So, whatever happened to the release of the S950? It was supposed to have been released at the end of last year or the beginning of this year. The alleged leaked info on it made it sound very desirable. In silver or black! Maybe the summer NAMM show?

Then again, how about a PSR-S976 version

Here is the post from October 22, 2008 from the psrtutorial forum:

Allow me to pass along this note I received -- from an unnamed source who thought the info was 90-95% accirate:

First of all, these dates are not final but they seem like the y-way of doing things. The s550 will ship in November -- specs on that are well known and are just an evolution from the s500. The s750 will be debuted at winter namm. The s950 will be there or a few weeks after. Both will ship by mid-Feb. The 750 is so-so, the 950 is a Tyros killer if the specs don't change...none of us know what the hell they're doing. Street price will be under 1400 euros, maybe 1750 can. I have used a very early prototype and it's amazing. Firmware hasn't even been fully developed yet.
This is part of what I have for the s950. Differences with s750 are in parens. Both will be available in silver or black. s950 will have some video outs as t3, ditto for audio inputs. s950 has same audio recording, s750 none. s950 will use the t3 style of accompaniment, s750 remains the same. s950 can mount speakers. Anything not here is about what you'd expect. The master-f stuff will almost certainly wait till the t4 in late 2010 or, more likely, 2011.
61 keys; new dynamic after-touch (not on 750) *

128 note polyphony
Display: tilitng 648x480 colour LCD (5.9" bw - doesn't articulate but is at nice angle)
Voices: 722 + 20 Organ Flute + 480 XG + 256 GM2 + 35 Drum/SFX Kits (380 Voices + 16 Drum/SFX Kits + 480 XG Voices)
Featured Voices:
SArticulation2: 4 (0)
SArticulation: 48 (
Mega: 18 (12)
Sweet: 26 (20)
Live: 64 (56)
Cool: 56 (56)
Live Drum Kits: 12 (don't know about s750)
Organ Flutes: 16 (12)
Custom Voice: Yes
Voice Editor: Yes (No)
Effects:
Reverb: 40 preset + 3 user (38 + 3 user)
Chorus: 106 preset + 3 user
DSP 1: 191 presets + 3 user
DSP 2+: 110 presets + 10 user
Master Compressor: 5 presets + 5 user (5 presets + 3 user)
Master EQ: 5 bands, 5 presets + 2 user
Part EQ: 29 parts (28 parts)
Styles: 400 pro + 36 session (216 pro + 12 session)
On board RAM: 3.2 MB (1 MB)
Optional RAM: up to 2GB additional (n/a)
Hard Drive: 80 gb optional (n/a)
USB to Host
USB to LAN
USB to device
* OS update will give this to t3

Yamaha usually release their TOTL & the MOTL during autumn (fall) and it was the T3 turn last year.
Dealers always get a look first so as to try and iron out any problems, therefore they could well have been shown at Winter NAMM & Frankfurt, but would have been in a closed Dealer section. (The dealers also have to sign to keep the secrets until official launch (As an example, Yamaha UK had to get special permission from Yamaha Japan to show the T3 at last years Pakefield Festival, as the show occurred before official launch date (The same applied a few years earlier with the release of the S900/700)
Regards

Bill

All rumors at this point nothing until winter namm.

Summer NAMM is next month and Yamaha has been known to release arranger keyboards during the Summer show e.g. Tyros, etc.

That said, there has not yet been ANY?? word from George Kaye regarding up and coming Yamaha arranger products at this years Summer NAMM so maybe it will indeed be a wash for Yammie mid-range arrangers. Winter NAMM is only 7 months away... There may be a surprise or two or three or four at Summer NAMM though. Wouldn't that be great!!

All the best,
Mike

Summer NAMM could bring a hint.......
but I'll bet on Winter NAMM for something more substantial in the way of any new model 61 key lightweight arranger MOTL/TOTL KB's from anyone. I'm satisfied with "Sound & Styles" at this point, so I hope they will zero in on-board user needed & requested features this time around.

Yeah, Summer NAMM is known for not being very keyboard friendly in most cases. As I said, the original Tyros was introduced at Summer NAMM 2002 so there is hope, albeit, since there has been no word from George Kaye that in itself speaks volumes, at least to what is, or in this case, is not coming from the halls of Yamaha. Although, Yamaha has been known to keep George out of the loop occasionally but not often. Again, all we can do is wait and see what's on tap for Summer NAMM. Don't forget Korg and/or Roland either. We already know that Roland is releasing the new Juno Di soon and I'm quite sure it will be demonstrated at Summer NAMM no doubt. It is not an arranger per se but there is some looped beat stuff on it I believe. Only 61 keys though.

All the best,
Mike

How about the idea that the S950 would eat into too much T3 sales??
After all it has been said by some that T3 sales is not what they wanted/expected.
The S900 is a great bang fot the buck already...surely a S950 would eat into some more potential T3 sales?

Lee S.

I hope these specs are true. They are very exciting, even if we have to wait another year. I thought it was funny how you misspelled accurate.

Beakybird

All rumors & speculation...when the time is right Yamaha will release info.

I guess Joe Waters forgot to use spell-check