Hi, I'm new to this forum. I'm interested in purchasing the 9000Pro, but I have a question on the sampler functions on the 9000Pro. Can you use sampling CD's available on the market? I'm interested in purchasing a Steinway Piano CD sample. Can I use it thru to 9000Pro? Thanks for your comments.

only if you can find the sample in AIFF or WAV file format, mono, 44.1 KHz 16 bit.

The supplied ram is 1 MB, and you buy a simm expansion up to a maximum of 64MB in addition to this.

The sort of sample you are talking about would involve multisamples, and probably need a pro synth rather than the 9000pro?

There are yamaha boards you can add as expansion boards to the pro - PLG series. PLG150 PF is a yamaha piano board, I don't know if it has a Steinway but it has got plenty of additional acoustic samples. You need to listen for yourself...

So the 9000pro sampler is just used for sampling one voice at a time? am I right? I've owned a PSR8000 that had sampling, and the 9000Pro's sampling function looks basically the same as the 8000. Then what do people actually sample? The only useful thing I did with the sampling on the PSR8000 was to sample drum sounds, that's it.

If you can't use the Sampled CD's, then is there any usefulness of the SCSI? isn't just used to connect to a lousy zip drive and store stuff? Then wouldn't people install a hard disk instead?

basically yes.

I gave up on the 9000 sampler because it was very difficult to sample anything with the quality of the best voices on the keyboard, and therefore you just used it for comic effects, putting your own voice in a count down, one, two, one, two, three, four etc. that type of thing. When you'd done that a few times you never used it again much. Others may have more use for the sampler for comic effects on stage etc.

The scsi was really for a zip drive, in the days when they were cheaper than a hard disk solution. Now it is pretty much out of date because hard drives are cheap and much better than a zip, and no-one will be making scsi stuff much in the future anyway.

Yeah.
I posted a couple of weeks ago and asked how people are using the sampler in 9000 or in their act.

I was hoping I would get lots of suggestions, but I think only one person responded.

I figured with all the WAV files online, jokes,all kinds of effects (train,gun,president speech,movie clips,scary sounds,ect)... that there is alot of creative stuff that could add to music... But I guess it depends on what you do and if it fits your style.

65 megs is 12 minutes of sampling time ... and there are Banks of Places to store them ... and with hard drive ... you can store lots of them (loading 65megs at a time). Good for someone making commericials,... I think one professional reviewer made a commericial using it in his 9000pro.

But Technicsplayer probably answered your question, better then me... I am still interested in finding out more ways of using it myself ...and I wonder if there are places online to download instrument samples into it. If you guys know any place ,please post link!

Thanks
rgtaa

P.S. Instead of going SCII you can put it a USB CARD into 9000 and the PC sees it like another HARD DRIVE.

SCII equipment is cheap now, so for 35 bucks you could buy scii zip or cdrw(cd-reader function when attached to 9000...I say this for Technicsplayer to avoid confusion ) ... since we are only talking moving files around 35 bucks isn't bad way ... for 150 bucks you could go the usb way... or 6 bucks (laptop adapter hookup...taking hard drive out and attaching it to computer to download stuff into drive)

[This message has been edited by rgtaa (edited 07-01-2002).]

Hmm... thanks for your comments,

Then the sampling function is not as pretty as it first seems. I'm dissapointed.

After being dissapointed with the PSR8000's primitive sampling functions, why couldn't Yamaha do a better job on the 9000Pro? I'm sure they would've made more sales if the sampling functions were as good as say, the Motif, or the Triton.

rgtaa,

I've sampled drum snares and the like, and have made drum styles from them.

I've even sampled the 'backstreet boys' style snare sound and made drum accompniments. It's funny stuff becuase you actually sound like the backstreet boys, or even Britney Spears.

I picked my psr9000 up for 1699(floor model) 8 months ago ... and put in sampling memory for around 70 bucks and took hard drive out of my busted notebook computer and put it in psr9000 and it worked. I bought the motif but the lcd was too small for me to read and the Motif was Way TOO Hard for me to figure out! I returned it and bought prs9000 ... at the time the motif was 1899 .

