Hi Diki
Plenty of hit music made on that 15 year old engine, James. Particularly for more classic styles, what's WRONG with the engine?
A hit song is not dependant on the keyboard you use, a hit song is a hit because the song is great.
Either way there is no excuse for Yamaha to keep using the same plastic sound engine for over 15+ Years. Not when the company is Yamaha, the same guys who built the DX-7 and invented something as amazing as VL-Technology. For them to sit back on AWM2 is an utter insult to Yamaha end users at this point.
Yamaha simply gave up trying to be innovative. I can't think of 1 product in the last 10 years that offered something unique.
Now, the samples themselves, or the way they are programmed and played, yep, that could maybe do with an upgrade, but in all fairness, for preset patches, what really needs to be changed on AWM2 (that's what a T3 uses, right?)..?
The engine and the samples are the problem. The engine is far too old now and it lacks any depth. It's basically only a slight step above a crude ADSR engine with basic functions powered by highly compressed samples.
Yamaha don't even care enough to update the engine to include include compatibility with any known Sample formats that support Multisamples.
For sound designers, synthscape creators, players of cutting edge musics, perhaps the engine alone can make all the difference, but I can't for the life of me think what an ENGINE upgrade is going to do to help a blues style, or some Bigband, etc..
Just look at what DNC Technology did for KORGs sounds when they put it on the back of their EDS Engine and RX Technology. Everything on the keyboard was effected instantly by it.
Where on the other had you have Yamaha milking people with fake technology. Mega Voices are not a technology at all, it's simply a layered multisample and basic function.
Sometimes I wonder are Yamaha intentionally treating people like idiots. The new Tyros 4 will come with 10 extra “Mega Voices” and they will actually list how many extra sound it has in order to fool people into thinking they are getting something really big in the new keyboard.
Where a KORG users can add as many DNC Voices to the hundreds they already have at no cost at all and no need to buy a new keyboard.
Better samples, more dynamic velocity curves and velocity cross samples (all doable with the engine they have) would all make a noticeable difference in the drum sound (which basically sets the tone for the whole style), but an engine upgrade without addressing the core issue of better samples in the first place wouldn't really help, IMO...
Think if it this way, it's like connecting an MP3 Player to a 15 year old crap amp with poor DA Converters. Just because it says it can do something doesn't mean the quality is acceptable.
It's just plastic, compressed and very boring.
That said, the things that are annoying to one person might be acceptable to another. Yamaha's selling point is their keyboards are dead simple to operate. They are dead simple because they are dead basic. Which is what some people want.
Open the box, turn it on and that's it. Instant good sound by their standards.
Nothing wrong with that at all, I just have no respect for Yamaha for dropping the ball on all the great technology they once had. I have a Yamaha VL 70M myself and their WX-5. Will never sell them as they were the last innovative product that ever came out their factory doors.
Cheers
James
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