Upgrading from S900 to S950...worth it??

HI All,

I'm using an S900. Thinking of upgrading to the S950 which is about 1950 $ here in India. I'm not a professional player rather a professional hobbyist. Don't do shows for money. More of home playing and occasional shows. If I sell my S900 i may get about 500$ and the rest I will have to fork out for a new S950. Theres an offer for a used Tyros 3 going for about 1700 $. Im thinkin of that too. Also a looming thought is that maybe I should wait for an S950 successor. Cant decide. Is the S950 worth the dough enough of an upgrade over the S900?

Thanks

Sunny

Hello, Sunster. I wonder why here in Russia no one sells S900 for $500. Everyone asks for it not less than $1000. But it's in Russia.

I got PSR-S950 mostly by chance, before that I played PSR-3000 and the difference between these keyboards is significant. For me the most important new things in S950 are the new piano sound and new drums. Also, it has all the synth voices of PSR-S910 which make dance styles sound quite cool.

But there's also some interesting stuff on the market from Korg. Never played them myself, but wouldn't it be cool to have your S900 and, say, PA600 at home? All new voices, styles and overall sound.

And can you try S950 at store? What's the situation with stores in India, by the way?

My friend the T3 IS way way better then s950
Just to let you know so dont forget that
And something else if you have the time just wait until the new tyros comes out thats not gonna take long annymore
the the prices drop of @ll

Have a nice weekend

Greetz Rico

Thanks a Ton KeyBTyros. Made it all that much simpler

Thanks KabinOpus

Unlike other coutries here in India we dont have that much flexibility when it comes to sampling keyboards at stores. If Iam lucky I can get to play a demo board.

Hi sunster, sorry to complicate things, but have you seen the Korg PA900? It's great value for money!

With a Tyros 3 you get the SA2 Voices which fantastic!

It all depends upon on why you think an upgrade is necessary. In most instances, the upgrade is not worth the time or expense. There are good reasons that Diki and Fran stayed with the G-70 for all these years. Same holds true for me with the PSR-3000, and Tony Mads with the KN7000. No reason to upgrade unless there are substantial benefits to be garnered from the financial outlay.

Good Luck

Gary

The thing which has always swayed my decision on way or another is, are you simply getting a bit more, or are you getting something radically different?

A little bit more doesn't really justify, at least to me, the extra cost and the work needed to redo your Registrations and SMF's for the new keyboard... and let's be honest, if you don't NEED to rework those, just exactly why did you buy it? LOL

On the whole, I have rarely thought that one model difference is worth the time and money, unless it's a generational change. The move from S900 to S950 is certainly not that! Yamaha's progress is generally quite incremental, and they rarely add anything that is a game changer. Baby steps is Yamaha's motto. Admittedly, it makes migration easy, as there is very little different to learn, and your old Registrations and Songbook generally works... But if that's the case, why exactly are you moving?

In your case, I'd take a close look at that T3... It has a sampler, something the S950 doesn't (and its successor is unlikely too, as well), and the SA2 voices.

Or maybe, if you are feeling like a change, give the PA900 or BK-9 a closer look. They offer features like a sampler (the Korg, at least), a chord sequencer, synced audio loops (the Roland), and a lot punchier sound for similar money.

Sunster, the s910 is a big step above the 900, I've owned both. I now have an s950 and feel the purchase was justified because the inference in price for me was only $400 USD. Would I have stepped up for $600-1000? I doubt it, in fact I wouldn't have. As Gary says, the differences in new editions of the same keyboard are few and the cost may not match the results. In the case of the s900 vs s910, I would say the jump would be worth it. The improvements in features in the s950 seem a good step too, BUT not in actual sound.
I would suggest that unless you just have to upgrade, your sound will not change much at all. If you're not into having the latest and greatest arranger consider an s910 in good shape. The s950 is a challenge to me right now because I haven't the time to dedicate to it what I should. I find the out of the box sound needs your personal touch, but it sounds much bigger (does that makes sense?) than expected.