If you ditch internal memory then have 2 USB "to device" ports so we can leave a micro memory stick permanently installed (although with the internal hard disc this is less of an issue than it would be on my 3K)

And I'm still someone who hankers after 76 keys.. but I still can't afford it!!!

Can I add my vote to better leslie control, registration buttons in the middle, XLR mic connector.

XLR balanced outputs would also be good (although to be fair I've not actually had any issues with jacks)

Stop the annoying sound glitch which often occurs whilst changing registrations - TomTomSF refers to this in One Touch settings but it also happens with registrations. My Technics changes sounds smoothly without any problems. I have registrations setup which I cannot use because of this.

The Registration buttons are in the wrong place and should be on the left (or centre) - a good option would be to have a further 8 buttons on the left which are assignable so they could be used for registrations, sounds, or whatever.

Good editing options for styles (showing 2 styles, side by side), so that you could quickly & easily copy / paste bits from any style with the same timing (as on Technics, with real micro editing if users really want to do the job properly).
Tony

All yamaha needs in my view now is a decent onboard sequencer, fully editable sound design creation features onboard and an inbuilt speaker system like the korg PA1X and i would buy a tyros 5 in a heart beat. And if they made a 73-76 key version then even better

Lots of great suggestions presented so far. First of all, I think Yamaha beats the completion in the RH voice department particularly with acoustic instruments. I think the main weakness with is within the styles. There needs to be more AUTHENTIC and contemporary Latin styles. By authentic I mean using instrumentation and patterns/phrasing that are true to the style. For example in Norteña music there is no need for castanets and trumpets. On cumbias there should not be a pseudo flamenco acoustic guitar strumming pattern. Salsa needs clear 2-3 and 3-2 clave percussion patterns and bass tumbaos. I could go on and on but in general the Yamaha Latin styles sound too “ball room”. Also there is a need for more contemporary Latin styles such as reggeaton and bachata. Just turn on any contemporary Latin radio station now in the U.S or Latin-American and you’ll hear how popular these styles are. It’s tricky to try to perform these styles on a Yamaha keyboard. I think the problem could be easily resolved if Yamaha hired consultants/programmers that are experts in Latin music.

Lots of great suggestions presented so far. First of all, I think Yamaha beats the completion in the RH voice department particularly with acoustic instruments. I think the main weakness with is within the styles. There needs to be more AUTHENTIC and contemporary Latin styles. By authentic I mean using instrumentation and patterns/phrasing that are true to the style. For example in Norteña music there is no need for castanets and trumpets. On cumbias there should not be a pseudo flamenco acoustic guitar strumming pattern. Salsa needs clear 2-3 and 3-2 clave percussion patterns and bass tumbaos. I could go on and on but in general the Yamaha Latin styles sound too “ball room”. Also there is a need for more contemporary Latin styles such as reggeaton and bachata. Just turn on any contemporary Latin radio station now in the U.S or Latin-American and you’ll hear how popular these styles are. It’s tricky to try to perform these styles on a Yamaha keyboard. I think the problem could be easily resolved if Yamaha hired consultants/programmers that are experts in Latin music.

lets make it a full professional TOTL arranger.
and lets take T4 as the base.

- 76 keys
- Big 12,1" touchscreen
- Better and more advanced style edditing
- More indepth sound edditing (Motif sound engine)
- Sounds playable directly from SSD, with a user upgradable SSD up to 256GB
- Step sequencer
- lighweight but very durable casing (titanium)
- touch pad for X-Y controll
- D-Beam
- Vector joystick and integration
- Ribbon controller


And the following would be optional at an added price :

- Software edditor running on PC that lets the T4 funcction as a VST and as a VST host, much like the KORE controller from NI.
- Full KArma support, usable on top of the styles and sepperated.
- Hardware expansion for other synth engines (VL, DX, AN boards and more)
- Firewire and Gigabit Lan connection and and the abbility to send audio and midi over this connection.
- A high class vocaliser that can be build in as an option but does not come standard anymore, to many people just dont need a vocaliser.


Maybe they should base this TOTL arranger on teh MOtif series and add everything thats in the T4 and the things described above to that.

The big problem is that many people want different things in an Arranger, by selling a lot of the stuff optional, people might build the arranger as they would like. Imagine to have like 8 expansion slots that you can fill with any stuff you would like.

