Well I did it. Ordered a psr s670 demo from Sweetwater today. All of the posts by all of you here convinced me I didn't need the 975. I have tc helicon I got a while back from Don M so I don't need that feature. Main things that sold me was the better styles and the classic guitar sound. I'm heavy into country so really wanted the better guitar sound. I'm of course hoping for overall better sound quality than I'm getting now from my 740 & 3000. I expect to get it next week b4 my birthday. Had to make a deal & get the wife a trip to NC to visit her sister but what the heck, I was going to have to do that anyway!

Good luck with it..a very wise choice.

You're gonna have a lot of fun, Earl.

Gary

Good luck, and ENJOY yourself!

Here's hoping you enjoy it a lot. Your approach that includes the TC Helicon makes a great deal of sense to me. I'm finally beginning to get the hang of VH & VE on the 970 but I have a long way to go. Can't post any of my latest work here using Box 'cause my wi-fi is dead and I'm having to use my wife's computer for surfing the net. The other two sites I used to provide links have gone for good, I fear.

Anyway, Earl... keep us posted after you've worked with the 670 a bit when it's convenient.

Best of luck, ----Dave

Well, big time buyers remorse has settled in and it hasn't even shipped yet so I canceled the order. Still so much to learn on the 3000!

I'm surprised!
I also had a few 3000s.... many, many, moons ago
and I can tell you this a s670 is Miles Ahead of it in so many ways
sound & style, and technology wise...
I hope you don't have remorse of NOT buying it,...
anyway good luck.

Wow, wish you could teach ME how to do that .

Now that takes real courage, Earl:

I'm tempted by the latest rumor about a mini-Genos but I'll probably not be able to afford such a luxury. Small is better in my tiny little studio.

Earl, as I have told you many times in the past, the 3000 is a real workhorse of a keyboard, has a huge number of features and really sounds great. It served me so very well for many, many years.

All the best,

Gary

Yes Gary the 3000 is everything you have said it is. I really am having no regrets. I just temporally got caught up in the new gear lust. I will move up eventually if I stay healthy enough. I'm still working in a book of tunes to play out of. I've got 27 in it now. I need lyric and chord sheets large enough for me to see. So I print them out in large fonts and put in notebook for use on the stand. Really no need for a new kb when I can't perform out with what I have because I haven't been able to spend the time necessary to get myself ready. I hope to dedicate more time to this in the future. I am also convinced that seeing as most people don't use 80% of the kb's capabilities I have a lot of area left to discover. I aim on pursuing using vst's with the MIDI functions. I have a couple of super vst's that would add a great deal of sound to the 3000 if I can set it up to play them. I also have a couple of ongoing projects I want to get to. If I use a DAW the are more then enough sounds on the unit to create great pieces. Just need to sit down & work with it. Will eventually upgrade. No doubt but I really can wait for the next great unit for now.

Hi Earl,
I also have a PSR-3000, and like you, I thought of moving on up to a s670. But now you got me wondering...

Keep in mind, guys, the PSR-3000 was well ahead of it's time when it was released, then the OS was updated to 1.8, which improved several features. It took me several years to discover all the features, and though I'm fairly proficient with the 3000, I'm equally confident there are things I did not discover about the inner workings of the keyboard.

As for as the overall sound, some are superior to the newer voices, such as the Growl Sax, some of the guitars, and the vibes. I ended up modifying the Grand Piano voice, posted it on the various forums and it has been downloaded several thousand times by users who claim it is their Go To piano voice for all Yamaha arranger keyboards they have owned, including the Tyros and Genos.

That said, there has been significant improvements in some of the voices, such as the newer SA voices and of course, the audio styles, which are superb by every stretch of the imagination. Unfortunately, the vast majority of our audiences never seen to hear these things, therefore, the only person that usually hears these things are the musician/entertainer.

Of course, playing skills and technique has a lot to do with what comes out of the the PA system, hence, players like DonM could use just about any arranger keyboard, or a comb with wax paper stretched over it, and entertain an audience just about anywhere. Keep in mind, though, that he was born with an arranger keyboard at his fingertips, he spent lots of time working with the various Operating Systems and get the most out of each and every aspect or feature he has delved into. And, that, my friends, is what it takes.

Good luck on whatever you decide upon,

Gary

I've been looking hard at the new Bontempi.

