Most interesting video and you won't be surprised to learn that having played Korg for the last 20 years I do think the PA arrangers are pretty superior to the PSR and probably even the new SX series.

I have been truly astounded to see how many of you overhere are considering to order or have already ordered the new Yamaha XS900. Nothing that I have heard so far in the myriad of demos of the new Yamaha has convinced me that is it far superior to the PA700/PA1000, let alone the PA4X. The video posted by Mike is a bit long but speaks for itself.

Nothing much has changed over the years and the Yamahas still have the edge out of the box ( big edge in fact !!) and they still sound more polished, cd-like or whatever you want to call it. I know a fair amount of home players who are quite content with the factory contents of their yamaha PSR, tyros or even Genos.

And it has to be said, again, that out of the box most Korg arrangers sound like crap to me. Many of you, Donny leading the bunch, will agree with me that you DO need to personalize and tweak your arranger keyboard to your heart's content. And even then in the end there will be certain sounds and/or styles in which one brand excels.
The remark that Korg sou
nds more like a band and Yamaha more like a finished product, CD, or whatever has been raised over and over again and still holds swing. Incidentally, it strikes me that many of the live performers overhere tend to mute their ACC. tracks in favour of just Drums, BAss and a good right hand sound, in which case KETRON outshines them all and there would be hardly any need to having either Korg or Yamaha.

As to value for money I must agree with the guy in the video that the PA700 outruns them all. Personally I opted for the PA1000 in 2018 and have never regretted it. I have meanwhile personalised it beyond recognition ( still on offer my JS Resources for those interested) have added the German Musikant Stick and recently the V3 Sonority sound module (Austria).
It has left me with amost impressive and versatile set up without even bothering to have a second arranger on top, which I used to have.

I am sure that the new Yamaha is an impresssive keyboard and will shine in its wellknown departments ( ac. guitars, piano,
songstyles, etc), but apart from its touchscreen ( finally) and some other minor improvements I still have to hear things that would make me think it being far superior to its predesessors the PSR 970/975 etc.

Nonetheless I do wish all of you who are in the process of purchasing one or who already have one like Danny and Rikki all the best with their new arranger.

regards
John

Thanks John, for a well laid out observation. Since you are better on the technical side than I, your opinion is valued.

Bernie

Jeremy See is surely doing a great job as a YouTube blogger, he's nice to watch and knows his stuff.

Yamaha's marketing strategy is indeed rather cruel. I was going to mention, that Korg PA700 should be compared to PSR-SX700, not to PSR-SX900, but now I see that PSR-SX700 doesn't really have a "chord looper" function. It makes me say "what the... did you, Yamaha, take time to intentionally put away some parts of a code, just to make the difference between two models more obvious?".

But in the same time, watching the videos I heard Jeremy playing saxophone on PA700 and I'm not sure that I liked it as much as I like saxophones on Yamaha, and after all the sound of voices is more important to me than all the unique things showed about PA700.

Currently I believe that it's more useful to have a collection of various keyboards, as I see that sooner of later any keyboard may end up in a service for several weeks, so you may need a backup and even a backup for your backup, and it seems silly to have like PSR-S950, PSR-S970 and PSR-SX900 instead of products of different brands.

I would say have you fully utilised the keyboard you already have and is it worth spending £'000s on features the you may / may not use.

A lot of the demos are out of the box, with out sounds being eq'd or the overall sound for the speakers. Which can make quite a difference.

My next step will be the Korg pa700 not the Yamaha psr sx700. Enough said.

what is the reasoning for that selection?

Yeah I saw this yesterday whilst browsing through YouTube.

I like Jeremy; a very articulate guy, however whilst watching his video I just found it negative towards Yamaha, although of course the Korg is a fantastic instrument (hell I have the Pa1000 which is going nowhere), I just found the tone of the video having an element of bias, not factually, but just in presentation and feel, as if he's got something against the SX900 simply because it's getting a lot of headlines, but so it should, it's a new instrument and it's pretty awesome too. So what if Yamaha choose not to put all those "missing" features in immediately, to Yamaha if customers weren't bothered about all those additional features then they wouldn't have reason to add them. So over time, they've had the feedback so they've put them in. Its a little like mobile phones, Samsung are always one step ahead of Apple, but Apple eventually add the features in - once they think its worth it and not a gimmick feature, and always sells better than any other phone.

