Can you load a single style isolated from an expansion pack alone like any other style? without loading the entire expansion pack...which takes up sooooo much memory?......

thank you

No, you cannot.

You can use the .Net program StyleExtractor written by jexino to extract the styles from the .ppf / .ppi files on your Windows computer:
StyleExtractor thread on PSR Tutorial site

Then you can just copy the styles on to your USB flash drive, and play these styles on your PSR-S970 without installing the expansion packs.

Each expansion pack may come with specific voices / sounds without which the styles may not sound properly. You can install expansion packs one at a time to see if you like any of the styles, mark the sounds / styles you like. Then you can use YEM (Yamaha Expansion Manager) to check and include the ones that you like to generate the final installation pack file in order to fit as much as possible the stuff that you like in to the expansion flash memory.

Thanks,
Paul

Paul thanx for the great info and explanation on this...appreciated.

I tried the program but it only extracted a "voice file" of the pack?? not the styles?..

Hello Guys

Like Paul indicated, most of the Expansion packs have been design to sound as authentic as possible with the proper voices/sounds, so, if you extract the style only, most likely that will NOT sound as it was intended.
Also, defeats the purpose to sound acurate. My advice is to load the Expansion pack and use it as it was designed to perform.
Most people are not aware of all the details that go on the planning and design of this expansion packs....
I know first hand, because I am part of the team that makes some of this expansion packs and in most cases, takes several months to make one pack.

My 2 Cents

Manuel

my problem is that the expansion packs take up way too much RAM memory and alter my Kb set up..and the loading and removal of the packs is much to time consuming vs just styles etc..

Hi Donny,

Can you explain how the installation of expansion packs alter your keyboard setup? Did you make your own personal expansion pack through Yamaha Expansion Manager to include all your favorable sounds and styles and install them into the expansion flash area of your PSR-S970?

As far as I know, all the sounds, styles, registrations, multipads, etc. can be stored in your USB flash drive of your PSR-S970. Your keyboard setup should involve only the USB drive, not the expansion flash unless you have some previously purchased expansion packs that you use for your gigs. There should be no conflicts between using your USB drive and the 512MB expansion flash, which is dedicated to expansion pack installation and read-only after pack installation.

Thanks,
Paul

Paul,....I am starting to understand the concept of expansion packs the more i read up on it...will it be of use to my needs that is yet to be realized....integrating them with my current registrations/styles setup in what ever way possible needs to be addressed. That said many of them sound terriffic. Using them only off USB would elevate RAM storage problems for sure.

When you typed "elevate", did you mean "alleviate"? They are quite opposite in meaning.

Thanks,
Paul

Hi Donny,

I think you got mixed up on the following 2 things:
1. User - only 13 MB for your PSR-S970 (internal memory)
2. Expansion - 512 MB non-volatile RAM dedicated for expansion packs

Most Yamaha arranger users now store their keyboard setup related voices, styles, registrations, multipad files, music finders / playlists on the USB flash drive and use them directly from the USB drive. Genos has a 58-GB of SSD as User, so some Genos users prefer storing their stuff on the User area of Genos, and use the USB drive for backups and file transfers, while some users prefer using USB drive only for everything.

Since there are specific drive paths referring to User and USB, you may want to batch covert your registrations using Murray Best's YRM 5.11 to point to the USB drive:

Murray Best Yamaha Registration Manager 5.11

Usually, the drive path name for User is C:, and for USB is I:.

Thanks,
Paul

Maybe the added memory in the 975 is worth it, or can it be upgraded within the 970? Can expansion packs be loaded, then individual selections not wanted deleted?

I know that there are some 3rd parties in Vietnam who did the expansion memory upgrades on older Yamaha PSR-S series arrangers, but I do not know if there are such companies in the U.S.

Every time when you install an expansion pack, or a combination of several expansion packs that fits in the allowed expansion limits through using Yamaha Expansion Manager (YEM), the expansion flash is reformatted to prevent fragmentation.

The expansion flash storage is read-only after pack installation. However, through WiFi, YEM can perform minor expansion pack updates on Genos without reformatting the expansion flash. I never tried this on PSR-S970 though since it does not have built-in WiFi.

PSR-S975 has 768MB of expansion flash compared to 512MB of PSR-S970. So it helps just a little but not much. I have to be selective to choose expansion packs for even the 1.8GB expansion of Genos.

We can pick and choose expansion packs or contents of expansion packs through using YEM, which slowly calculates / indicates whether limits of expansion installation pack are exceeded or not.

If you have many expansion packs for PSR-S970, the best strategy is to select different expansion packs based on performance themes / usage, and produce different PSR-S970_PackInstallData.cpi files accordingly, and rename these files according to the themes / usage, and store them at the root directory of the USB drive. In this way, you can install / load the ones that you need any time.

Thanks,
Paul