I had the opportunity to play Joe Ayala's S-950 for a brief period yesterday afternoon. It sounded pretty darned good. There were, however, a few things missing:

Contrast control would have been nice, but I could see the screen OK without it.

The keyfeel is a bit firmer than the PSR-3000, but still not stiff like some other brands. I've been playing with lighter keys for so many years now that stiff action keys feel kinda weird.

Unless I just missed the location, the onboard Sound Creator program is no longer in the keyboard's software. That was a great feature, and I for one, used it a lot. I created a lot of great, custom voices using the program on the PSR-3000.

Yamaha eliminated some buttons, but you can still access the features with a single push of two buttons. An example of this is the dedicated registration button. This has been replaced with Registration +/- buttons, which are next to each other. If you press the + or - button alone, this takes you to the next registration bank or the previous bank. If you press them both at the same time the registration bank screen opens and you can select, or edit a selected bank screen.

Unfortunately, I didn't have a lot of time to play with the S-950, but my first impression is that it's the best bang for the buck on the arranger keyboard market out there. The navigation system is quick, easy and provides lots of options for performers that will keep dead time between songs down to a minimum of a second or two. I did not mess with the Music Finder Directory, and to be honest, I forgot about it. I'm fairly confident, though, that the few changes that were made in accessing third-party styles will be highly beneficial, especially to performers.

As for the buttons, I had no trouble seeing them, even with the black button-gray letter combination. Now, in diminished light, I could envision that as a problem, especially for someone that doesn't take the time to learn the button locations. In my case, my console light eliminates that type of problem.

Overall, the keyboard looks and sounds great, and as I stated above, IMO it's the best bang for the buck out there. Whether I upgrade from the 3000s in the near future is still up in the air. I spent a lot more on that 3,500-mile voyage to the sunny south that I anticipated, so I need to put a lot of money back into the bank first. And, the trip took it's toll on the boat, too. The boat needs some TLC to get it back in cruising shape. Consequently, it may be a while longer before making the phone call to New England, but more than likely it will happen before the end of summer.

Cheers,

Gary

Go for it Gary....you won't regret it...!!

Sound creator is there. And with the Mp3 player, I can paint eyes on my eyelids, go to sleep during the gig, and nobody notices!

Gary don't need no stinkin' mp3 player !!! ...

Tony's right - I don't need no stinkin' MP3 player - at least not during a job. Only time I ever used one is for breaks, which I rarely take.

Now, tell where the sound creator is located. I looked under Digital Recording, which is where it was with all the prior models, and it wasn't there.

Gary