Very few comments about my posting further below "PSR9000 new styles", how many PSR9000
are there on this forum???.

Have spoken to Yamaha UK about the availability of the "ITALIAN" website styles to all Yamaha customers worldwide (including the 33MB contained on a hard drive that can be purchased from the italian website), they say YAMAHA JAPAN have deemed them to be "NOT UP TO STANDARD", hence the reason why they are not widely available, to me the FREE ones at least equal if not exceed the built in ones, what do other owners think??, surely Yamaha should listen to customer opinion rather than just exclude these styles from worldwide distribution.
Please resond fellow yamaha fans!!!.

Paul

Hi Paul

It would be interesting to know what Yamaha's standards are. It may be that the objection to the Italian styles is not that they are "not good enough", but they are not "bland enough". I know this sounds funny, but it would be consistent with my stereotypes for a Japanese company to prefer bland styles that fit in a wide variety of contexts, while an Italian company might prefer more "in your face" styles. It sounds to me that you, Paul, are a good candidate for a Solton X1.

Of course, I would like access to the 33MB as well.

Clif

[This message has been edited by Clif Anderson (edited 10-20-2000).]

Hi Cliff,

My point is that if Yamaha get enoungh favourable responses to the more "in your face" styles, they may start to make them widely available, it's clear that there does exist a small pocket of creativity in the Yamaha Corporation, but it's clearly being held back. I personally like a lot of inbuilt styles, they are musically correct and lend themselves to a wide genre of songs, but it would be nice to have a few more with a more natural feel which provide intricate embelishments to enhance the players enjoyment. I love the overall sound of the 9000 and certainly would'nt change it for one of the current crop of arranger keyboards, I know for some people the styles are the be all and end all of a keyboard, my opinions are the sounds are most important, as styles can always be added later to utilise the sounds to their fullest extent, add some creative styles to 9000 and it would definately appeal to a wider customer base, the PSR 9000 hardware is class leading in terms of sound quality and reliability, with a few more creative styles, well, perhaps the ultimate keyboard???.

Perhaps the 9000 pro will incorporate some more live sounding styles???. For me though the lack of speakers makes the 9000pro a no go option, but hopefully all the style software will be back compatible.

Paul

Hi Paul,

One of the reason I didn't buy a PSR 9000 was that when I played it the styles and variations were very simple including the intros and endings. The weight was another big factor "Too Heavy", besides the inferior internal speakers sound at max levels. This really surprised me, as i was excited to play the 9000 that day but my excitement dwindeled in a half hour in the store as I went thru all the syles one by one. But thats my opinion only.

Donny ( a Happy X1 Owner :>))

I have been playing with PSR9000 for a while.
A quick surgery for the style to make them feel "in your face" is to cut the REVERB Level on drum tracks. You will be amazed how much difference it makes. The powerful reverb makes the drums sound as they were in a big hall or in a tunnel.
OR change the reverb to cut decay time and increase early reflections. Also inserting a compressor effect will help.

When you have the sound you a looking for don't forget to save into registration memory.

[This message has been edited by Shakil (edited 10-20-2000).]

Shakil,
VERY interesting. I've been meaning to try editing the effects some but haven't got around to it. Have you experimented with vocal effects? I love my 9000, but to be perfectly honest, I would like more of the "live" "in your face" sound of the X1. Combining that with all the excellent features of the 9000 would be wonderful.
My keyboard is at the club, but I think I will go in early and try your suggestion.
Do you save the drum effects globally? Or do you have to save everything to registration?
I suppose I could read the manual if all else fails, or just got experiment!
Thanks
Don

Paul,
I did download the styles and played them on my computer--not on the 9000. I wasn't particularly impressed, but then I don't do a whole lot of that kind of music. In all fairness, they would no doubt sound much better on the keyboard itself.
Don

Dear Don,

Try Q8BEAT1 on the Keyboard, it fits in very well with "POWER OF LOVE", originally sung by Jennifer Rush, I like the powerful drum beat on this style, try all the variations, number 3 has a very full sound. I have found these styles untilise the DSP to great effect, so hearing them on your computer will definately not give you a good impression.

Also I like playing big band music, I have found applying "ambience" DSP to the big band styles gives a very authentic live effect.

