Hi,

I've now spent enough time with the Tyros that I think I can now make an educated decision as to whether or not I want to add it to the arsenal. I tried to compare it to what I like and don't about my PA80. I also did the A vs B sound comparison with the PSR2100 coming through the same sound system.

In the past I had done a similar comparison with the 9000 against the 740, and I pretty much couldn't tell the difference. This time, it's different. The 2100 is a wonderful sounding board and packed with features for the price, but I must say I could definitely detect a difference between the two for similar styles and patches. Not all of them, but some to be sure. Suffice it to say, I like the 2100 and the Tyros sounds. I've already ranted in the past about the 2000 series key feel, so all I'll say is that the 2100 won;t work for me. The Tyros has a similar feel to my Motif ES. Not as responsive as I'd like, but I can work with it.

This is the subjective part but.. The sounds are brilliant. What else can I say ? I would say that I would prefer a majority of the patches in the Tyros over their counterparts in the PA80. Particularly the pianos, saxes / winds, ep's, brass, and acoustic guitars. The electric Guitars and bass sounds have inmproved a lot over earlier yamaha arrangers, but I like the PA80's just as much. The drums are ok, but I like the PA80 better here. The organs are good, but again I like the PA80. Both have good synth sounds, the PA80 has better editing from within.

Yamaha's styles seem to have become more life like to me, but still aren't necessarily as in your face or as natural sounding as the PA80's are. The tradeoff here is that the Tyros has much better fills in some styles, there are more of them ( 4 vs 2 ), and the styles are still a little more generic, and less busy than those on the PA80, which I sometimes prefer for live work anyway.

The OS and interface is easy... easy... easy.. I can work this whole board and probably use almost any function without having to look at the manual. I wish the Tyros folks would give a few lessons to the Motif ES folks on this one.

The conclusion. I'm torn a little here. I really want this board, but funds dictate otherwise.. for now anyway. I can see that overall I'd probably like it as much as I do my PA80, maybe more, but I really don't want to let the PA80 go either, because it has been such a good board for me. Right now, ( but not in the future I hope ) I'd have to let it go if I wanted a Tyros. So. I'll wait and hopefully by the time the PA1x speaker version comes out, cash flow will improve here and then I can start the whole process again. My prevailing thought though is that unless the PA1x is realy that much better than the PA80, I'd prefer to keep the PA80 and add a Tyros to the lineup.

AJ

Great Assessment. I've been very curious about the PA80 and you've really enlightened me.

Don't forget the other tangiables with the Tyros like the LCD Tilt Screen, hard disk availability, and the other little goodies the Tyros has even over the 2000/2100. Indeed, $2500.00 is a bit pricey for the Tyros. IMHO, I think a price of about $1800.00 would send them flying out the door.

Happy Thanksgiving!
Al

Glad you got to finally play a Tyros AJ. I agree that it's a definite improvement over the PSR 2000/2100. As to cash flow, you may want to wait and see what shows up at Winter NAMM in January. Hopefully there will be a demonstration of the Pa1X (61 Key/w onboard speakers) at NAMM and I'm sure we're likely to see some other interesting Keyboard products appear too. Roland has been out of the picture for a while so it will be interesting to see if they come out with any thing new in the way of high end Arrangers at Winter NAMM. Ketron has been kickin' back also and I for one would like to see them come out with a High End Arranger that will top their 3 year old technology wise SD1. GEM has the Genesys PRO but it only has 64 note Polyphony (same with the SD1 although the SD1+ has a little more) and the Genesys PRO has 61 Keys. - (something that you and most of us are aware of of course). It would be great if GEM was to produce a High End Arranger with 128 note Polyphony (or better) and give us 76 Keys to boot - (all that and weighing less than 40 lbs.) That would be terrific. They would sell a boat load of 'em I'm sure especially if they improve the sound quality of their voices substantially. Although the Genesys PRO does have some great sounds in it, the better the sounds are the more likely people will jump ship from other Manufacturers to get a GEM especially since PaulD is going to be increasing GEM's presence in the retail Market.

If you can AJ try and lay aside something each month (each week if you can) towards saving up for a new Board. Before you know it you'll probably have enough for even the top of the top of the line Arranger or Workstation. Although you're probably not looking to get rid of that Motif ES6 anytime soon. Also some online sites are offering great deals on financing a Keyboard, etc., and not having to pay anything for like a year or so with no interest accumulated during that time either. Although the best option imo is just start saving up and pay by cash or check and not have to go in debt by buying with Credit. PS: Yamaha might even surprise us with something 'special' in the way of Arrangers too! I'm looking forward with great anticipation to what will be showcased at Winter NAMM 2004. But a Tyros or even a Tyros PRO would be a worthy trophy in your Keyboard arsenal that's for sure.

Best regards,
Mike

Hi AJ

I have yet to see a 2100. Does it sound much better than the 2000?

If it wasn't for the key feel of the 2100 would they be so close to the Tyros that there is no noticealbe difference, or that their really is a noticealble difference that makes the Tyros the clear winner.

Did you try the organ voices? If so how did they compare?

Thanx
Scott

[This message has been edited by Scott Langholff (edited 11-26-2003).]

Let me reply by first saying that if I had to choose again, and it came between the Tyros and the ES, ( which it pretty much did ) I would easily make the same choice and get the Es first. That's kind of a no brainer for me anyway, because my Motif classic was sold just for that purpose. I just like having a dedicated workstation, and the ES really fits the bill and it sounds great.

Scott,

I did a 2000 vs 2100 comparison as soon as the 2100 hit the shelves. The 2100 has a few new sounds and some new styles. Other than that, they sounded close to me. I only compared them through their own speakers, but they were literally side by side. The Tyros sounds richer to my ears, but not so much so that the sounds alone would make it worth more to me than double what the 2100 cost. I think the 2100 is a great value for the money. It's also the other things that go along with it, such as better key feel ( though still not great ), the pop up screen, extra features, media storage, the feel that it's a little sturdier, etc.

Mike,

I think only the PA1x would really interest me here, but I am still not convinced that I am going to like it that much hetter than my PA80, or the Tyros. I'm leaning toward the Tyros because I'm still happy with the PA80 but would like another arranger, with the added bonus of having sound / style sets from both Yamaha and Korg.

I'm just not a huge Roland fan right now, and I feel that just a few short years ago that they were among the leaders in sounds, but more recently have slipped behind both Yamaha and Korg. ( I did like the XP series boards and the G1000 was kinda cool too ). The Gem boards I've tried didn't do much me for either. Perhaps Ketron, or technics, given the right circumstances, could come up with something that interests me as well, but neither seems to have the aftermarket or user base support that Yamaha, and to a lesser extent Korg has.

I actually could afford a Tyros today, but.. I just cleaned up the credit cards this year, and prefer to keep it that way. Also, I just bought the ES for cash, so it's hard to justify spending more money right now, as I really don't need a Tyros, ( I just want one ) and the old homestead here needs some attention too. That's where the money I can spend is headed. I have some winter projects to do. I expect a large enough tax refund to afford a Tyros and still have some money left over to upgrade other parts of the studio and / or work more on the house, so no rush for me.

Al,

$1800.00 for a Tyros would make me very happy and would leave me with more tax refund money to fix up the house and add to the studio. It might also pretty much eliminate any consideration of the new PA1x stuff, although I'm leaning that way already.

Happy Thanksgiving all

AJ


[This message has been edited by Bluezplayer (edited 11-26-2003).]

AJ, It's only money--she'll understand. Besides, if you're like most of us, you've been broke before, and living in the van isn't all that bad. Splurge--buy the Tyros and don't look back.

Cheers,

Gary