Can any of you new TY4 owners tell me if you have found any polyphony problems. I am considering buying the TY4 (or perhaps something else) but this quote I found online worries me because I regularly play full right hand chords with my right hand. Here's the quote:

"I am tonight sat at the new Tyros 4 playing and working my way through the big sounds that this keyboard is supposed of offer. As the evening as progressed one MAJOR thing I have found with Tyros 4 is problems with polyphony - big problems!
For example, if I choose the VocalFoxtrot style from the Ballroom style section and then try to play a right hand chord with the notes D F G Bb and D - the keyboards backing vocals just vanish.

And this is apparent on other styles too!

The more you play this keyboard the more you find that anyone who can play block chords in the style or organ or big band suddenly hits a stumbling block and a big one. WHY after just 48 hours am I finding this. Surely Yamaha would have played this keyboard before releasing it? Wouldn’t they?"

... Thank you.

I'm not finding this at all; What are you playing in your left hand? Are you running any multi-pads? Do the Style voices return on the next beat? Are you pressing the sustain pedal? How many voices do you have on the right hand?

The T4 has 128 Voice Polyphony...think about that ceiling for a second.

Thanks for your reply. I haven't bought the TY4 yet but will buy an arranger very soon. I am considering also the Korg pa3xpro when it comes out mainly because it has 76 keys, they claim its sound has been improved, and I have the impression (rightly or wrongly) that it's library of sounds and rhythms is more modern and not so much traditional. When I ready about the possible Tyros polyphony issue online it made me think twice. I thought that it might be possible because (based on my past experience with their YPG series) their auto-accompaniment feature at times is quite complex and rich with very full backing band instruments. So I thought that the auto-accompaniment might eat up so much polyphony that there would be just enough left for one finger right hand playing, whereas I tend to play block chords with my right hand. So thanks for letting me know that you haven't had any problems. I hope I'll here feedback from some more TY owners.

Hello, This afternoon I tested with Right1 and Right 2 and played with allchannels, all continuous voicing PADd, all veriations with Harmony and can send you the resulting MIDI.

Conclusion: no polyhony problems noticed.

http://my.vision-4-life.nl/index.php?id=67&L=1 .... My Music

Regards, Fred

Thank you very much Fred for checking into this issue. Sounds like you did a thorough test and that I do not need to be concerned about it. You have a nice website and I will check it out more thoroughly.
Hal

Yes, I did the test for you to make it sure. When you go to www.vision-4-life.nl you have connection to my two personal websites, one for family, work, interests and hobbies, the other for my vision for life, ideology, Compassion Advocacy and voluntary charity work. When you listen closer, e.g. Marche Funebre, you hear a church organ. Well, that is also my Tyros 4
Another great feature: you can make your own voices.

Kind regards, Fred

Hal,

We have some of the most astute keyboard users on the internet on this forum who are using the Tyros 4. Believe me, if there was any weakness on the T4 with polyphony or any other capability; they would be making this issue well known; including myself.

Hi Kbrkr,

When I see the list of instruments in your footer, I wonder: do you ever sleep ?? Or is it your profession?
Bit more serious question: When you compare Tyros 4 to Motif, it might be comparing apples with pears, but please tell me how you use them and advantages and disadvantages of T4 versus Motif XS6

Regards, Fred

[quote=kbrkr]Hal,

We have some of the most astute keyboard users on the internet on this forum who are using the Tyros 4.

I'm also interested in Fred's question to you as I still have not made up my mind whether I am going to buy the TY4, a pa3xPro, a Motif XF or a Korg Kronos. The two Korgs will be out somewhere between April and June in the US. Whichever one I pick will be my only keyboard as I will be selling my Fantom X8.
Hal

Fair question Fred,

Not only do I play as a keyboard player in a Wedding band, I also perform the Cocktail Hours and the Ceremony music. I use the T4 for those.

