I gave in to temptation and bought a Yamaha PSR-S910, after ten years of playing a Roland EM-2000.

My first impressions:
The Good
- weight: only 11 kg
- nice display
- great sounds!
- the styles are terrific!!!
- internet connection (1400+ free music finder entries)
- music score display
- audio recording

The Bad
- piano sound
- no windows 7 drivers
- the acoustic guitar is barely audible as solo instrument when used in music finder
- the modulation wheel does a fade out on many sounds instead of modulating them
- no real internal storage (you get a 2GB usb stick for $10, why not include one internally?)

The Ugly
- external power adaptor
- music rest looks and feels like it might break if you put a heavy fakebook on it
- no complete manual included : 'For details, refer to the Reference manual on the website.'
- forced to register with complete personel details to download free stuff

Overall I really like the Yamaha, it was the right choice for me, even if it will take some time getting used to it

If anybody knows some resources for a Yamaha convert, I would be grateful for them

It seems the midi files will be the most difficult to transfer. I changed key and muted tracks on many files using the Roland´s tools without really changing the files, is there a way to transfer that information automatically to the S910? Also, some drum tracks sound weird on the Yamaha, could that be caused by GS files? Is there a GS to XG converter?

Windows 7 USB drivers are here: http://www.global.yamaha.com/download/usb_midi/index.html

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James Woodcock -
Yamaha Personal Keyboard Owner

Independent enthusiast website for Yamaha keyboards and digital pianos

You need to check out psrtutorial.com
Everything Yamaha is there.
DonM

I find the MidiPlayer utility very useful for taking a lot of the hassle out of transferring midi-files onto my PSR3000, so I assume it will help with your 910.

This is on PSRTutorial site (as mentioned above) on this page http://psrtutorial.com/Help/UBedesem.html

Note that there is a batch conversion utility so once you get it set up to your satisfaction you convert everything at once!

Michael Bedesem deserve huge respect (as they say these days) for his utilities!

Also, assuming the PSR9xx has the same sort of internal processing as my PSR 3000, don't mix your midi file track levels too high; I usually have most tracks at volume level 70 (except for acoustic guitar which is usually too quiet!). The internal processing in my 3k tends to internally clip heavy bass signals if the midi file track levels are too high.

And finally - the megavoices can sound fabulous in midi files but they require a lot of manual tweaking, especially the distorted / overdrive guitar voices which put a lot of flexibility into a single patch but as a result can be very (politely now) challenging to get correct. Initially I'd just use the "Cool" or "Live" versions. The Yamaha MegaEnhancer utility can help here but sometimes it overdoes it.

Enjoy!

Thanks for the hints

The piano can be tweaked. I don't care for Yamaha's idea of their default piano. I tend to prefer the Warm Grand and I tweak that until I like it.

The acoustic guitar could be louder on a lot of settings. Just use the balance.

That and finding which touch setting you like the best can make a big difference.

Also, the piano sounds, especially on the PSR's and before Tyros 2 have to be played stereo or they will sound bad. The sounds are phased to make them sound as realistic as they can get.

This was true of PSR's up to the PSR3000. I haven't followed this on the S900 or S910, but my guess is, your piano will sound much better in stereo if you're not using stereo speakers.

Scott