It appears you own one.

Your thoughts?

I'm interested as you seem to gig regularly and have experience with a broad variety of keyboards.

Thoughts?

Well, it is the right size and weight. I think it sounds better than previous PSR models.
Love the guitars and piano (that may cause some eyebrows to raise).
Drums are finally coming around although I still am changing kits on a lot of styles.
Some Audio styles are very nice, some useless to me, but that is true of all styles I guess.
The vocal processor is very good, new effects help a lot. Vocal harmony not changed. There is still a little glitch when you engage it while singing a note, but not as bad as the older PSRs.
I've started using Harmony M, partly because it sounds better, but also because it frees up a pedal to assign to something else. I like one pedal for vh, one for sustain and another for break/fill.
I like the soft, lightening-fast key touch. Piano players won't like it.
I would prefer joystick to wheel, but that's o.k.
I prefer Korg Songbook, but Registrations work fine. I don't use Music Finder.
I have not been able to get my PC to "see" the keyboard, so just take out the USB stick to transfer stuff. With Ketron SD7 you just plug it in and push a button and it shows up as a drive on the PC.
I use one of the assignable knobs for balance between lead voice and style. The other two brands have dedicated sliders for that. I use the other assignable knob for muting style parts. Other brands have sliders for that too. PSR has virtual sliders, but you have to be on the right menu page.
It is nice to be able to easily audition styles from USB. Neither Ketron nor Korg does this, though the new PA4X is supposed to, to an extent.
The recording features are very nice, though I only used them once to try it. I prefer external recorder.
One badly needed feature is a Start-up file, where all your preferences are remembered when you turn the kb on. Yes, you can make a registration for that, but it is less than perfect and involves a lot of setting up what is saved, what is changed, etc., when you call up more registrations. In other word if you have the startup registration load your VH and/or pedal preferences (or a lot of other things), you must have all the other regs save them too. Not ideal.
SD7 Registrations remember everything automatically, then you tell it what to recall when called up. Much better system. Korg works pretty much the same way, although implemented differently.
The new large screen is very nice, and text files are plenty large enough to read. I do prefer the touch screens of the Ketron and Korg, but I can work just fine with the buttons.

In case you're interested, this is how I ended up with S970:
I ordered the SD7, and sold my PA900 to clear the deck for it. When the SD7 arrived, it was not ready for prime time, and I couldn't depend on it to do what I needed on the job, so in desperation I ordered a slightly used PA3X from Audioworks. About a week later the PA4x was announced. I wanted to return the 3x to Frank for credit on a 4X, but was told he could buy new ones for way less now. I lost about a thousand dollars in value almost overnight.
I tried to return the SD7 to AJ, but was told that wasn't possible.
Finally got upgrade, after five months, that at last made the SD7 suitable for use, but I had lost all confidence in the product and had had my fill. I found a buyer for the SD7, fairly easily, and I'm glad because I would have pursued other remedies if necessary.
Then I had someone interested in buying the PA3X.
Still had my sights on a PA4X, but they are very hard to get, and I no longer will be a beta tester, so I decided to proceed with my sale of the 3X while used ones still have some value. I knew if I bought a PSR, I could just plug in my USB drive from the 950, tweak a little and use it, so that's what I did. Frank didn't have one in stock so I ordered one from Sweetwater. They gave me a slighter better price, plus two-year interest-free financing, plus 60-day no questions-asked return privilege. I got it shipped free and received it in two days.
Meanwhile, the buyer for the PA3X changed his mind, so now I still have it and the S970. As I said the SD7 is sold and partially paid for, but I won't ship it until I receive the balance, probably next week. So all three still reside in my office temporarily.
I will use the S970 through the holidays; I have tons of Christmas stuff already set up from last year. Then I will evaluate whether I still want a 4X or will continue using the S970. Either way, I'll probably keep it for a backup, assuming the 3X sells. Occasionally I have situations where I need two complete setups the same day, and just a couple of these situations will pay for an S970, so I do like to keep two arrangers. Plus it is good to have a backup in place (witness the SD7 experience).
The PA3x is still a wonderful arranger, and I wouldn't have a problem continuing to use it, or in fact any of the later generation arrangers. I'm not even certain the 4X is worth making the upgrade. They all sound fantastic and to me it's just a matter of what features you want, and what best suits your style.

Don, my setup registration, which has been downloaded thousands of times, is quite simple to make. Just press the registration memory button and when the registration contents page opens, I unchecked everything other than Mic and Pedal. I then set both parameters the way I wanted them, saved the registration and named it Setup2.

Next, I went back into the registration contents page and unchecked Mic and Pedal, then placed check-marks in all the other boxes that I would normally need for my registrations, style, tempo, harmony, transpose, etc... Now, when I create a new registration, the new registration has absolutely no effect on my mic and pedal settings.

So, when I first turn on the keyboard, I go into the Parameter Lock section and make sure the mic/vocal harmony box is unchecked, then select my setup2 registration, followed by placing a check in the Parameter Lock Mic/Vocal harmony box. That takes about 2 seconds to accomplish, and from that point on I'm good for the night. Not a perfect system, but still quick and easy to use.

Works for me,

Gary

That's the way I do it,but it would be so simple for Yamaha to make it much easier.

Thanks for the review Don.

Lots of good info.

Don great choice S970....
good luck... Nice review.

Don if you get a chance post some pics of the Text File lyrics on the new S970 Display...

Don this is why I still have my T4 and my T5 as well I use them both a lot if you are a working music man you need 2 Keyboards I leave one at the Mission inn and one in my car for all the out side gigs Damm I need one more for pratice

Our largest music store chain in Canada's largest store is located in downtown Toronto. I plan to buy a PSR S770 brand new tomorrow morning. They will order me a brand new one which will arrive in one (1) month. I'll continue using the one I'm renting until then. Thanks to George K. in the San Fernando Valley for pointing me towards the S670 initially. I like the bigger screen;
more on board styles;
and the SA organ sounds (with variable Leslie effect). This particular thread convinced me to buy a Yamaha when I read how the downloaded USB styles can be read directly from the USB stick itself by the instrument. I didn't realize other brands don't.
That was the final piece.
In addition,
have been pounding the 770's keys during my "evaluation" period with all of my might; they are DURABLE / UNBREAKABLE KEYS. I've been crushing the rental 770 keys as hard as I can hit them . . .
and "wow" they sure passed the test.
Thanks again for sharing so much good info gentlemen.
Please let me know: Am I overlooking any final considerations?

Warning, if you continue punishing the keys long term, you will have problems. Guaranteed.