Hi gang. I know I don't post very often, but I read these posts everyday. I currently play a Tyros 1 which I love and have been playing for a long time. But keyboards have come a long way since then and it's time for me to upgrade. Part of me would like the Tyros 4. The deal breaker with the T4 is the weight at 36 Lbs. I play everyday, sometimes 2 and 3 times a day. I have some health issues, so the added weight would be a problem. The T1 weighs 27 lbs and the S 950 weighs 25 lbs. I have an S 900 in my studio and I love it. I play it everyday so I'm used the the difference in keybed from the Tyros. I am excited about being able to use a flash drive. The T1 uses floppy disks. The vocal processing upgrade would also be nice. And, like Fran, I like a black keyboard. I am excited. I haven't had a new board in a long time and it's time. I'll keep you all posted as to how it goes.

Joe

Tyros 4 weighs 31.967 lbs (14.5 kg).
The 36 lb figure you gave is Tyros 4 's "shipping weight" (including accessories, shipping box and packaging material too).

Joe, I think you'll love the 950. Come on back down to Louisiana and play mine!
DonM

Hello,

Since you are using the S900 and are quite experienced, I need your help. I would like to know if I could hook up my S900 via USB to a MACBOOK and record audio with this interface alng with midi. Please help!

Thanks

Sunny

Sunny,

What interface are you talking about?

Gary

Hi Joe,
I own both the Tyros 4 and the S950 and on a daily basis am able to sit and do comparisons. There is no doubt whatsoever that the Tyros 4 is a better sounding keyboard. The T4 key bed is much better and the display much easier to deal with in various situations. On the downside I think the T4 is bulky and much larger than it needed to be.

Here is how I sum it up. If you ever owned a PSR3000 and liked it you will love the S950. If you are capable of moving a heavier keyboard with no problems you would love the T4. I am very pleased with my S950 and use it now for all my gigs. The Tyros 4 stays at home. For me, due to my recent Cervical Spin Surgery, it has become all about weight and being able to physically handle it.

Joe, I don't sing so I can't comment about the VH but most folks don't care for it and use the TC Helicon.

Joe, Feel free to email me if you have specific questions.

Deane

Go for it, Joe.

Gary

I ordered the S 950 today. I think it is a really good choice for me. I can't wait to get my hands on it!

Joe

Hammer, the harmonizer in T4 and 950 is much improved. Very usable now.
DonM

Don,
Since my surgery I have zero control when I try to sing. Somehow they messed up my vocal chords. I saw some demos of software for pitch correction but can't find them for some reason. Anyway, I haven't messed with the VH yet.

Joe, I played tonight with the S950 - everyone loved it. Easy to move, thousands of styles to select from, and pretty nice sounding out of the box.
For me it is winner.

Deane

I believe there pitch correction in the 950. Seems as if I saw it but haven't tried it.
DonM

Hello Gary,

Im talking about connecting my S900 to a computer to record Audio. Would it be possible to do this via the USB host from S900 to the MAcbook?

Thanks

Sunny

The best, and easiest way to record audio to your PC is to do it directly from the keyboard's standard output to the PC's sound card. There are several good programs for doing this, one of which is free. You'll find all the instructions at http://www.psrtutorial.com/lessons/playing/rec/20MakeCD.html

Good luck,

Gary

Congratulations!!

Just make sure your recording levels are as hot as you can get them without clipping the card. Computer sound cards are usually fairly noisy compared to dedicated audio converters, and often suffer from picking up HD and video card noise, etc..

The louder the signal is (up to just below clipping) the more it will mask the residual noise.

I, personally, never experienced that problem, Diki, but maybe because I used an older computer with a dedicated sound card, whereas the new ones have the sound cards built into the mother board. I had two inputs, one mic, one stereo line in, and of course there was a stereo output jack. Today's PCs have a single input jack that uses electronics to select the input source. Never had a lot of luck recording with them.

Cheers,

Gary

Thanks a ton! Really Helps

Sunny

Possibly because you may not have used a REALLY pro interface and had the opportunity to compare the noise floor, Gary...

Some really nice interfaces can be picked up quite cheaply (relatively cheaply!) nowadays, like MOTU 828's (if you have Firewire) that can allow you to do stuff no built-in card can do (for instance, track your arranger in stereo, but track your vocals to a separate track, in case you'd like to overdub, or use some more 'pro' plug-ins for compression and maybe a hair of auto-tune!), but their primary advantage is in word-depth (tracking, mixing and mastering at 24 bit, then dither to 16bit at the end makes a huge difference) and most importantly, in the clarity and quietness of the inputs.

Sometimes I find myself surprised to see people buying $3500+ arrangers, then recording them through built-in computer audio inputs! Spend a few hundred on a nice AD/DA, and take things to the next level!

Nope, you're absolutely right, Diki. I just used software and the OEM sound card to make all my recordings, many of which can be found at PSR Tutorial. Never really found the need to spend the money on a high-priced sound card, faster PC, and lots of other things, particularly when no one seemd to know the difference. Granted, some recording engineers and folks such as yourself would likely have hear those noises you spoke of, but I couldn't hear them, so I assumed my clients didn't hear them as well, especially while driving along in their cars and listening to the CD.

In my case, the songs were used for both fun, and of course, promotional purposes on giveaway CDs.

Cheers,

Gary