New from Yamaha, the YC61 stage keyboard, seemingly centered on drawbar organ (i.e. Hammond-esque B3-like :-). this is the first Yamaha that I've heard demos of, that actually sounds GREAT for drawbar organ.

https://www.musiciansfriend.com/keyboards-midi/yamaha-yc-61-key-combo-organ-synthesizer

What I wonder is ... will the next iteration of the Genos keyboard include these awesome drawbar sounds and capabilities?!

Jim

Does it have chord recognition? A style engine?

Great demos. Great sounding board. My KeyB organ sounds better for organ and my SEVEN sounds better for EP's but it has better organ and EP's than any OTHER board I have. Wasn't knocked out by the AP's though. Don't think all of them were showcased in the demo so who knows. If I could magically unload my LEGEND EXP, my NC2x, and one of my Nord C(1/2D)'s, I'd get one, ESPECIALLY if they did a 73 or 76 key version. I don't keep too close a track on these things (I sort of depend on Bachus ) but what is the (direct) competition?

Ummmm, sure looks tempting.

chas

Appreciate the updates. But if it doesn't have chord recognition or a style engine, then it's not an arranger. Why are we discussing it here?

Even the Hammond SK1 has "AOC" or "Melody intelligence" which adds complementary notes to the RH based on recognized chords. If the YC61 doesn't do anything like that, then it's not an arranger.

Wake me when the manual is posted!

I'd say at least half, probably more, of the people here have 'supplementary' keyboards; everything from midi controllers to full-blown synth/workstations like the Kronos or MODX, to specialty keyboards like digital pianos, clonewheels, and Rhodes clones like the SEVEN. For a lot of people, the ARRANGER is the 'secondary' keyboard. I think most here are interested in electronic keyboards of any stripe, if for no other reason than to maybe discover some feature(s) that they'd like to see incorporated into their future arrangers. We can discuss photography, sailing, cooking, medicine, ex-wives, etc., but we can't discuss non-arranger keyboards? Why?

...and BTW, what is it that Donny finds so funny????


chas

I didn't say we couldn't discuss it. I'm not the content police. But i think what a lot of folks overlook is that an Arranger is defined by chord recognition, style pattern processing, perhaps automatic RH harmony, integration of MIDI songs and phrases, multipads (i.e., on-demand MIDI arps or audio with optional tempo sync and chord match), and possibly vocal harmony. Especially if the VH takes input from a recognized chord. You could gild the lily by adding a pro requirement for score/lyrics display too. But at heart, it's all about chord-based auto accompaniment.

Once you have that, if you want to add physical drawbars and a software-based B3 emulation, that's a nice to have. The G70 and BK9 did this very well AND were built on a substantial arranger engine. Years ago Roland made the VK-8 module for organ sounds and physical controls. You could MIDI the VK-8 to a G1000, you would have this and much more.

Roland is probably out of the arranger game for good. If they would put their "chord intelligence" in a stand-alone MIDI module (or just released the software logic into the public domain), you could couple that to the YC61, and you would have a pretty good arranger.

In my previous post I mentioned the Hammond SK1. I guess my question is, what does this Yamaha do that's new, better, or different from other instruments made in the last 50-60 years? What's the unique value proposition? My Dad used to say, "Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door." Why would I award a company with my dollars, if it doesn't advance the art in some way? Not arguing, but I just don't buy the hype.

Played one at GC the other day - it sounds FANTASTIC.

It looks a lot like the Nord 5 / 6D layout

It certainly does
could be a knock off to get a piece of that market share?..
....but why the SMALL display?..

Some asked why I was discussing when it's not an arranger - as I mentioned in my initial post, my reason for posting was to suggest that *maybe* the next Yamaha arrangers (such as next Genos) maybe could incorporate some tech from this new board, given that alot of us find the Genos/PSR drawbar organs to be "so-so" (not bad but not great) and this board has what sounds like Yamaha's best-to-date drawbar stuff . . .

I realize it's not an arranger, but we do sometimes discuss sounds that are in (or that we wish were in) our arrangers ...

Jim

Yes, and lots of other 'STUFF' as well ... no problem ...

WOW, I remember my 1980's Yamaha HS8T organ had AOC, and of course styles as such.....I guess it was a predecessor to our current arrangers. It sure had great sounds for the times and a killer audio system. 2 programmable foot SIDE switches on the expression pedal AND a knee bar. I would love to have all that available on an arranger. Keybeds were top quality too. A little hard to Gig with LOL, pretty dang heavy.

My LAST organ was Yamaha FS-500. Talk about a beast. Put that, the leslie, the bench, the footpedals, dollies, p.a. system, etc. in a van and the wife had to trot along behind because there was no room inside.

Hey, that's her business and let's keep politics out of this; besides, she wasn't even born yet.



chas (yeah, I know --> SOUTH)

Maybe getting off-topic. But Ketron's products still have provisions for switches on the expression pedal.

You could probably confer this functionality to other brands with a little soldering, and creative use of a few MIDI Solutions footswitch controllers. Those footswitch controllers are versatile and powerful! But a lot depends on what the factory makes accessible through MIDI.

DonM,at last I have discovered the origin of the song
"Don`t dilly dally on the way"(My old man said follow the van").
I`m sure you know the song,if not let me know and I`ll post it.

Don't recall hearing it. Would love to.

https://app.box.com/s/aseog8v5ps5hw8p3kg88yfidnzn5ontm

Here we go Don,Don`t dilly dally.

Love it! Thanks!