Scottyee and others here own the prs2000 and they can tell you the answer to the prs2000 question. If it's like prs9000 or 9000 pro you can adjust settings in control panel.

Maybe ask the saleman if he can plug the psr2000 into external speakers. By "weak" did you mean 'soft" or "not like a paino sound"?

I know when I close my eys and just listen to my psr9000 it sounds just like a paino to me ... as others have said ... we all have our opinion on the subject.

In addition to just the "paino sound" when you are buying an arranger there is so much else you are buying! Harminiser,Sampler,karakie with words displayed, midi, and these are things that you can't really check out at a music store... once I took the psr9000 home , and read the manual and chatted with others on psr styles forum ... and downloaded styles,pads,registrations, and was told how to adjust the control panel to make the sounds really SHINE ... I was very impressed!
That's why it is important to keep an open mind and ear and listen for yourself.

rgtaa
p.s. If you gig alot , the psr2000 is good choice and is the cheapest of all the keyboards that we have listed for you ...

For me,I don't gig out much and I liked the Strong Sounding Speakers in the psr9000 and Sampler,and 128 poly , styles,ect.

I think it comes down to just yourself, your friends or audience can't tell the difference, you are the 'only' one who is gonna be that discerning!




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

I think the piano sound on the 2000 is pretty good. I've heard better, but it certainly gets me by. If you wish, go to my website and play "Welcome To My World". It has a pretty prominent piano part, and was done entirely on the 2000. It's on the page titled "Listen To The Music".
DonM www.donmasonmusic.com

Though the Yamaha 9000pro obviously has the superior piano sound (sampled from Yamaha's highly touted C series acoustic grands) , I am very pleased overall with the PSR2000's acoustic 'Grand Piano' sound. It sounds pleasing with a natural sounding decay, well suited for playing a wide variety of musical styles (swing jazz to pop, country, & blues). For enhanced gutsyness or brightness, I can easily layer another piano sample with it. When gigging, I go thru one or 2 (pair) Electro Voice EV-SXA100 Self Powered PAs. One thing to note: When playing the PSR2000 thru an external sound source, I still keep the 2000's external speakers ON (to monitor the mix), because the sound (particularly the acoustic piano) projects better (sounding more focussed) from the keyboard player's position. My only big complaint, from a piano player's point of view, is the 2000's poor chord recognition in 'full' keyboard mode. Unfortunately, the 9000pro & PSR9000 suffer equally in this dept as well. If you come from a background as an acoustic piano player and playing in full keyboard mode is important, I'd suggest you checkout the Technics KN arrangers. The KN boards currently offer the BEST full keyboard mode chord recognition. I only can hope that Yamaha will emulate what Technics has already accomplished here.

Well, you ask, what is the problem with full keyboard mode on the Yamaha PSR boards? Here's my beef: When you trigger a a 'non root position' chord with your left hand and then solo (with your right hand) any notes 'within an octave' of the chord played in the left hand, the chord recognition will switch and the auto accompaniment bass line will jump to something I find unpleasing.

Example: In 'full keyboard' mode, play with your left hand, a G7 3rd inversion chord (F-G-B-D). Now with your right hand, play a G mixolydian scale (notes compatiable with a G7 chord), beginning with the note E (the note located directly a 'whole step' above the note D played with your left hand). The right hand notes to play in slow succession are: E, F, G, A, B, C, D.

You will notice that the chord recognition changes as follows:

Right hand note Played : Chord Recognition

E: G713
F: G7/F
G: G7/F
A: G79
B: G7
C: G7
D: G7

All are correctly recognized as a G chord, but I'd prefer the G7/F slash chords be reconized as a G7 instead. What I don't like is that when you go from A to G (melody or solo) with your right hand , the auto accomp bass line jumps unexpectantly (& unpleasantly) from a G bass line to some weird F based bass line which ends up sounding un-natural and musically unpleasing to my ear. From a musical (soloing) standpoint, Yamaha needs to drop the G7/F slash cord recognition thing. If Yamaha corrects this, 'full keyboard' mode would be usable for me. Unfortunately (to avoid this problem) I must play my 2000 in split mode. I can only hope that Yamaha will fix this minor flaw. I know it's something that can be EASILY corrected. - Scott

I think the split mode is intended for exactly that style of play. Full mode makes it easy for players to just pound out the chords and still get the acc recognition. If you solo on top of a chord in full mode, it can't help but try to "catch up" to all the new chords presented. Doesn't split mode offer you the result you want with no compromise? You can match the tones on each side of the split so it will be the same thing as a full mode, but with the added finesse of split mode recognition.
Seems like it's not a bug at all, but a design feature to facilitate more playing styles. I wouldn't want an arranger to try to follow my solo lines.... just the chord structure.

