Hello guys, happy holidays!

I have some thoughts here and this time I guess I won't post a video, as I've already posted a lot of my videos of these two keyboards.

As you may know, I had a problem with PSR-S950, I needed to fix a pitch bend and to make some buttons more responsive. First time it was in a service they fixed it without changing parts and it was fine for about 8 months after that, but then the problem came back. Next time I brought it to the service they suggested replacing the pitch bend altogether and to put new buttons (a style section: A,B,C,D...), as old ones had been overused by me. Not a big deal, but it took about 3 months to get new parts delivered, so I was stucked with my old PSR-3000.

At first I was uninspired to play it as I had an impression that "everyone is buying new cool keyboards and I'm going backwards", but later I tried some new things and my new impression was "this chase after new expensive keyboards has really distracted me from what music is really about".

I started to practice some music in a style of Christmas, also downloaded additional styles from PSRTutorial and soon I got a call from the service saying that my PSR-S950 is finally ready.

To tell the truth I had a mixed feeling on hearing the news, as I felt this reconnection with PSR-3000, but I thought that now PSR-S950 would impress me even more.

So I picked it up, brought it home, started to play. And I was a bit dissapointed. But that evening I was rather tired from all the trips I had made.

But I tried it the next day, and the day after that and so far I ended up playing PSR-3000 instead.

Comparing to PSR-3000, PSR-S950 has a lot of more realistic voices. But I have an impression that these new realistic voices tend to sound too serious. I try to recreate the same Christmas music on S950 that I practiced on 3000 and it doesn't work well.

In addition, while the buttons that have been replaced work fine, the rest of buttons (around the screen) are still not very responsive (the contacts have supposedly been cleaned) - comparing to firm buttons on PSR-3000 it's surely dissapointing.

Another impression after going from PSR-3000 to PSR-S950 was "it does have too much bass".

While PSR-S950 has more voices, in fact, there's quite a list of thing where it losses to old PSR-3000. As stated, there's a problems with buttons (progresses over time). There's too much bass. There's no line-out. There's no line-in (it has AUX-in instead, which is rather noisy). It's much harder to grab (comparing to PSR-3000).

Is also has no card-reader and an internet option, but those things are not so usable.

PSR-3000 has its own problems that were fixed on PSR-S950 which is a noisy volume control knob and it some background noise in general.

PSR-S950 also has such buttons as "DSP" of "Harmony".

But I'm still under an impression that I used to overestimate the difference between there two keyboards.

Right now I think that if I'm to play some gig I will go with PSR-3000. It just sounds jollier.

And this very thought made me to think about these cases when people aren't satisfied with their upgrades.

And I'm thinking that maybe "super-realistic-blow-away-sound" is not necessary the thing which is required to make your gig better. Maybe sometimes you need your keyboard to sound naive? Maybe you don't want your keyboard to sound that serious?

Trying to entertain the audience with your performance is not the same as demonstrating a keyboard to a potential buyers.

You know, I can proceed this story even further, although I'm not sure that I use English in a right way when I'm expressing myself, but, I think, I just have to let it out.

I think I understand better now why some of you prefer to work with Roland E-A7. Perhaps, when you are doing a show it's not about how realistic and "expensive" each sound the keyboard produces is. You want your sounds to be colorful, expressive, and you want your keyboard to be responsive, you want it to "work like a clock". And it really helps if it's more portable as well.

Maybe it is some Christmas present I get this year - realising that I do not need at all any new keyboards and that getting one doesn't really solve anything.

In the same time, it's true that changes can be good in many ways. But it doesn't take Genos to change your scenery. If you want just something else to play on, surely, there're a lot of options under $1000.

I'm still rather confused, to be honest, I guess I'll change my mind back and forth for many more times, but right now I can't really declare that PSR-s950 is better than PSR-3000, while just recently I thought it was no-brainer.

Wow! Super comments! I am realizing more and more that my 3000 is capable of doing everything I want and need it to do, I just need to learn how to use it. I'm loosing the desire for a new kb more and more everyday and reading your posts helps out immensely.

HI KABINOPUS,

Interesting comments, and there is certainly nothing wrong

with your English, particularly as a second language.


To Nigel, Rikki and all, my Christmas greetings and good

wishes to everyone for 2020.


Ray

Hello KABINOPUS,

You're findings make a lot of sense to me and not only with Yamaha. I had the PSR3000 as well many years ago and recently I had the PSR-950 for a few months. The thing I agree most about is the unpleasant bass response of the PSR950. Furthermore it should be noted that the differences in basis sound quality and character between the PSR models over the last ten years has not changed or improved drastically imho. (PSR 910-950-97-975 ).
We are now led to believe that the SX-900 is vastly superior to for instance the PSR-975 but so far I have not heard or seen any demo to convince me. No doubt there will be a number of sound and style improvements but the quetion remains whether it justifies spending yet again hundreds and hudreds of dollars to get the latest. (of course the insertion of a touchscreen is a huge improvement on the new Yamahas no doubt about it). But there is no accounting for tastes. I have heard a few Tyros 4 owners remark that paying another 2000 dollars or more does not justify purchasing the Genos instead of the Tyros 4, which just goes to show.
As to myself I have opted for a drastic departure of my KORG addiction. For twenty years I have had Korg as my main keyboard at home , generally with a cheaper yamaha or ketron on top.
I have sold all of my keyboards and bought a secondhand KETRON SD7. For my purposes, singing with the idea of having a real band backing you up, it is a fantastic keyboard and I got it for a bargain price. The only downside is the service and reliability which with Ketron is not always up to par. Those in the USA are lucky to have the Ketron services and back up of AJ.
At present therefor I only have the KEtron SD7 but I am most seriously contemplating of buying a secondhand Korg PA50sd to sit on top of it. Although the PA50sd harks back to the sound and styles of the PA80 and PA1X and therefor lacks sounds and handling of the new generations I find that listening to my own old recordings the older Korgs had something that is missing in the current generations. Something that resembles the fullness of the Ketron, particularly with drums etc.
Just an example of a recording that I made in 2004 with the PA80 which happens to be 100% identical sonically to the PA50sd
https://app.box.com/s/yb7h6cngpc4ane17pdml2tadfqvmsp3s

