I've often read from many users on this forum that Yamaha arrangers have "polished sounds", "CD quality", are "great for the studio" and sound "real", but I'll have to respectfully disagree. Having been a recording engineer for over 25 years I can honestly say that with the exception of a few of the Yamaha SA sounds and some of their synthesizer sounds, I have never heard a sound from a Yamaha arranger keyboard that sounds so real I'd ever mistake it for the actual real instrument. I've recorded numerous Yamaha grand pianos, Steinways, Bosendorfers and there is not a chance in hell that the Grand Piano sound on the Tyros 2 or what I've heard on the Tyros 3 demo holds a candle to the pianos I've recorded.

I've also been fortunate enough to record some amazing vintage Martin, Fender, and Les Paul guitars and while good, no SA or Megavoice is even remotely comparable.

Perhaps my standards are too high but for me real means it sounds real. The drums alone on Yamaha arrangers are pathetic, wimpy, lack punch or presence, and are and Achilles heel in my personal opinion. My AKAI sampler from the 1980's easily rivals the drum sounds on the Tyros 2 and somehow I doubt the Tyros 3 drums will be much of an improvement. It's a sad day when over the past 25 years Yamaha still can't sample better drum sounds than I have on my old AKAI sampler. Sad, very sad.

I've owned and used many Yamaha products and while I find many to be an excellent value at their respective price point, Yamaha's TOTL arrangers are not one of those products I feel represents the value you pay for them. For $4K I except a lot and I expect the product to be as good or better than anything else it competes with. Yamaha's build quality alone bears little in common with the likes of the PA2X, G70, Ketron SD1+, and other similar TOTL arrangers. I realize many people on here could care less if their $4K keyboard is made of plastic and has cheap buttons, but I do care. I want to know that the instrument I purchase is going to stand up to everyday professional use and isn't going to be outdated in a couple of years simply because the manufacturer decides software updates are no longer a priority for them.

One of the primary reasons I did buy a Wersi was because Wersi continually updates their instruments rather than orphans them. If you bought a Wersi back in 2000 you could update it to the same specifications as the one made in 2008. Can the same be said for any other arranger?

Perhaps one day Yamaha, Roland, and Korg will venture out and start making arrangers that are more future proof but they still haven't jumped on the band wagon. Korg and Roland are at least trying by offering updates to their instruments that actually ad new features, not just fixing bugs. I've yet to see Yamaha ever offer an update on their arrangers that has added new features and sounds and vastly improved the instrument. If I'm mistaken in that respect by all means feel free to clarify that for me. What Yamaha arranger product has had new sounds and features added via software or firmware that significantly improved the instrument?