I'd be afraid to buy a bridge in Manhattan right now. It might be rusty.


I think that by the time you run the keyboard through the pa, add crowd noise, etc., the sounds on virtually every current keyboard are more than adequate.
If you get into a studio situation, with intricate recording of tracks, it would be a different story. Still it would take a fairly critical ear to find fault.
I'm still pleasing people with Roland E50 from time to time.
DonM

Don I remember working with a Cordivox Accordion going through a sound module, I loved all the different sounds he was getting.
When I listened from a distance of 15ft. all the little extras that made the instrument good were gone. I imagine a high grade amplifier might have captured those sounds.

John C.

I remember doing a VERY critical side by side of the G1000 and G600.

Night and day.

Sure, the had the same patch list, were on paper pretty much identical. But many, many of the tones went into the loop of the sample earlier, and the overall 'sound' was more brittle, played through identical cables, mixer and speakers.

And, I'm sure, you do that with identical Tones from any BOTL or MOTL arranger compared to the TOTL, you are going to hear pretty much the same thing. Take off ALL the Master effects, compression, Maxx-imizers and the other bells and whistles and listen to the RAW sound of your arrangers. That's where the comparison can easily be made.

The differences are subtle with some sounds, and markedly so with others.

In the case of the Tyros4 and S950, the latter has a lot of Tyros4 sounds, but it does not have Super Articulated II sounds, and some of these are absolutely the pinnacle in expressiveness.

On the other hand, in most cases, with a skillful player, the MOTL arranger will do any type gig just fine...I've done many with S910 and S900 as well as the old PSR-3000, and through a decent PA system, these keyboards are more than adequate.

However, some of us like to have even more control over expressivity, so we buy instruments with more versatile sounds and sound control, like the T4 and the PA3x, that have superior voices and aftertouch control, as well as a more pro synth feeling keyboard.

Plus, we can add more sounds, and in the case of the Tyros4, the SA2 voices can be used in the styles...the S950 having only SA, is at a bit of a disadvantage.

Do we need a TOTL to sound good and to cover our gigs?

Nope, we don't, but for some here on SZ, the high end stuff is what we WANT...G-70's instead of E-60's, Tyros4's instead of S950's, and PA3x's instead of PA-600's.

I can safely say that playing the Tyros4 is a far more satisfying experience for me, the player, than is a PSR-S910 or S950.

Instruments are very personal...even arrangers.

Ian

I'm enjoying reading all the insightful replies.
When our friend here gets his s950 next week I can't
Wait for his comparison with T4

On a side note my most utilised sound, the sweet soprano sax sounds exactly the same on s910 and t4.

Having had both S910, and now the Tyros4, and being able to compare, I'd say they are very, very close, if not identical.

I used that particular voice a lot, sometimes in place of the oboe, for a sweeter less harder sound...one tune I used it for was "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" by the Hollies.

With the Tyros4, I'm now using Pop Soprano and Ballad Soprano, both SA2 voices, and both very expressive.

One thing I especially liked about the S910's "Sweet Soprano" was the cool volume swell at the tail end of the note...not too loud, or too strong...always just right.

Ian