HI BOB,
MY short answer to let Scott answer in full.
ON my new 9000 the ots loads everything ready to play the song with 4 changes, like 2 verses, bridge and finale. It also has 4 variations for each of those changes. The post on the GA forum was referenced to zip files I downloaded from Yahoo. Those were for older instruments and didnt have the ots and the one for the 9000 was saved without the ots as it is a separate file. That is the extent of what I have learned so far.
OH yes, even the files I downloaded that don't have the ots, I can add it to the files and resave it for the speedy loading. Let Scott give you a complete answer.
Bebop

Hi Bob,

The PSR2000's Music Finder feature allows you to store a style, tempo, and associated variation (4) and OTS settings (instrument sound setups: Rt, layer, and left voices) for a given song. Unfortunately the Music Finder does not store a transposed key , but to get around this limiationa, I store the transpose setting (+1, etc) and key of the song, preceding the song's title, so you can easily manually change the transpose setting of a given song right before playing a song. The PSR2000 also has an OTS link button which allows you to change the variations and have the 4 OTS 'instrument setups' optionally automatically change when the variation changes as well. Another Yamaha PSR2000 feature which I wish my previous Technics KN5000 had, is the fill button(s) 'integrated' with the 4 main variation buttons. In other words there are NO separate fill buttons on the PSR2000. Instead, there is a separate 'auto fill'on/off button which can be activated, so when you select any of the 4 variation buttons, a fill will 'automatically' be triggered (if desired). Unfortunately,on the KN5000, the auto fill only works in descending/acsending variation order (1-2-3-4) or (4-3-2-1), while on the PSR keyboards, you can select any of the 4 variations (in any order) and the correct fill associated with the specific variation will precede the variation change.

Another powerful feature of the PSR2000's Music Finder is the ability to create an infinite number of search criteria fields. In addition to fields already included like song genre, tempo, style, I also created custom database search fields which include: song decade (30,40,60,70,80,90), senior gigs, wedding gigs, novelty, songs to memorize, top requested, etc. You can also perform MF database searches within searches to narrow down your song choices even more. Occasionally someone may request a tune I may not know that well, but using the Music Finder, I can quickly pull up a similar alternate song (same composer, cover artists, music era, etc) which may even please the customer more than the originally requested song. The Music Finder allows you to scroll & search alphabetically, by tempo, by genre, or beat. It never takes me more than 5-10 sec maximum to locate and load any given song in my 460+ Music Finder database.

Grant it, having a hard drive has an distinct advantage (huge storage capacity to store thousands of custom styles and registrations), but for a gigging musician who needs a flexible quick search & loading access to a large core repetoire using mostly internal styles and a some custom styles, the Music Finder is great. Insteading of collecting & organizing endless styles, I now prefer spending time focusing on polishing my 'live playing' (chops) and the performance aspect, over spending too much time organizing & tweaking styles. Afterall, the essence (soul) of arranger keyboard playing comes from what we play live, and hopefully not from the auto accomp parts. - Scott

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http://scottyee.com

it all depends how you use the keyboard. I rarely use presets, making the backings specifically for each song. So I need the equivalent of composer loads every time. The psr2000 is no good for me because the flash area is too small for many custom styles, so you are back to swapping floppies all the time. The 9000 is much better, but the flash there runs out of space fast. If you put simple piano styles in, you can just about fill it, but put more complex patterns, maybe more equivalent to the session styles or technics type styles and its soon full with only half or less of the spaces used. As far as I'm concerned, the more flash the better...

So a hard disk has been the only total convenience solution for me so far. It remains to be seen how good a flash card system is. The space on 64 or 128 MB (in a reasonable price range) should be fine for hundreds of custom type edited styles and songs, and hopefully the load time should be virtually instantaneous, with no spin up time etc.

I calculate for a 64 MB card somewhere in the region of 1100 to 1400 technics files of typical composer/panel/song makeup. Less than this if you do performance saves regardless, more than this if you selectively save.

So maybe for a reasonable amount of files, ie say a couple of hundred songs that you can actually remember how to play, a flash card may be fine, given that you can always buy another one. Of course the cost per MB compared to hard disk is another argument, but as always, you take the respective features into account too. We shall have to see...

Thank you Scott. I guess the Music Finder is sort of like having a cross reference to panel memory setups. I tend to agree that you don't need a large number of rhythm styles and that we tend to settle in on a few favorites. With those favorites in the machine and a versatile cross reference to variations in setup, you could play for hours without needing a disk load. And, I expect that for those people who need or want pre-sequenced songs and/or song specific styles it's a different story. They would need a disk load more often.

[This message has been edited by Bob Hendershot (edited 06-21-2002).]

HI BOB,
One thing I have learned about the 9000 is that when you do put a disc in it, it caches everything on it (40 styles on my discs) and then when I punch the button for one of those styles it is there to start playing instantly. You can change the 4 variations while playing and have the three beginnings, breaks, and endings and can change the instrument voices while playing. I can put in one floppy, load it (about a minute) and I can play all night and never load another.
I think this is amazing.
I now have all the KN5000 styles converted to 9000 styles so as you can see I now have what I always dreamed of having. All the features of the 9000 combined with all the styles of the kn5000. I am happy as a clam at high tide.
Bebop

BEBOP!
And when you get your hard drive loaded with roland,korg,solton,technics,yamaha styles,Multipads,platiumum Registrations, and 1,000's of karaki midi's, and samples, and all your own recordings ...you will be even happier!
I am!
rgtaa

P.S. Went the floppy route with my roland xp80 and it's so relaxing to know it's all there in my keyboard when I turn it on... loaded and ready to PLAY!

Wow RGTAA, I can hardly wait until I have all that done. I am glad I am only 70 and have time left to do it all, (hopefully).
Thanks for the great info post
Bebop