Laugh and make fun all you want but I learned how to play the 3 octave keyboard on a Magness chord organ. I voiced all of my left hand chords to fit into the one octave on left leaving two octaves to play the melody. That's all I had for over a year. Then
I purchased a Story & Clark 76R organ for $1200.00 Small loan of 62.50 @month. I figured just a couple of gigs a month and it was paid for.

All in fun Earl. The PSR 3000 was one of the very few Yamahas I didn't have.
I had a 2000, and used it for several years. Then I got the 2100, which had a few improvements, and I think was the first Yammy to have software OS.
I didn't get another Yamaha until S900, then S910, then S950, then S970. Each had just enough improvements to make you want to move up, but none were really significant until the S970.
Before the 2000, I had just about every Yamaha model from PSR6100 forward.
Before that were organs.
Also over the years I have had five Ketrons, five Rolands and five Korgs, some of them more than once.
I've now reached the point where I will NEVER buy another arranger. Unless they make something new.

I think my list could be a bit longer by a few lol

DonM, you sound like a happy man. And with a PA4x under your fingers you've got the best.

They will be making something new, Don. I hear the new one still on the drawing boards will be able to read your thoughts and react on demand! LOL! I'm still amazed at the 970 I was able to steal from you! Hope your aches and pains and all those other discomforts associated with geezers of our description are subsiding. I actually think I'm going to live! LOL!

Earl:

I hope you saw Donny's "commercial" regarding his 670! If you have regrets about having regrets (LOL) now is the time to take care of that problem!

Best wishes and happy fourth of July!

Yes I saw Donny's comments but I also seen Gary's. Bottom line he and others have said that the clients can't tell the difference any more. I play for not only my own enjoyment but have always been more concerned about my audiences reactions. I am reminded that I have to put together a book of at least a couple hundred songs I can perform on what ever kb I use. If I get anotgher kb right now I would be starting all over. I know we don't see anyone contributing tunes with the 3000 anymore but maybe we can change that in the next couple of months.

Looking forward to hearing some of your work, Earl.

All the best,

Gary

Everyone’s needs are different. As S670 came out after S950 had been released, I didn’t have an option to consider it when I was buying S950 to replace my PSR-3000. S950 provided me with, to my taste, a richer piano sound, which is a basic to me, much more authentic nylon guitar sound, which became my second basic, and all the styles started to sound much deeper due to new strings pads, drum kits, and a more solid bass guitar.
I find Suitcase Piano on s950 much more usable that the one on 3000, although it may seem similar at first. s950 is more convincing when it comes to dance music because it has more synth sounds and drum kits.
While the number of expansion pack for s950 is limited, some of them are really usable, a “Christmas and Church” pack adds realistic solo violin voices, and a decent choir pads. “Eurodance” is a rather sophisticated pack as well, it brings a different character. Now I keep an “Entertainer” pack because it has a different piano voice and with some styles it gives an impression of a different keyboard altogether. Non of that is possible with PSR-3000.
I tried s670 at a store and it seemed to be much more closer to s950 than to PSR-3000.
To me a keyboard is like a car; you expect it to let you drive it with no extra efforts, because you have to focus on the road. In my case I need a keyboard to be a sufficient stand-alone unit when I want to play it and I use PC when I need to make some advanced recordings.
Back than I had an option to get PSR-s950 for a reasonable price. Today s970/s975 are rather expensive in Russia, but a new S670 costs a reasonable $660 even here, and in case if PSR-3000 has become too familiar, S670 seems like a proper solution to me.
As for a mysterious PSR-SX900, so far I’d give it a year before it is available for purchase. Eventually we’ll see a replacement for s670; I wouldn’t be surprised if it gets a touch screen as well, because we live in a touch screen era.
I mention it before, back then there was a successful entry level arranger Yamaha PSR-550. They kept producing it for a long time, but then all the successors were rather controversial (S500, S550, S650) because of their simplified user interface. Only S670 got more efficient controls and 128 voices of polyphony, the only obvious (intentional?) limitation it has is a cursor controls, but with a direct access button it doesn’t look fatal.
For outside use S670 is really tempting because I find S950 a bit too heavy; plus, the cheaper a keyboard is the lesser you worry about all sorts of risks.