I agree wholeheartedly, Squeak. Having been the proverbial "fly on wall" for more years than I want to admit to, as a clinician/demonstrator, I often wondered why some people upgraded.

The players I was able to do style creating clinics with, tended to hold on to their arrangers far longer than those who just played what was there, or added a few Premium styles.

I was also lucky enough to spend some serious quality time with each new arranger, and in most cases, I didn't even have to crack the manual, as the OS system was basically the same.

I always suggest that players dig into the style creator, and/or the Voice Editing software...it requires a bit of time, but the results are well worth it, and the player is using a larger percentage of his/her expensive arranger.

Let's face it, styles are the heart and soul of the arranger keyboard and even if someone did trade up, they would still be able to carry along the style/voice editing skills into the new instrument, as these tools are basically the same, with a few enhancements at the most. Plus they could still use their created styles from the older instrument, perhaps even enhancing them with the newer sounds, or parts from the new on-board styles.

After hearing your excellent piano piece on the PSR-S700, and some of the fine work by fellow SZ'er, Telmo, it should be apparent to more than a few, that tweaking and editing pays off big time.

My nearly two year old Tyros4 will carry me along for quite a few years yet...and, I truly feel, it was money well invested.

Ian

I am loving this feeding frenzy! I am seeing the opinions I expect to see here. Nobody is going to sugarcoat their comments here..........

I am not a pro.......I AM that "home buyer" Yamaha is targeting. I like finding demo's played by non-professionals. That way I know I have a chance of duplicating what I hear and see. Tyros 5 will be in stores this week and I value those here that can offer their reviews.

Maybe my thinking is flawed but someone like me who knows their way around an arranger can make their limited playing skills sound better. I can sit down at an organ or piano and sound like a child........but I can rock and roll on a Tyros!

One thing that I see repeated every time a new model appears is that the first thing people ask is "can I use all my old settings?"
Seems they want to be sure they can make it sound exactly like the previous model!
DonM

In some ways that makes sense, Don. They want a good starting off point, and don't want to be bothered doing all kinds of work, especially if it needs to be ready for a gig (or they are just too darn impatient).

I used to take a basic set of Registrations for each model with me when I did store demos.

However, I think it is such a waste of the instrument never to at least try and do some basic editing.

Quite a few people never go beyond playing the on-board styles and the relevant OTS.

I still do some private tutorials here in Cape Breton with those who want to learn their Yamaha instruments more thoroughly, and, as I said, they really do tend to hang on to the instrument at least a little more than those I described above.

Ian

I used all my old registrations and MFD files, however, in the process of transitioning up from the PSR-3000 to the S-950, the new keyboard automatically selected all new styles and the difference was dramatic. Those songs definitely did NOT sound the same, including God Bless America. In some instances the changes were too dramatic, and I had to revert to a different style to get the song closer to the original, which is what I strive to achieve most of the time.

From my perspective, a statement made to me by Deane Peters several months ago "The S-950 sounds like the 3000 on steroids." He was right on the money. I'm glad I waited a decade to upgrade, and I just wish I was younger so I could perform for another decade. Unfortunately, that's not likely.

Cheers,

Gary

I'm the same way Ian. Just yesterday I was doing some recording on my S-700. The style I used just wasn't quite there, and it took me very little time to actually get it to where I needed it. I was able to do all this because (even my 2008 model) has all the tools to do this already built in. I didn't have to search for a style on the web, nor did I feel that the next model up is probably what I should have to do this.

I didn't like the preset drum kit.., so I changed to one I like. Didn't like the default snare.., so I edited the style, removed that snare, and added the better one (from the same kit). I didn't think the acoustic piano part really fit.., so I took it out, and added my own EP part. I didn't feel the guitar part really captured what I was after so BAM! I just picked a guitar part from a COMPLETELY different style all together. The ability alone to mix and match various parts from the styles opens up so many possibilities.

I was able to make all of these changes in a matter of minutes from within my CURRENT arranger. No searching for styles via the net, no wishing it had this or that feature.., because the tools are already there (and have been in Yamaha's arrangers for some time now).

It wasn't hard either. You and I (and a few others here) are of the minority. We tend to hang on to keyboards longer because we actually explore and utilize the deep editing features these arrangers have today. Goodness.., just look back to when the PSR-740 was all the talk on the Zone. Look how much has changed in terms of EDITING and USER CREATION TOOLS since that unit.., and A LOT of Zoners had that 740 and swore by it. Yamaha has given us so many useful and MUCH NEEDED customizing tools since that model, yet few players are barely touching them.