The S 950 arrived today!

I can't wait to get it unpacked and set up. After I play with it for awhile, I'll write an initial report. Then after several days of setting my registrations, ect, I'll do a more comrehensive report. Till then...........

Joe

... ENJOY IT ...

Congrats Joe ......enjoy it ......keep us posted with your "ramblings"

All I can say so for is it's a keeper! It's been a long time since I've had a new board. The demos alone blew be away. There is so much cool stuff on here. And also a lot of the familiar from by old board. Because I'm so busy for the next couple of weeks, it's going to take awhile to set it up for my needs. But that's going to be fun. This is good!

Joe

Hi Joe,
When I got my S950 I tried all my old gig setups from the PSR3000 and behold they all worked just great. I then tried my T3 setups and they too worked but on some songs a OTS was missing. Then I went to my T4 settings and again they played but needed OTS tweaking on many of the songs.

So far I have used it on about 10 gigs and I have no complaints and everyone seems to enjoy it's sound.

Deane

Lately we haven't heard of any complaints about the display and the viewing angle from a sitting position, so I assume this is a non issue?

Joe...have fun

Larry,
It was a lot said about really nothing. Yes, it is true the display could be
better but in all honesty it has not bothered me at all either at home or on gigs.
I sit when I play - no problems so far with it.

If you think about it, if you are basically a player as opposed to the person who thrives on changing everything the display becomes a non-issue. It is true the display for the mixing console is not as easy to see from an angle but is very bright from above it.

Deane

I love my S950. Can't keep my hands off it!

Deane, when you are using your old gig setups, are you honestly hearing much difference? One would have thought that, until you edit them to be different styles, or using different drum kits and lead sounds, it ought to sound identical?

Diki,
it has been nearly 4 years since I had my PSR3000 so it is hard to answer your question with any reliability. That said, nearly 100% of my setups from the PSR3000 plays "as is" on the S950. When I look at the OTS voices being used
the keyboard always seems to find the right ones for the songs. Now with my T3 and T4 setups that is not the case and I have to add OTS voices. The accompaniments are pretty good with the T3 and T4 setups without having to mess with them.

I have told several people the S950 is much like a PRS3000 on steroids.

Deane

The word of the day is WOW!! This board really has some balls and some incredible sounds. And this is through the onboard speakers! The audio styles are amazing. So far I've read about the swing styles, but the latins are to die for. And I play a lot of latins. Most of my bread and butter styles are on here with one exception, the 40's ballad style that I used for Moonlight Serenade. I can easily upload it. It plays midi, mp3 and wav files beautifully and lets you manipulate them. I haven't hooked a mic up to it yet. I had a double today and I have a big production in the morning. Maybe tomorrow afternoon. I am so happy with the S950! I should go to bed but I know I'll stay up at least another hour just to hear this amazing board.

Joe

Joe: How does the Grand Piano sound in the 950 compare to the T3 or T4 or your previous PSR keyboard?

Compared to the Live! Grand on the PSR-S910, the Live! Concert Grand Piano is warmer and more stately. It sounds more like a Steinway (Of course, piano aficionados will most likely object). While the older piano voice is still available, Yamaha doesn't use it in any of the onboard styles.

I liked the Latin styles too. The salsa is fantastic as is the bossa nova too. I hope Yamaha continues to make more audio styles available. It seems like a lot of folks here see the audio styles as some sort of gimick but I think Yamaha is on to something very cool.

Montuno... read up about how you will have a very limited ability to load new styles into the S950. I think you will find yourself disappointed. At best, you will only be able to get a tiny few more in there, and you won't be able to load them in and out on the gig. If and when Yamaha get around to making them. They include NO tools for you to be able to do this for yourself - in fact, these styles are as protected and proprietary as the old arrangers that you couldn't make styles for, and the only new styles you ever got where what the manufacturer ONLY ever sold you...

Yamaha need to do pretty much a total makeover of this feature for it to be of any PRACTICAL use.

Diki,

I simply do not understand why you keep on bashing the new Yamaha keyboards, even in this thread where folks seem to be over the moon with their purchase. YOu know I am basically a Korg man myself but I did buy the PSR750 in addition and though I did have my doubts at first and though I would be the first to admit it is no PA800 , in particular in the drum department, I am rather pleased with my set up. The folks overhere who have gotten the PSR950 seem to be well pleased without any exception still you deem it necessary to fault these new boards in every possible way. I know you are a senior and valued member to this forum, all the more reason why I fail to understand where you are coming from...

REGARDS,
John

Diki,

Yamaha has always had a small amount of RAM memory available, but keep in mind it has always been sufficient enough to atore up to 30 style files, plus a huge number of registrations. However, in recent years they've overcome this problem by modifying the software for their MFD, which now allows user to access files directly from their USB drive, thus the number of available, third-party styles is virtually unlimited. The loading time of style files is usually less than a second, depending on their size and complexity.

Cheers,

Gary

John,

Worry not, it's only like me having a go at Diki and his G70, it's what ever turns you on and things are moving on a crazy rate, you do need to change you KB a few time in ten years to keep up, thats if you want to keep up. I understand where you are coming from John, keep up the good work.

Tony

Diki is not bashing the S950, he is just pointing out some flaws which some users may find disappointing after they have had the S950 a while. (It might sound great when you get it, but once you go deeper you may find it limiting, and Diki is just giving you something to think about before or after purchase)

Bill

Congratulations on your new S950, Joe.

It is quite an awesome arranger...you will really enjoy it.

Even with it's relatively modest price, it blows away TOTL arrangers of not that long ago.

Ian

Bill forgot about you, happy 10th birthday to your Abacus, what was it Darwin said " to prosper you need to adapt ", just imagine what the World would be like if we didn't change our KB every now and then, perhaps thats why Wersi went under 3 times waiting for you to replace your KB, maybe you will tell us why they did, please don't say they are built that well, they never die. Things that are ten years old even look old, the new Abacus looks nice and slick.

OK Joe-enough time has passed, we await a more detailed report Curious about the VH, I've heard "improvement", but in what way?

and
Hey it's nice we got Tony back in full form...I missed him, and his Brit banter

Thanks Larry,

BTW is that really you in the avatar or have you been messing with Photoshop 7, your are one of my favourite Martians too


Tony

The new look is temporary, but necessary for a movie role that I accepted

God forbid Larry, you look like Jesus, what's the film, his dad was a joiner and you're a painter
hells what a team.. can we see it when it's finished

Tony

Ha- ha me as Jesus...well...never mind. However You ARE a Saint (Anthony)

Anyway...back on topic, Joe is either so happy with the S950 that he is playing around the clock, and has no time to comment, or he's not happy and can't describe his disappointment.

Joe?