I turn the psr9000 on , it loads 1250 midi's, 120 flash styles,250 direct disk styles, 500 registrations, 500 music database, harmonizer, then i load up 65meg's into sampler ... and I'm set!

The Motif would be better for someone I guess who owns an Arranger Keyboard and wants the added Sampler,Sounds,ect to add to music.

I guess you read all the reviews online about the 9000 already and know the differences between the 8000 and 9000.

What do you think you are gonna buy instead... what arranger keyboard are you using now ... do you think the motif,karma,triton would be better for you?

Technicsplayer seems to know arrangers ...maybe he can suggest one that would suit you better.

Uncle Dave from the forum here seems to think the 9000 PRO to be the BEST all around arranger (except he misses the Speakers and doesn't like the weight 45lbs).

rgtaa

P.S. I like your suggestion about back street boys drums ... that's the type of stuff I would be very interested in.

[This message has been edited by rgtaa (edited 07-01-2002).]

Uncle Dave STILL thinks that the 9000pro is the best made, easiest to operate, best looking, feature packed, best FEELING, overall CHAMP of the arranger world.

Unfortunately Uncle Dave does NOT think it is a portable keyboard, suited for 300+ one night stands each year. If you have roadies, or you're 21 years old, or you always play large venues with BIG stages ... then it's a great choice. The deal with us "seasoned"(old?) guys in the trenches is this:

Too many places make the load-in/load-out very awkward, and the extra length & weight is a drawback ... even in some hotel elevators and hallways. ESPECIALLY kitchen hallways, where the lowly musician must often enter.

Another drawback is in the stage area's (That often, DON'T exist!) I play lot's of "society" parties in small clubs, elegant homes, and business offices .... the "stage" area is most often a corner of a room, where space is at a premium. Just lugging that giant coffin into someone's living room is bulky, and cumbersome. Then you have to store the case during the performance ... more hassles.

As an old Rhodes player, I think the Motif has the BEST sound out there, but a VERY close second is the 9kpro. Add the terrific modeled organs, and magnificent piano, and you can't beat it for a performance instrument.

I never use samplers, so I can't comment on that side of the coin, but as an arranger, or as a stand-alone performance board ... it still gets my highest vote for features, sound and feel.

Uncle Dave has sopken.
(Bob Dole likes Britney Spears)

Now if yamaha could get it into a Light Weight Size ... I wouldn't mind getting another traveling yamaha. Does anyone know the weight of the yamaha tyro's yet? I sure hope it's LIGHT!

I tryed the psr2000 but it seemed too cheap to me and no upgradable OS ... but many on this forum LOVE it for it's light weight and Database features.

Well said, Uncle Dave!

I mostly play in my studio and go out once or twice a month to jam ... so it's great for me ... but what Uncle Dave says sure sounds right for Nightly Gig Play.

rgtaa

Hi PUZK,

I own psr 9000 and kn6500.I am very disappointed to read all the answers of your question.OOOOPPPSSS.I am realy surprised
no body knows the powerful sampling abilities
of 9000.It can do all things u excpect from a
powerful sampler.Dont worry u can do multi
sampling like u mentind Stienway Piano cd.
u only need to upgrade its ram and install
a hard disk and u are on your way.

I have done lots of multi sampling on 9000
very perfectly.I guess i i am the only
person who is working on 9000 sampling.

If u need any assistance do mail me.

shakeel Ahmed!

You da MAN!

Is there a website to get this stuff! or info about using it?

rgtaa

Shakeel,

I too did a lot of multisampling on the Yamaha pro when I had it, and these were from Akai CD's (Symphony of voices etc). When converted into Wav format from CDXtract on my PC, I loaded each sample into the Yamaha as AUDIO. I could multi sample each note like on a hardware sampler. Also, if you selected two samples, and used Delay + pan (left for one sample and right for the other), I found myself getting a VERY convincing sound, that I didn't think was possible from a mono sampler. It really sounded good indeed (The "Voices" were better than the internal ones when I finished with them). I didn't have it too long, as I upgraded to a Roland Piano Arranger, but in the short time I had it (couple of months or so), I spent a lot of time on this Yamaha. No, it’s not an Akai S5000, but it can be put to MUCH more use than adding “barking” sounds, and if you map them right, they will have more Bite too


J5

Well , that's why you need to listen for yourself, because different people have different levels of acceptance and perception of quality. I tried a similar sort of thing with wave files and found the results unconvincing. Ok for synth type sounds but no good for acoustic instrument sounds. You started off talking about a Steinway. I doubt you could get a Steinway sound to satisfy most players this way.

