I know a lot of people are wondering about if and when the
Tyros 5 or whatever they decide to call it will be out.

I spoke today to a dealer who will be going to view
the product in October and expects it to be available around December here in the UK.

As you would expect he did not know anything about the keyboard...(even if the Tyros name will carry on) but he did seem to be pretty sure that it will not be a touch screen)

Cheers folks ....John.

it will be Special when it comes out , I was interviewed by Yamaha about a year ago along with George Kaye by Yamaha Designers asking what we want in the next generation George being a store owner and arranger guru and I as a pro player they seem to have the pro player in mind for the next unit I expect it to be Great.

I spoke with a dealer who is on the "advisory board" and has direct input. He said it will have a touch screen (the one from the Clavinova (600) series.

I am hoping for NO touch screen, since on the 609, they took away dozens of buttons, and I think accessing frequently-used options are much easier/quicker with actual buttons ... (they did add 4 user-programmable buttons, but I think they took away at least a dozen buttons that are ones I use alot on the Tyros).

Jim

I think all top models should have a touch screen...it makes stage use easier...


I am so use to touch screens..it drives me crazy when I play Dave's Yamaha s950..a nice screen that screams for me to touch it.

The one big improvement that would make the BK9 a must have...oh well..

Yamaha has missed the boat for years , forgone the touch screen..

Gents...i would agree with Fran on this one...the touch screen does indeed reduce gig effort...i purchased 2 pa600's (1 stays home) and i gig with the korg and a psr 910 and i never knew the reduced effort until i purchased the korgs. I forget sometimes (i'm getting older) and have actually pushed the screen on the yamaha:-)...if yamaha would include a touch screen on the next psr i would indeed be interested....stevec

My guess it will have a touch screen. It has about 13 years that Yamaha has had pretty much the same layout and like the new high end Clavinova models I think we will see a touch screen.

Buttons cost a LOT of money, and they tend to be one or two trick ponies. But a touchscreen can do ANYTHING.

It also has the HUGE advantage that, if new features are added, or existing features altered in updates, there's no need for a new arranger with new buttons for the new features. Just a new screen display.

Obviously, no, you can't do away with buttons entirely. But much of the crazy packed with buttons arrangers like the PSR S950 could be simplified and buttons be on screen rather than physical.

The deciding factor is more about the logical choice of what get displayed WHERE, and links from one screen to another. If you have never played a G70, try one out. It has very few display blunders, and a logical flow to the links within screens that keeps navigation to a bare minimum. There are functions that take nine or ten separate actions on a BK-9 that can be done with two button presses on the G70 screen!

That kind of operational simplicity simply cannot be achieved without a touch screen. Or your entire front panel becomes a confusing mess of dozens upon dozens of similar buttons waiting to be accidentally pressed!

I had a Triton long before my G70, and was OK with it's touchscreen, but not blown away. But the G70's uncanny logic at minimizing what you need to touch to get almost anywhere you want to go turned me into a believer! It's not the screen, it's the DESIGNER of the OS that makes or breaks it.

And yes, once you are used to them, it is virtually impossible to NOT touch a nice non-touch screen like the S950 or Motif's! Talk about frustration!

Hi - actually, I'm going to amend my comment, as follows ...

I'm hoping that if they DO have a touchscreen, that it will be programmable such that the user can have 'favorite functions' available as nice, big, readable 'soft-buttons' for frequently used functions ... perhaps allowing the user to set up say up to 10 such programmable soft-buttons, plus maybe instead of the 4 programmable real buttons on the CVP-609, give us 8 programmable real buttons?!

Just hopin'! I do like touchscreens, but don't want them at the expense of losing lots of frequently-used buttons ...

Jim

Hi Folks
As I mentioned when I started this thread the dealer I spoke to seemed pretty sure that there would be no touch screen.
I was checking out the CVP-609 at the time and asked him if he thought thr next Tyros would have a similar touch screen layout.
He hinted that Yamaha had said they thought a touch screen for live use was not a good idea.
I totally disagree and hope that the dealer I spoke to has got it wrong .... I think touch screen is the way forward.
Cheers ... John.

Steve Deming could settle this matter in a heartbeat but doing so would likely spoil the hype surrounding Yamaha's new Flagship arranger. In other words, keep people guessing, in order to fan the flames of mystery and intrigue. Personally I think it will have a touchscreen. We'll know one way or the other in six months or less most likely.

Everything is going to touchscreen. Smartphones, tablet computers, laptops and even many Desktop PC's are now touchscreen capable. Korg's visionary lead regarding touchscreen enabled devices speaks highly of Korg's rising prominence in the music industry. Korg's new PA900 will be a direct competitor to the Yammie PSR-s950 but the Korg seems to be a much better deal for the money in my opinion. It will cost the same as the PSR-s950 but it will have more powerful onboard speakers (20w x 2) plus a beautiful 7" touchscreen LCD and lo and behold it also has 'after-touch' which is a high-end feature. And don't forget the onboard TC-Helicon vocal harmonizer! Competition is good for the industry and it looks like Yammie will be playing catch up once the PA900 arrives in stores.