Opinions are always welcome; they give us a broader view. There is a long list when deciding which keyboard one should buy. I have bought many Arranger keyboards over the past years, and most were bought unseen. I am running 90% satisfaction. Although I value the opinions given on this forum, I find that the search for the best arranger keyboard can steel some of my joy.

I love arranger keyboards, and I am excited with the thought of buying one. I have watched many demos, building on my excitement. A new Technics, a new Wersi, a new Tyros, a new Korg, and now a new YamahaSx900. Digging too deep into which keyboard is the best steels part of my joy.

Donny has made so many moves, I don’t know which keyboard he has missed. Cheers for him, he is enjoying something that is precious, I hope he does not stop until it is all over. Life is short.

Please, no offence, just sharing my feelings, John C.

Not 100% sure But I don't think Yamaha gave Jeremy a PSR-X900 to Play and give His opinion on the Keyboard...All his comments come from listening to Videos...Maybe a little hurt and ticked! Time will tell...Harold

Korg has more sound options like a synth. What i really like is a modx from Yamaha but i am not sure if you can play styles on a modx like you can on a arranger.

This topic has been beaten to death on this forum so many times...more than I care to count. The bottom line from my perspective, is there is no panacea when it comes to arranger keyboards. They all have there pluses and minuses. I, personally have always gravitated back to Yamaha. I’ve had all brands any many models. Yamaha for me, is just more fun to play. Now that they’ve taken serious steps to level the playing field (touch screen, better drum samples, better keybed, better d to a converters, and for me...multiple outputs) this only reinforces my decision. It also seems to integrate well with Cubase...which is my DAW of choice.
So suffice to say...to each his own when purchasing an arranger keyboard. Enjoy what you choose to play. There are no wrong decisions. Just my 2 cents.
Mitch

++1

I totally agree, but I think the video from Jeremy was potentially a dig at Yamaha, possibly a personal dig, as already been said maybe he didn't get his way with an SX900 for review. Also, if it had to be a comparison video, wouldn't it made more sense to review it against the SX700?

As usual the best arranger keyboard is the one that suits your personal requirements, which is why comparisons are pretty much pointless, however demo's are good to help you narrow down your selection.
Yamaha bought Steinberg (Who make Cubase) a good few years ago, with many of the sounds in the later versions of their VSTs having quite a large Yamaha input.

Bill

I'm puzzled why Yamaha have produce a new board (SX900) without After-Touch on a (£2000 UK) Keyboard.

that's easy less featured to make you buy a genos..

Hi,
I didn’t bother watching it all, but did he actually have an sx900 to compare it too.
Haven’t actually seen a clip of him with an sx900 ?.
I saw one clip where he was complaining about Yamaha not giving him one to test.

Missed that one, but before that Jeremy did say that Yamaha was ignoring him, while Korg and Casio were happy to provide him with instruments to make reviews.

Well after his video Yamaha definitely won't be sending him one!

This video is definitely EYE Opening even though I knew all of it hearing it again makes you really wonder if you should buy a
Korg pa700 or Yamaha SX900...

As you know, I have a Pa1000, and if at a push I really had to choose between that and the SX900, I would choose the SX900 all day long.

What is the main reason for that conclution?

please elaborate more if you can..inquiring minds want to know?

I believe that would be "SOUND".

Gary

Whichever you like better is the best vallue

gary I guess your not a fan of KORGS sound?

Donny, I owned a Korg at one time, played it for about a year, then went to the PSR-500 because it sounded better than the M1.

I also tried to help a friend with his 600, which sounded just awful. He switched to the S-970 and both he and his wife were elated with the improvement in the overall sound. Regardless of the tuning, that 600 did not provide the sound quality of the S-970.

I'm not against any brand of keyboard - period! I have owned many, not near as many as but that's another story. I also owned a Roland for a while - never liked the way it sounded, especially the sax and guitar sounds, though the grand piano sounded pretty good when I tuned it a bit.

Now, I probably will not purchase an SX-900, mainly because my children and grandson are not at all interested in playing a keyboard. My son plays the guitar and uses my old 3000 for backing and a drum machine. My grandson plays the guitar I gave him for his 12th birthday (thanks Captain Russ), and my daughter does not play any instrument because she only has one functioning arm. Prior to her accident she was an accomplished clarinet player. I don't want to leave the burden of selling my gear to my children upon my untimely demise, which is the same reason I sold my sailing yacht for a fraction of its worth.

