I got a chance to play this thing early this morning at this dealer.. there was a setup in the backroom with a T4 on top of a T5. Same PA, same settings same eerything. I must admit soundwise the T5 is a step up again. Styles really cut it, and for home use the sounds are nothing but stellar.

Its an instrument clearly aimed at the home user, but it works also perfect for One man bands that play at weddings and parties, or just do lounge music, its very versatile and even the piano sounds really well. need to play piano music at a lunch and it will cut it with some nice piano sounds as long as you have a good PA, everything is still at the tips of your fingers, as long as you dont want or need to do any real time sound edditing and such. Still think that 4 real time controlled knobs and a touchpad for soundcontroll would have made it a perfect thing.

I didnt really miss a touchscreen for live playing, and its not an instrument with deep layers of sound edditing so i cant see how the current Operating system would not serve people well. Its just there to play straight out of the box, and add whatever you want or need to it.

For everyone not playing at a band or as a Deejay, its as good as it gets.

Just found this video comparing them both, but i dont think it really justifies the 5, as in real i tought the difference was even bigger.

Bit of a push, for me. Some of the T5 stuff was better, some about the same but different, some not to my taste. I simply hope that BOTH sounds are in the T5, so the user can pick which suits the song better.

I DID find the chamber strings exceptional, but I am unsure if the BEST sounds from the T4 were being put up for comparison. Any T4 owners with suggestions of more equivalent sounds that weren't used?

I must admit, Yamaha are showing their hand pretty clearly with things like a Soft Shoe Shuffle tap dancing styles and all those theater organs. Yikes! I'm pushing 60, and I wouldn't touch stuff THAT old with a bargepole! How old a target user are they designing this this thing for..? LOL

I suspect that's why the BK-9 is selling so slowly...no Soft-Shoe, tap dance, and theater organs.

Yamaha obviously knows very well the market for arrangers...just look around the web at all the excitement for the Tyros5.

Ian

It's selling so slowly because it's too advanced for Yamaha users. Audio loops? Who needs those?!

The sounds as long as you don't want to fiddle with them too much are superb. What i think and believe is that the price they ask for it is way beyond the value offered. Rrp aussie $6,700. I mean the last time prices like this were seen was the korg oasys, and we know where that went.

I get annoyed that just because i like arrangers that on average i pay double what a band member pays for a flagship synth that does far more than any arranger. I want the T5 but i don't think unless we are talking under 5k that i will buy yet, and still see the PA3x as an alternative right now.

Drums and bass, still hearing that very compressed sound, nice for some tunes, but not live enough still. There should have been so many more features included for the price and real opportunities to expand the user base has been missed here.

Dont think i'll be using organ world too much, and as far as tap dance, what can i say, what were they thinking.

On the guitar sounds, ensemble and better styles, touch feel of the keys and the yammy reliability would buy t5 if the price is right.

LOL! Diki, I've got ten years on you, and I don't do Robin Richmond, et al, either.

Not what I heard...I think Roland is aiming at the younger buyer, or at the very least, trying to drum up some younger interest, but it's an extremely small segment of the arranger market...and quite likely, it will remain that way.

The average arranger buyer is over 50 (as you are), probably retired (like moi), has a decent pension, maybe had some former music training (or played in a band before they took a 9 to 5'er), and wants to have a hobby that is also a healthy escape.

The Tyros name says it all.

Yes there are some that are outside the demographic, so Yamaha adds some advanced features (none of which are required to just sit down and play), and lots of Dance, Hip-Hop, and other more contemporary styles, and, as you have observed, the instrument covers a huge range of player interest, and skill levels.

Their pitch? Play your dream. Who doesn't want to do that?

You can't deny Yamaha's success...just look at the frenzy regarding the Tyros5...the Tyros4 and earlier models were much the same.

So regardless if you agree or not with how Yamaha does things, the bottom line is that they obviously are doing something right...and for quite some time.

