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#188876 - 08/21/03 12:21 PM One more road test b4 the sale !
Uncle Dave Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 12/01/99
Posts: 12800
Loc: Penn Yan, NY
I'm going to put the psr2100 on the stand tonight just to fiddle with it before it gets sold. (This is Fran's old 21k, just in case you didn't get the memo ! )

So..... If any new earth-shattering advancements happen to pop up during my show - I'll shout at y'all, but I don't expect any surprises. I AM looking forward to the simpler, more logical drum patters and fills....but I dread the thought of actually touching those tiny, cheezy keys....yuk. What am I thinking ??????

I'll let you know if it was a nightmare or a surprise tonight !
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#188877 - 08/21/03 12:35 PM Re: One more road test b4 the sale !
royandreno Offline
Member

Registered: 03/15/02
Posts: 451
Loc: Sandnes, Norway
What's tonight's job, Dave?
Good luck!

------------------
Roy-Andrč
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#188878 - 08/21/03 04:22 PM Re: One more road test b4 the sale !
Fran Carango Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 05/26/99
Posts: 9673
Loc: Levittown, Pa, USA
A Yamaha Roast..
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#188879 - 08/21/03 08:40 PM Re: One more road test b4 the sale !
travlin'easy Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 12/08/02
Posts: 15556
Loc: Forest Hill, MD USA
Whadaya mean "Fran's old 21K?" How many 21K's do you have Fran?

Dave--I assume that you played at Big Ed's tonight. I'm sure it went well, no surprizes and lots of good music and songs. As for the feel of the keys, I can't believe you can punch those spongy, mushy feeling Korg keys without developing carpral tunnel disease. Yamaha just made life easier for you by providing you with lightweight, sensitive keys that don't require nearly as much effort to produce those excellent voices.

Lookin' Good Mon'

Gary
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PSR-S950, TC Helicon Harmony-M, Digitech VR, Samson Q7, Sennheiser E855, Custom Console, and lots of other silly stuff!

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#188880 - 08/21/03 09:29 PM Re: One more road test b4 the sale !
Uncle Dave Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 12/01/99
Posts: 12800
Loc: Penn Yan, NY
No roast here folks. Everything was just as I expected. The 2100 is very much like the 2000, as many have said. My personal approach to Yamaha's navigation has always been a friendly connection, but I really had a hard time controlling the velocity with those underweighted keys. The throw is too short and the keys are too narrow for me to find a comfort zone. If I was to play 2 keyboards ..... this would be great as the top board, as long as I had a solid controller to play the bass and chords with.
So...my review:

I was at a shore rib house in NJ. One of my last 2 nights for the summer. The tourists keep the place hopping till labor Day, then it all crumbles. No more weekday entertainment. snif...snif.... I play for the dining croud. The kitchen closed at 9, so we don't get a late hit. It's a gravy job. No pressure at all.

Likes:
mixer section / dsp's - superior design here

Rhodes sounds - wonderful effects !

drum patterns - simple, basic and SO useful

drum fills - logical and musical

Style read from disk - great access, and simple comands to do it.

multitasking - write and edit while you're playing. Never coughed once.

dislikes:
accessing pages within style groups.You have to move your hand to a differnt place to turn the pages. The 9000 used to work like that, but they changed it with Software update. PA80 too. It's clumsy.

AI fingered chord mode. I want 1-finger majors and 2-finger minor, sevenths. Not that weird "black key to the left" deal..

key feel. YUK - Nuff said.

keys. Size DOES matter. It was clumsy and hard to adjust to. in an octave, you loose almost 3/8 of an inch compared to a standard full size key. Strange deal here. They are noticibly narrow.

external power supply. Hate 'em.

harmnonizer - it's fair, but no comparison to what I have in the rack or in the studio.

*** Recap:

People have said it before. The 2100 is only a small step up from the 2000, but if you like swapping data betwen PC and KB, the USB is sure to please. I didn't test the software, but I'm sure it's good. Yamaha is great in the education areas.

