Getting a few coins at the end of the month... Is this upgrade worth it from a S910? Keep in mind I'm studio only. Not sure I want to shell out 3K - 4K if the upgrade does not blow my socks off. Let me know as I think I'll just upgrade my motorcycle instead...

Thanks for taking the time...

in my opinion: no. The Tyros keyboards are very good instruments as is the s910, but I would never spend that much money. Got my T2 for £ 1300 used a couple of months ago. Sure, the T4 has the choirs, etc, but it does what I need it to do and it still has a few excellent sounds, as well as great styles.

3K is a serious money investment, I'd rather make a business investment than buying a T4 , or an Audya, or whatever it is.

These are all good instruments but their price tag is exaggerated, compared to the sound quality nowadays offered by software like Band in a box, Eastwest, etc

The s910 is stilll a nice instrument. Maybe consider an used T2 too if you want the keys and the sampler

In my opinion, yes...and an emphatic YES at that!

I had hoped that I'd be buying the S910 and saving some substantial money. I had the Tyros3 here for over a year and although it is a magnificent instrument, and a healthy upgrade from the old Tyros2 (more features, beefier sound to name two) it lacked the "sweetness" I liked that was present in the latter. No amount of tweaking the Tyros3 could give me that sweetness, and nothing I could do with the Tyros2 could give it the stronger sound of the Tyros3.

So, the S910, definitely had the "sweetness" of the T2 and, although it lacked the strength of the sound of the T3, it had several features of the latter that I really liked, and, it was considerably less expensive, so I figured I'd be pretty happy with the S910.

Then the Tyros4 arrived...and my plan slowly deteriorated with every minute I played this great new instrument.

Yamaha wisely saved a lot of money by not going with a new/different cabinet, and used it to do substantial upgrades to the sound engine, and, of course, to add those great new vocal patches, more SA2 and Mega voices, more new and re-worked styles, and other nice features like MP3 playback and a much larger 250G HD.

The Tyros4 has the sweetness of the Tyros2, and the strong beefy sound of the Tyros3, and comes out of the gate sounding considerably better than both of them, in my opinion.

Part of me wishes it didn't, because an S910 is a good saving, and perhaps in your case, if the money is big consideration, the S910 will continue to serve you very well, indeed...I still like playing the one here, but after playing the Tyros4, there is no contest...and no going back for me.

The people with Tyros4 that I have been in touch with, are every bit as impressed as I was...and, it sounded awesome right out of the box....I haven't tweaked the instrument one iota, and has a wonderfully strong and powerful sound, as well as a soft and delicate tone when needed.

As with any big purchase, I strongly recommend playing the instrument for a good amount of time, or if that's not possible, there should be an agreement to be able to return it if you don't find it exactly what you want, because spending this much money should give you total satisfaction.

I had other uses for the money, not all of them just for increasing the pleasure with my other hobbies, but, I believe the investment in the Tyros4 is worth it, in my case.

Good luck with your decision, Beach, and I hope you get maximum enjoyment out of whatever you decide to get.

Ian

PS...yes, I work for Yamaha, but the reasons I do are because I love their sound, and I love how they do arrangers...it was my choice to work for them, and it was based on those grounds. And Beach, I'd be a total fanboy, even if I never had any other relationship with them other than just playing and enjoying the instruments.

I think your best bet is to get one from Frank. I'm sure he has a return policy. My bet is that once you try the T4 you will be hooked and enjoy using it with your recordings far beyond any enjoyment you have had so far which is what it's all about, isn't it?

Nobody can really tell you which choice to make because they all use their own reasons and rationalizations.

Rationalizations is what keeps a lot of people from having what they really want.

I've never been thrilled about the extra money I had to spend to get a Tyros over a PSR (as nice as the PSR's are BTW). But, having played both, was it worth the extra money? You bet. No real comparision IF you're really making use of all the great sounds.

Having gone from the S910 to the Tyros4 I can Cocur with all the points Ian has made,the most important is, if you can, try it for yourself.
This may also interest you paticulary

http://www.t-2.nl/forum/topic.asp?whichpage=1&TOPIC_ID=2914&#20180

Gilbert.

Maybe a S920

I upgraded from the T2 to the T4 after trying the Pa2xpro and the Audya 4 after swearing I would never again buy another Yamaha because of the lack of drums and the ability to customize. I took a risk by buying the T4 after hearing all those great voices and styles; I tried to look past all the shoo-be-do-wah stuff and look at the meat and potatoes.

Boy, am I glad I did. After owning the T4 for a few months, I am blown away by it's sonic ability, sheer volume of top notch voices, and the great styles. Plus I didn't have to give up all those Yamaha styles I have been hoarding over the years. The FLASH ram has worked out really well for me as I do a lot of custom sampling and load times are ZERO when you power up this puppy. I love the more diverse and capable vocal harmonizer. It's just a great overall board and leaps and bounds way beyond the T2. Do yourself a favor and go and play one to experience the sound quality first hand. The string and Sax voices alone will knock your socks off.

only in the studio?.....keep the S910 for syles.....buy a KRONOS for sounds

I have owned a S910, a Tyros 3, and a Tyros 4 all at the same time so I was able to do a side by side comparison of the three. First and foremost, the S910 did not sound anything like the Tyros 4 as has been suggested. Nor did the Tyros 3 compare well to the Tyros 4. I sold the S910 and my Tyros 3 and have not once had any remorse about that.

I gig with my Tyros 4 daily and all my audiences just love the new sounds. It has been a good investment for me.

Hammer

You can't put a price on happiness I always say.
If you want something in life get it somehow and smile

Life is too short to dilly dally