Hi,
Not sure if this has already been posted, clip on sx700.
He also discusses some of the differences between sx700 and sx900.

https://youtu.be/qpf4vA8gddg

Didn't realize the speakers are not the same..

Hi Sparky, there’s quite a few differences, less styles , less sounds, no chord looper. If you are considering an sx of some sort, be worth doing a comparison of features on the Yamaha site.
Someone mentioned may not have the scat voices either, I can’t confirm that.

I've read or seen about most differences; this was first I've heard about speakers. That's a disappointment.

They have to cut down somehow..
or as a marketing strategy to hold back some features
to force the buying of the Sx900. Personally I shut off on-board speakers so I can play thru my sound system to get the sound
I want and so much better for tweaking, editing etc, if you ever play out too .., for example why doesn't Genos have speakers? ...
get my point? Also there is always the headphone option also.
But, I can see Yamaha's point targeting HOME PLAYERS with on-board speakers on MOTL units too.

Thanks, Rikki:

Speakers don't matter to me as long as the board has options to connect them and to use headphones as well.

All the best, ----Dave

Yes, and if look at the price difference between SX7- and 900, it's quite big,
so I guess some major differences is to expect.
🎵 It's all about money, money, money ... 🎵 🤑
... and probably also to hit the market.

or just wait a short while for used SX900 units to hit eBay
and save a few bucks there vs Sx700..same with the genos, etc, etc,

Ouch. All caps, really? There's another power singer/pro zinger. Thanks for that one. Guess we misguided pros who use monitor speakers have been doing it all wrong these years. Maybe, now that you're a home player you can fix all the others who don't know how long to keep an instrument.

Seriously, my friend, you are way too judgmental for someone who clearly has no idea of what he wants. Your remarks are so disparaging, I'm a little embarrassed for you. Please try to lay off the "holier than thou" bit ... it's getting old. I'm not going to fight with you, because I respect our friendship, but I had to call you out on your latest remarks. I'm worried about you, now that you don't play out any more. You seem to lack direction. I'd like to see you settle into something that actually makes you happy.

Thank you AGAIN for your Negativity Dave...

and don't worry about me or my direction,...
that said please wipe me from your list of so called friends
you broke the olive branch this time. Thanks for nothing.
I'm done with you and will not reply to you any longer.

Personally, I think it would be great if the only difference between just say, the sx900 and sx700 was the harmoniser. Would probably save a few dollars.
I’m pretty sure a lot of people never use it, either because they don’t sing, or because they may prefer a different type.

Only reason I went for the SX900, didn’t want to miss out on the chord looper, extra styles, sounds, better speakers etc .
I sometimes use my monitor speakers, my headphones ( when I have to), most of the time I just use the onboard ones, they sound good, switch on, ready to go.

OK. Let's agree to take a break. Enjoy playing your EA-7 ... oops - too soon?

I am the same as you with this, too many things missing from the SX900, but along with what you said above, one of the other main reasons for me was the scat voices, that was a complete must otherwise it would have been the same as using my S975 but the inclusion of them in the SX900 brings it in line with at least the T4 onwards which was something I was always after.

That said, I think the SX700 is around a grand cheaper than the SX900 in some places in the UK at least, and that's quite a huge saving if the extras didn't matter much.

The SX900 is slowly becoming probably the best keyboard I've ever owned, it's that good.

Without downloading all the specs, are the speakers in psr 775 different than a 975? Are those in a Korg pa700 different than a pa1000?

Danny.... With the scat voices so important as you mentioned... I would love to hear how you use them in a song.... Personally I have never played them or had a need to?

Hi Donny,
You don’t necessarily have to play them.
They’re part of the style. The majority T4/T5 styles that didn’t work correctly on psrs, now play almost perfectly on the sx900.

Ok, so maybe not into prior styles, but there’s over 100 T5 styles missing from the Genos, so there probably would be that number missing from the sx900. Some good ones too. Yamaha must have thought it important enough they did the missing T5 styles as a download for Genos.

A number of the onboard R&B styles have voices, brings the style to life. Other categories use some too.

They don’t need to be played as a melody voice, they’re part of the style.
If you listen to a sx900 style that uses them vs the same psr style. No comparison.

Couldn't have put it better myself.

Many have said they sound very Hokey,
Cheesy, old fashioned, etc,...
but that is all personal preference.
Hey if someone likes them so be it....
just not my cup of tea. Enjoy.

Could anyone post some examples of the “scat” voices from any keyboard manufacturer, that you feel are tastefully used?

I imagine these voices have potencial to accompany a good singer, perhaps doing “ doo whop”

Examples please!

Hi, not sure about the korg,
but there appears to be a difference in the 975 vs 775.
The Dome must make the difference?


Psrs 775
15 W x 2
Speakers 13 cm x 2 + 5 cm x 2


Psr s. 975
15 W x 2
Speakers 13 cm x 2 + 2.5 cm (dome) x 2

Here's a video I saw a while back. I don't think I posted it before. It's called, "Jazz Scat" found on Roland keyboards:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3XtyIAkMzI


I think it sound wonderful!

Hi, here’s an sx900 demo as well.

https://youtu.be/kGKnPOoqSL4

Thanks Rikki! That demo is truly....the... "SCAT's MEOWWWW"!!! Ha ha...great demo of the SX900 scat voices!