I use the Motif on the bottom of my two keyboard rig for Synth sounds, Sampling, and performances (multi-layered sounds think UPRISING/DEAD or ALIVE). I also use it to trigger my Roland VK8m Hammond Clonewheel. I use the T4 on top for it's extraordinary Acoustic voices; Sax, Brass, Strings, Piano, Electric Pianos, and now also supplemental Sampling since it is essentially a Motif XF with Flash Ram. The T4 also has some great Synth sounds (from the Motif).

I am also an on-call drummer with a few other groups in the area. I'm pretty popular (not because I'm a gifted musician) but because I also sing (on key) and have a great ear for harmonies. Lot's of bands in my area are severely lacking in the vocals category.

Although this is not the way I make my living, I do end up performing quite a bit.

I've owned the Pa2xpro and the Audya 4/5. The T4 is so much more gratifying for me than either of those boards.

Hi kbrkr,

Thanks for your fast reply. This forum seems getting alive (LOL)
Our keyboard-retailer who is specializing in digital pianos and secondly keyboards, has received the Motif XF7 in the store. So on Friday I will leave my work a bit early and will visit the store to look and play the instrument. I think on a keyboard/wokstation like T4 there is focus on styles and melody voices to easy combine into nice song. A Motif on the other hand uses arpeggios, loops to combine into a custom style. But I learned to do that on T4 too You can listen on my site to the song Incomparabel where I play with a custom ballad style, merged from other preset styles. And like you can make custom voices using wav files on the flash ROM in the MOTIF, you can do likewise on T4. So keyboards and synthesizers grow towards eachother.

My music (also from my earlier machines) can be heard at
http://my.vision-4-life.nl/index.php?id=71&L=1

P.S. I don't have the money to spend on a MOTIF besides my T4 but I must admit that the MOTIF XF has sex appeal:)

Al, if I may ask, in what ways did you find the pa2x less gratifying than the Tyros, being that I keep flip flopping back and forth between considering one of these two in their latest models (and have not yet had access to play either one). Thanks
Hal

Hal,

Here are my feelings on keyboard selection.....

Style Management
One of the first challenges with the Korg is the style/midi file management. All styles are part of what they call a .SET file a .SET file can have a 100 or so styles in it. If you want to copy a single Style off of the keyboard to the computer, work on it, and then send it back to the computer you can't; you must extract it out of the .SET file then use utility software to combine it with the set file and copy it back to the keyboard; WHY? Legacy, that's why and Korg refuses to update this legacy style management model. It is sooooo much easier on the Yamaha's. On the Yamaha you simply modify a single .sty file (midi file) and copy it back. Plus there are many 3rd party style management tools on the market to support Yamaha. The Korg .SET file type is a closed proprietary model and Korg will not allow 3rd party vendors create utilities to support their keyboards. Go figure?

Sounds
The bread and butter sounds in the Korg are nowhere near the quality of the Yamaha T4 sounds; period. Many of the sounds of the T4 are simply breathtaking. I do not get the same feeling from the Korg; actually I find some of the Korg sounds dated and synth-like.

Defined Nuance Control
Even their implementation of Super Articulation; Defined Nuance Control, does not come close to the coverage of the Yamaha's. There are so many more voices on the T4 that use this technique and I feel the technique is utilized better on the Yammy. The other manufacturers are playing catch-up.

Style Quality
No manufacturer has the depth and breadth of style variety than Yamaha. Not to mention quality, since the T4 was introduced they have released at least 25 new premium styles. You can't underestimate the importance of this as far as adding more value to the keyboard playability and gratification.

Not only are the styles-a-plenty, but the quality is second to none. Oh you may find a dozen or so styles on the Korg, Audya, Roland that will knock your socks off. But overall across all the genres, no one does a better job of coverage than Yamaha. And with the sliders and quick on/off buttons you can silence busy styles or turn on style parts to give the style that great full sound much easier.

