Last weekend I checked out both, the PSR 9000 and the X1 at home through my own active speaker system at home (Remember itīs just songcomposing I want to use them for, not live performance): I have reported before in this forum, but here some more:

The X1 has more drumkit variation than the PSR 9000 (not only numberwise but also concerning the different sound, eg "progressive, techno" etc.), but the stereo sampled kits (Standard and Funk) of the PSR 9000 rock! They have much more punch than the kits in the X1. I guess thats why thhe Yamaha uses them in many of its styles. The rest of the PSR-kits are okay and do not sound as interesting as the ones in the X1. Sadly enough I believe the X1 has no stereo drum samples and you can hear that. I was a little disappointed with the tom sounds of the X1 too: Very thin, no punch at all!

The styles of the X1 are definitely more interesting than what the PSR has to offer. And when you go through different sections like 8-beat, 16-beat you will again hear more variety and surprise within this section. And even if the PSR 9000 has very good guitars: The X1 makes better use of its guitar riffs and strums. This is before you listen to the fills. And there was my biggest concern after I heard all the rave in this forum: Many fills of the X1 are completely overdone with tomstrikes and some of them loose this certain live-character the main A, B, C, D are known for. I would send a drummer home if he did fills like that! Sometimes you can hear the quantizing (can you say so?), sometimes you believe, the rhytm is not quite on time (software version 3.0) But this part is exactly where the PSR 9000 impressed me: Even if there are no sampled grooves used, it has very, very good drum fills and breaks. And it has a lot more of them than in the X1. That means: You use fill 2 between e.g. two main Bs. When you use in the same style fill 2 again between - lets say - two main Ds, you will have a DIFFERENT fill! And that adds much to the quality of a song.

The sounds: I only compared the new voices (live, sweet, cool) of the Yamaha, not the XG-sounds. Both of them have their certain strengths, the PSR 9000 shines with a lot more variety, the X1 is in some parts more natural sounding. The piano in my opinion is definitely better in the X1. I was expecting a much better keyboard in the PSR 9000. I canīt understand why they dare to offer this sound in that pricerange!

Oh well: Now Iīm really stuck: The X1 with its more interesting styles against the Yamaha with compact sound and much better and more fills. One thing that speaks for the X1 is the chance to load new drums, grooves and styles via Ram Card ( Will they ever offer stereo sampled drums?).
Question: Anybody if the following is possible with the X1: The PSR 9000 can be changed from intro or ending immediately (in the middle of the part) to the main parts. The X1 plays the intros and endings to their end before it changes to the main A,B, C, Ds You can force them by using a fill inbetween but that sounds mostly weird. I wanted to use the intos and endings as drum fills. Any way to get around that?

(Danny, before I took the 9000 and the X1 home, I had another go for the Korg I30, because some people are raving about it. They have done a good job with the styles, but to me they are to much song than style and thats not good for composing I think. Besides: I was more than disappointed with the sounds, the brass section was completely inacceptable to me, but I guess its just another keyboard generation of ī97.)

Okay, these are just my opinions, but this is what this forum is about.
Comments and help very welcome

Best regards to all

Heinrich