Is Yamaha missing out? It’s rather strange, Yamaha’s arranger product line has an enormous gap between the 61 note SX900 and the 76 note Genos. The price jumps from about $2200 or thereabouts to a wallet destroying $5.5k+ with absolutely nothing in between.

Is there a case to be made for a 76 SX or a 61 note Genos?

To be honest, I think that a 61 Genos would be a bit crippled, but in fairness, the Tyros line did quite well without a 76. But the SX line without a 76 misses out on quite a sizable sector that use PA3/4x 76’s or cling to aging Roland G70/1000/E60/BK9’s.

A good case used to be made that 76’s were rather heavier than most gigging arranger players wanted to tote, but many of us did anyway, and now the Genos weighs 4lbs less than the 61 note T4, which many gigged happily. My BK9 weighs a featherweight 20lbs, and does not compromise on the action to achieve it (no, it’s not as good as the G70’s, but easily as good as a Korg PA4x76 or Genos, albeit no aftertouch).

So Yamaha, having found a way to get a 76 to not weigh a ton, decide to restrict it to the $6k flagship alone. And, IMHO, miss a huge opportunity to expand their customer base into the market that still finds 61 too small to be effective. Let’s face it, most people can’t afford the Genos, and I think that most people that can won’t be tempted by a far less capable 76. They got the money, they want the best!

The price jump from 61 to 76 in Yamaha’s synths like the MODX+ is only about $300, so you are looking at a $2500 SX900/76, which strikes me as extremely competitive.

I wonder why, in these days of computer product design and automated production, Yamaha haven’t explored this option. They obviously ignored most of us here at SZ, who, when the T3/4 was out were EXTREMELY vocal that there was absolutely no need for a 76 Tyros! Admittedly, most of us at the time thought a 76 would add way too much weight, but I think that most Tyros users at the time would have defended the pint size keybed even if Yamaha promised to shave off 4lbs. We do tend to be creatures of habit!

At the moment, you either got $5-6k to blow, or you HAVE to buy a Korg if you want to play those amazing grand piano and Rhodes sounds with both hands.

Surely Yamaha can see the potential?

Mind you, it took them nearly 20 years to realize the potential of a 76 TOTL… Let’s hope it doesn’t take as long to fill the gap in the mid-line arranger line. A 76 SX900 would be a potent competitor to Korg…

PSR-EW425 has 76 keys, speakers, weights about 17 lbs (8 kg), costs about $600. I think, Yamaha tries quite hard NOT to make it professional enough, but because of competition, primarily with Casio, it comes risky close to becoming a professional instrument. Nevertheless, lack of polyphony, controls and better sounds keeps this gap existing. I think the whole line is carefully designed so that everyone would still be motivated to buy Genos, regardless of its price. While EW425 is simplified, it reveals that it's possible to create a $1000 keyboard that can be just the keyboard most of players need. The sounds and styles are now updateble, basically people could buy it and forget about buying other keyboard for 10 years. But it's not how it works today. I think, it's just vital for the economy that we would buy a lot of stuff, even if it hurts ecology and other things.

I suppose Yamaha thanks that a 76 key SX 900 would take away sales from the GENOS.

What a balancing act it must be to bring out a new model of a MOTL and TOTL, especially when there isn't much wiggle room at the current Genos price point. The more they improve the SX900, the more pressure it puts on the Genos sales, unless they can improve the Genos at the same time with no, or little price increase.

Quick question, but why didn’t Yamaha consider the PSR900 competition to the Tyros4?

I mean if there’s no 76 allowed to offer a lower level professional instrument choice to customers, why was Yamaha OK with a 61 competitor to the 61 note TOTL Tyros?

Sorry, but I don’t buy that argument… 😎

I agree Diki. We’re just speculating here. Wouldn’t it be nice to get an answer from someone that actually works at Yamaha?

I would love to read how Google Translate would mangle that reply! 😂🇯🇵🇬🇧

Hi,
If they brought out a 76 note SX, they probably would lose some Genos sales, bit of a captive audience if one requires 76 notes.
Wouldn’t mind seeing a 61 note Genos, though doubt it would be all that much cheaper. The way Korg has gone up in price with the PA5x, can’t imagine what they’ll be charging for the next generation Genos.
I would still love to see a Yamaha arranger module ( like Ketron makes), but that’s a pipe dream. At least one could use whatever controller they wanted. Using my piano as controller for my sx900 works ok, but a module would be so much better.

