I was trying to help a friend with his Korg PA600 a about 6 weeks ago, and after hearing it, to me it really didn't cut it, particularly when it came to sounds. When he heard my S950 he said, to his ears, there was no comparison - the Yamaha sounds and styles were superior. I agreed.

The following day, he purchased a Yamaha S-970, and would have bought the S975, but he got a great price on the S-970 and jumped on it.

Now, there is a significant difference between the operating systems of the Korg and Yamaha machines, and he was struggling with registrations, so I offered to help him. He came to my home and we set everything up in my office/studio. The boot time of the S970 was a bit faster than my old S950, the screen was brighter and sharper and very easy to read at any angle, despite the fact that I have a pair of shop lights in the ceiling of my office that were directly over the keyboard. Additionally, Yamaha has added more menus, which at first, were a bit difficult for me to navigate, but after about an hour, I was able to breeze through them with no problem. Just had to learn where some of the new, and a few of the old features were hidden.

I then plugged my S-950 USB stick into his S-970 and was able to load everything, including the MFD and all the associated, 3rd-Party styles, which linked perfectly, though I had to make a few changes to some individual files, maybe a half dozen at most. That only took a few minutes and I was able to teach him how to modify or create new entries to the MFD during that time.

Next, we tackled registrations, which is probably the most confusing part about any arranger keyboard, regardless of brand. We spent the better part of two hours on this, but he finally was able to create his own registrations and was elated with how easy this is once you understand the basics.

The next hour was spent just playing songs from the registrations and MFD on the keyboard, using just the onboard speakers. WOW! This keyboard sounds incredible and now I know why Don Mason enjoyed playing his for so long. The guitars are absolutely incredible, the piano voices are full and robust, both acoustic and electric, the brass is brilliant and the strings were beautiful.

The styles, while many have the same titles as my S-950, have been modified significantly. There is a bit difference between the slow bossa nova on my S-950 and the S-970. Big improvements there. And, with new OTS voices that really sounded fantastic. I loved some of the new sax voices associated with the Latin styles.

The key feel is about the same as the S-950, maybe a bit firmer, but not enough to make your fingers tired after a couple hours of playing. After all these years with those "flimsy keys" I could never go back to semi-weighted keys. I guess I'm a light touch kind of guy, when it comes to keyboard players.

Overall, I would say Yamaha hit this one out of the park - It's definitely a home run. It is not a baby Genos by any means, but it is right up there with the best boards in this price range, and I would place it at the top of the heap. I got to play a Genos several weeks ago, only for an hour, though, and it was beyond anything I have ever experienced or heard. It was absolutely AWESOME! It would be even better if it had built in speakers and 61 keys.

Cheers,

Gary