Hi guys ....
Just wondering if the piano exp board for the Yammy has any great additions in the Rhodes/Wurlie dept.
I haven't really looked at the boards yet to even see what's out there. Tom, you have the piano card right? What do you like best?
Esh, how 'bout that drum board ..... are there any ground-breaking acoustic advances?
I have enough electric and synth drum sounds to last me a lifetime. ('specially since I rarely play styles that use them !)

I hate having empty holes (watch it guys ... )so I need to get some advice on what to fill it up with. Thanx.

I can tell you that based on all the posts I've read from you , that you probably wouldn't be all that interested in the two cards I have Uncle Dave. I have the AN150 analog modeling board, which is really cool for emulating some analog synth sounds, and the VL150 plug in, which does physical modeling of acoustic instruments, primarily strings, winds, horns, reeds, etc. The latter works pretty well for a few of the reed / horn sounds if you want to bother with a wind / breathe controller, but I'm guessing that you probably wouldn't.. or I should say that if I was playing a live solo act, I certainly wouldn't want to be bothered with it. These are two of the plug ins I would guess you would eliminate from the get go.

AJ

The PLG150-PF board has 136 sounds including a number of Rhodes, DX-7 tine and Wurly sounds, and it also includes some layered piano/string, ep/choir sounds. I'm ashamed to admit it but I haven't used anything but the acoustic piano voice on the PF lately and I need to go back and try the other sounds out again to see what I'm missing out on! I am still so sold on the PLG150-PF's acoustic piano that I bought a second card to go in my Motif ES 8 - and yes I like it better than the Mo's famed triple strike piano, but apparently I'm in the minority there (Keyboard just gave the Motif ES a KeyBuy award and cited the Mo's native triple-strike acoustic piano as their fav numerous times). I know that I prefered the native Rhodes-style electric piano sounds of the 9000 Pro over the PLG150-PF but I need to review the plug-in sounds again (will do tomorrow night). Gotta love that extra 64-notes of polyphony the PF provides. My second card in the 9000 Pro currently is the PLG150-DX which I use a lot when I sit-in with bands for it's clean classic cut-through tine EP. I also use it for jazz guitar sounds and the occasional pedal steel guitar. I also own the PLG150-VL and AN but don't use them - the AN may wind up in the Mo.

I removed the PLG150-DR drum card from my 9000 Pro because it won't work with the styles at all and using it with my stage midi files would've meant adding sysex commands to all of them - too much work and I wanted the drums to be consistant when switching between sequences and styles. You can read my full complaints about using the PLG150-DR in other posts here. I finally got it to work with the 9000 Pro but I don't recommend it. Mine is now in my studio Motif. I'm still very impressed with the DR's drum sounds and find that they are some of the best and longest real-drum samples I've ever heard, especially in the cymbal area. You can hear what I mean on a page I made that compares the 9000 Pro's very good native drums with the PLG150-DR here:
http://www.hiltonheadmusic.com/Comparison.htm

Great info .. thanx guys. I'm pretty sure I'll get the piano board, and I'll do some research on the rest.
AJ, you're right - those 2 are not my bag. Looks like the new piano board is commin' on board for the polyphony alone!

by themselves, the additional Rhodes/wurli voices on the PF card are plenty good -- there's a delayed dyno rhodes and several examples from diff eras ('70s, '80s, a real David Fosterish one called Tonight); when I rolled thru the Motif Es the other day, I noticed that many of the onboard eps are taken straight from the PF board...
what I really like is combining them with the onboard 9kpro eps. one fave combi is R1 doing the pro's "Stage Piano" with no effects, and R2 one of the wetter less "grabby" sounds from the PF. these combinations are especially good for wurli sounds: the pro's wurli I find thin, but with help from the card it is a very meaty yet totally characteristic sound. I use the acoustic patches on the board much less, and since piano sounds are such a lightning rod I'm leaving 'em alone...hope that helps...

just wanted to add that when I last thought seriously about changing keyboards, it was these ep sounds, which I use a ton, and the key feel, that made me stick w/ the pro. it's got faults (the sequencer, for one) but it's incredibly easy to grab sounds and mess w/ em, and the sounds themselves are very, very good.

I did some more A/B work tonight before I packed up the Ty :
If I played this board live I'd miss:

*the dedicated S/S button for the sequencer
*drum remix during a sequence
*one button fillin/variation
*search for style during seq play

Since I WON'T play it live, I'll enjoy:

*Better key feel
*Better key size
*more keys
*added sounds and polyphony(soon!)
*no tilt screen (Didn't care for it)
*Solid feel all around (case etc)
*XLR mic input
*6 individual outputs
*stereo inputs, even WITH mic useage.
the list goes on, and on .....

Some of the styles really are better in the Ty, and the drum sounds have so much punch and siazzzzzzle, but the keys really are sub-par. I am very disapointed in that aspect of it. At least the Pro SEEEMS to be aimed at the pro player with all the goodies it boasts. The Ty is the best PSR made to date, even though they dropped the name.
It's perfrect for many people .... just not me.

