Perhaps someone on this board can recommend some software... Every version of the Tyros (and even Yamaha's mid-range arrangers) have a built-in MIDI player and score viewer with many desirable features. I am interested in finding software that can do everything the Tyros does, but on a laptop or notebook PC. In case you're not familiar, here are the features I am looking for:

Score display features:
- Display musical score, at least two staves (minimum 4 bars) visible at a time
- Display melody notes, chord symbols, and lyrics all at the same time. Although I don't play two-handed piano well, the ability to show the lower staff (bass clef) would also be nice.
- Show the note names, and different notes in different colors
- Once the song is in memory, ability to transpose it to any key, with the dots and chord symbols changing accordingly*

*I tested the PSR-s900. It's possible to transpose the dots, but the chord symbols (which are stored as Sys-ex) remained in the original key.

Advancing Through the Music:
Ideally I would like there to be TWO WAYS to advance through a musical piece:
- Advance one page (or one stave) at a time with the press of a foot pedal. (This mode is great for practicing)
- Automatically play through the song at the desired tempo. Position is indicated by a "bouncing ball" or higlight over the current note or lyric. In this mode, alternating staves are replaced to permit "reading ahead." (If more than two staves are displayed, what Freehand calls a "half-page turn" would be a suitable approach.)

MIDI player features:
- Plays at least 4 channels (melody, lower part, chords, and bass)
- Ability to select the channel being displayed as "melody"
- "Mark and Jump" feature that allows returning to preset points in the song with precise timing, at the press of a key on the keyboard or foot pedal.
- Ability to output melody, chords, and bass on separate channels, or all on the same channel if necessary
- Ability to serve as a master MIDI clock to other arranger keyboards
- Ability to easily download songs from the Internet (or import via USB)

As I said, the Tyros already does everything I mentioned above. Even Yamaha's MOTL arrangers do most of these things, but their usefulness is compromised by the smaller screen. Also they don't have a way of inserting a marker, and lack dedicated buttons for the "mark and jump" feature. If you aren't familiar with these features, I really encourage you to try them out with the demo songs the next time you visit a music store.

So my question... is the Tyros really the world's best score viewer and MIDI file player? Or has some enterprising soul created affordable PC software that does the same thing?? Please share your experience!
Thanks,
Ted

Gosh, after more than a week only 95 views and no replies! With all of the opinions and experience on this forum I'm surprised. Today I saw a mention of the Pa800's score viewer on the Korg Arranger sub-forum. I have a Pa800 and I can tell you, its score viewer is lame by comparison to the one on the Tyros (especially Tyros 2+).

So my original question remains... is there a PC software which duplicates the functions of Yamaha's score viewer and MIDI file player? And if not, what features can be duplicated with a laptop PC?
Thanks,
Ted

HI Ted

The only thing I can think of is Band in a box and Sibelius.

Hi Ted

The features on the Yamaha (Like all arrangers) are primarily designed for home players, (Pretty much everything is done for you) whereas most software is designed for those that like to get down and dirty.

As to most of the features you require, this can done by virtually every Midi sequencer software program on the market (Just don’t be surprised when you find out how primitive the Yamaha (Or any arranger software) system is in comparison) so just do a Google search and try a few out.

Hope this helps

Bill

Thanks Bill and kbrkr.
Other than a brief attempt at XG Works way back when, and the software-based arranger One Man Band (OMB), I have never used sequencer software. Does Band in a Box fall into this category? Which is the most popular? Also, which one is fairly user friendly for someone who has never used it before?
Sorry for all the questions, and I really am grateful for all of the expertise on this forum! -Ted

Hi Ted

There is a selction here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_MIDI_editors_and_sequencers so try a few out to see what suits you, as what suits one person may not suit another.

Hope this helps

Bill