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#372924 - 10/13/13 08:10 AM Yamaha is not supporting Audio styles on PSR-S950
Beakybird Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 01/27/01
Posts: 2227
So the PSR-S950 has been out almost a year. They heralded the new technology of audio styles. But the only way you can get additional audio styles is by buying them from Yamaha and loading them onto a tiny 50mb internal drive.

I thought Yamaha would be coming out with new audio styles, but they haven't. The only audio styles that exist are for world styles.

I have a feeling that Yamaha is giving up on this technology.

Then I noticed that Yamaha hasn't come out with new Premium Styles in months. There were probably too many people pirating them. There are so many styles out there, but it would be nice to see more.

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#372925 - 10/13/13 08:43 AM Re: Yamaha is not supporting Audio styles on PSR-S950 [Re: Beakybird]
DonM Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 06/25/99
Posts: 16735
Loc: Benton, LA, USA
The other companies issue new styles occasionally for FREE.
Just something to consider.
DonM
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DonM

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#372927 - 10/13/13 08:53 AM Re: Yamaha is not supporting Audio styles on PSR-S950 [Re: Beakybird]
ianmcnll Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 07/27/05
Posts: 10606
Loc: Cape Breton Island, Canada
That is bad news, Larry. Like a few others here on SZ, I suspected the Audio Styles might be a gimmick, although I wouldn't totally bet on it yet.

What surprised me was the absence of Audio Styles on the new Clavinova flagship, the CVP-609, which made me dubious that they would be on the Tyros5.

If they are on the latter, MAYBE the additional audio styles will be compatible with the S950? I wouldn't want to wager on that either, but it might be possible.

I am more than a little bit glad I purchased the Tyros4, as it is, right now, the most flexible (and, of course most expensive) arranger in Yamaha's present portable line-up. I'm broke but happy.

The audio drums didn't interest me as I was pleased with the newer on-board non-audio kits.

Surely there will be additional Premium styles for the Tyros5, so perhaps we will see similar styles in the older formats?

I truly hope so.

Ian

BTW...I loved hearing your guitar emulations again...a real treat, and a great skill you have developed.
_________________________
Yamaha Tyros4, Yamaha MS-60S Powered Monitors(2), Yamaha CS-01, Yamaha TQ-5, Yamaha PSR-S775.

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#372929 - 10/13/13 09:32 AM Re: Yamaha is not supporting Audio styles on PSR-S950 [Re: Beakybird]
travlin'easy Offline
Senior Member

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

I wouldn't be too concerned whether Yamaha provided more audio styles. I've always been pretty happy with the midi styles, and currently have just over 50,000 of them on hand. Some are incredible, and actually sound much better than the audio styles I have onboard the S-950. I continue to go through a dozen or more styles each day, constantly reviewing the ones I already have, and putting songs to them. It's a continual work in progress scenario, but it's a lot of fun, too. If Yamaha does provide some new audio styles, I'm confident they will be good to excellent, which has always been the case with any new styles they've introduced. Having created several style files myself from scratch, I can assure everyone that it takes a monumental effort to get one that sounds perfect in every segment. Some have taken up to three weeks to tweak and tune to where I could use them on the job. I would suggest that any Yamaha users on this forum that wish to obtain a huge style database, go to the PSR-Tutorial Forum and click on the styles tab. It would take a lifetime to go through each and every style, but for me, at least, downloading a new style collection from the forum and playing them on the keyboard is akin to getting a new keyboard in the mail for free.

Cheers,

Gary cool
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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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#372930 - 10/13/13 01:31 PM Re: Yamaha is not supporting Audio styles on PSR-S950 [Re: Beakybird]
Bernie9 Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 09/21/02
Posts: 5507
Loc: Port Charlotte,FL,USA
I feel the same way. I have had my S910 for a few months now and am thrilled with it without audio files. In my case, I have all the real band realism with my Audya, and wanted something to give me a bit more laid back sound. This is it.
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pa4X 76 ,SX900, Audya 76,Yamaha S970 , vArranger, Hammond SK1, Ketron SD40, Centerpoint Space Station, Bose compact

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#372969 - 10/14/13 11:51 AM Re: Yamaha is not supporting Audio styles on PSR-S950 [Re: Beakybird]
Diki Offline


Registered: 04/25/05
Posts: 14182
Loc: NW Florida
Thing is, the money Yamaha have wasted on this boondoggle causes them to fall further and further behind when it comes to drum realism.

The T5 will definitely show what Yamaha are thinking... If there are a bunch of really good new KITS, that can be used on any legacy style, then they will have woken up to reality. If they waste their time adding the audio drums to the Tyros line, and don't make a major addition of new, punchy kits, we will know they really don't care.

Admittedly, there seems to be quite a market for insipid sounding percussion, given their sales numbers, but adding a bunch of punchier kits, that you could substitute for the usual flaccid ones would show they are interested in taking a chunk out of Korg and Roland's sales. Currently, it appears they just don't even want to compete.

