Maybe you didn't listen to all of these 50 or so demoss. If you still say that after hearing them, then I don't know



[This message has been edited by Scott Langholff (edited 09-17-2010).]

Yes, I hear you and I sympathise with you. I WOULD be missing the 76 keys of my PA2X, but I must admit I am "charmed" by al the goodies the T4 has to offer. The octave switching made me smile though. That really emphasized the need for more keys to properly play the piano sounds. But please, let's leave that discussion for what it is (in the other treads). I already regret mentioning it.

Ok, one more time about the keys....
Does anyone of you know how the touch or key feel of the Tyros3 keybed is in comparison to the PA2X? Or the G-70 for that matter, because that was my previous board.

OK, so there's SOMETHING new and exciting... but is there enough? A few new lead sounds, a few new styles, a few new OS features.

Is a few enough?

It makes for some interesting reading to go back and re-read the posts when the T3 came out, and the T2, and then to go and listen to the factory demos for each of those. Same comments, same arguments, same sound. Same people, three years later getting all worked up about the exact same thing, and precious little difference in any of the demos.

My G70 sounded like a completely different, and better keyboard than my G1000. That's why I got it. If it had shown as little improvement as, say the T2-T4 jump (let alone T3-T4), I highly doubt I would have made the switch. But there are those that were agog at the T2, bought it, and then were agog at the T3, bought it, now agog at the T4, probably going to buy it. Seems like 'agog' doesn't last very long, does it?

I bet you something... Play a T2 factory demo, then a T4 demo to a lay person, ask them if they liked that keyboard (don't tell them it's two different ones). Bet you they say yes! And I bet you few of them tell you it's two different keyboards, seven years apart!

Factory demos are the great equalizer... They show that, once the hype and novelty wear off, just about ANY modern arranger sounds great! And that a great player on older gear will STILL beat 99% of us on the latest model.

I know, factory demos are a bit misleading and I would never buy an instrument without demoing it myself. The reason I am tempted this time, is because them seem to have adressed the sounds that were not up to par with the rest of them (and seem to have also incorparated them in the styles).

I will certainly go to one of the store demos and have a listen and maybe try it out myself a bit. The first one in my area is on September 30.

[This message has been edited by Tom NL (edited 09-17-2010).]

What struck me listening to the demos is the keyboard is now a; "Doo Wah Dup Do" keyboard. All the styles have the Scat voices in them giving them a Lawrence Welk sound that is just SOoooooo outdated. I liked the Hip-Hop Jayz New York style. The drums now sound exactly like the Korg Pa2xpro drums which although better, still PALE in comparison to the Audya.

Not a few...the number of SA and mega have been increased dramatically...the pianos are now SA as well.

Styles are all enhanced, especially those using SA voices, with another 50 brand new ones.

Certainly it is not a totally new instrument...it is still a Tyros.

Your reasons for upgrading to the G-70 were wise, but no more prudent than someone going from a Tyros (original model) or mid-range PSR to a Tyros4.

The target customer is someone who has an older PSR or Tyros, although I'm sure there will be more than a few Tyros2 and T3 users that will want to buy one, because it is a significant sonic upgrade from the already great sounding previous instruments.

Ian

Personally, I don't think factory demos ARE misleading... they are great players, getting the BEST out of each instrument, as much as can be. They are ALL massaged to an extent, so the playing field is pretty even, IMO.

And the best T2 demos stack up pretty well against the best T4 demos. If the T4 WERE head and shoulders above the T2, one would expect to HEAR it in the demos. Me, I hear an inch or two growth. But head and shoulders? Hardly.

The most significant thing in the T4, IMO, is the FLASH RAM, and the value of that won't become apparent for a long time, until Yamaha release a large enough library of new sounds for it that it becomes usable. It's taken them since the T2 (or did the T1 have a sampler, too?) to come out with a tiny handful of new sounds for the line. They had better do better than that if the potential of this feature isn't going to be as wasted as 99% of Tyros players find their current sampler.

Ian, many of the new SA sounds share the same sample set. It's not like they are ALL different. Some may indeed simply be re-workings of older sample sets, too. Same for Mega Voices, etc.. You KNOW how the marketing boys like to play the numbers game..!

It's not until someone gets their hands on one and investigates it carefully are we likely to know exactly how many BASIC sounds are completely new.

There are some with T3's that will say ANY improvement is 'significant'. Me, I like to keep the word for something that truly is. Distance tends to be the final judge of this. The week that something new comes out, everybody is giddy with excitement. A couple of years later, maybe not so much! In retrospect, the T1-T2 shift WAS significant, SA opened new doors and upped the ante bigtime. I think most Yamaha users would agree. Would so many of them think the same improvement came between the T2 and T3? Somehow, I doubt it. I certainly didn't get that impression from those that made the jump when the T3 first came out, or considered it after a couple of years of reading posts about it.

Will the T3-T4 jump be as significant as T1-T2? Only time (and lots of it!) will tell, IMO. So far, only the usual Yamaha fanboys seem to be throwing the word 'significant' around. Let's wait a while, and see if less biased listeners join in...

Un-biased listeners?

Well, that leaves out Roland fanboys like you and Frannie. I'm sure you guys must have Roland tatoos on your bums...lets see, a big "R" on one cheek, and "land" on the other, so when you bend over it's R o land.

That's also why we Yamaha users and supporters (far more accurate terms than "fanboys") don't put much credence in your opinions.

They do bring a smile when I read them so they aren't entirely worthless.

Ian