Young and old, Fox Trot or Gangnam, Gene Kelly or Creedence Clearwater, Big Band, and Unplugged...they have it well covered, and having so many Tyros/PSR Clubs on the Internet, gives a sense of fellowship, as well as a source for more styles, tip and tricks, and many kinds of programs devised to make the experience a great one...not just a good one.

Ian

Well said Ian...

I figure that professional entertainers/musicians probably make up less than 1-percent of the arranger keyboard market's sales. And, just yesterday evening, while watching Bar Rescue on TV, I discovered that Blues Music has completely fallen to the wayside (sorry Chas) and now only comprises 5 percent of the musical audiences in the United States and UK.

Now, if I were an arranger keyboard manufacturer, I would definitely NOT be producing a product that only appealed to 1 percent of the target audience. Instead, I WOULD be doing exactly what Yamaha, and apparently, most arranger keyboard manufacturers are doing - producing a keyboard for the masses.

I seriously doubt that the masses want, or need, a chord sequencer. And, does anyone believe the color of the case makes one bit of difference to them? Does anyone remember when those bright red boards were on the big stages? I was so impressed I cannot recall who the manufacturer even was.

Cheers,

Gary

Right on. Lloyd

I totally agree with Ian and Gary! Yamaha knows their market and knows it well. Considering all the different genres of music and their worldwide market they do a good job of offering a vast variety of usable styles. Any arranger I have ever owned had onboard styles I would never use and those same arrangers all had styles that blew me away.

I'm 54 so I must be their target audience. We have said this for 10 years..........How many members under 30 are buying and using arrangers? All my younger music friends have all gone PC with their music. But most of them didn't grow up with a piano or organ in their home............. -charley

The topics' name is not correct, this one was NOT filmed in the Netherlands but in Belgium (Brasschaat) at the dealers presentation. A little strange they were allowed to film.
The first official Dutch public demo will be at december 2nd in Music Center Oostendorp.

Im 32!

I was in my mid-30's when I started playing arranger type instruments, first the home organ type, like my old Yamaha D-85, but then I got a PS-55 (first Yamaha arranger with PCM drums) and then a PS-6100 (used FM similar to DX-7), and I was really hooked.

We went gaga over the PS-55's 16 styles back then, and then the the PS-6100 wowed us with 40! Unbelievable!!!!

A friend, fellow Caper, and new SZ'er DMAC (Donnie) still has his PS-6100 (amongst a shed load of other keyboards) and it works like new...Yamaha made great quality stuff back then too.

This was before Roland introduced the E-series arrangers, beginning with the E-20, and sent all the other manufactures scrambling back to the development labs to try and compete with it's incredibly life-like and comprehensive sounds and styles.

Finally, the playing field leveled and now Korg and Yamaha are the only ones left making the TOTL flagship models, although Roland is still pretty competitive with the new MOTL BK-9.

Now, after all that history lesson, my original point was that 32 isn't too unusual for an arranger user. More people are discovering just how powerful (and convenient) they are.

Ian

I also hope in the future arranger KBs etc, could be majorly upgraded with just an OS upgrade so we dont have to buy a whole new KB every year.....makes sense.

If they do that Donny, they will probably charge quite a sum for upgrades...it's business, and all these companies, Roland, Yamaha , Korg, Ketron, have to make a profit, no matter if we agree with their methods or not.

Ian

Yes but much less then buying a completely NEW unit..?

Maybe, but I suspect they still come out with new hardware as the technology progresses...just not as often, probably.

Ian

In the Yamaha bubble, sure, they might like to pretend that major updates cost an arm and a leg... After all, every Yamaha update costs you an entire new arranger!

However, both Roland and Korg provide significant updates for FREE.

For instance, withing a few months of my BK-9 being released, there have already been TWO updates, adding in very significant new features (for example, Mark/Jump capability for SMF's, and the ability of the arranger to follow YOUR dynamics, with full control of how much).

Total cost... ZERO!

If I had a Yamaha, I would be waiting two YEARS or so for anything to get added, and I had better have my credit card handy. All in all, I think I prefer everyone else's method!