NO ! Since you say you primarily play in 'one fingered' chord recognition mode, you apparently don't understand. Split mode does not offer what you can do in FULL keyboard mode. FULL keyboard mode allows you to trigger chords in either: left, right, or across BOTH hands: such as being able to play just the root and 7th (in the left hand) and then playing the 3rd of the chord in the right hand, to give you a dominant 7th chord recognition. Hey, the Technics KN keyboard's, in 'full keyboard' mode, allows you to play & solo across the entire keyboard range, recognizing chords without coming up with those weird slash chords,so why can't Yamaha do this too? It would be a real simple (bug fix) to do, and make PSR 'Full Keyboard mode' usuable for acoustic piano players. - Scott

The KF90 is priced at $3195.00 wth stand and bench. The VA76, with 76 keys instead of 88 hammer weighted keys sells for $2495.00 with no stand. The KF90 has the vocal harmonizer. The VA7 or VA76 does not have a vocal harmonizer but rather a vocal sampler. The grand piano sound in the KF90 is better than the VA7 or VA76 because you can modify some of the piano parameters such as how open the grand piano top is opened, how much resonance, brightness, etc.
George Kaye
Kaye's Music Scene
Reseda, California

Scott
I have a bit of the same situation on chord recog. with the SD1. I can't (won't) play in split mode because I want the same high quality preset piano sound across the board -and you only get that in pianist mode if you want to trigger chords in the normal range. So I opted to disable the sustain pedal and its only function now is to lock the chord in - so no right hand notes affect it. Suprisingly enough I found that when I played the SD1 from my FP3 - I could use the SD1 sustain pedal to lock the chord - but using my FP3 sustain pedal (midi-out) gave me back sustain capability without sacrificing my chord lock. I have found this helpful to me because because once I trigger a chord I am free to change voicing in my left hand comping as the mood strikes.

Mike

I'm surprised that no one here mentioned the Grand Piano expansion board for the Yamaha 9000 Pro. Has anyone here ever tried it? More to the point, has anyone here tried it and liked the original 9000 Pro stock piano sound better? According to the posts I have researched, those who have tried the piano expansion board prefered it over the stock 9000 Pro piano sound. Since you guys like the 9000 Pro piano sound so much, I just thought maybe someone would say if the expansion board is even better, since the question was about what has the best piano sound...

I still don't understand how the keyboard is supposed to distinguish between solo notes or chord notes in full mode. I thought that as long as three notes were pressed the chord would be recognized, and you could tinkle over top till three more were addressed. I see no disadvantage in assigning the L & R sounds to the SAME tone, and playing in split mode, so ONLY the chords you send will be the triggers. I can't imagine wanting a moving solo line to be the determining factor for my chord changes.
Split mode allows for more sophisticated chord changes to be used without affecting the voicings in the right hand....and vice versa. Sometimes, a simple triad is all that's needed in the arranger, as long as the right hand is doing something juicy and creative.
I don't actually use the single finger mode - I use a mode that allows MAJ chords with one key, MIN with 2, but any other chord may be fingered also. This allows my left hand to maintain the "feel" I use when playing bass lines. I just don't like using big chords if I don't have to. It ties up too much thought process for me.
I can't imagine the split mode NOT being the mode of choice for acurate two handed piano technique. Just asign both sides of the split to the same sound.

Lets not forget that on a lot of the higher end arrangers you can tweak the sound or layer voices (if you jave enough polyphony to start with) to get the sound you want. I am not going to add anything else to the debate, thyis ones much too subjective. Let your ears be your guide!