Roel & Dreamer (Andrea):

I of course fully agree that creating & utilizing registrations is a much more powerful approach. In fact, if you guys 're-read' my initial post, I too utilize custom registration bank files for my 'specially arranged' (50-60+) songs. But I also have 100's of other songs I know & perform as well, and need a way to organize and call them up QUICKLY for 'on the fly' performance.

What the MusicFinder provides is a central (database) to quickly store, and call up 'any' song in your repertoire (in my case 800+) in under 8 seconds. In addition, MusicFinder includes a power search function which allows you to sort & call up songs by tempo, style, genre, or any other custom search criteria you create. This is an essential tool for LIVE performers. For example, if I get a request for a Sinatra tune, I can quickly call up on the fly, in MusicFinder, all songs that fit this specific criteria, and then be able to freely pick & choose from the MusicFinder search result list, the song(s) most fitting, or even create an 'on the fly' medley performance. The 'on the fly' performance flexibility is limitless.

I really appreciate how Yamaha includes a wonderful database of 100's of popular songs, but that ONLY serves as a starting off point for creating your own 'custom' MusicFinder database which includes only 'all of the songs' you may perform.

IMPORTANT: The first thing I do is backup the MFD (musicfinder database) file that Yamaha includes. Now I'm able to freely edit/delete existing MFD entries, deleting songs I would never play, and adding new songs unique to my repertoire. My MusicFinder database remains continuously fluid as it only takes a few minutes (sometimes seconds) to conveniently add new songs. I may get an audience request, or something may pop into my head during a break, and I'm able to quickly add this song to my MusicFinder database. The huge advantage of the MusicFinder is that it provides a SINGLE convenient place to store, sort, search, and quickly call up any/all repetoire songs.

The one limitation with the MusicFinder feature (as it is now) is that it only allows you to call up PRESET Styles, and a very limited number of custom USER MEMORY styles (less than 3 MB worth). As I generally tweak PRESET styles (including OTS settings) to my personal liking, these would have to be re-saved as a custom USER MEMORY style to be utilized thru MusicFinder, thus, extending MusicFinder's ability to call up Custom Styles from remote media (HD & USB Flash) would greatly expand the power of the MusicFinder to access any number of custom STYLES, of which to fulfill any/all your performance songs. I've long pressed for Yamaha to include this, and was recently assured (perhaps mistakenly?) that it had been added on Tyros2, as the Yamaha contacts I spoke with appeared to fully understand the huge benefit of this kind of feature enhancement. I will of course follow up, and have faith that this will be added in a near future Tyros2 OS update.

My intention was not to knock Tyros2 before it is hardly out of the gate. I've lived with MusicFinder the way it is with Tyros1, and can certainly work around it (for now) with Tyros2 as well. Like I said before, I'm not beholden to a particular brand/model kb, and will continuously to freely point out BOTH what "I LIKE" and "don't like" about whatever keyboard I play/own to further promote the continuing advancement & improvement of arranger keyboards. On that note, I anxiously await the arrival of MY Tyros2 so I can join you guys in the thrill of Tyros2 ownership. - Scott



[This message has been edited by Scottyee (edited 10-30-2005).]