I was in Koln today (Germany) in the biggest musik store of all europe that i tend to visit twice a year...

I played many wondefull instruments today, in the 6 hours of my visit

Korg pa4x
Korg Havian 30
Psr S970
Kawai ES8 and mp 7
Yamaha reface
kurzweil Forte
Roland JD-XA
prophet 6
Ni komplese Kontrol S61
Ketron MidJpro
Nord C2d, elekro5, lead4 and stage 2ex
Casio px-560s
Casio celviano hybrid
Roland hp605
Yamaha cvp-709
Wersi Sonic

All in all, i had a wonderfull day... Just playing all hese instrumens, some for a few minutes, others for a longer time...


And to top the day off, i bumped into Michel Voncken who was helping out at musik store in the pre christmass sales...
Just had a small talk with him about future Yamaha products... All he could tell is that yamaha will be slowing down their schedule of releasing new instruments less often... Which means that the tyros 5 will be around for atleast 2 more years..

I could not get any actuall information from hime (offcourse not) about actuall planned releases and new features...

6 hrs and no pictures/videos of you and Michele???....lol..
I figured that as well no surprise there with what Michele said........like I said these new arrangers sound so great that there's not much they can improve sound and style wise,......
adding some features here and there to improve navigation in future models less often makes sense.
I also think Yamaha shot themselves in the foot releasing this fantastic new S970, many players will be happy not buying a Tyros at twice the price when they can enjoy what the S970 offers at less the cost.Eventually I think the two TOTL/MOTL units will come closer together as only ONE UNIT at a price range in the middle and they will sell a ton of them for sure..

What did you think of the Casio px-560s?

I played the 560 2 mo ago and for the price it sounds good but I just was not blown away like some have said it just ok in my oppinion .

I am sorry, i never Post Pictures...

And as great as the S970 is, it still misses the major features why i love the Tyros5 so much...

- ensemble voices
- organ world
- sa2 voices
- 76 keys, of much better quallity then the psr series
- 2 GB flash expansion memmory

Great instrument.. For piano's and bandwork.. The touchscreen works very intuitive..
The styles however are below what we are used to from Yamaha, korg roland and ketron

The keybed quite good in that price range,..

that's why it's so subjective,...all the things you mentions above don't interest me at all or would I ever have the need to use them for MY needs, we are all different,...go figure,.. and enjoy what you use.

You are right Donny. As I come from an organ background, I find the organ world and ensemble features quite interesting, but I wouldn't pay the price and lug it around.

As I recall, the Tyros won't fit in a 61-note bag, or on a similar size stand.

Neither does my 88 key kronos..

Yet still, its a perfect combination, for my home..

Since the subject was brought up. Here's what we use for our Tyros 4

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/GKB76

Backus, a question...

You said..

And to top the day off, i bumped into Michel Voncken who was helping out at musik store in the pre christmass sales...
Just had a small talk with him about future Yamaha products... All he could tell is that yamaha will be slowing down their schedule of releasing new instruments less often... Which means that the tyros 5 will be around for atleast 2 more years..

So, no Tyros 6 or whatever it's called until 2018 or so?

probably end of 2017... pushing the time between releases from 3 to 4 years...

Its what we allready saw with the Motif range, the XF been around now for over 5 years... so it would be in line with that...


Tough, it could also be the answer comming from a salesman... Knowing if he tells everyone next year there will be a new Tyros, they will not sell any of those 5´s unless they are on a huge rabat..


In the end, i dont care that much, as i am still very happy with my Tyros 5, tough a module or an 88 key version of the T5 would push my GAS...

How about posting some impressions of the products you tried. (Doesn't have to be in depth)

Bill

[video:youtube]https://news.musicstore.de/keyboards-vid...sch-3821?lang=5[/video]

Okay, just a quick overview..

