Yamaha PSR3000 newbie!

Hi all,

I've been monitoring these boards for a while now as I've been in the hunt for a new keyboard. I had an old Yamaha (mini keys) years ago on which you could modify sounds and record onto - pretty basic stuff, but great fun! I gave it to my sister when I started college, and I really missed the casual keyboard playing - this was 16 years ago now!!

After all my research and checking out the forums, I'd narrowed it down to the Yamaha PSR range, specifically the PSR3000. So, I placed an order and it should be here tomorrow (Thursday)! It was a great deal too (less than £1000 for the keyboard and a stand).

I'm by no means an expert player (actually, very amateur), and simply get enjoyment from listenting to music and playing it back by ear - this I am pretty good at. I also like to compose and record simple tunes.

In hindsight, given my abilities it seems a bit overkill getting a PSR3000 when all I really want to do is mess about. But, I will get better I'm sure, and after hearing the sounds from the beast, the decision was really a no-brainer. I've read about the cheap-feeling keys, but given that I'm no pro, and that I had a go on one in a local store (charging £1400), the actual keyboard felt fine to me!

I'll hopefully stick around these parts and pester for help once in a while! I posted this in the General Arranger section because this seems to get the most action. If it should have been in the dedicated Yamaha section, I appologise in advance - please feel free to move it!

I'll let you know how I get on!

See ya' guys.

Hi, welcome to the forum! There are a lot of 3000 owners here, and any question you can basically think of for it.., someone here will most likely know the answer.

Squeak

Welcome to the forum. Lots of good folks here, most of which are more than willing to lend a helpful hand to those needing assistance.

Another location where you'll find an enormous amount of solid information is www.psrtutorial.com and many of the same players can be found there as well.

You're going to have lots of fun with this exciting, new keyboard.

Gary

Hi, and again, welcome to the forum and congratulations on your choice of the PSR 3000....I too just bought one and I'm sure that you will love it...as Gary said in the post above, join the www.psrtutorial.com these are the two greatest forums on the web
and the members are the best....enjoy...

[This message has been edited by Tony Rome (edited 12-29-2004).]

Thanks guys! I'll definitely stick around and also check out www.psrtutorial.com

Well, buying on-line for the saving is well worth it in the end, but having put up with incompetent delivery folk ... it just never ceases to amaze me. When I called to see where it was, they told me they had attempted delivery at 08:25 this morning. No they hadn't! There was nothing through the door for a start.

I had to get onto their head office to get the truth (they couldn't find our house for some strange reason), and it took a few harsh words before they agreed to re-attempt delivery today.

Anyway, it's here now and I've just set it up on its stand - what a gorgeous machine! Forget the sounds, this looks awesome!! I'm really looking forward to getting to know all the ins-and-outs of this beast.

I've been looking at removable media as my next purchase. SmartMedia seems a bit old-hat now, only providing 128Mb in a somehwat flimsy card. USB pen drives seem like the best option.

I've found this which gives you 256Mb storage and WiFi connection (I have a WiFi ADSL Modem/Router):
www.orcalogic.co.uk/asp/prodtype.asp?prodtype=6692&ft=d&st=1

Assuming it works if formatted to FAT, this would seem like a good option as it also provides the internet access. Does anybody have any experience of using their PSR3000 on a wireless network (or any network)?

Though Smart Media cards are a bit fragile, once they're in the slot, at least in my case, that's where it stays. Essentialy, it is used just like a hard drive. I also use the USB storage device as well, however, all the data is copied to the Smart Media card, then the drive can be removed. The USB sticks out and can be inadvertently hit, which could cause damage to the board the USB is attached to. You're really going to have fun exploring the 3000--I guarantee it!

Cheers,

Gary

Nomino....If I can, I would like to add my 2 cents in and say that Gary is correct, I ws looking for a 512 memory card but Gary and the other members of this and other boards
(thank goodness for them)made me see the light, what I'm going to do because the smart 128 cards are so cheap right now and yes, they are fragile but they come in the protective plastic holders, I will buy at least 6 of them and only use them to hold different catogories of music midi files for example...using one for Standards, one for oldies, one for country, one for rock and one for show tunes...and so on...this will help keep the clutter down to a minimum as well as keeping your music orginized and always ready for you depending on what you want to play...at least this is my idea... I'm working on it as we speak...

[This message has been edited by Tony Rome (edited 12-30-2004).]

[This message has been edited by Tony Rome (edited 12-30-2004).]

Tony Rome. Why have 6 items to plug in and out of the 3K when you could do everything you want to do on one 256mb Pen Flash Drive. Just make different folders to put your required files into. A Pen Flash Drive can also be plugged into the PC to load any required files without needing to buy a card reader.

[This message has been edited by Graham UK (edited 12-30-2004).]

I must admit, having one SmartMedia card in all the time just act as permanent storate is a great idea. That, plus a USB pen drive for moving things around would be a good combination I think.

I already have a multi-card reader in my PC so if I do need to access the SM card that won't be a problem. The position I've set my keyboard up also means I'm less likely to knock the USB pen drive once in place.

Well, I've spent ages messing about with it now, and using the Christmas style have managed to delight my daughter with a (very poor!) rendition of jingle bells!!

Thanks for the advice guys.

It happened to Hank The Lurker. Someone bumped into the pen drive and bent the little connection on it. I don't believe any permanent damage was done though.
DonM

I use a USB hub so I can place it out of harms way. I use a powered hub to provide power to my external hard drive and floppy drive so they won't draw power from the PSR3000. I use the floppy to preview the tons of disks before moving the styles to the flash drive.
Smokey

[This message has been edited by Smokey (edited 12-31-2004).]

Maybe next YAMAHA high-end arranger workstation, replacement for9000pro model will have few slots for smartmedia cards?

that would be very cool feature!

if ROLAND was introducing few cards in their synthesizers why YAMAHA cannot follow same system and make same!

personally i need more style storage on arranger,PSR3000 is great in that way but i am professional and i would like something with better keys and sampler and multiple outputs
that would be minimum for me to convince me to bu new arranger

Graham....I just thought that it would be easier to have it all on seperate cards to be able to move around and to add tunes to be able to manage each file better....also, read down about two posts and read Don M post
You may be right in what you are saying, I'll have to try it out and if it works better, I'll be the first to post saying that you were right and have a better method
although, one card seems like it should be easier to maintain that's why I was looking for the 512 from the start...

I'll be getting a 3k (eventually) and using the Smartmedia as a "permanent" installation with a pen-drive for large capacity USB backup.

I'm don't think multiple slots is going to happen; they cost money. I'd expect enhancements to the USB storage system to be a more flexible solution. Using CompactFlash or xD for solid state storage gives higher capacity "on-board" storage anyhow; there's no point sticking to Smartmedia long-term because development has stopped. Smartmedia has been used so far because it is specifically designed to be a cheap (in terms of hardware cost and software modification cost) replacement for the floppy drive.

Whilst I am on the subject, did we ever reach a definitive conclusion about the compatability (or not) of multi-gigabyte USB devices? Could it be something to do with FAT16 formatting (which is limited to 2 gig capacity) - can the PSR's "read" external devices formatted to FAT32 or not?