Finally! The engineers at Yamaha Japan came up with the correct System Exclusive sequence to make the PLG150-DR drum expansion card work with the 9000 Pro on MIDI channel 10 without having to assign it to a right hand voice. I knew it had to be possible but after all this time I'm floored that they came through! And the sound is incredible. Plus the DR's OPT voice editing panel works very well in Sonar so I can tweak the drums while my sequences play back - that was my original goal. This only works with midi file playback, not with styles unfortunately (despite Yamaha's admonition that this would be the case, I've tried several work-arounds anyway - no dice yet but I'm continuing to try). Since I already had a PLG150-PF piano expansion card with 64 notes of dedicated piano polyphony in my 9000 Pro, the DR card adds 32 notes of dedicated drum polyphony for a total of 224 voice polyphony - the most powerfully outfitted 9000 Pro to date. Woo-hoo!

Here's the SysEx file for the record:

XG System on (F0 43 10 4C 00 00 7E 00 F7)
XG Part Assign (F0 43 10 4C 70 05 00 09 F7)
Track10 Bank Select MSB= 79
Track10 Bank Select LSB= 0
Track10 Program Change = 0 (0 origin)

Make sure the 9000 Pro is set to receive SysEx in the MIDI setup.

I know you're all gonna want to know what this sounds like. It'll take some time but I'll try to create and post some comparison MP3's this weekend. I can tell you already that to my ears the DR card has better drum samples than the stock variety in the 9000 Pro, most notably in the cymbals which have much longer sustains and seem clearer - perhaps they were sampled at higher resolution than the stock cymbals, but I'm just guessing. Plus there are far more drum kits to choose from than the stock 9000 Pro selection and I can change the pitch, pan, ADSR, and apply insertion effects to the individual drum sounds. Some sounds are sampled with effects already.

Too much fun. Now I'll have to retract half of those bad things I said about Yamaha. Maybe a nice thank-you email to everyone involved will do the trick.

Thats great!!! can't wait to hear the Mp3 songs with the new system.

Jim (Pro). Great to hear the good news! Now if only Yamaha acknowledges and corrects (via Tyros OS update) the sorely missed 'continously repeating' fill to self (via footpedal) feature on the Tyros, I too will be as happy as you.

- Scott

Wow, that sounds really nice..
HOw would you compare the 9000Pro to the Korg i30?
Is it easy to make good backing sequences?

I cant wait to hear the mp3s..
Thanks for the update..

best,
musikman

Well to be honest I don't like Korg's I-series so I'm not the best person to ask. I have a problem with Korg keyboards, which sound thin to my ear. I played an i30 once but not enough to make a fair judgement of it because if I can't get past the sound then the rest doesn't matter. I don't think there is a better sounding or more powerful arranger on the market than the 9000 Pro. And at least spec-wise and from what I've heard so far in the form of Korg's demos, I like the 9000 Pro better than the forthcoming Korg PA1-XPro. I'm hoping Yamaha realizes how competitive the 9000 Pro is even nearly three years after it's initial release and continues to support and update it.

Demos of my newly refitted 9000 Pro are on their way...

See, sounds really are so subjective. I wouldn't give a nickel for the rythym sounds ( drums and bass ) in any Yamaha arranger I've ever played vs the ones on my PA80, but in fairness I do like the PA80 a lot better soundwise than the I30. Not bashing the Yamaha's here, it's just what I hear. Even in my beloved Motif, I find the acoustic drum sounds not always to my liking ( but I love the electronic drum kits ). Which brings me to the real reason I responded here in the first place. I'm not familiar at all with the sounds of that card Jim. How are the acoustic kits compared to the stock Yamaha sounds ? I guess we'll have a better answer when we get to hear some of your demos.

Mind you, when I say I don't like the drums, I mean for studio work. I can live ok with the sounds on either of my arrangers for backing in a live setting, cause that's all they are, backing. I'm expressing "me" when I do a live act, and I doubt that the audience cares whether I use the 2k rythyms or the PA80's.

AJ

[This message has been edited by Bluezplayer (edited 09-04-2003).]

Jim, Im eagerly waiting for these new demos. Will they be totaly ES ...or some with a combo 9kPro rythyms/ES lead sounds too?

ES? No ES here (yet) - you mean DR I guess, as in PLG150-DR drum expansion card (as a matter of fact: the DR card will work in the Motif ES also). I've completed the demos but it'll be tomorrow before they get on the web. The demos are comparisons of the DR sounds versus the stock Live!Standard drum kit in the 9000 Pro, which I consider to be it's best drum kit. Three songs played on each, including a serious drum solo midi file that came with the DR - I'll post that too so you can play it on your keyboard for comparison.

AJ: I agree with you - noone but me will ever care about which drum sounds I use in my shows, but the DR acoustic drum sounds are much more realistic-sounding and studio-worthy than the stock 9000 Pro or any other keyboard that I'm aware of. I was quite content to use the stock 9000 Pro kits but the DR expansion card sounds are an improvement and have the added benefit of freeing up more polyphony on my keyboard. And the drums on the DR are individually editable using OPT from within Sonar. I like.

Demos in da morning...

Thanks Jim, I'll give a listen when you get them up and running. I still have one open expansion slot on the Motif just begging for a card to be placed inside. I already have the AN150 analog and VL150 acoustic modeling boards, and I don't really want or need the DX board or the Vh board, so.. let there be drums I think ..
I'm sure they'll fit nicely in the new ES as well.

AJ

And here it is:
http://www.hiltonheadmusic.com/Comparison.htm

You can only get to this page by following this link - there is no link from my front page. This page is temporary and will be removed in the near future to save my webspace so check it out now.

This page has the comparison files I made between the 9000 Pro's "Live!Standard" Kit and the PLG150-DR's "Live Drums A". There are quite a few kits and mixtures of drums from various kits to choose from and I haven't had the DR long enough to makes demos of all the possible combinations, but this'll give you the idea. BTW/FYI: you cannot combine different drums from different kits to make your own custom kit (awww), but there's enough combos already that I don't think this is a drawback. Also, unlike the Live! drums many of the DR drums are sampled with effects.

Enjoy!