I just received a telephone call 'out of the blue' today from guess who? Yamaha of all people. What a surprise, and a pleasant one at that. Steve Deming, head of Yamaha USA customer support says he reads our Synthzone arranger forum daily and offered to answer any questions I had about the Tyros. Needless to say, I was more than surprised (stunned) to find that a huge company like Yamaha would take the 'sole initiative', on their own, to call me personally, spending nearly an hour to candidly answer any and all questions I had about the Tyros.

Here's what he shared with me. The Tyros styles which utilize the new mega voices have all been re-sequenced (recorded) at Yamaha's new higher 1,920 ppq resolution in order to better capture all the playing sublties of mega voice samples. He concured with me that the higher midi timing resolution is a key contributing factor which makes these new styles really come alive. What makes the mega voices so special is that consist of 'multiple' digital samples containing various different tonal nuances of a single instrument. Each sample is triggered by 'how hard' you press the keys. Graduations in between the velocity points accentuate different tonal changes. The advantage is that instead of using midi controllers to effect the tonal changes, you instead hear an actual sound sample of the different tonal qualities of an individual instrument, and not just the change of a tonal filter, etc. Yamaha also included other characteristics like string buzz and body resonance as well. The acoustic guitars include velocity sensitive response so if you press the note harder, the pitch of the note is scooped up from the note 1/2 step below. Not only are the mega voices new, but many of the other sounds have been re-voiced as well. I personally believe the Yamaha styles are not revolutionarily new, but instead GREATLY IMPROVED (tweaked).

The Tryos is backwardly compatiable and will play earlier PSR styles. Steve also confirmed that the Tyros OS is not really new, but based on the CV209 and the PSR2000. Because of this, he claims that the current Tyros OS has proven (so far) to be bug free. I say, we'll see.

I asked him to recommend a more rugged (giggable) speaker alternative to the Tyros speakers themselves, and he recommended the Yamaha MSP5 as an excellent match for hi quality on stage monitoring. These are bi-amped needing no sub woofer. I just checked the weight (16 lbs/each) which is a bit heavier than I'd prefer. Perhaps the lighter MSP3 (8 lbs) would surfice. http://yamaha.com/menuitems/panelviews/proaudio/MSP5/MSP5.htm

Steve also mentioned that Yamaha is marketing the Tyros as a Workstation, and not as an arranger, even though it's arranger function is what sets it apart from the Motif, etc. Hopefully this marketing approach will expand arrangers to a broader pro audience. Steve also noted that Yamaha is actively shifting the marketing direction of arrangers from the traditionally older 'home organ consumer' market to include a younger contemporary market, and also to appeal to both pro & home user. They are expanding their arranger styles to include more contemporary styles & sounds yet still maintain the classic big band and traditional styles which appeal to all ages.

On the subject of Tyros Flash Rom-able OS: Steve assured me that the Tyros is indeed flash-ROM-able, but that it's a hefty 40MB in size. Flash ROM updates are installed via USB (running at midi speed: 32.5kb/sec) so would take 30 minutes to perform. The risk of updating is that if your PC crashes during this time, you lose everything and would need to return the KB to Yamaha for chip replacement. The good news is that the chance of your computer dying while updating is relatively rare. Still these are risks to consider. The other option of course would be to have Yamaha perform the update (doing the same thing) but that means even more down KB time. Steve advised me that Yamaha hasn't made a final decision in how the OS updates will be made available (CD or website download) yet, but he told me he is pressing for website download availability. Whatever the decision, I'm at least happy to hear that the Tyros is GUARANTEED to be Flash Rom upgradeable.

Even with my enthusiam with the Tyros MP3 demos I've heard, I still plan to wait till I have an opportunity to play the Tyros 'in person' before making my final decision of going with Tyros or not. So far though, I'm both encouraged and excited about the prospects. Of course I haven't forgotten about Ketron and the personal customer support they've provided, even to me as not even a Ketron kb owner. I'm specifically speaking of Sandro Fontenella in Italy, who took the time to listen to my suggestion of adding more advanced keyboard voicings to the Ketron line, and then implementing all my recommendations. Now knowing Steve Deming at Yamaha is reading our forum regularly as well, I'm convinced that even the BIG corporate giants are finally listening to us too. Keep posting your thoughts, wishes, and complaints. I can't speak for the other companies, but Steve Deming (Yamaha) assures me he reads everything we are saying here. He did mention he's remaining on the side lines and not actually going to post on the forum. Long live arranger keyboards. - Scott

That's a very clever idea of Yamaha to advertise the Tyros as a "workstation" Maybe this will bring more professionals to the arranger market.... It's high time arrangers started getting some attention here in the US... I'm very impressed that Yamaha called you about this, and that they follow this forum. Honestly everyone we must be one unique group of people here... Where at in the US can you find so many dedicated arranger users.....????? All arranger companies could only better themselves by following the posts here..