The Live piano is better than the grand piano in the 2000 - that alone may be enough for some of you to switch, but it still fell short of my desires. Maybe it's because of the inferior key feel. I can't trigger it in a comfortable manner. There's just not enough resistance, and not enough downward throw to get the velocity response I require. Remember - I cut my teeth on a Rhodes. I'm used to digging in a bit. There's NO room to dig in this keybed. It likes to be tickled.

All in all - it didn't suck. It was pretty much like using a 2000 for me. I'm glad I tried it out before I dump it. I'd hate to ruin this one, like I did the 2k I had, just by pushing buttons and playing dynamic chord changes. It's a great value for the money if you don't care about how it feels or the key size.

If you play alot of solo piano passages...you'll be less than impressed at the performance. if you play styles and arrangements ...... it'll shine. It's easy to use - sounds great, and costs about what it's worth. Good luck to any users out there. I wish I could get excited again, but no ones making what I want yet.
Rats.
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#188881 - 08/22/03 12:42 PM Re: One more road test b4 the sale !
Uncle Dave Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 12/01/99
Posts: 12800
Loc: Penn Yan, NY
Hey Gary.... Fran had this beast at least 3 days ! That's good for him ! (us.... )
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#188882 - 08/22/03 07:47 PM Re: One more road test b4 the sale !
Fran Carango Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 05/26/99
Posts: 9673
Loc: Levittown, Pa, USA
Gary, how many do you need?
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#188883 - 08/22/03 08:23 PM Re: One more road test b4 the sale !
travlin'easy Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 12/08/02
Posts: 15556
Loc: Forest Hill, MD USA
Fran,

I played Joe Water's 21K yesterday, and some of the new voices were really good, but not enough to make me dump my 2000s (2) and buy a pair of 2100s. Most of the features on the 2100 were identical to the 2000, and as you know, I'm happy with the 2000s. I guess I'll wait another 18 months to see what Yamaha comes out with that replaces the 2100. If they were to listen to the musicians, they would end up with a really great, professional instrument that would also be a fantastic comsumer product as well. But, what the hell do we know!

Cheers,

Gary
_________________________
PSR-S950, TC Helicon Harmony-M, Digitech VR, Samson Q7, Sennheiser E855, Custom Console, and lots of other silly stuff!

K+E=W (Knowledge Plus Experience = Wisdom.)

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#188884 - 08/22/03 08:41 PM Re: One more road test b4 the sale !
Bluezplayer Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 11/10/00
Posts: 2195
Loc: Catskill Mountains, NY
I agree with most of the assessments here. I won't be going to the 2100, as I did not see enough that would make me want to change. As it is, I still find the 2000 to be an uncomfortable board for me to play in real time, both because of the navigation ( particularly lack of an instant volume control for layered panel voices ) and the awful key feel, but I do like the styles and the fills match better than some of the ones on my PA80.

I'm trying get used to integrating it with the Motif and / or PA80 in real time and be comfortable with that setup. I have used the Mo and the PA80 together a few times and was fine with that, but I can deal much better with the key feel on either of those two boards, and have more real time control,with both. If I can devise a quick setup and disconnect to use the Mo or PA80 as a partial controller, it could work OK. Then I can avoid the 2k's keys altogether, except for changing arranger chords.

AJ
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#188885 - 08/22/03 09:54 PM Re: One more road test b4 the sale !
Uncle Dave Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 12/01/99
Posts: 12800
Loc: Penn Yan, NY
I took the 21 to my piano job tonight, and in THAT setting...it was better than if I had to actually PLAY it with my right hand. I used the bass, drums and limited arranger sections and played the changes on the grand. I must admit .... the mic settings and effects are really good for a live sound. I didn't try them in the studio setting, and I expect it to be a little noisy because of the gate.
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