Support
The Yamaha hardware is probably the most reliable on the market. combine that with the end-user support network of forums, style sites, psrworld, createsongstyles, Yamaha Keyboard site, etc.etc. it is the most widely supported keyboard on the market. Also, you can simply connect the T4 to the Internet and download Music Finder entries quickly and freely if you are wondering what song goes with what style. You can't do this with any other manufacturer. You can even download songs and lessons; right from the keyboard.

That is why the T4 is the most gratifying for me.......

That's certainly convincing and helps a lot. Now, that leaves for me to wrestle with the choice of Tyros vs the new Kronos with Karma, or the Motif XF (I know it has access to Karma but only via computer so I don't want to mess with that - and then I'm not sure how important Karma really is anyway - but it does sound intriguing to use). Any thoughts of the last two keyboards vs Tyros, if you could only have one? My goal, again, is one man band playing, but don't want to sound canned either - and am not a virtuoso. Want to focus on more new age ethereal, ambient, this year of my own composition - but still want to be able to play pop/rock covers if I decide to.
Hal
Hal

Hal2001,

Reading your comments I can only advise: go for T4. I am also not vituoso, but the T4 invites to experiment.

Just listen on http://my.vision-4-life.nl/index.php?id=71

the song Hosannain two versions you will like since they are made with very nice new styles that are not found in any other keyboard, not even T3. Or "Met diep ontzag" or "Rapsodia".

kbrkr, also a question for you. Can you send me more info about style management via the computer? Currently the style management I use is mixing the 8 elements of a certain style with elements of other styles.

Regards, Fred

Thank you for the references. I can see there are some nice sounds there. Hal

Hal, the Motif and and all workstations are VERY different from Arranger keyboards like the Tyros.

Workstations are not TRUE arrangers in that there are no Intro's, Endings, Breaks, Fills, etc on the drum / bass track. Also, workstations arpeggios really only have 4 parts; bass, drums, some chording and right hand. The arranger has 8 parts of accompanyment.
I would and don't use the Motif on solo gigs; it is just not suited for that task. Karma is kool, but it too is not meant for the arranger player. It is a random beat generator that sort of follows your chording, but doesn't recognize elaborate chord structures.

Do you currently have a workstation? What do you currently play?

Yes, I didn't realize the difference between As & Ws until two years ago after I bought my Fantom X8. I naively thought that, since it looks like a NASA control module it could do everything including auto-accomapniments. On my website there are two songs, "Human" and "Unchained Melody" where I have nice auto-arrangements. The first one uses factory presets on the Fantom (unfortunately there's a very small number to choose from that are linked to the rhythm pads). The second one uses a Yamaha QY100 to provide the auto-arrangement (unfortunately I find it awkward and inconvenient to program for new styles). Samples of what I've done are here:
www.youtube.com/Halunlimited
I am now expanding in the direction of more new age, ambient, and ethereal electronic music (ie using soft pad and arpeggiated patterns- some from my four Fantom SRX expansion board sounds). I never got the hang of making new accompaniment rhythms with the Fantom, that's why I've been thinking of the TY, pa3x (but no longer the pa), the Motif and Kronos. I considered the Roland BK7 but that would probably be similar to my QY100 in inconvenience. I don't really want to keep two keyboards, and thus would sell my Fantom for one of the aforementioned. Thanks for taking the time to consider my situation.
Hal

Hi Hal,

I have listened you Earth Song. Have you listened mine??

Krbkr, can you still naswer my Stuyle manager question?

Regards, Fred

Just listened to your very nice rendition. The sound quality, both of the patches themselves and the recording, is excellent. The sound of the TY seems to have really excellent clarity and spatial depth and stereo width to it. That's very important. Now I have to decide whether to keep my Fantom X as a second board or sell it. I'm wondering how much I would miss having the 88 keys. Perhaps I could run it as a twinset, although that's not my main goal.
Hal