They likely lost some Tyros sales to the S900. Didn’t seem to bother them…

Personally, I feel some types of sounds benefit (and historically used) a lighter keybed than a piano. Organ, Clavinet, synth’s etc. were all triggered from light keybed, and many performance idiosyncrasies are very difficult and taxing on a fully weighted piano action. Palm smears, bouncing keys, all kinds of things don’t lend themselves well to the piano action no matter how good your technique.

I regularly skin my knuckles badly every time I play rock organ on an 88!

I think the SX900 with a weighted 88 underneath it is the best of all possible worlds, especially how light some modern 88’s have become while still keeping the key feel. You can probably run everything from the SX’s controls, so rest the SX on top and get the two actions really close together (like an organ!) and it should still be comfortable to play…

Modules are cool, but unless you intend to only play piano parts, or only synth parts, two controllers are still going to be needed to get the best out of them, IMHO…

Hi Diki,
I did actually have my sx900 stacked quite nicely on top of my piano for quite a while.
My problem is, nowadays I have lousy eyesight, and I’m totally dependant on reading,
so I find it hard to read my sheet music , just that bit further back when they’re stacked. Probably time to get my eyes fixed. Haha. So annoying getting OLD.
I mainly play piano for melody, so module would suit me.
Time to visit optometrist, maybe I can get glasses to suit the required distance, have never thought to ask.

Same here… a variety of strength reading glasses has become necessary!

If it’s a home rig, maybe a computer monitor and a pdf reader software package could get the music up larger and easier to read?

Hi Diki,
You encouraged me to stack my piano and sx900 again . I’ve recently bought flip laptop , and I’m transferring my sheet music to it. Glasses are next on the agenda. It’s only an additional foot further back, so hopefully glasses will work.

Hadn’t considered a computer monitor, but since it’s only home use, not a problem to set up. Might check those out too.

Thank you

The laptop should have an HDMI output, you could put a nice big monitor on the wall behind the SX900 to where you don’t need glasses!

That way, the laptop is by your side and easy to operate, but the screen is in front of you where you can read and play easily…

Just a thought.

Hi Diki,
Decided to order a monitor, brilliant idea of yours.
Four sets of glasses was getting a bit ridiculous, driving, reading, sewing, and next trying to read sheet music.
Every 12 months when I go to optometrist they tell me I need them replaced. Bit of a con I think.
Monitor sounds like a great idea.

If you haven’t already got one, I’d recommend a Bluetooth dual pedal switch, so you can turn the (virtual) pages of your sheet music display app hands free… 😎🎹

Thanks Diki,
actually have one of those already.

I think there are ways to get the laptop, when displaying sheet music, to call up the Registration you need at the same time. If you haven’t tried this, it’s worth looking at.

I’m all about simplifying what you have to do technically so performance is sit back and relax time!

Hi Diki, I’ll check into it. Guessing it would depend on how sophisticated the software I’m using is.

OnSong is one of the market leaders, and can send MIDI/USB codes when entries are called up. It can also associate SMF’s or audio files with the sheet music.

Worth checking into…

Thanks Diki, will do.

The iPad app 'unrealBook' can also do this (MIDI commands to call up Registrations). If anyone here needs help on how to do this, send me a message and I can help out. I have done is successfully and love not having to mess with finding/loading Registrations 'manually' anymore, when using the iPad and the unrealBook app that is . . .

-Jim

Thanks Jim, I’ll check into that.

If you go iPad, you’ll have to find a way to ‘cast the picture to your monitor if you want sheet music big enough to be readable for older eyes…

I rather think the laptop is your better solution if you want to HDMI to a nice monitor.

But if you have an iPad Pro, that might work as a mobile solution as long as you don’t want to display two adjacent pages at the same time (my preference when reading multi-page scores).

Not sure if UnReal Book runs on both laptop and iPad, OnSong is iPad only, but will network to a laptop for display. Both apps are very mature and well supported. But if no iPad, you might want to research PC programs that do the same thing (I’m only Mac, can’t help much with the Dark Side of the Force!)

Hi Diki,
I actually bought Unreal Book quite a while back, when I was just using my SX900 on its own. At that stage I could still read the iPad, but , after stacking the sx and piano, the music rest being that few extra inches away, the screen became a blurr, so I went back to my sheet music.

I sent off for an hdmi adapter for my iPad/monitor, if it works, I’ll have the option of using the laptop or the iPad. In many ways the iPad would suit better as long as the display is as good as I get from the laptop.

You’ll have to make sure that the adapter has a pass-through option, as it will need to send USB/MIDI off to the arranger as well as sending video to the monitor.

All in all, the laptop is probably the most flexible solution.