The Steinway Piano is a £70,000 + instrument used for (amongst other things) Concert Piano playing. Don't even attempt to create a Steinway on the Yamaha Pro Sampler...it won't happen.

However, with the Sounds I used as explained above (Symphony of voices), the results were very good, and more than satisfying. The Quality of the Samples used may have helped a bit even if the end result was a Monaural 16 bit 44.1 KHz sound. The reason Synth type sounds work better in this way, is that you can do more with them after you sample/load them etc (Delay, attack, release effect/flange/phaser, etc), not very useful for the named instrument in question (Steinway piano) on a keyboard/sampler like this. But with Synth sounds (especially soft attack ones like pads etc) the Yamaha produces very acceptable results, as long as you don't expect “Earth-shattering sounds, so to speak.


J5

synth type sounds are easy because they are inherently artificial and you have no acoustic real instrument as aural reference, excepting trying to sample classics like juno, oberheim, prophet etc.

The Sounds I sampled were't synth ones, but real Choir samples created in a Cathedral (AylesburyI think) and when I put them on to the Yamaha pro, they came out sounding better than the onboard vocal sounds (choir) by a margin as well. I haven't got the Yamaha pro anymore, but I dug deep into the sampler, and really went to town with it. Synth sounds aren't the only ones you can make sound good on a Yamaha Pro - I proved that myself by creating vocal sounds from Akai CD's converted to wave...to sound better than the internal samples of the yamaha Pro IMHO.

There was a 1000 + other things I did during my recording, conversion, sampling, Effects routing, "delay timing", panning permutations, etc, that it would take a 10,000 word post to explain it only half of it!

Also, I was very suprised by the low noise level that was evident in this sampling keyboard.

J5




[This message has been edited by Jupitar5 (edited 07-01-2002).]

it wouldn't take a lot to improve on the pro vocal sounds

No, it wouldn't take a lot to improve the Pro vocal sounds (abysmal)....but I mean the Choir sounds (about par with KN6000 IMO. Different. (unless that's what you meant????)

BTW the guy on the Yamaha Video tutorial said his favourite sound on the Keyboard was the ....(yes you guessed) the Vocal sound! (Vocal meaning "Doo" "bap", "scat" etc, not Choir. Different

Lot's of Ooooh's and Ahhhhh's going on tonight


[This message has been edited by Jupitar5 (edited 07-01-2002).]

no, not what I meant.

Thought not.

A Choir Sample like the one on Symphony of voices can have as many as 4-5 samples per note. OOOhhh, then Ahhhhhh, then Mmmmmm's etc (depending how hard you press, or long you hold the notes down. These, of course, take up lots of memory up, and depending what you are going to play, you can Map just the "Top end" of a keyboard, (or the low) to save memory. 65MB RAM is a lot though for a keyboard like this (The Motif has no more),

The Sampler is a fun feature for the Yamaha Pro, but a "wee" bit of delving can offer you more than you asked for………and one might be pleasantly suprised with the results that can be achieved....


J5


[This message has been edited by Jupitar5 (edited 07-01-2002).]

I gotta agree with Uncle Dave, because I've got a Roland XP-80. And when I got it, whoa... I was dissapointed. None of it sounds like the Yamaha. With the exception of piano & string, and techno sounds, the XP-80 never sounded as close as the PSR8000, and I even have 2 expansion boards on it too!

I came crawling back to Yamaha, and saw the 9000Pro. It's the bomb! Nothing in the market compares to it.

Well for that Steinway piano sound, Yamaha PLG expansion card has a Yamaha Grand Piano sample, which should be close enough to the steinway I'm looking for.