I'm not sure what you mean by the Stop/Start button for the "sequencer"?? UD. If you're talking about starting or stopping the 'Accompaniment' there is a dedicated button for that. If you're talking about the Mixer 'Sequencer Voice/Revoice' there is a dedicated button for that (Mute/Unmute): the dedicated button for that is called the 'Mixer'/part 'Channel On/Off' button. If you're talking about when "recording" a sequence there is a dedicated button[s] for that too: it's called appropriately - Record Start/Stop. Nice thing about the Tyros is you can be recording a sequence and then stop it and start where you left off by pressing the Start button again. Tell me where I'm missing your point.

Drum Remix is also a CAN DO. Say you're playing a Midi; you can remix the Drums to any Kit you like in 'realtime' during play or otherwise. Say you're playing a Style; you can remix the Drums in the Style Part section of the Mixing console to any Drum Kit of your choosing, all in 'realtime' while it's playing or otherwise. Say you're recording a Sequence with the Tyros Sequencer; you can remix any Drum Kit you like, all in 'realtime' I might add, during any part of the recording. Tell me where I'm missing your point.

Fill in Variation is a CAN do too. It's called the 'Break' button. Variations have their own dedicated button too. You can change the Variation with a push of a dedicated button A,B,C,D and even get a Fill In when doing so. You can also turn 'off' the Fill In if necessary all with the touch of the dedicated 'Auto Fill' button. Tell me where I'm missing your point.

Searching for Style during Sequence play is an affirmative resonding Yea! and Amen!! NO problemo amigo! All you have to do is when playing a Sequence with accompaniment or otherwise just open the dedicated Style button and choose from any Style you wish and it will change to that Style in 'realtime' while playing. If you're recording a Sequence you can DO the same thing during Recording and it obeys your command, ie, "it changes to the Style of your choosing all in 'realtime' btw [and it keeps the Tempo that was originally used at the Start of a Sequence Recording]. All of those changes to different Styles, Drumkits, Voices, etc., are all 'recorded' and kept IN the Recording during Playback. Tell me where I'm missing your point UD.

Are you sure the Keys on the 9000Pro are 'wider' than the Tyros?? I know you have 'more' keys, ie. 76 vs. 61 but are they actually 'wider' than those on the Tyros?? That's news to me if they are. If they are then great. But these other 'excuses' for getting rid of the Tyros are a little weak imo UD and even unfounded in many cases.

Oh well, at least I hope you enjoy the Pro - "and end up keeping it for more than 30 days". I won't rub it in too hard because I got rid of my Motif ES after about 2 weeks but I think my reasons were more based on fact than some of these 'excuses' your giving UD. And I might add I've had my Tyros now for 'over' 30 days too with NO plans for retiring it in the foreseeable future. Can you say the same thing regarding ANY of your recent Gear purchases??? Just kidding but there is a ring of truth to that statement.

Best regards,
Mike

A follow-up to my post - I have the PLG150-PF loaded up in my Motif ES 8 and I've been going through the sounds. By far, my fav is still the "StrchGndPF" which is a full, warm and natural acoustic piano throughout the scale; and I still prefer it over the Mo's famed "Full Grand" in an A/B test. The rest of the acoustic pianos are so-so, and they suck out loud when you get to the layered Piano/Strings - ugh! You can do way better layering the Stretch Grand on R-1 and using the 9000 Pro's own Live!Strings on R-2. There's only one acoustic piano on the PLG150-PF that I like but I like it so much that I can't do without it.

I second Tom's approval of the "Tonight" EP, which I'm going to adopt for many songs now. Should've listened more closely to that one long ago - it's a very nice chorused Rhodes. Mmmmm, love it. The DX-type EP's aren't bad and there's many to choose from - I like several. The Wurlies are there... my fav is "Tea" which is nice and full but the "70's EP" is a little thinner and more authentic, ala Three Dog Night. "80's EP" sounds like the Styx/Rhodes "Come Sail Away" sound. Also the Clavinets are good, especially "WahClav" for that Stevie Wonder "Higher Ground" sound. Lot of variations on all of the EP's and clavs - bound to please nearly everyone.

I'd have to say that most of the sounds not only sound good but in the case of the EP's they are authentic to the pop-period keyboards they emulate. If I could only have one PLG board, it'd be this one. Go for it.

Yep .... I need EPs more than anything else.
I have a typo to correct from an above post:

"I did some more A/B work tonight before I packed up the Ty :
If I played this board live I'd miss:
*the dedicated S/S button for the sequencer
*drum remix during a sequence
*one button fillin/variation
*search for style during seq play"

That was SUPPOSED to refer to the PRO. The Ty does all that. It's a mute point though, cuz I won't use either one live. Just too much trouble with no on board monitors.

They are indeed wider. It's a tiny bit, maybe an 1/8" over an octave, but it makes a difference to me. The spacing is also an issue, as well as the downward throw. The Pro has a longer downward stroke. Couple that with a more solid action, and the result is wider dynamics...at least for my hands.
There is no comparrison between the construction of these two. The Pro is WAY ahead.
In terms of gingerbread and improvements sonically ..... the TY has come to a place that Pros will not ignore .... IF they like the keys and case.
This is all so personal, but Apples to Apples, the 9k is definatly more geared to a pro player than a home user. The Ty is a really great home unit that makes the transition to stage very well. It's just not built as solid and as "standard" as I'm used to. Yamaha even admits that the Ty is aimed at a home market. That means relitavly nothing in the real world, but in the local, everynight, live scene that I live and work in ..... I need every edge I can get. I'm still waiting for something solid to use at work. Heeeeelppppppppp!