Maybe they have the market nailed? From listening to user demo after user demo that mixes the drums so far back, it is darn near impossible to tell WHAT they sound like, perhaps Yamaha have simply decided to eschew realism, and go for the 'more me' crowd, and concentrate on the RH sounds..? LOL
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An arranger is just a tool. What matters is what you build with it..!

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#372970 - 10/14/13 12:03 PM Re: Yamaha is not supporting Audio styles on PSR-S950 [Re: Bernie9]
ianmcnll Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 07/27/05
Posts: 10606
Loc: Cape Breton Island, Canada
Originally Posted By: Bernie9
I feel the same way. I have had my S910 for a few months now and am thrilled with it without audio files. In my case, I have all the real band realism with my Audya, and wanted something to give me a bit more laid back sound. This is it.


I like the smooth, detailed "laid back" sound too, Bernie, and this type of sound is ideal for doing my recordings as well as live play.

I've been doing some made-to-order CD recordings for some friends and I'm getting excellent results with my Tyros4.

If I want punchier, I can always get what I'm looking for using the filter/eq/effects on the percussion tracks.

I liked the S910 as well...having those on-board speakers was especially handy, and it has excellent SA voice choices.

The Audya has a sound all it's own...definitely more "live" sounding than any other arranger available today.

It's nice that each manufacturer has stuck with it's signature sound...having that choice is a good thing.

Ian
_________________________
Yamaha Tyros4, Yamaha MS-60S Powered Monitors(2), Yamaha CS-01, Yamaha TQ-5, Yamaha PSR-S775.

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#372974 - 10/14/13 12:31 PM Re: Yamaha is not supporting Audio styles on PSR-S950 [Re: Beakybird]
DannyUK Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 12/09/99
Posts: 1130
There might be a few reasons why Yamaha haven't released any audio styles yet. It could be that they're waiting to release the T5 so that there'd be more of a demand for audio styles as opposed to those who just own a S950, especially if a lot of people are going to trade in their existing instrument for a T5.

It could also be that Yamaha realises that by releasing them singularly as per the premium styles would cost a lot so they'd rather do them in packs? I know I wouldn't pay £20 per style, no way.

Or maybe they've dropped the audio route altogether?

It might be none of the above!

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#372975 - 10/14/13 12:36 PM Re: Yamaha is not supporting Audio styles on PSR-S950 [Re: Beakybird]
Diki Offline


Registered: 04/25/05
Posts: 14182
Loc: NW Florida
Thing is, Ian, Yamaha don't have to DROP the older kits to put new ones in. If much of Yamaha's current clientèle actually WANT the old, washed out sound, it would make little sense to do that.

But ADDING in newer kits (like they already did with a couple on the newer Yamaha's) simply opens up the door to the many here that won't look twice at a Yamaha because of the insipid drum sound.

Audio styles need to either go the whole hog, like Ketron have, or just not bother at all. I think Yamaha are starting to realize the expense of the feature. It's not like hundreds of new audio styles have magically appeared for sale (lot more expensive to hire a great drummer and a studio full of expensive mikes to capture a great drum track than to farm it out to some style creator with a T4 in his bedroom!), and that's the only way the feature was ever going to take off...

It seems strange to have incorporated the ability to load in some more audio tracks, then fail to support it in any meaningful way. But this is Yamaha's modus operandi, overall. Employ a proprietary format for samplers and other audio features, make sure the user can't make their own, then dole out new sounds and grooves miserly, and expensively.

The features sure SEEM like a good idea when you are buying one, but if you dig deeper into how poorly Yamaha have supported their own proprietary formats, you realize what a waste of time they are. If Yamaha were serious about allowing their users to utilize these new capabilities, they would open them up to common formats and allow the user to create their OWN styles and sample sets. What's the POINT of a 2GB sample size for the T4 sampler, when so little is available for it? I wouldn't be surprised if all the official Yamaha soundsets for T4 combined didn't even fill that up!

In the end, capability is only as good as available CONTENT...
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An arranger is just a tool. What matters is what you build with it..!

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#372977 - 10/14/13 01:21 PM Re: Yamaha is not supporting Audio styles on PSR-S950 [Re: Beakybird]
ianmcnll Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 07/27/05
Posts: 10606
Loc: Cape Breton Island, Canada
Diki, what I may say about what they might add, don't add, or need to add, would be simply after the fact. It's pretty obvious the Tyros5 is mainly finished and it will have what it will have. All your rhetoric is not going to change it now...not one iota.

I tend to keep things very simple and basic. These days, all I need be concerned with is getting the arranger that sounds and performs to suit my way of playing. The Tyros4 has proved perfect for my needs, so it's a keeper.

When the Tyros5 comes out, it will either be a phenomenal success, like the Tyros4, or perhaps less so...time will tell. I seriously doubt if I will buy one. I'm done buying for, hopefully, quite some time.

Also, I tend to take other people's opinions of how an arranger sounds, not as fact (as some here feel they are), but simply for what they really are....just opinions.

Ian

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Yamaha Tyros4, Yamaha MS-60S Powered Monitors(2), Yamaha CS-01, Yamaha TQ-5, Yamaha PSR-S775.

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