Semilive and I took a little trip down to Lufkin, TX to see our friend Don Patterson.
He is lucky enough to own both and Audya 4 module and a Tyros 4.
He has them both connected via midi to each other and as slaves to his Roland accordian.
He has two Roland Cubes set up for his sound system and I must admit they sounded really good in his small music room. You could easily do a nursing home job with the Cubes.
The Audya 4 appears to be exactly like the original Audya except it has multi-tabs, a slightly different arrangement of buttons and no keys. It is pretty large for a module, but is a manageable weight.
The Tyros 4 was my main reason for the trip and I was able to play with it for several hours, exchanging ideas and questions with Bill and Don.
My impressions, for what they are worth:
I have said for years that my main two reasons for not buying Yamaha again were the weak drums and terribly out-dated vocal harmonizer. I'm happy to report that both have been addressed. Not totally cured, but at the very least vastly improved. I don't have a problem at all with the new vocal harmonizer. There are numerous good-sounding presets and nearly unlimited editing capabilities. It's a major step up (at long last) for Yamaha. Still only a 1/4-inch mic input (WHY???!!!)
The mic input is still very flaky as far as getting the input level right without overdriving and getting it loud enough on the output end, but it can be done, and the mic processing is excellent, as usual.
Now to the drums. They have added several new kits and they are truly more believable, at least on the newer styles. They have left many of the legacy styles (still in the large majority) alone and and they still apparently use the old kits because many sound the same as the past 7 or 8 generations of Yamaha arrangers.
I really enjoyed the Big Band/Swing type styles and the many beautiful Ballad styles. The Latins were certainly more than good enough for the little I use them. The Rock and Rock n Roll Styles had several new ones and most of them sounded really good, drums included. The vocal backing in the style parts sound great but are overused, imo. They can be easily edited, muted or changed to other sounds though. There were a lot of gimmicky yells and screams that sound really neat but are not really commerially useable other than showing off the keyboard. Some of these were brought into play via the SA buttons, so just don't push them!
One of my favorite musical genres is Country Western. Here the T4 falls very short, particularly in the older stuff, such as basic shuffles and anything using a rim shot.
If I were to consider getting one of these I'd have to go in and changed every drum kit to one in which the sounds are at least acceptable, but I suppose that is possible, since I did hear usuable drums on some of the styles. I would have to find some Multipad strums to help. I would also have to find, edit or load some Country Waltzs. There is one and it has a I-V alternating bass line that doesn't work for many songs. In other words this has not changed since days of PSR8000.
I did find several good Waltzs in other categories that could be edited pretty easily.
There are quite a few really song-specific styles on board, such as House of the Rising Sun, My Girl, Whiter Shade of Pale, /Whad I Say?, Bluebery Hill etc. That's o.k. because there are still a lot that are more generic too.
Where the T4 really shines is in the lead voices. The saxes have always been great and they did not disappoint. The Pianos are very good to my ears, but not nearly as realistic as Audya. There are a whole new slew of Vocal sounds and there are very good ones, maybe approaching the Roland Vocal sounds. There are also a lot of gimmicky ones that, again, would grow old if used very often.
I fell in love with the Pedal Steel guitar, and several of the many lead Guitar sounds. You could fool a guitar player with them.
There is a wonderful Clarinet. I didn't really listen to the Strings, except in the style parts. The Brass sounds were good as ever, nothing sounded really new, but I didn't explore them all.
The fact is that the Samples are probably no better or worse than Ketron, but Yamaha has gone to great lengths to provide the proper effects, tonality and articulation to make them totally realistic in a song situation.
The OTS system is well-thought-out and most seem to match and complement the associated styles.
The Pads have a multitude of great-sounding riffs and patterns that also have been well-chosen to go with the associated styles. They are also easily accessed and changed.
The key touch is more suited to my aging fingers and hands than more weighted ones would be. I found the keys very responsive and I like the touch a lot.
This is a keyboard I could take right now to a job and have full confidence in finding a useable setup for just about any song.
In summation, I was impressed, but not blown away by the T4. I wouldn't trade my Audya for it, but I wouldn't mind at all having one either!
I'm sure Bill and Don will chime in here.
DonM