When it comes to arranger keyboards, to me, the most important thing is how it sounds. I can work with just about any operating system, though over the years I think I have pretty much mastered just about every aspect of Yamaha's OS. If the keyboard does not sound full bodied and realistic to me, it will not sound good to my audiences - IMO.

Unlike you, I never really had a problem with Yamaha's vocal processor. And, I rely heavily on my vocals as I am NOT a highly skilled musician. My vocals were my right hand and though I sometimes did some right hand fills, most of the time, I really didn't need them in order to sell the song.

Additionally, I really didn't need an arranger keyboard for midi files and midi looping - I rarely used a midi file during a performance of any length - just used a wide variety of onboard and third-party styles, of which, Yamaha has the most available and usually the quality is superb.

As stated in another thread, I really do not need a touch screen or tilt screen - it has never posed a problem indoors or outdoors. I performed a lot of outdoor jobs while in the Florida Keys, however, those jobs were usually in open sided Tiki Huts or under a small tent top to keep the dew from settling on the keyboard. There were nights when the dew was so heavy at sunset that it almost seemed like it was raining. If you were not beneath some sort of cover, you would be soaking wet.

So, if I were in your shoes, and in some ways I am, I would wait till I could get my hands on the SX-900 before purchasing. All the You Tube demos sound fantastic, but they are in the hands of some very skilled players. You are the guy who is always talking about road trips - why not take one to Frankie V's place and get some first hand information before plunging headlong into another keyboard. He has the Korg's in stock as well, so you can do a side by side. Hey, I thought you were semi retired - you can do this!

Gary

Gary all good thoughts...
and road trips to see Prince AJ (Ketron), Frank V, (Yamaha, KORG)
are all on my bucket list. Retirement is a wonderful thing.
All The Best

Donny, maybe a road trip to FrankieV when Steve gets back from FL ? ... We've tried before but it didn't work out ...

Tony anything is possible...

It's difficult to get Donny out of New Jersey.

Gary

These are two very different boards so preference is always going to be personal & subjective & sometimes difficult to choose.

I've actually not had both boards for very long, Pa1000 for a couple of months now and SX900 since last Friday so they are both still new to me, especially in terms of features from both.

But if I had to choose at a push, it would be the SX900 because it appeals to me slightly more & not because its so much better than the Korg.

The styles on the SX900 are more attractive and inviting, for example if my kids went through the styles they would instantly think of a song and they'd want to try and play even if they've never played a keyboard before, it keeps the interest. The sounds also appear a little more fuller to me, user interface is easier to navigate, the user base and amount of styles available is unlimited, the quality of how previous models styles are played really improves on them significantlly which makes them very usable, midi files sound better. I like the way you can access everything straight from the USB instead of faffing around with user banks.

On the other hand, the Korg does other things better. It's certainly more professional, much more editable, possibly still has the better overall features, drum kits are excellent are more live sounding although Yamaha's have improved as well, factory Latin styles from Korg have always been more superior than Yamaha's as are the fantastic Unplugged styles that are beautiful, the keybed still has a slightly better feel than the SX900, has better storage options & Korg's bonusware is better than anything Yamaha has to offer for free.

There's probably more things I could list but you get the drift.

From your post I get that your drifting toward the KORG more and more..

I didn't think I was? I'm just being fair really, unlike the video that Jeremy posted. I could of been biased but I'm not like that, always been fair.

Just me own preference, if I had to choose, it would be the SX900 but if I was also told I'd only be allowed a Pa1000 for the rest of my life, I would still be absolutely happy with that!

Thank you for the review, and as you say, it will always be very personal and subjective.
And that is what is has to be, but great to hear other users points of view.

Myself I find the Korg styles more like a 'real band' og more allround live feeling.
The KMA is a funny little thing, but I'm still hoping to add a PA4X-76 at the top of Genos before I'm placed 6'under the surface....

ok understood it's a 50/50 thing...nothing wrong with that after all there's not many choices anymore..haing this long wait for the Sx900 is really a good thing for perspective buyers as they don't have to be the guinea pig in the room and can evaluate more & more with each review, video, etc, etc, etc, on the pros & cons to finally make an educated choice to buy or not.

Let’s do it!!!

Isnt it a matter of personal taste, its what sounds good to your ears. Its also good that we still have a choice to make be it brand x or brand y. While there is still some demand for arranger keyboards hopefully the remaining companies will continue to develop arranger keyboards.