Yamaha's Tyros2 pulling all stops
Yamaha's new keyboard taps latest technology to create hundreds of realistic sounds.

By TAMARA CHUANG
The Orange County Register


MUSIC TO HIS EARS: Mark Anderson, a marketing manager with Yamaha in Buena Park, demonstrates the company's Tyros2.

BUENA PARK � Mark Anderson plucks the guitar strings so naturally, you hear every movement his fingers make. The twhap of fingers lifting off the strings. The zwooop of his hand sliding up and down the frets.

Only thing, Anderson isn't playing a guitar. He's playing a fancy new keyboard in a storage room at the Yamaha Corp. of America headquarters in Buena Park. He switches to trumpets.

"Listen to this," says Anderson, a former studio musician, as he tweaks settings on the Tyros2.

He pushes a pedal on the floor, and there's a gasp. Literally. The sound of a person gasping for air.

"Hear that," asks Anderson, Yamaha's marketing manager for portable keyboards. "This has the human touch. It's so much more realistic."

The Tyros2 is turning heads in the electronic-piano genre sometimes dismissed as "granny's organ." Keyboard Magazine calls the Tyros2 the "gold standard" for this type of keyboard. A keyboard lover in Norway set up a Tyros2 fan site, which averages 160 unique visitors a day.

The Tyros2 is an arranger keyboard, a type of high-tech piano that at a push of a button turns into a flute, a violin or hundreds of other instruments - 1,312 sounds, to be exact. Users are home enthusiasts, recording studios and solo artists who don't have a band to back them up.

"It produces very professional-sounding results without you having to go to a studio or learn how to play bass," said Julian Colbeck, "Major Dude" of Keyfax New Media, a Santa Cruz company that operates several music-user sites, including arrangerworkstation.com.

"What Tyros has done is upped the ante in terms of sound to a dramatically new level. There have been others, but they sounded a little hokey but fine at home playing for granny," Colbeck said.

Tyros2 is also packed with technology. There's built-in memory and a computer chip, though Yamaha won't disclose the technical specs. There's room for a laptop-size hard drive, input jacks to transfer MIDI song files and connections for a VGA monitor. There are also two USB ports. If you plug a Wi-Fi USB key into one port, you can wirelessly access Yamaha's Internet store, which sells songs in MIDI format and digital sheet music.

But the sound is what everyone raves about.

"Does it fly? Oh. My. Gawd. Best sax I ever had. Play any line off-the-cuff, and at worst, it sounds like hours were spent editing note transitions. At best, it sounds like a real player," wrote Stephen Fortner, technical editor of Keyboard magazine in his February review. "Brilliant work, Yamaha!"

The original Tyros, introduced in 2002, added "MegaVoices" technology, which was Yamaha's term for the extra sounds that made music from a guitar sound realistic. But Tyros was limited to guitar.

In Tyros2, Yamaha calls the improved sounds "Super Articulation." They add even more details to guitar, string and horn sounds. The computer inside the keyboard analyzes the keys as they play in real time, adding little sound effects to turn the tune into anything from an unplugged concert to a live orchestra performance.

The sounds were recorded in Yamaha's studios worldwide, with musicians specializing in each niche - from James Brown funk to Eurotrance and U.S. hip-hop. Anderson, responsible for getting some of the musicians to create the music, said that each little detail - from the zwoop of the bass guitarist sliding a hand on the frets to the thumping of the strings - was recorded.

"We sampled each note and then used algorithms to make sure the sounds aren't put in too often," Anderson said. "I think they did a marvelous job. It really sounds like a guitar."

Even keyboard lovers who don't own one have gushed about the new machine.

Kenneth Gundersen, who lives in Norway, started the Tyros2.net fan site just for fun. Gundersen owns a TechnicsKN7000 but after seeing a demo of the keyboard and listening to recordings fans shared on his site, he hopes to get a Tyros2.

"I must admit that, for me, the Tyros2 is a head in front of my KN7000 keyboard. The Tyros2 have very good sounds, styles (rhythms), etc.," Gundersen said in an e-mail interview. "When I bought the KN7000 I thought that now sounds, etc. can't be better, but the Tyros2 have proved that there is always room for more improvements."

Even with the amazing sound, some musicians in the U.S. look down on arranger keyboards because of the stigma that these are something found in granny's house, said Colbeck, with Keyfax New Media.