Personally haven’t seen anyone mention that. Still , everyone has their own taste.
Don’t know if I’d use them for melody, might depend on the song,but they do sound good in the style.

Pity you didn’t have time to check them out while you had the sx.

P.s When is your Roland arriving? they on a go slow or something.

Hi Randy,
Haha, good one.
any news on your SX?

From what I have seen, a person either cares for scat voices (live or recorded) or they don't. Long time ago, I saw Sheila Jordon scatting live in Newport News VA and it kinda puzzled me at the time. I agree that scat voices tend to sound much better as background fills in styles than as solo voices.

Hi Rikki - Yes, I am happy to announce ---- Thanks FRANK!

THE SX900 HAS LANDED!!!! YEE HAA!!!

Took possession over the weekend but I had a gig and spent my time woodshedding on the saxophone... have had a couple hours with it and am still "acclimating". I love what I have heard, seen, and experienced with this new board! The PlayList thing at first appeared daunting, but I am starting to get the hang of it and think in the end it will be quite usable. Probably better for me than the old Music Finder was as most of my stuff will be set up in registrations and then referenced from a Playlist. Looking forward to learning more as I go.

Will post as I learn and make conclusions, but so far, the upgrade to me has been well worth the dough. I sold my PA900 and S970 and have not looked back. Love the new look, the new screen, and the new features!

Maybe I’m actually grouping too many voices under the heading scat voices.

It’s not just the doo be do bee’s,

for instance Surf Rock style you have a Beach Boys vocal sound in the intro. Same with Beach Rock.
Gospel intro’s you have a Gospel Choir . Soul Intro, voices also.
50’s Rock n’ Roll .

These voices probably existed in the T series? but certainly not in my S950.

Rikki - think they did come from the Tyros line. Still in there and the Genos too. They are a nice touch in the right songs for sure!

Congrats on your SX900 Randy, it's an amazing instrument and you will love it more as you delve into it further. I traded my Pa900 towards my SX900 as well and I could have also included the S975 as well but I want to keep that for now, but if I had I wouldn't have missed it either, the SX900 is that good.

All the best.
Danny.

Thanks Danny - totally agree! Love this thang! I really had a difficult Ebay "sell" on my PA900 (which I won't go into), but both boards are now in new owner hands and I am elated to have the newest Yamaha toy in mine.

You sly fox you, haha, CONGRATULATIONS, you were awful quiet, haha.

Happy to hear you’re enjoying it.

You’ll get the hang of it, I hadn’t even used a registration before so I was well behind.
Still haven’t spent a heap of time on Playlist, but looks like a great function.

I’m still sorting thru the factory style database from about 10 different Yamaha keyboards. When I finally get the ones that sound best on SX, and get rid of all the duplicates between the various models, I’m DELETING all the leftovers so that I’m never tempted to do it again. Haha.

Hi Randy,
happy to hear it worked out in the end.

My PA4x, Pa3x, and psr S950 all found new homes. So far so good.
Had my Pa800 on eBay, put it up for sale, kept checking it constantly for any possible faults as it hadn’t been used in quite a while, had a bid, 2 days before end of auction discovered the flute voice was was faulty. So withdrew it . In hindsight probably not a bad thing to have a spare arranger, for the few hundred dollars I was asking probably better off keeping it.

Couldn’t agree more.
I had some misconceptions as to how some things work ie
Everyone was raving about the extra memory, so I assumed , well, if you have styles that use audio ( ie the tyros 5 audio styles for Genos) that you must have to save them in the keyboard itself, eventually limiting the amount of audio styles one could have. Thanks to a post from Manuel on psr forum on audio pads, I realised audio styles could actually be saved to USB .
Hence far less limiting.
I had tried to save an audio style on my S950 to USB , wouldn’t let me do it, so just assumed that’s how it worked.
So yes, one really needs to delve into it’s workings before jumping to conclusions.

-------------------------------
Rikki: You sly fox you, haha, CONGRATULATIONS, you were awful quiet, haha.

Happy to hear you’re enjoying it.
-------------------------------

Rikki - yeah, just hadn't had too much time to play with the board due to the sax gig over the weekend. My old registrations weren't working when I first called them up due to the fact the styles were buried in folders on the USB stick. Got that figured out and all the Reg's now work great and sound great!

Looking forward to digging into this thing and figuring out how to maximize use of the Playlist which I think will greatly simplify my use of this great little board. I also love the control button which allows you to "dial down" the extra parts in the style while playing - can take the style down to just drums and bass on a moment's notice! That is cool because you can take any style and just use the drums and bass from it. Very convenient.

One of the demo’s was showing something along those lines. Can’t remember which one, couldn’t quite work out what he was doing at first, but sure looks handy.

The style reset button sounds interesting, though not quite sure in what situation one would use it.

Rikki, I'll simplify that function for you. When you press the "reset" the style/beat begins again at the 1st count of the measure, so if you 're playing a song in 4/4, like "All You Need IS Love" (Beatles) that switches into 3/4 every so often - you can press the "reset" button whenever you need to sync up your downbeats.

ie:

(1) There's (2) nothing you can (3) do that (4) can't be
(1) done ... (2) ... (3)
(RESET)
............ (2) Nothing you can (3) sing that (4) can't be
(1) sung ... etc

Lots of songs throw in a measure, or two of a shorter length, and this button allows you to keep all your downbeats in sync. How this was easy to understand.

Thank you Dave,
Very well explained and makes sense, will be useful after all.