Picked up a Tyros 4 yesterday and I'm having lots of fun with it.
Getting used to the blue leds now.

Some great new styles and voices on this machine.

Vocals predominate the additions from the Tyros 3 and although a few are a bit gimmicky, they’re also a bit of fun.

There are some other really great vocals on this machine however especially as they are also incorporated into the styles; for example ‘Surf Rock’ intro 2 in a minor key, just calls out for The Mamas & the Papas' 'California Dreaming' with the great backing vocals. Intro 3 inspires a round of Beach Boys stuff.
All good.

It has a beautiful new Vibraphone for your jazz stuff along with the new snazzy Jazz violin.

Big male choirs with a huge symphonic sound come alive with the ‘Ethereal Voices’ style, speaking of which the new 'Symphony Horns' are really incredible, such a big, BIG sound, much bigger than on the Tyros 3, great for the Imperial March from star wars.
There's really plenty of good stuff on this machine and I’m having a lot of fun exploring with it.

However there is some not so good stuff in that the so-called new pianos appear to be exactly the same as were on the Tyros 3 and thus, as in the Tyros 3 remain second rate, to my ears at least.
(I’m disappointed with this).

The VH2 (Vocal Harmony unit) is quite different from the VH unit on the Tyros 3 with less propensity to distort and it also sounds clearer than on the previous models, however if you have a deep voice, as I do, it's going to need a fair bit of editing to get a good sound (I haven't got there yet), It's also missing 2 of the VH-types/presets that I used all the time with the Tyros 3. The T4 VH unit seems setup for females or guys with higher voices as is out of the box. I'm still working on the VH but it's early days.

Over all, a great machine sans the pianos.
I'm going to be busy and now's my chance to clean up all my folders (again) as I load up the new machine.

Newman

Question:
Does anybody remember how to check remaining capacity on the USER Drive memory of the Tyros?

Congrats on your T4, enjoy it!

But I have a just a simple question, I'm not sure if you were a previous T3 owner, or if anyone else can answer.

The T3 as around $3800 more or less, pending any dealer discount, but after paying $$ and only 2 years later having a T4 released, is it worth investing an additional $3500-$4000 all over again? with exception of additional x amount of styles, voices, new VH how different can the T4 be from the T3?

just curious....

Newman.....thank you for the honest review of the T4....finally something said about the New VH2 vocal harmonizer vs the older one. hope to hear more as you proceed along...good luck with your new unit....make some great music!

When is the Tyros 4 due to hit stores on the east coast?

Just hear some of mine are on a truck towards me now, probably by end of week

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www.AudioworksCT.com

If you have a T3 in stock as well as a T4, soon, it would be VERY instructional to hear the two VH's alongside each other. I don't think anyone is going to be satisfied until that comparison is made...

I'm sure that most can probably tolerate the plethora of vocal sounds in styles at first, but I'll be VERY interested to hear how many still like them after say six months or more.

What I'm FAR more interested in is, how does everybody think the SA2 sounds in the styles improves the machine..? Is it REALLY noticeable, sort of subtle, barely noticeable? And yes, I kinda know the voice sounds are SA2, but I was thinking more about other sounds, strings, horns, pianos, all that kind of stuff... Stuff you are likely to WANT!

Newman.... could you elaborate on the piano problems?

I'm anticipating my Tyros4 later. I've commented on some of those vocal demos. I found some downright irritating and was wondering if I would really use them. Of course I was immediately chastized by those who said these vocal voices have been asked for, for years and they're finally getting them. Yesterday I was comparing the voice data lists of Tyros3 and 4 and realized my Tyros3 has hundreds of voices I never use. That reassured me that I will love Tyros 4 too!! -charley

Only trouble is, you are going to have to rework all those styles that over-use the new vocal sounds...

Better hope the style editing is easy to do!

Hi mc,
Whether or not to trade up from a T3 to a T4 would depend on:

1/ If you had plenty of money - Hey why not.

2/ If your money is hard earned - Different story.
The sound of these 2 keyboards when properly set up (the T4 sounds fuller out of the box than the T3 did out of the box), is very similar.
I had the T3 & T4 set up next to each other through my external sound system and after appropriate setting up (EQing etc.) My wife couldn't tell the difference between them (when playing the same styles/voices).
When you play the new stuff, styles/voices that are on the T4, then is stands out.

3/If you had a T3 with the Vocal pack, then ponying up the dough for a T4 would need to be a very considered decision.


Hi Dnj,
I'm still fiddling around with the VH2, I’m not there yet trying to find a suitable preset (I can't believe Yamaha didn't include the T3 VH type/presets) as the ones I used are now gone from the VH2 and it looks like I'm going to have to make up my own using the edit function. I'll let you know how it goes.


Hi Diki,

SA2... well...
To my ears the SA2 Ballad Soprano Sax and SA2 Pop Soprano Sax are the same voice except they have different effects when using the 'ART' buttons - no big deal I guess.
SA2 Celtic Violin - it's ok
SA2 Jazz Violin - Had some fun with this but you can probably get a similar pitch bend as I do using an FC-7 foot pedal, which to me feels more intuitive and gives more variation anyway.

You mentioned the pianos unfortunately.
In my opinion the T3 live Concert Grand and the SA Concert grand are identical.
I can hear nothing at all to delineate them from each other.
If you bought a T4 for the SA pianos you'd be very disappointed. It looks like a name change rather than anything more substantial, at least to my ears - you can still hear the same tinny mid range notes with their tinsel bell overtones and with certain notes prominent to others with this effect within each mid range octave.
Again the very low and very high notes are lovely as they were before.

A friend had a listen to the new pianos and he could not hear anything wrong with them, then he told me his hearing was high frequency attenuated and couldn't hear anything much above 10k. He wasn't aware of the problem until he had a hearing test (he's a drummer and been playing loud for over 30 years).

I am very impressed with the live 'Symphony Horn1' voice it is really sensational.
I'm also impressed with the vocals, Yamaha have really filled a gaping hole in the Tyros series keyboards with these.
Personally, for me the jury's still out on the VH2 because I haven't given it a fair go yet.

Hi Charley,
Re. the vocals on the T4; they are the one big change from the T3; yes, you will no doubt get tired of some of the scat sounds etc. but in the styles, the vocals are very well implemented and really are well done.
I don't think you'll get tired of the styles, plus the vocals are only in a few of the styles anyway. The vocal voices on the keyboard will find a place in some of my music.
There are also some vocal stabs in the percussion section that can be programmed into the multi-pads that could add a bit of zing, if that’s your thing…


Newman.

Newman......thanx for the VH2 update...
I hope you can harness it and get a setting you can work with......would love to hear some VH2 demos when you get a chance.

Good luck exploring the T4

d.