It never ceases to amaze me that the people that are least likely to buy a Yamaha arranger keyboard are the very first ones to comment on the keyboard's qualities and capabilities. I think I'll reserve my comments to a time when I get to play the keyboard my my own, pudgy fingers and listen to it with my own ears.

I sincerely believe that when Steve Demming posted the "Yamaha Listens" post and ensuing thread that it was a feeler for both keyboards, and provided Yamaha with some user insight as to just what was wanted by their customer, and potential customer bases. When I see, feel, touch, play and hear the S950 I'll decide whether or not to buy one.

Until then, I'll "Love The One I'm With,"

Gary

But just exactly how much from that thread has made it to the 950?

I don't see any mention of a more capable Songbook. Or just about anything from that list.

It's all well and good to ask what users (or potential users) would like. But the cherry on the cake might be to actually GIVE THEM some of it!

But I honestly feel that audio drums can't be a 'minor' feature. Either they sound SO good they are going to show up the rest of the arranger's styles so badly you are going to be embarrassed to play them back to back, OR the feature is worthless. Either way is a losing scenario.

This technology either needs embracing in full, or leaving off and simply concentrate on giving us drum KITS that can be made to sound realistic and live. This is the option most other manufacturers have gone down. And, I must confess, it is by FAR the easiest and most flexible solution to a problem that Yamaha (by their inclusion of 'real drumming') are obviously aware of.

The sad thing is, on their WS line, Yamaha have some VERY punchy, live sounding drum kits, plus they also make fine live sounding electronic drum sets. So the SAMPLES are already recorded. Roland have long been leveraging their V-Drum library to add realism to their arranger drum kits. Why Yamaha are so tardy in recognizing the need and doing the same is a mystery.

I'm not sure how much made it to the S-950, and neither does anyone else in this part of the world. Guess we will all find out soon, though.

Cheers,

Gary

Thanks for sharing Rolandfan, but apparently the Reference Manual hasn't been posted. I guess this gives the software engineers more time to make last-minute changes, and add or drop features. Hopefully they will post the reference manual soon!

Will somebody please tell us what are the new mega voices,live,cool,sweet and s art sounds ? and i believe there is now a turkish drum kit

With 60 special new voices + five new drum kits and other new voices, it would take a lot of sleuthing to come up with the list.

I noticed looking at the data list that most if not all of the 5 new Mega! voices are in the guitar category.

If you were curious about what makes a voice Cool! Live! Mega! etc, this comes from the Tyros 2:

The Voice type and its defining characteristics are indicated above the Preset voice or
Custom voice name.
Live! These acoustic instrument sounds were sampled in stereo, to produce a truly authentic, rich
sound—full of atmosphere and ambience.
Cool! These Voices capture the dynamic textures and subtle nuances of electric instruments—thanks
to a huge amount of memory and some very sophisticated programming.
Sweet! These acoustic instrument sounds also benefit from Yamaha’s sophisticated technology—and
feature a sound so finely detailed and natural, you’ll swear you’re playing the real thing!
Drums Various drum and percussion sounds are assigned to individual keys, letting you play the
sounds from the keyboard.
SFX Various special effect sounds are assigned to individual keys, letting you play the sounds from
the keyboard.
Organ Flutes! This authentic organ Voice lets you use the Voice Set to adjust the various footages and craft
your own original organ sounds. See page 97 for details.
MegaVoice
The MegaVoices are not intended to be played from the keyboard but are designed to be used
with recorded MIDI data (including songs and styles). MegaVoices make special use of velocity
switching, with completely different sounds in the various velocity ranges. For example, a guitar
MegaVoice has a huge variety of specific performance techniques assigned to different velocity
ranges—making the voice difficult to “play” in real time (because of the precise velocities needed),
but very useful when creating realistic tracks with MIDI data, especially when you want to
avoid using several different voices just to make a single instrumental part. Sound maps for the
Tyros2’s Megavoices are given in the separate Data List booklet.
S. Articulation!
The Super Articulation voices sound remarkably authentic and natural, featuring the unique
performance characteristics of each instrument—for example, guitar scratching sounds or the
legato phrasing of wind instruments. They provide many of the same benefits as the MegaVoices,
but with greater playability and expressive control in real time. To effectively play these
natural sounds in performance of certain voices, you may need to use the pitch bend wheel or
footswitch. For details on how to best play each voice, call up the Information window (pressing
the upper [6] button in the voice’s Open/Save display).
Live!Drums These are high-quality drum sounds taking full advantage of Stereo Sampling and Dynamic
Sampling.
Live!SFX
These are high-quality Latin percussion sounds taking full advantage of Stereo Sampling and
Dynamic sampling. They give you a broader and more versatile range of Latin percussion than
the normal drum Voices.