If rumors about the Tyros5 (or whatever they call it) are indeed true then I hope common sense prevails and they release it at a competitive price point. I should mention there is still a big market for luxury goods even in this current global economic downturn. Because of that fact I think Yammie will price it @ $5,000 + which might appeal to oil sheiks in Saudi Arabia, etc. but not so much to average consumers who have been negatively impacted by the recent global recession. In America the economy is starting to show signs of life again (in certain areas) and home and property values have also risen recently which are reasons to rejoice. But if Yammie prices it @ $5,000 + they will immediately alienate millions of people from potentially purchasing one because of its astronomical price tag. I'm sure they've already figured that scenario into the equation, and therefore, if they do decide to charge an arm and a leg they would give the appearance of caring more about profit and their own bottom line rather than competiveness or customer satisfaction. Greed is another word for it. Time will tell.

I don't mind forking over five grand for an arranger if it's actually worth the price of admission. In other words, the sounds and features must be top-notch and the build quality must also be superb and it must also have fast processor(s) that can handle heavy work loads. Plus it should also have excellent key action and be relatively light weight. A person must also be able to navigate the buttons, knobs and/or sliders in low-light venues. Hopefully Yamaha learned their lesson with the PSR-s950/750. Two keyboards that are practically impossible to use in low-light situations (without adding an external light source - such as a flashlight, etc.) and was one of the main reasons I returned my PSR-s950 two days after purchasing it.

For what it's worth my short list now includes the Korg PA900 even though it too only has 61 keys. Although if the keys are really cheesy I might wait until something else comes along. If the BK-9 had a large high resolution color LCD screen I probably would have bought that. Other people who don't already own an iPad probably feel the same way. If only it had a nice built-in LCD screen... if only. Roland may soon regret their iPad marketing ploy. If sales fall flat they'll have to go back to the drawing board and give customers what they really want. At least that's the theory anyway.

In conclusion I'm looking forward to Yamaha's new Flagship arranger. Of course we all realize it will only have 61 keys. If it's called Tyros5 it could also be the brunt of a few jokes - Tyros1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9 etc., but if it's the bee's knees regarding sounds and cutting edge features the jokes could turn into jubilation. If it costs less than five grand that is. Don't hold your breath.

All the best, Mike

Why not just wait till its released if at all?...Im not in a hurry?

The name "Tyros" to be discontinued? and of course, the new keyboard will break your bank accounts

Yamaha will be hard pressed to come up with another name for their TOTL arranger that insults its buyers so well, yet has them remain unaware of it!

Tyro...

ty·ro also ti·ro (tr)
n. pl. ty·ros also ti·ros
A beginner in learning something.
[Medieval Latin tr, squire, variant of Latin tr, recruit.]

LOL... Yamaha pick their TOTL arranger to call 'Beginners'!

Shouldn't that be the bottom of the line, not the top?

We sure had a chuckle at Yamaha Canada when we learned the PSR-9000's replacement would be called the Tyros.

Thankfully they didn't call it the "Noob" or the "Rookie".

I'm curious to see if the Audio Drum Styles are added to the new TOTL instrument, and if the implementation is handled a lot better than it was on the S950. The Audio Drums didn't make it on Yamaha's flagship piano-based arranger, the CVP-609 (awesome instrument BTW) so what's coming up is anyone's guess.

A touchscreen is certainly a possibility, as the CVP-609 has one.

I'm just glad I was fortunate enough to be able to get the Tyros4, as it has turned out to be perfect for my needs, both for now, and in the future.


Ian

Hopefully, Yamaha drop the audio drums, or go the whole hog and use them for EVERYTHING. And include easy User creation/import of new ones. Anything less is a waste of R&D time, IMHO.

Far better would be a whole slew of brand new drumkits, so not only the new styles sound better, but all your existing ones can use the improved kits too.

just my 2 ¢ worth:
While I love my T4 and would like to have a better harmonizer, I have learned to live with it by tweaking my settings (thanks to the helpful advice on this forum).
However, I just read the review in Keyboard about the Yamaha P-105, a relatively inexpensive keyboard. Besides the rave reviews about the piano sounds, I was most impressed with what she said about a feature called “Intelligent Acoustic” control, a realtime automatic EQ that keeps your sound balanced. If this feature were to be added to the new arranger (T5?) I would definitely consider replacing my Tyros 4,(then I’d have 3 arrangers!).

Skip

All we can do is wait until the new Yamaha child arrives. Speculation on what features the keyboard may or not have tends to cloud a person's visions of what really arrives.

Good Luck,

Gary