The multisampling that Jupiter 5 & shakeel mentioned is a good idea actually. I'll try that when I get my 9000Pro.

puzk!
I too had the xp-80 and sold it when I got the psr9000. Also bought 2 expansion boards for the xp-80. Yamaha hit a home run with the 9000!

And I'm also glad Jupiter5 and shakeel Ahmed shared the possibilities with Sampling.

Let us know when you get it!


rgtaa


P.S. the reason I bought the psr9000 was the built in wood-encased speakers and it was 1000 dollars cheaper than 9000pro. The 9000PRO reminded me of the xp-80 having to use head sets and plug in speakers... it was nice to just set it up and start playing! After owning the xp-80 ... I knew I wouldn't buy another expansion board ... if I got the 9000pro! And you can import styles from other Brands, so styles are not something you even have to worry about.


[This message has been edited by rgtaa (edited 07-01-2002).]

rgtaa,
I still use the XP-80, it's the only one I have right now. The PSR8000's gone, but I've noticed I really need some drums to keep my music going at home. I hated programming drums on my XP-80 and on computer, so naturally I wanted a good clean drum sound from my synth, because sometimes I do solo/duo gigs. My brother is a bassist, and he really made my music come alive instead of using the accompiment bass.

For the 9000Pro, call me stupid or whatever, but I've declined a crazy sale offer on the 9000Pro brand new, which was $4500 AUD. That's like around $2250 US.

And 4 months before one shop was selling one demonstration model for $4000AUD = $2000US. crazy huh?

Anyway, I've gone tired of kicking myself. I'm not selling my xp-80, because that's my main board, instead I'm saving up to get that 9000Pro soon.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Jupitar5:

The Sampler is a fun feature for the Yamaha Pro, but a "wee" bit of delving can offer you more than you asked for
J5

But not for a Steinway.

like I said myself above.

J5



[This message has been edited by Jupitar5 (edited 07-02-2002).]

going round in circles now. Like I said, listen for yourself and make your own mind up. For you the sample quality was fine, for me not good enough. Everyone had different quality thresholds. No big deal.

No, its no big deal, but I wasn't talking about creating a steinway piano on the Pro.....

J5



[This message has been edited by Jupitar5 (edited 07-02-2002).]

but that's what the question was.

Yes I know, and I hope that puzk is fairly satisfied (now anyway) that a Steinway Piano on the pro is a "no no".

J5

yes, that's what I said.

And it was for this reason that I suggested other ways of using the Pro's sampler!

J5

all depends what your standards are, it's personal preference after all, you listen and make your mind up. The pro is not pro enough in the sampling department for me.

..It's not a pro sampler but it can be put to better use than adding barking sounds. It CAN be very useful if worked at.

J5

[This message has been edited by Jupitar5 (edited 07-03-2002).]

so technicsplayer ... what arranger with Sampling would YOU suggest instead?

Or of the available Arrangers on the Market today ...has the BEST Sampler!

Or maybe you can suggest a Sampler you use to get the Best Piano Sound?

rgtaa

My, what a lot of fuss over one persons opinion.
First of all I cannot recall ever saying anything about barking sounds, so we can just ignore that. To endlessly go round and round in circles some people say it is ok for them, other people feel it is not good enough. Adding effects to a mono sampler does not make a better quality sampler. I talked about getting quality multisamples of acoustic instruments to sound as good as the best quality preset sounds.

I mentioned comic effects because I remembered reading a post about it (which turns out rgtaa says he wrote) which I thought summed up the capabilities quite well. This is a long way from Steinway territory though, which after all was the question. I can also remember other posts in the past complaining about the limitations in the sampler and pretty much agreeing with my experience.

I don't know of another arranger with sampling I would be happy with. The genesys looks interesting but I have only heard the demos at Frankfurt and not had a hands on myself yet. It is anyway in a different price bracket. Personally I could do with gigasampler in an arranger.

The best piano sound is personal, so there is no point in discussing my preferences, you should listen for yourself and make your own mind up, as I said before. Everyone has their own perception of quality, let alone the quality they can afford at whatever price level they decide on.