I won't complain but I will critique the new Tyros 5.

The 76 key version is a bonus but the price tags are still astronomical and obviously it will prevent the majority of the world's population from owning one. The street prices will be $5,299 and $5,499 respectively. The new brass ensembles are excellent and the string quartet is stunning. The guitar sounds are the best on the market although I'm not sure the new amp simulations add all that much to the overall sound. I'll have to play one in person before I make a final determination.

I think Yamaha missed a great opportunity to increase the polyphony but instead chose a "business as usual" strategy for what is now an outdated polyphony standard. I'm telling you straight up that today's multifaceted arrangers need more polyphony in order to prevent note drop-off and 128 polyphony is no longer sufficient in my opinion. For instance, you can easily approach the 256 note threshold if you utilize all the different features and functions such as styles, multi-pads, voices - R1, R2, R3, LH, sustain pedal, two-hand playing, and other various polyphony robbing features such as midi files playing in conjunction with everything else. Yes there are algorithms to reduce the infamous note drop-off occurrences from happening but that doesn't prevent note drop off entirely once you exceed the maximum limit. And don't tell me it's too expensive or complicated for Yamaha to double the polyphony. As an example, Casio recently released the Privia PX-5S that costs $999 (street price) and it has 256 note polyphony. I think it's really a case of laziness where Yamaha and other manufacturers simply don't want to spend the time or the money (R&D) in order to take their keyboards to the next level. That means the customer is left holding the bag when his $6,000 (after taxes) Tyros 5 drops notes in the middle of a live stage performance all because Yamaha failed to give it sufficient polyphony at the factory. Remember, I'm not complaining, I'm critiquing.

There are many things I like about the Tyros 5 besides the excellent voices. They're both fairly light weight and the new design is a real winner in my opinion. The added benefit of non-volatile flash memory is a bonus although the Tyros 4 also has that feature. Multi-recording is a brand new feature that looks intriguing and should assist in 'on the fly' composing, albeit, there seems to be little to no information regarding the use of that new feature - in .aud format. No Sampler obviously and the internal memory is also very limited. From what I understand the 512MB and/or 1GB flash memory cards are rather expensive but they are likely a must have accessory. Which amounts to a further expense for an already really expensive arranger keyboard. I hear the sheik of Arabia has pre-ordered the 61 key version. He couldn't quite afford the 76 key version unfortunately though. Just kidding.

Here is my conclusion. If Yammie had given the Tyros 5 256 note polyphony I probably would have purchased the 76 key version, all things considered. With no Sampler or micro-editing capability (and only 128 note polyphony and once again very limited internal memory - sans the flash memory card) the $6,000 price tag (after taxes) seems hard to justify. If you have a Tyros 4 I see no reason to upgrade unless you simply want the latest greatest offering from Yamaha. The 76 key version will likely spike interest and may yield additional sales for Yamaha but the extremely high cost will likely dissuade many more people than it would otherwise attract unfortunately. Although luxury goods continue to sell at a brisk rate even in a struggling world economy. But for six grand you would expect it to have a Sampler as well as micro-editing capability and more polyphony and also better B3 organs. You would also be wrong unfortunately because the Tyros 5 lacks in all of those areas. And therein lies the conundrum for a lot of people. Including me and DonM. In other words, is it really worth the $6,000 (after tax) price tag? I would like to believe it is but then reality creeps in and paints a somewhat different picture. To each his own I suppose. Most of the sounds seem to be fabulous and that alone may be worth the price of admission for a lot of people. The audio styles are a step in the right direction and the drums within the audio styles have really improved things. Hopefully the standard drum kits have also improved but the jury is still out on that one.

All in all I give the Tyros 5 two thumbs up but the ultra high price tag(s) will be a deal breaker for a lot of people. Yamaha will probably still sell a boat load of them regardless of the high price tags. Time will tell if it's truly a winner. Judging from the videos I think it will be although I've been wrong before. Again, time will tell. The sounds put it over the top but the high cost is truly a sticking point. You can't have your cake and eat it too which is a real shame. If Yamaha introduced it at, let's say, $3,995 they would have greatly increased the overall sales and more people would have had the pleasure of playing a top notch arranger keyboard. I guess that's asking too much which is truly unfortunate. Oh well.

All the best, Mike