Am I the only one who feels that Yamaha's drum kits lack that certain punch in terms of sound quality? I've talked to a few people who own the PSR-2000 who also feel that the drums are a little bland.. When is Yamaha going to update their drum kits on the PSR's...?? The Dance Kit is VERY dated, and Yamaha has been using this kit and others for some time.. I wish they would have used some of the kits from the original DJX on the other PSR's... Has anyone ever heard some of those kits? Gees they were good.. A lot of people ask how the PSR's are for dance music, and if the other PSR's had the DJX's kits they would make killer dance music. When I play my PSR-550 I find the best way to get a good feeling from the sets is to use the DSP... The default DSP setting on my 550 for all the drum kits is EQDisco, and that effect puts a little flavor into the sound, but what's depressing is that you cannot use any of the good effects when recording styles.. So, the only way to get that effect is to manually peck out the drums in the sequencer (which is extremely time consuming) Plus having to use the DSP on the drums limits the ability to use good effects on other voices. I don't know how others feel, but I personally think the percussion is what holds the music together.. A good punchy and lively drum set can make a huge difference in a song. I've been a drummer for many years, and I'm never satisfied with the sound quality of Yamaha's kits... I buy their PSR line because they truely are the best bang for the buck, but lack in the percussive area. I've been considering buying another keyboard, but I like my PSR-550 and most of the sounds on it.. I was thinking of just buying a drum machine and syncing it with my PSR-550. I've been looking at the ZOOM MRT-3.. Anyone heard or tried this thing yet? It's selling everywhere for only $119.00 By using an external drum machine you can save on effects usage, and poly as well.. Plus you're free to use the insert effects on the voices that should have them.. Insert effects shouldn't have to be used on the drum kits, but it's the only way to get them to sound decent.. Does anyone here use an external drum machine with their PSR's...?

Squeak

Hi Squeak,

if you go back and read George Kay's report about the new Tyros, you'll find him mentioning that the Tyros Drum kits have indeed more punch.
Remember George is a Solton Fan and doesn't give compliments to Yamaha easily.
Since they always start their new technologies in their Flagship, usually the next generation of PSR's follows it.

Eric

I agree with you squeak 100%. Drum kits on any PSRs are outdated. For dance music, forget about it. They put only ONE drum kit on PSR2000 for dance music. This is unacceptable at all. The only arranger that has good dance drum kits is PA from Korg. Even so, they are 4 or 5 of them in there. Can't they produce some additional boards or cards just for drum kits and percussion and make them each for every style? 1 for modern dance, 1 for Rock and so on.. I think it'd be more appealing to us when choosing the keyboard. Geroge mentioned it'll be different for Tyros. Let's just hope that it's so. But I think it'll be the same outdated stuff.

Oh well, I'd forget about arrangers at all and buy Triton or RS7000 or Motif, they have awesome percussion, but I hate non-arranger keybords When they gonna produce a dance oriented arranger board? I'm sure there are plenty of players that would get those. I think companies just don't know what they're missing. Shame.

[This message has been edited by New Yorker (edited 08-12-2002).]

Hi New Yoker,

Yamaha introduced two new expansion cards for the Pro. One is called drum kits, and one is called percussion; if I recall correctly. I heard some demos on the german forum. Not bad

Eric

Eric, 2 expansion cards for what models? Tyros? Or 9000 Pro?

Well Squeak you say bland and dated? How about dull,lifeless,and feeble! And Yamaha knows how to make drums rock! They just choose not to with the PSRs. They do so much so very right,but for ME this kills the whole deal. I returned my psr2000, bought a used Korg is40 which is way behind the Yamaha in sound quality, but the drums are soooo much better! Someday a Ketron---------
Bill

Bill, I totally agree with you.. Dull, lifeless, and feeble, is exactly what they are... You're right too.. Yamaha knows how to make killer drums, but they don't put them on the PSR's... At least on all the ones below the PSR-9000.. If I remember correctly the PSR-9000 had special "live" drums.... Hell my old Casio MZ-2000 had better kits for dance music, and why should the Tyros have all the good kits? Why in the world should we pay ALL that extra money just to get some decent drum kits.. Not everyone can afford the Tryros..

Squeak

there are two new expansion boards from Yamaha. They are for the 9000pro, S80 and Motif series. One is called Drums and the other is Latin Loops. These are not for TYROS. TYROS has no expansion slots.
George Kaye
Kaye's Music Scene
Reseda, California

It's worth remembering that the PSR arranger keyboards are pretty much home and semi-pro instruments that aren't made to rock the house as much as they are meant to rock the den. However, you mentioned that you used the DSP on the drums and did a little sequencing... have you thought of sampling? Perhaps an outboard sampler would give you the sound of your processed drums without taking up your DSP effects on stage. I don't know what the drums on the PSR550 are like but on the 9000 Pro they are pretty good, plus you have the option to sample, or add dedicated drum expansion cards, and/or assign the drums to specific outputs for outboard processing. Those options are what gives the 9000 Pro it's "pro" designation over the PSR's and even the Tyros. But your least costly upgrade option would have to be a drum machine.

Also, sequencing doesn't always mean pecking out all the drums for an entire song: for most dance music you can easily record a few measures and dupe it for the entire song, then go back and edit breaks and add fills.

Pro,
I completely understand that PSR's below the 9000 are geared for the home musician, but the drums really are in dire need of some changes. Even the Casio CTK-671 has better dance and analog kits. If Yamaha was smart they would have carried over some kits from the original or current DJX models. Just those kits alone would make a world of difference. Currently the PSR's really only have one kit for dance music and it's EXTREMELY dated.... I know you don't always have to peck out the drum tracks for songs, because dance and techno all use loops... I think the PSR's a good boards, and Yamaha really gives the user the best bang for the buck, but they could at least update the percussion.. Why should we have to buy the PSR-9000, or the 9000 Pro to have good drum kits?? Yamaha did so well on the other instruments that it's a shame they slacked off on the kits... If I've been complaning about this too much everyone I'm sorry.. It's just that I'm not just a keyboard player.. I also am a drummer and a guitar player.. I strongly feel that drums really hold a composition together and can often bring life to the music... If Yamaha allowed some way of editing the drum kits it would be differnt, but they don't