Squeak

Scott,
Sounds almost the same conversation that I had with Steve. I never had anyone from Korg call me, but they did answer one E mail after I hounded my dealer for a week.
Terry

Hello Scott ,

I think Yamaha was protecting their assets !

dano

Terry,
I'm sure Jerry helped you lots of times in Irish act

Vic,
Refresh my memory then will you please? The only thing I recall was arguing over styles that never came while I owned the PA. I had questions with both the Karma and the Triton Rack and except for the one mentioned E mail. They never answered any of my E mails with support questions.

I think Jerry K is a good guy with a good heart but Korg IMO pays quite a bit more attention to their Triton Classic & Studio owners and treat the PA owners like orphan children.

I am not at all impressed with Korg's support nor ever have been and is one of the major reasons I sold my PA.

We had to scream and kick and complain to get synthmeister's brand new broken keyboard replaced. Gj had to resort to off official sources to get his data replaced for his card. That is not even passable support to me, that gets a failing grade.

So as I said refresh my memory with all that Jerry did for me at IA. Many questions I asked went totally unanswered.

On the moss and future expansion card, Daz was the guy who finally jumped in and helped me out.

When companies do good I say so, but when they don't I also say so.
Terry

[This message has been edited by trtjazz (edited 10-17-2002).]

HI: Scott
Thanks for sharing the info with us.
I'm glad to hear the Tyros is Flash Rom upgradeable, but it is a little scary to think if
the AC power goes out, or your computer crashes, you would have to send it back
to Yamaha to have a chip replaced.

I wonder if the other KB's would have to be sent back for a chip if the AC power went
out, or the floppy drive went on the fritz in the middle of a OS upgrade.

Enjoying the 9000 PRO
Denny
PS: Thank You to Steve Deming also


[This message has been edited by dlstarry (edited 10-17-2002).]

Great report Scott, Thanks to you and the Yamaha source.
Keep us informed.
Bebop

Scott,
I will not buy a Tyros, because I am quite happy with my actual arranger. So I have nothing against YAMAHA. Actually, all my YAMAHA Gear is an old CS01 synth.

But, please, evaluate two things very carefully

1) If someone will tell me that its software is bug free... well, I'll go to buy another one, 'cause this guy is trying to screw me.
Software cannot be free of bugs, even because a software bug can arise due to an hardware failure.

2) The OS update question is unacceptable, because the time needed, the file size and the risk of a crash. If I properly understand, if the OS update procedure will be interrupted, the board should be send to YAMAHA for chip replacing. Now you know that AC failure is just one of an infinite row of update procedure interrruption: PC hardware failure, TYROS hardware failure, bad cable, bad cable insertion, PC software failure, TYROS software failure....

But, finally, point #2 is not so important: if TYROS OS is bug free, why will you need an OS update?

Ciao
Riccardo

[This message has been edited by RicFreak (edited 10-18-2002).]

[This message has been edited by RicFreak (edited 10-18-2002).]

Scott,

I agree with Riccardo - consider the Murphy's main software axiom: "Every software product has a bug."
It's an axiom, you don't have to prove it and it's true in generall...

Second thing: USB 2.0 supports transfer rate up to 480 Mb/s (USB 1.x supports up to 1.5 Mb/s), on usual Flash Cards up to 1 MB/s can be written, but "Flash ROM updates are installed via USB (running at midi speed: 32.5kb/sec)".
So I don't quite understand the meaning of the USB interface in Tyros, if it runs with the MIDI speed.
I have a digital camera with an usual Sandisk Flash Card. If I download (upload) the images from this card via USB 1.1 interface, 40 MB transfer takes approx. 80 seconds. The probability that the computer crashes during this time is ca. 0! (I took the time my computer runs; number of crashes during the last 6 months; I computed the average number of crashes a day and multiplied it with 80 seconds).

Regards

Marek