Jupiter,
I would be happy to give you my opinion about trading in your KN6000 for the Yamaha 9000 pro, but remember, this is my "opinion" and others might night agree with me.
In my limited times trying the KN6000 and KN6500 it has been my opinion in past models (5000) and in the current models that the technics sounds, especially drums are not as good as Yamaha sounds. Being that both of these are Japanese made, I've always compared these two the most closely and I've compared the Italian models including Solton, Generalmusic and Roland in their group. In the end though I realize they are all pro arranger keyboards. I have always thought that Yamaha and Technics have choosen to use Japanese Style creators where the other companys have used European. However, during the past year I have learned that this might not always be true. But, I will just compare the Yamaha and the Technics right now.
I like the Yamaha alot. It's piano, I think is much better and I think the rest of the sounds are generally more realistic to my ear. Yes there are some new solo orchestral instruments which are an improvement over the PSR9000, but generally it's the great feeling 76 note keyboard, the new vocal harmony XLR mic input and of course having 128 note polyphony is a real plus over the technics. Every 9000 pro owner loves their new keyboard and I've sold many in the last 2 months. I don't think you would regret trading in your KN keyboard for this one. I am in the US and don't understand British Pounds. Please tell me how much US dollars plus your keyboard you are spending so I can tell you if you are getting a good deal.
For speakers I hope you have the ability to hear and purchase in your country the new Yamaha YST-MS50's. These little beauties are a three piece set including two 20 watt satalite speakers and a 40 watt subwoofer. I hate to call them computer speakers, because people don't think they should sound as great as they do. I almost always sell a pair of these speakers when I sell any keyboard in my store, including Tritons, XP80's and all arranger keyboards when people need an extra 80 watts. And, the amazing thing is these speakers sell for $149.00.
I hope this helps
George Kaye

thanks for the Info George. just use this to convert pounds into dollars http://www.argonet.co.uk/glencall/curr.html

These are probably the speaker you are talking about George, http://www.rlsupplies.co.uk/itm00684.htm
and they are Computer speakers in a way, so that can sound a little "off-putting" to the buyer I suppose.
£1000, will be $1,434 dollars and £65.00 for the speakers will be $93.25

bear in mind though, that I would only get about £950-£1000 for my kn6000 in a private sale, so i am being offered more from my dealer than I would get privatly. Are the keys Semi-weighted George?. Anyway, thanks for the info. (I'll miss these scat, doo bobs cat sounds mind you, unless the yamaha pro has something to offer in this department.

regards

Tony



[This message has been edited by Jupiter5 (edited 03-27-2001).]

There is a really good vocal scat voice on the 9000pro, the Yamaha speakers you refer to seem to be the same except that the model number ends with a 55 instead of a 50 and there is no USB port on the YST-MS50. The picture does look like the speakers so I would guess they are the same.
The price your dealer is offering seems fair to me.
George Kaye

Hi
has anybody been able to listen to the demos listed above? I have tried many times with no results.
Thanks for your reply
Eric

George and others..
You mentioned that the Psr9000 has Scat type sounds. Have you tried the vocal drum kits on the SD1 ? I am curios what you think .
DanO

Dan,
I've listened to the vocal drum kits on the SD1 and they sound very good. What I like about the Yamaha 9000 pro and I think this is what some of the readers are talking about is the ability to play melody type playing and having different vocal layers be abled to be played on the keyboard. Being able to use velocity cross switching to change the vocal type sounds. Roland uses this really well on the new VA products. It is the same vocal sounds they used on the FP9 piano. They call these scat voices. Yamaha has added these in their new voices in the 9000pro.
On the SD1, the vocal kits you are talking about are mapped as drum voices and so are available only on drum sets and so each note plays a different vocal sound. Perhaps these sounds can be used as actual voices but I have not explored the posibility yet.
George Kaye

Dan and George et all.

Yes, playing voice/samples is different from the vocal kit voice/styles. To get an idea of what these sound like, LOAD into the X-1 the Contemporary sounds, LOAD the pattern 'Vocalize' ... and just listen.

The difference?


* With the vocal kit (Loaded into RAM in X-series/on board in SD-1), the patterns are pre-programmed/determined. When you play a pattern that uses this kit, you should hear the same parts looped (every say 4, 8, etc measures). The vocal kit comprises of various vocal samples assigned and accessed via different keys (you can hear the independent parts in the X-series via accessing the RAM banks once you have loaded the CONTEMP sounds... similar to accessing your KICK/BASS drum, congas etc in your STANDARD drum kit when in DRUM EDIT mode.

*Using on board RAM, you can actually sample a sound and play-back with a style (just as you would play back say a PIANO voice). With the SD-1 sync-groove tech expanded to sync wave files with patterns/midi files, I believe you can further more adjust the sampled tempo to match current pattern/midi file tempo but still maintain pitch (and vis-versa). These voices are however NOT played via using a style/pattern. They are played using the RHS keys ... just as you would play any other voices on the keyboard!

A good example of this would be to sample a live choir singing "We will be heard" in the key of 'C'. Now upon playback (after temp matching/editing) using say an 8beat style, call up this new sample and play a 'C' note on the RHS for the first 2 bars "We will ...". Next play an 'F' note on the 3rd bar "...be heard". You could further enrich this by playing complete chords on the RHS. (Note: With the X-series boards, you will notice different tempos/pitch as you add more keys to your chord). As George mentioned, in the SD-1 this is similar to ROLAND's Variphrase tech.

This should be exiting!!

AJ