"Sound for sound, people who hear the Tyros say, 'My God, what's that?' And when they see it, they say, 'Oh great. Do you have a synthesizer?' They feel a little embarrassed playing it with all the sounds on it."




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Khoi huk ngam sud tee huk kon diow.

Wheres the Marc Anderson Video Demo?

Even though Kenneth Gundersen is doing Yamaha a "HUGE" favor by establishing a Tyros2.net web site, which by the way, is also an advertising billboard for Yamaha products, Yamaha hasn't thanked or acknowledged Kenneth for his efforts.

Monday, April 24, 2006

"Another site to check out is Kenneth Gundersen, who runs the Tyros2 fan site from his home in Norway. He doesn't own one because he can't afford it quite yet. And he doesn't get a dime from Yamaha. The site is "Just for fun," he told me in an e-mail interview. Tyros2.net averages 160 unique visitors a day - not bad for such an obscure topic. But I think Kenneth is a little bitter: "A website like that of course makes a lot free-advertising for Yamaha and for the Tyros2, but I have not got as much as a 'Thank you' from them," he wrote."

"Hello Yamaha? Can we get Kenneth a thank you?"

"Mark from Yamaha told me that he does track what the Web is saying about the product but he doesn't like to post officially as Yamaha. Sometimes, he'll post as a peon who works for him. So, Tyros fans roaming the user forums, keep posting and maybe Mark will answer your questions incognito."

Posted by Tamara Chuang of the Orange County Register


I second that! Can we get Kenneth a "BIG" thank you Yamaha!?!?!

I don't understand Japanese mentality when it comes to showing gratitude or appreciation to somebody who is obviously doing you a big favor. Is 'etiquette' not in the Japanese vocabulary?

PS: With Yamaha's seemingly "nose in the air" attitude toward Kenneth or for that matter Joe Water's PSR Tutorial site, it makes me wonder about Yamaha Corporation's true colors. Is the only intention of their exsistence to make monetary gain? Is each manuever they undertake solely for the purpose of personal gain whether monetary or otherwise? In other words, do they not have a heart? You know; the heart. Where the seeds of emotion and the issues of life springs forth?

Beware of a Company who only takes and never gives back. Or if they do give back the reason behind the giving is ultimately for their own benefit or personal gain.

Best regards,
Mike

Mike I went on that tyros2.net site & also wondered why you have to pay/donate or whatever to be a VIP for everything....????? who needs it when there are so many other great sites to mingle about KB's? Maybe Yammy is biter about someone trying to make money off their name?

Besides the SZ....heres a T2 site I really enjoy http://www.yamahapkowner.com/forum/index.php/board,66.0.html


[This message has been edited by Dnj (edited 06-08-2006).]

Memory and a computer chip--what will they think of next?



Whereas others use output jacks for the VGA monitor.



Might require a wireless access port.

Donny,

Becoming a paying Member at Tyros2.net is voluntary not mandatory. The Forum is free plus so are all the articles. You pay only if you want to have access to tons of downloads although some of the downloads are free to download by anyone. But for discussion about the Tyros2 in the Forum or reading the latest news or articles, etc. about the Tyros2 it's totally free.

I think since Kenneth is broadcasting to the world about the efficacies and advantages of the Yamaha Tyros2 and gets more visitors a day than Yamaha's own ArrangerWorkstation Site most likely, I really don't see anything wrong with his asking for contributions from Members who 'want' to donate especially since it's on a voluntary basis. He has to spend the cost and time to maintain the web site plus he's also trying to save up to buy a Yamaha product i.e., a Tyros2 , which I'm sure he will use some of the donations towards.

"Thank You" is not a four letter word btw. Maybe in Yamaha's eyes it is though.

Best regards,
Mike

[This message has been edited by keybplayer (edited 06-08-2006).]

Hi

The moral of this story is that Yamaha is very proud of their T2. They delivered a product which is far better than those of their competition.

Do you think that I'll stop buying their keyboards (and other products) just because their only intention is to make money?

I don't think so. They are happy that their fans contribute to selling their T2. That proves Yamaha's huge success with releasing the T2.

Almost everyone on this board speaks of the T2. Almost all of the SZ user's contributions showcase the T2.

George