A thread to gather all comments in one place.

From the Yamaha website demos: here are my first thoughts

Audio Styles

OK but no Audya or good Midi style beater, plus with a limited number on-board a bit of a waste of space.

DSP

WOW Yamaha has really come on in leaps and bounds in this department, and while not up to pro level other arranger manufactures will have to up there game pretty sharpish to compete.

Ensemble Voices

What a disappointment, as there is nothing in them that hasn’t been available on other keyboards for ages. (I was really expecting something special in this department)

Organs

Pipe: Lacks the majesty required for a good pipe organ sample
Euro: nothing like any Euro organ I have ever heard
Home: I think it is supposed to be a Lowrey but not sure on this one
Theatre: has the makings of a good sound but needs a lot more work at present
Vintage: if I knew what it was supposed to be I might be able to comment, but boy does it need some work

Overall not bad, but nothing particularly ground breaking (Except possibly the DSP) however the 76 note option is a positive move, but as neither appears to have a touch screen (you could still keep the buttons) this omission is quite frankly diabolical in this day and age.

Still plenty more demos to come no doubt so there is still time to impress, plus I never make a final judgement until I have tried it myself.

Bill

Twirly for me to make a final judgement.

I will say, I've more than liked what I've heard so far, especially the Ensemble Voices and the guitars (and effects).

And, I'm pleased they kept the excellent FSX keyboard for both models, and that they also continued using the already great screen and basic panel layout.

Martin Harris's playing is excellent, as usual, and, he knows the instrument probably better than anyone.

More demos, please.

Ian

There is still nothing about any new drum kits.Has it been improved? ?
I do like dsp and guitars a lot.Why not doing the same for drums?? Different mic positions, different mics, ambience. ....The way vst are doing it.What about expansions?? How many can you install? ?? I know you can have 1gig of ram , but will it work for expandions too???

I must say on first impressions it does sound noticeably different from the Tyros 4.

I am so glad they have finally added DIFFERENT Nylon / classical guitar samples... (we now have a Spanish Guitar!!! AND the Flamenco has much more character than before).

I hated how the previous Tyros models had a Flamenco Guitar, Nylon Guitar, Concert Guitar and about 4 others which were all the SAME SOUND but just behaved differently.. marketing fluff perhaps?

Regarding the Audio Styles - I have a PSR S950 and the Audio styles are great. They definitely are a stand out! but i still think the bass voices fall short in the mix with the audio drums... as in - you CAN pick the difference in the clarity and ambiance of the audio drums and the on-board bass voices from the mix. Its very hard to tell by listening to the demos online.. but i am hoping the bass sounds on the T5 are a drastic improvement...

I was also hoping they were going to use the exact same sampling quality / sound engine from the motif XS/XF series ("AWM2" on the Motif as opposed to just "AWM" on the T5)... its really all they need to do... for some reason they continue to avoid it and go down different avenues such as the Audio drums...

Regarding the screen.. touch screen or not - really makes no difference. Ive had the Korg PA3X which works well with a touch screen. But I still keep going back to the Yamaha screen with the 8 channel part mute / solo buttons below the screen. it works much quicker and is more reliable...

so many times during live play on the Korg I miss timed my channel mutes because the touch screen wasn't sensitive enough or i missed the touch point that it would recognize... So i really have no complaints on the Tyros screen. I wouldn't demand a change for it at all.

As Ian said above, I do like what I hear, and keen to keep seeing more demos come up... I cant wait to try one in the flesh!

In the meantime I'm loving my PSR S950

Nick

The DSP section is exactly te same as the s950, except they added graphics. The T5, is just a fancier s950.

Who cares about OTB online DEMOS?.......it's what you can do via editing as a musician when you actually own a Tyros 5 that matters and YOU make it your own sound,....after all thats what all the features inside the KB are for ..

Bill, pretty much my same first thoughts..I did think the demos were great..

My main observation is too obvious but significant. It's that Tyros now has a 76 key version which I had been waiting for, for close to 4 years. I would have been happy with a Tyros 4 76 if it were available at the time that I considered a Tyros. But, now that the new T5 76 has even more features, it's all good, and a big bonus to me. Based on my style of playing, the 76 is the tipping point that got me to order it at this time. The extra sonic features beyond that are fully appreciated as well.

A few of my observations (from demos): - just on the Organ World part:

Pipe (concert?) organs - a big improvement, looking forward to playing those over a good sound system. Having those plus the pipe organs from the past (T4, T3, etc.) will make for plenty of variation.

Theatre organs - also a good improvement. I thought the theatre organs in the T4/T3/CVP-609 were mostly "aweful" [and I don't mean that I was full of awe! :-)] Too much trems, and too harsh-sounding. These on the T5 soudn like a nice improvement - perhaps not GREAT but decent and probably usable for those who like and play the T.O. sound/style.

(caveat: I have a Hauptwerk-based virtual organ setup at home, and that with the incredible sample sets available for it, is another whole world compared to T5 organs, but T5 organs sounds like a nice improvement)

Vintage (Hammond/Drawbar): They sound about the same as my Tyros3 "organ flutes". I never felt that Yamaha had great drawbar emulation; it's good enough to be passable/usable, but so many software and hardware "clonewheel" organs do it so much better. Tyros drawbars seem to lack the "bite" and "lusciousness" of a really good B3 or B3 clone. And I wonder why Yamaha has "Vibrato 1,2,3" but never has added "Chorus 1,2,3", which I feel is essential to the Hammond sound.

Home and Euro - I don't know enough about those to make any significant observations or comments.

[Hoping to see my Tyros 5 arrive by mid-Decemter!]

Jim

There were strong rumors of the Tyros4 Special Edition being made with 76 notes instead of 61.

But, the plans obviously changed, for reasons we will never know, but overall, I agree that the Tyros5-76's extra features, both sonic and functional over the Tyros4, will be very much appreciated and exploited.

Ian