More and more I feel that a 76-note "Tyros Pro" isn't going to happen. I've been exchanging emails with Yamaha reps in their synth and PKB dvisions trying to get my problems with the PLG150-AP expansion card discussed. In fact, trying to get someone to discuss using the PLG150-AP in the 9000 Pro isn't going well: it's obvious that the synth division that makes the AP card is only concerned with S-series, C-series and Motif-series instruments and how the PLG cards work with them (that's why the PLG150-AP only comes with voice data for synths in their division) and the PKB division is on another frequency altogether. Yamaha did a bang-up job of dividing the pro-line and the home-line of keyboards.

I've been told that the 9000 Pro was a "failed experiment" (from someone in the synth division), and considering that most US Yamaha dealers didn't know what to make of the 9000 Pro and never bothered to stock it, plus the fact that Yamaha discontinued the 9000 Pro without a substitute high-end arranger model except the Tyros, it looks like pro models of arrangers was nothing more than a short-term phase for Yamaha. The next Tyros will likely be as described here: an updated Tyros 2 with the same 61-note keyboard and dimensions of the original.

I think the Korg PA1Xpro and the Roland G70 are going to be the alternatives to the 9000 Pro for the forseeable future. Personally I still prefer used 9000 Pro's, which should be around for some time to come.