Also I'd love to have:

1. loop funtion (chord sequencer)
2. better chord recognition of rootles (jazz chords)
3. a slimmer/more compact build
4. live audio loops (like Ketron)
5. 76 keys
6. two mic inputs
7. TC Helicon Harmonizer- or something as good
8. Black

A chord sequencer... Now that Korg have resurrected Roland's best feature (albeit not quite as well), perhaps you won't feel guilty ripping this idea off..?! Make sure the chord sequences can be saved and linked to Performances, make sure that the CS transposes when you transpose the keyboard, make sure you can choose whether the CS records fills and style and division changes, and you will be able to say it is even BETTER than the Korg version!

A global Reverb Offset. There is a HUGE difference between what the European 'sing-along' and the casual home user considers an appropriate amount of reverb, and what gigging dance-floor musicians need. To HAVE to edit every single style, every single Performance, to bring these into the more dry (the room you play in has its OWN 'space' that the audience hears added on to whatever reverb is put on to make the style sound ambient in a dry furniture filled home) space live pro's use is a PITA.

Yes... punchy, in your face dums. Drums that make you think a REAL drummer is playing right next to you, not in some isolation booth, compressed, reverbed and played back in the control room.

I think a way for third party style developers to have PROTECTED style formats, that only allow a limited amount of user editing and NO ability to save to an easily cracked area of user data. Give talented style creator the ability to MAKE A LIVING selling styles that can't be handed out like party favors by its first legal purchaser will create an explosion of content the like of which we haven't seen since the 80's.

Probably whizzing into the wind... but magically, your competition (and even other Divisions within the Yamaha organization) seem to be able to make a profit from arrangers with 76 notes. To be honest, what's the POINT of a 'Pianist Mode' when the keyboard of all TOTL and MOTL Yamaha arrangers have insufficient notes to actually PLAY pianistically?

And I already posted this in the Pt.2 post, but it might be better here...

Let's keep going...!

I would like to see MORE fills between sections. Theoretically, a four Division arranger needs 16 fills to have a unique fill from each possible Division to every other Division (including Fill-to-Same). Perhaps the full 16 is a bit much (although honestly, it is easier for a style composer to make a unique one for each transition than to have to finagle ONE fill to work well for a variety of different transitions) but more than six would be a huge improvement.

I would also like to see a separate Break/Fill for each Division. The break/fill for the Var1 division needs to be VERY different for the Break/Fill for the Var4 division. I think Ketron already has this... an excellent feature. A compromise could be achieved by having only two, and having them for Var1-2 and Var 3-4, to aid style composers that don't want to be bothered with the full 4 (as an option).

At some point, would it be possible to look at played note DENSITY and velocity? If you are getting pretty busy with your RH, maybe an alternate drum and bass Part could be switched in, to make the rhythm section appear to be actually LISTENING to you (perish the thought!). Busier guitar Parts, busier drum parts, busier bass Parts (restricting the feature to that might take some of the burden off the style composer) as an alternate to simpler ones (possibly much simpler than most Yamaha styles currently start out at) switched in and out of by how rapidly you are playing yourself might be the next step in creating the illusion that the backing band is REAL...

Do you already have the feature from Roland where a velocity offset is applied, either negatively or positively (depending on how hard you are playing) to the Style Parts? When drum and bass Parts use velocity X-switched samples, the effect of the rhythm section following YOUR dynamics is uncanny. You could also improve on the Roland implementation by allowing a user defined window for dynamic detection, allowing you to set how LONG you need to be playing at a higher or lower dynamic before the velocity offsets start to be applied.

I would also like to see styles with longer Divisions, up to 16 bars, but with a user defined parameter allowing a random start point at the bar 1/4/8 point, to make accompaniment less predictable.

Notice a trend here...? These are all ways to make the arranger more MUSICAL, and more responsive to how YOU are playing, and less predictable and repetitious, imitating what REAL players really DO...!

Hi Steve,
I only have an old psr1500 so maybe the newer T4 may already have these functions.

Sustain controller in style tracks.
Ability to have different time signatures for style parts.
Dedicated fill buttons as well as automatic fills.
Ability to Export & Import a complete style as a midifile for editing in a pc sequencer.
Ability to event list edit any factory style track.
Ability to import a pad as a style track & vice versa.

Something along the lines of Korg's Guitar Mode for creating guitar tracks.

Above are some of the reasons why I have a Korg instead of a Yammie, even though I prefer Yamaha type styles.

In short, better editing functions for styles.