SX900 Third Party Expansion Packs Questions

[orangeman]

I'm starting to consider expansion for the first time and I am seeing on eBay, 220,000 styles, 80's synth sounds, etc. 

I have never installed any expansion.  Before I go down this path, is there any advice from this group?  It is advisable to explorer these options?  This sounds like samples, does the SX900 have room for samples?
Can the SX900 even hold 220,000 styles?

One of the sellers says " you must send us your keyboard instrument info .N27 file to activatie this pack on your keyboard"

I have no perspective having never done this before. 

Any guidance is much appreciated.

[Simone1972]

Dear orangeman,
Few comments from my side:
The instrument info file is a normal request, since it allows the sellers to "protect" their products from duplication.
There is no formal limitation to the number of styles, since they are just a sort of "rich" midifile
There IS a limit for inporting new samples instead (1gb), therefore the selection of good expansion packs is mandatory.
Before going with 3rd party ones, have you tried to install the yamaha packs? They are for free and downloadable from the web.

My personal opinion is that the best quality is usually on the preset styles and voices, but it can be questionable.

Regards

[EileenL]

I would never buy styles from E Bay as they have probably been downloaded from sites like this in the first place and you are likely to get some very bad ones.
  The SX900 has only 1 Gb of memory and comes with four pre loaded packs in it to start with. All Yamaha packs are now free so I would try them first.
  Remember you will need to install the Yamaha Expansion Manager onto your computer to load these.

[Divemaster]

I am 100% with Eileen on this one. Stick to the GENUINE Yamaha Expansion Packs which are FREE to you.
Loading them is not difficult, and you'll get plenty of help on here.
BEGIN by loading the latest version of Yamaha Expansion Manager on to your computer.
Check out the many packs available FREE on their global website.

Don't be confused by Expansion Packs, and Styles.   Expansion Packs are packs of ready made styles in a particular genre. For example "Christmas Organ".
Styles are single styles. However.... you load  and use them quite differently.

As to storage ....the Genuine Expansion Packs will download directly to your keyboard.
But Styles are best kept on USB sticks. That way you can use them or change them straight away.
Don't be tempted to go and buy massive 128GB memory sticks. 16/32 Gb ones hold massive quantities of styles.
I've got a 16GB one here with well over 50,000 styles on it, and it's still got 13GB free space !

Grab yourself a couple of decent quality 16Gb or 32GB Flash Drives (memory sticks) so that you can download styles directly to them. In this way you can simply plug them into your SX900 and use the new styles atraight away.



Pretty well all of these "Bargain Packs" on Fleabay are nothing of the sort. They are just compilations of completely FREE STYLES which you could download yourself. Indeed, you could probably put together over 100,000 styles in one day from this site alone . Many of these rip off compilations have duplicate listings, and many are of very dubious quality. Your PSR-SX900 deserves better !  You might think they are a bargain......They aren't.

ALL the Tyros styles for example are available to you, as are pretty well all previous older Yamaha keyboard styles. There are also many many compilations, Gig collections, Player Collections, and many others.
There's also many other sites on the internet where styles are freely available. I have one in Germany and one in France whic are worth a look.

Go to the Styles, Registrations and Player lists, and you'll find more than you will ever need.

Also, you can in a lot of cases convert styles from other instruments quite easily. Roland and Ketron are amongst many that I own.

Save your money...Lots of help here .

And Finally. DO become a Member of the site by making a small contribution. You will get so much more from it, and you'll be able to access all of its amazing content as a full member. THAT is money well spent. 

[orangeman]

Thank you, Simone, Eileen, and Divemaster. I so appreciate your collective wisdom and advice, which I will follow.  I'm going to get going on exploring on my next day off and I'll definitely stay away from eBay.

[Amwilburn]

Before you buy any, I'd try the free Yamaha ones first. Then see if you have any room left on your keyboard

sx900 has 1013 mB of available for sample loading, which is pretty good, but also far from limitless.

Mark