Korg pa4x
- impressive sound, nice keybed, on par with Tyors 5. Better in some parts, like piano's, interface, pro options and edditing, buildquallity, drums(superb engine) styles.. Yet yamaha performs better in effects, guitars, brass, winds, organs, ensemble voices and pads..

Korg Havian 30
- okay keyfeel, but for those people that want above average styles in a portable piano, this is your only serious option..

Psr S970
- i played with the deejay styles and the knobs and the arpeggiator.. I love how Yamaha i plemented this ( tough miss a true chordsequencer, to record your own chordprogression) and i cant wayt to see this in the next itteration of Tyros... A great instrument and the only true weakness i could find is the keyfeel, just dont like it, i never did like the keys of the psr series.. But if you are okay with them, there is no better instrument..

Kawai ES8 and mp 7
- great piano's i prefer the es8's keys.. But the controllsurface of the MP7 as a midi controller beats it in every other way and it still has topknotch keybed..

Yamaha reface
- i had some time with all 4 of them, and loved the sounds and the realtime controll yet the mini keys will never accustome to my fingers..

kurzweil Forte
- loved to play this, okay keyfeel, but great piano sounds, very nice controll interface, would make a good master keyboard

Roland JD-XA
- dissapointment, plastic feel and the sound did not convince me, played a porphet 6 before this and some Nords lead4 after it, and they sounded way better over my headset..


prophet 6
- Analogue at its best, fat warm sounds, bloody nice to controll in realtime, brings back those jean michelle jarre and vangellis moments..


Ni komplese Kontrol S61 and Akai advance
- both are very very nice for controlling VSt's in realtime, yet continous loading times when playing with VSts is ruining my fun with them more and more..

Ketron MidJpro
- very very good styles, this was connected to a Nord Stage 2ex and i spend quite some time withnthese 2... A very very nice combination, that would fit any lounge player.. Perfect for restaurant gigs and such

Nord C2d, elekro5, lead4 and stage 2ex
- i am totally in love with the direct controll scheme of the Nord instruments, just so great for jamming away on them.. Great Organs, Great piano's and some very nice synths and samples to become that stage beast... I hope a future Nord stage 3 (2017) will have the Nord lead 4 synth and real drawbars.. But in the end, the nord stage is sitting there as one of a kind with no real competition when it comes to diversity and realtime comtroll


Casio px-560s and px-5s
- the homeversion of the px-5s, okay keys, okay piano's, nice sounds, beatifull touchscreen, and fun to play.. But below average styles... If the px5s wasnt so uggly, it would however allways be the choice for a pro player, as it has an incredible arpeggiator.. Which adds much more then the simple implementation of arranger styles in the 560


Casio celviano hybrid, Roland hp605, yamaha avantgrand N2
- 3 hybrid piano's loved the action of the avantgrand most when comparing them to a real piano, but the Roland action was surprisingly versatile and combined with its sound(i am a sucker for Rolands piano sounds) it would have been my choice of the 3, espescially when you compare its price to the avantgrand.. cAsio was a little behind, both in keyfeel as in sound .. Yet as allways that is a personall opinion.

Yamaha cvp-709
-just so much fun... But still a shame they didnt add the organs, multipads, ensemble voices and aftertouch of the tyros 5.. The touchscreen interface blows away the tyros 5 in userfriendlyness.. Its done really really good.

Wersi Sonic
-still the instrument of the future, a blast to play, yet my combination of Tyros5 and Kronos88 offers more at only half the price...


I had so much fun playing for hours with all thes instruments, makes you feel like a little boy in a toystore. bUt In the end, i have come to the conclusion that my own combination of korg kronos88/tyros5 is still the best for me.. However, a synthesizer with real knobs and controll like the Nords also is a toy i would love to play with at the home..

If i had have to buy a single product at the musik store, it would have been a Nord lead rack 4..

Nice roundup

As to VST then I see where you are coming from, fortunately most allow you to pre-load the sounds you want on program start-up, so not the pain it used to be if you just want to sit down and play.

Bill

Thanks for the helpful overview.