regards
John

We all have fallen victim to "new keyboard fever" at one time or another (or most of us). But some great players here have shown that it is the player and not the keyboard. Use what you have to the fullest extent and enjoy it.

Thank you all for you attention and feedback;

John, it's sounds great and very jolly; I liked the singing a lot;

after I was done with the textual part I finally made a new video, it's like my Christmas card to you all:

Very Nice Kabinopus...

I really enjoyed your performance,...
beautifully done the PSR3000 sound so good..
Merry Christmas to you & Yours ..
BTW how are you doing with the Roland Juno
did you get it back yet from service or?..

a perfect example of using what you got to its full potential. you are right about new keyboards. nice playing.

i like the song . good playing too. i agree about the newer keyboards and upgrading at first release of a new keyboard. i now have korg pa600 and a yamaha psr e463. i had a korg i5 that suited me well. i miss it. the pa 600 has alot of the korg i5s styles. still they dont sound as good. it seems they just keep re-packaging the same stuff in a new case. i got out of the "having the latest" rat race. learning to use and appreciate what i have. again nice work.

DNJ, Merry Christmas to you and yours as well, Donny!

For now it’s all okay with Juno. They replaced a contact strip and it fixed the problem, but it was not installed properly or something, so I had to return it and after second try it seems fine now. I treat this Juno DS 76 as a digital piano, and I particularly appreciated its portability when I was carrying it to the service: instead of going by car I used buses, trains and underground and it was much easier than driving through a traffic for 2,5x2 hours.

I have always said, the PSR-3000 was a true workhorse of an arranger keyboard. The only reason I updated to the S-950 was the added styles and onboard .wav recorder.

Excellent performance, old friend,

Gary

Thank you, Gary. PSR-3000 was my first almost-TOTL keyboard, so it has a special place in my heart; somehow it has a special place in my room, too, again. I've been enjoying the PSR-S950 for years as well, I guess, I just need a break from it.



Today I made a new video with it. Its guitars aren't so impressive as PSR's, but there's a preset with a very reach reverb which I find rather useful. I have a soft spot for nylon strings, sometimes I play an actual guitar, but using a keyboard I feel that I can express myself fuller:

AWESOME!

Just spectacular Bravo!! Roland sounds are legendary!
the low register nuances of the Nylon Guitar are so rich
and the haunting melody goes right thru you ..

Thank you so much for sharing your work with us ..

no doubt that this is what it's all about:
Making music and doing so in a fabulous way, I bow my humble head in great awe and respect for your performance my friend!!
Spaseeba !!!

regards
John

Fantastic!

Absolutely, positively, incredible playing - WOW!

Gary

Fabulous!

Kabinopus, I just had the opportunity to listen to both performances ... your playing is marvelous, and your emotions can be felt throughout ...
Thank you so much for posting your music ...

Thank you, guys; glad that you liked it. At first I tried to make a video with a piano sound, but no matter how long I tried, piano made me sleepy. I tried this guitar then and felt more awake. This makes me think that it’s important to have a choice. Sometimes I can’t get enough of piano, but it’s changeable. In some way a different voice implies different music; different music implies a different way of thinking, in a way it’s different kinds of activities, if we want to go that far…

Hi Kabinopus,
Sorry , bit late reading your post.

Great Xmas tune.

Sorry Ray, bit late, Merry Xmas to you too.

Wow, amazing . What more can one say.

Just watched the Roland video with my wife and we were both impressed-outstanding!

I would love to hear the same song using the PSR-3000 guitars.

Cheers,

Gary

Nice playing K. Thank you for sharing your talent!

Thank you, Zuki, W Tracy Parnell and Rikki, I appreciate your attention.



I'm not sure that 3000's guitar is suitable for this kind of playing, is sounds well mostly with styles. But as for S950's guitar, I think, it's far superior to Juno DS's, although it doesn't hurt to have both.

I while ago I recorded similar improvisation with PSR-S950, then added extra tracks to it, all the sounds are from S950. It's available as audio: https://app.box.com/file/586310494495

Hi Kabinopus,

I went from a 3000 to the SX-900 with no other arranger in between, so I can say, the SX-900 is an awesome keyboard, but the 3000 was a great keyboard, simple and great sounding. The SX 900 is somewhat different in navigating the menu controls, but once learned it's also simple. In my opinion, the SX-900 has a more rich fuller sound, while the 3000 was more of a live type sound. For me, the leap in 10 years of technology has shown to be worth the money.

I'm sure, as illustrated by your recent performance, you would sound awesome on ANY keyboard. Thanks for the lovely music video.