct access button. Press the DA button and then the button or pedal that you need help with. For example to get to Fingering Mode, press Direct Access and the AutoAcc button. To change footswitch settings, press DA and then the footswitch.
I've noticed that the Vocal Harmonizer on the 2000 will work if you press a left hand chord, even when the autoacc. is not running. Previous models didn't do this.
On several PSRs, pressing the style category button repeatedly will change pages of style listings. Same with sounds.
You can program the Talk button to give you a totally different mic sound. It doesn't have to be used just for Talk.
These are just a few things that come to mind that may be helpful.
DonM

This is one major reason I love this forum ... what a great source for tips and tricks! I didn't know about alot of them (I did know about the ritardando feature ... I even had that on my trusty old PSR-4000).

I second the question whether or not other keyboards have those features also. What about the Rolands or the Ketrons? Not that I'm switching right now. I'm really happy with my "new" 9000 Pro!

Blessings,
ev

[This message has been edited by Evangelical (edited 02-12-2003).]

This is also possible on the Ketrons (X1/X4, at least).

-- José.

Super Don

I am taking the liberty of adding these gems to my list of tips and tricks on my website.
Thanks
Eddie Johnson



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Eddie from Rotherham
www.yamahakeyboards.info

my mail is virus-free thanks to Norton Antivirus2002

Feel free Eddie. I think one of them is already there. Very useful page, folks, check it out!
DonM

I have a Ketron/Solton X1. If it has the ritardando feature I can,t find it. Does anyone know?
Thanks,
Deaton

Question to those familiar with the Yamaha 2000 (which I may add to my multitrack setup soon)---Will the vocal harmonizer track, or work with the chord progression that's been previously recorded into the sequencer, i.e. in a "hands-free" situation on playback? In other words, can one work soley on vocals (with the harmonizer effect) without having to play the keyboard at the same time?

Though I havn't tried it yet, it appears as if this can be done. I'll have to go through the instruction manual to figgure this one out and let you know.

Good Luck,

Gary

Yes.
DonM