I won't complain but I will critique the new Tyros 5.

The 76 key version is a bonus but the price tags are still astronomical and obviously it will prevent the majority of the world's population from owning one. The street prices will be $5,299 and $5,499 respectively. The new brass ensembles are excellent and the string quartet is stunning. The guitar sounds are the best on the market although I'm not sure the new amp simulations add all that much to the overall sound. I'll have to play one in person before I make a final determination.

I think Yamaha missed a great opportunity to increase the polyphony but instead chose a "business as usual" strategy for what is now an outdated polyphony standard. I'm telling you straight up that today's multifaceted arrangers need more polyphony in order to prevent note drop-off and 128 polyphony is no longer sufficient in my opinion. For instance, you can easily approach the 256 note threshold if you utilize all the different features and functions such as styles, multi-pads, voices - R1, R2, R3, LH, sustain pedal, two-hand playing, and other various polyphony robbing features such as midi files playing in conjunction with everything else. Yes there are algorithms to reduce the infamous note drop-off occurrences from happening but that doesn't prevent note drop off entirely once you exceed the maximum limit. And don't tell me it's too expensive or complicated for Yamaha to double the polyphony. As an example, Casio recently released the Privia PX-5S that costs $999 (street price) and it has 256 note polyphony. I think it's really a case of laziness where Yamaha and other manufacturers simply don't want to spend the time or the money (R&D) in order to take their keyboards to the next level. That means the customer is left holding the bag when his $6,000 (after taxes) Tyros 5 drops notes in the middle of a live stage performance all because Yamaha failed to give it sufficient polyphony at the factory. Remember, I'm not complaining, I'm critiquing.

There are many things I like about the Tyros 5 besides the excellent voices. They're both fairly light weight and the new design is a real winner in my opinion. The added benefit of non-volatile flash memory is a bonus although the Tyros 4 also has that feature. Multi-recording is a brand new feature that looks intriguing and should assist in 'on the fly' composing, albeit, there seems to be little to no information regarding the use of that new feature - in .aud format. No Sampler obviously and the internal memory is also very limited. From what I understand the 512MB and/or 1GB flash memory cards are rather expensive but they are likely a must have accessory. Which amounts to a further expense for an already really expensive arranger keyboard. I hear the sheik of Arabia has pre-ordered the 61 key version. He couldn't quite afford the 76 key version unfortunately though. Just kidding.

Here is my conclusion. If Yammie had given the Tyros 5 256 note polyphony I probably would have purchased the 76 key version, all things considered. With no Sampler or micro-editing capability (and only 128 note polyphony and once again very limited internal memory - sans the flash memory card) the $6,000 price tag (after taxes) seems hard to justify. If you have a Tyros 4 I see no reason to upgrade unless you simply want the latest greatest offering from Yamaha. The 76 key version will likely spike interest and may yield additional sales for Yamaha but the extremely high cost will likely dissuade many more people than it would otherwise attract unfortunately. Although luxury goods continue to sell at a brisk rate even in a struggling world economy. But for six grand you would expect it to have a Sampler as well as micro-editing capability and more polyphony and also better B3 organs. You would also be wrong unfortunately because the Tyros 5 lacks in all of those areas. And therein lies the conundrum for a lot of people. Including me and DonM. In other words, is it really worth the $6,000 (after tax) price tag? I would like to believe it is but then reality creeps in and paints a somewhat different picture. To each his own I suppose. Most of the sounds seem to be fabulous and that alone may be worth the price of admission for a lot of people. The audio styles are a step in the right direction and the drums within the audio styles have really improved things. Hopefully the standard drum kits have also improved but the jury is still out on that one.

All in all I give the Tyros 5 two thumbs up but the ultra high price tag(s) will be a deal breaker for a lot of people. Yamaha will probably still sell a boat load of them regardless of the high price tags. Time will tell if it's truly a winner. Judging from the videos I think it will be although I've been wrong before. Again, time will tell. The sounds put it over the top but the high cost is truly a sticking point. You can't have your cake and eat it too which is a real shame. If Yamaha introduced it at, let's say, $3,995 they would have greatly increased the overall sales and more people would have had the pleasure of playing a top notch arranger keyboard. I guess that's asking too much which is truly unfortunate. Oh well.

All the best, Mike

Thanks Mike,

I think you are spot on in your even handed critique. I have the opportunity of playing a T5 next Tuesday, but as I said anything over 5K is deff a breaking point for me, which means I'll prob go for a Korg PA3X at a greatly reduced cost and more of a workstation for the money. Which will be a shame because to date I have owned all of the Tyros models, and for the life of me after selling my T4 and getting a fab Audya, I like you don't understand the baby steps on the T5, and feel that along with the real cost up many dollars, Yamaha have missed a real opportunity to get a great number of new players into the Tyros market.

Why did you not choose PA3x ( size/more features)and prefer Tyros?What made you choose Tyros despite it's problems?

Not much more I would ask for after seeing and hearing the demos at this point, how much better can it really get?
but, I'm hoping for an Anniversary BLACK T5...61 model down the road,.....although the darker grey is nice,....
Black is MY personal color preference with KB's.

Jamman, it's bc I've been using Tyros since the first one, when Korgs were still being built like tanks. Also Tyros does have many advantages over korg (and vice versa). Most importantly, I have so many styles and samples that I've programmed for Yamaha so it's hard for me to just change companies. But if Yamaha has indeed dropped the voice creator and sample editor, and I cannot import my T4 creations, I'm done.

You must not have read the replies to your own post. There are a LOT of things that could be done better.
DonM

common Don you know its all about the player NOT the Kb dont you...

You've got to be joking. Unless you're living under a rock give any great VST a listen and you'll see Tyros 5 is not in the running. When the T5 approaches the VST in sound quality, then perhaps they'll have one aspect covered. After that they can add these features.


Minimum 40GB of sound ROM. At least 10GB of that dedicated to one awesome multi sampled multi layered grand piano.

15" or larger Touch screen.

24 fully assignable audio inputs and outputs both analog and digital.

More real time knobs and sliders.

Dual XLR microphone inputs with phantom power and dedicated high end preamp.

Goosneck lamp sockets.

Dedicated multi FX for each channel of audio or MIDI recording.

Dedicated Master FX section for Mastering that does not share the same processor/motherboard.

Use of real time controls and sliders for adjusting FX parameters and recording real time manipulation of the FX.

Full synthesizer/voice editing with real time controls.

Dedicated analog filters for synthesizer section, audio recording, and Master FX.

Audio input that routes into the synth section for real time manipulation of filters, LFO, FX, and more.

192k Sampling with full editing and import file support.

Direct resampling with various sample rates.

Minimum 64 track sequencer with full editing capabilities.

Minimum 24 track audio recording with full editing features.

Ability to import and export all common audio formats.

Ability to convert any audio format to another format.

192k AD/DA. Hell even 96k would be a good start.

Ability to record, edit, and save audio files and styles.

Ability to stream audio directly from SSD or hard drive.

Expansive internal audio and MIDI mixer with intuitive use of both touch screen and real time controls.

Ability to sync to any format for scoring to film.

About the only features the Tyros 5 did implement that I saw as an improvement were 76 keys, ensemble feature, and the audio and MP3 file playback. Without dedicated editing features and looping the audio record feature is castrated making it moot. Great job Yamaha at adding what could have been a useful feature and making it worthless.

$30G to spare, then?

Haha. Yes with all that stuff out would Be $10000plus