Note to DNJ, you mention you found the PSR9000 speakers very poor, if you are talking about overall volume then I had the some impression to start with, then I realised all the individual section volumes, including style, are factory set at just over half volume, turn these up and the keyboard has more than enough volume capacity for home playing/ small hall.

Also, I have edited one of the Bass/Chord hold styles to incorporate "live strings" in the bass, have put "live" strings" in the left, choir/church or strings in the right, play some large chords with both hands, the sound is monumental, the depth of bass is incredible, try it. I have yet to find a keyboard that can provide this depth and volume of sound through it's own speakers.

Paul.

Hi Paul

You said: "My point is that if Yamaha get enoungh favourable responses to the more "in your face" styles, they may start to make them widely available, it's clear that there does exist a small pocket of creativity in the Yamaha Corporation, but it's clearly being held back."

Your point is well taken. My favorite styles on my PSR8000 are Solton conversions. I know that Yamaha is aware that there approach is different than Solton's, so the decision to leave off "in your face" styles is intentional. I would be curious to hear what Yamaha's reasoning is. I think it is safe to say that Yamaha knows their marketing, so the reason must be a good one. Nonetheless, if they have 33MB of nonconforming styles out there, I want them!

than for the info on the internal speaker clarification thing, like I said I was only playing it in a music store. keep up the great tips!

donny

I think that the problem with Yamaha speaker distortion has more to do with gain settings than speaker quality. If you increase the section volumes you'll get a louder, cleaner sound.
Don

DonM
The Rerverb effect is to emmulate the effect of instrument being played in a hall or some other environment. When you are in a studio it makes sense to use reverb. But if you are playing live, I don't think you need reverb, because you will get natural reverb from the hall you are performing in. If you put reverb effect while performing live, the sound will become too mushy and will hide behind pillows.

Cut down the reverb and you will see the difference when you play live. Compensate for the volume drop from reverb by turning up the volume...... and you will be "in your face" heaven.

Hi Uncle Dave,

Again I come to the defence of my beloved PSR9000, the bass is factory set in a neutral position, each part left,R1,R2,R3 and the eight style parts have their own independent Hi and Low EQ settings as well as a global EQ with the usual bands, if I need extra bass I just up the Low EQ on the style, at full setting the bass is just incredible, no distortion at all, even at high volumes.
I tested the PSR9000 speakers using some dedicated XG midi files containing both acoustic bass and electronic bass, with factory EQ setting bass is ok, but turn up the EQ on the song part and it's real floor shaking stuff, but not keyboard shaking, this is probably due the wooden speaker enclosures, they insulate the speakers from the plastic case.
The PSR9000 is definately not a keyboard to be taken at face value, it takes many months to realise the mediocre factory settings only exploit a tenth of what it is truely capable of, my PSR9000 is almost coming up to it's first birthday and it just gets better and better the more I explore.
Now I know I can get new Yamaha styles from ITALY that are at least as good as any of the competition I think I am in arranger keyboard heaven.

Paul.

Paul said....<"it takes many months to realise the mediocre factory settings only exploit a tenth of what it is truely capable of, my PSR9000 is almost coming up to it's first birthday and it just gets better and better the more I explore.">

Nice post Paul and your statement is so true.
I think we all try out a keyboard in the stores or wherever and I am guilty also of this, after hearing them all you will sometimes say to your self "Nahh... this doesn't sound right" after only 15 minutes of testing. Thats when Your statement should start flashing on the keyboard screen as an alert to perspective buyers that with Custom Editing that perticular keyboard could sound like this and then a DEMO starts playing to show many many different audio, vocal, settings, styles and sounds and in general what can be done to show the buyer just a taste of what can be accomplished with the instrument in all venues of music ( My Kn5000 had a great Multi faceted Demo). This might sound far fetched but if I was a manufacturer I would give the buyer every opportunity to experience what I am trying to offer them. Thats why we have so many different opinions and pros and cons from people without really knowing what could be achieved with some serious tinkering. A great 2 or 3 Vol. set of "HOW TO" VIDEOS to explore all the features from basic operation to advanced editing would definitly make a difference to a buyer also and should be INCLUDED with the item. Arranger keyboards are getting more and more complex to use and I hope I didn't bore anyone with some of my thoughts on buying a musical arranger keyboard instrument you can really enjoy to the FULLEST no matter what your level of playing is!!

thanx

Donny NJ



[This message has been edited by Dnj (edited 10-20-2000).]