Two BIG questions...

Has the load up time been made faster? (no anecdotal answers, please... I want to hear from someone that actually HAS done it)

And, does the keyboard go dead while you are loading?

With at least a verbal promise by Yamaha to make more content available in TVN format (although, didn't they promise you more when the T2 came out as well?) both of these stats are VERY important...

Diki, as a NON Sampler myself, but I have an interest in how others might use them with an arranger kb could you elaborate a bit on what your asking please?

Thanx

OK... a decent grand piano can be got for about 32MB, maybe 64MB if you want pedal-ups, soundboard resonance, etc... The standard load for one of my best string sounds on the Kurzweil (a layer of split solo cello, violin, and three-way velocity split string section and some pedal activated pizzicato) is about 34MB. I've got an unbelievable Wurlitzer piano that takes 80MB. Rhodes' to die for in about 32MB....

Etc., etc...

This all adds up very soon, if you want those loaded to play on a gig (or even at home). My K2500 loads up samples of of HD at about 1MB/sec. So 64MB takes about a minute to load. I can't remember the exact figures, but I think we found out that the T2 loaded up almost four times slower than that!

My K2500 maxes out at 128MB. A lot, back in the days when Akai's topped out at 32MB! So, to fully load my K2500 takes about two minutes. Not great, but doable. But a T2 would take 8-10 minutes for the same load, and can hold nearly ten times as much RAM, so potentially, over an hour, or more for the full 1GB.

So, for this GB of RAM to have any practical value whatsoever, rather than just a wow! factor on a spec sheet for the uninformed consumer, it needs to load up a HELL of a sight faster than the T2 does. Nobody in their right mind is ever going to wait for an HOUR to be able to play their best sounds

One way to mitigate these slow load times (which AREN'T linked to slow interface speeds - USB1 had a theoretical top speed of well over 1MB/sec, FAR faster than actually achieved on the T2) is to have an architecture where you can load samples while you are playing. But even my Kurzweil won't do this, few samplers other than computer based can. But this is the 21st century. What are they waiting for...?

Now, of course, all the MS and Wersi fanboys are going to chime in and say 'but MY arranger can do this, and load up and even play streaming samples at computer speeds', to which I say, yes you can. Kudos. Unfortunately, so far, none of them are housed in an arranger that sounds and works as well as a T3 or a regular arranger. If and when they ever do, I'll be first in line for it, but in the meantime, I'm just looking for a bit of PRACTICAL improvement to the samplers in the arrangers that DO sound good...

So, back to the title... Anyone done a TVN load into a T3 yet? Is it faster than the same load into a T2?

While we are at it, how about some PA2Xpro times for comparison?