User Expansion Packs marketplace website

[HamzaA3000]

Hi,

I am not aware if there is a dedicated website for user expansion packs (free or not) where I can go there and download free one or order and pay for a paid pack.

Yamaha does not allow such user packs to be sold on their website so i am thinking if we can have such a marketplace for to serve that purpose.

Any ideas...

Regards,
Hamza

[BogdanH]

...dedicated website for user expansion packs (free or not)... if we can have such a marketplace...

When you say user, you mean packs made by talented keyboard owners?.. for example, made by forum members?

Well, this forum doesn't provide storage space and so, someone would need to make separate website (so we would have content at one place). But that's not the main problem. The question is, is it worth to bother?
The thing is, we can already get many free packs from Yamaha and those being free, it's hard to compete with that. Btw. that's also one of the reasons why Yamaha keyboards are so popular.
To make the whole thing really interesting, these user packs should be better in some way -which is not an easy task. And because decent voices are very difficult to make, the whole thing would probably end with countless existing modified styles.

Just sharing my thoughts,
Bogdan

[gabrielschuck]

When you say user, you mean packs made by talented keyboard owners?.. for example, made by forum members?

Well, this forum doesn't provide storage space and so, someone would need to make separate website (so we would have content at one place). But that's not the main problem. The question is, is it worth to bother?
The thing is, we can already get many free packs from Yamaha and those being free, it's hard to compete with that. Btw. that's also one of the reasons why Yamaha keyboards are so popular.
To make the whole thing really interesting, these user packs should be better in some way -which is not an easy task. And because decent voices are very difficult to make, the whole thing would probably end with countless existing modified styles.

Just sharing my thoughts,
Bogdan

I am very disappointed with Yamaha because, although the packs are free, some that are compatible with certain models of keyboards are not compatible with others.
An example: There are packs with Brazilian voices and styles for the sx, genos and even s970/975 keyboards, but they are not available for tyros5.
An even worse situation is for users of older models like tyros4, because all the content for it is simply gone, as well as others for t5 that were available for sale in the store.
This is a very big obstacle for users who seek to cover a wide variety of musical styles in their presentations, people who often do not have the time or patience to create a pack from scratch to play specific styles and are looking for something ready and of great quality.
Here in Brazil people use many packs created by user programmers to play certain musical styles of the moment like pizeiro for example. There are few who have a very high level of demand as in my case and seek more specific things.
For my keyboard for example, the amount of Yamaha packs available for free for international styles is relatively good, but very little exists involving Brazilian rhythms and voices.
Regards,
Gabriel

[BogdanH]

hello Gabriel,
Yes, I understand what you're saying. The question is, who should convert currently available packs into older format? Yamaha sure won't do that, because all Yamaha want is, that we buy new keyboards -and that's pretty much true for every (not only keyboard) company.
Good thing is, there are many Yamaha owners, who are willing to help with that (at least as far possible). In this forum for example, we can find many "converted" styles for download. Of course, it's to be expected, that for very old keyboards, the content simply gets "lost" over the time.
About Brazilian packs.. you didn't say what keyboard you have, but I have at least ten Brazil related Yamaha packs for PSR-SX. And I think, that's quite a lot for one country only -for comparison, only about 20 packs exist for whole Europe.
But then, amount of packs can be deceiving, because half of the content is many times combined with content from some of previous packs.

Bogdan

[gabrielschuck]

hello Gabriel,
Yes, I understand what you're saying. The question is, who should convert currently available packs into older format? Yamaha sure won't do that, because all Yamaha want is, that we buy new keyboards -and that's pretty much true for every (not only keyboard) company.
Good thing is, there are many Yamaha owners, who are willing to help with that (at least as far possible). In this forum for example, we can find many "converted" styles for download. Of course, it's to be expected, that for very old keyboards, the content simply gets "lost" over the time.
About Brazilian packs.. you didn't say what keyboard you have, but I have at least ten Brazil related Yamaha packs for PSR-SX. And I think, that's quite a lot for one country only -for comparison, only about 20 packs exist for whole Europe.
But then, amount of packs can be deceiving, because half of the content is many times combined with content from some of previous packs.

Bogdan

I have a Tyros5.
And for him, there is only the latin pack that has some Brazilian percussion voices and styles, but very little explored in relation to several other yamaha Brazilian packs that exist for psrs/sx.
I tested a ppf version of the brazilian pack for the s970 and it only installs a single voice on tyros5 (berinbal). The rest is all unselected in YEM and there's no way to change that, at least I couldn't.
Regarding what you commented, there are other packs for tyros5 that have, for example, one or another Brazilian percussion taken from previous packs made for other models, but that are not very explored either.

Really, for newer keyboards like the SX line and some that still survive, like the PSRS970/975, there is a reasonable amount of Brazilian packs.
However, the same cannot be said for Tyros5.
And I'm sure other users are also outraged by Yamaha's stance of making certain content available for certain keyboards that don't exist on others, mainly because, in the case of the tyros5, it was a very high investment, even though it left the market and gave way to Genos.

For you to have an idea, in tyros5 there are two packs for those who like to play german music, one for alpen and one for entertainer. This is bad?
Of course not, I love that kind of style.
But then I look for something from Yamaha to play things from here in Brazil and I find almost nothing.
Regarding the style conversion of the packs, there is no way to expect the same result without the samples, no matter how hard they try to get close with just the keyboard voices.
And this is especially true for certain more complex Brazilian rhythms, such as Carnaval, Samba, etc.
Just see how the s970 batucada audio style sounds converted to keyboards that don't play audio styles in relation to the original style.
And unfortunately, the trend is that it continues like this and increasingly difficult to adapt to old keyboards...

Regards,
Gabriel

[BogdanH]

Thank you for explaining. I just tried creating install pack for Tyros5 (by using PSR-SX ppf packs) and now I understand what you mean -because of whatever reason, majority of voices remain unselected.
I didn't know that Tyros5 (once a flagship keyboard) was left on "sidetrack" by Yamaha -considering it's not that old keyboard.

[Amwilburn]

Thank you for explaining. I just tried creating install pack for Tyros5 (by using PSR-SX ppf packs) and now I understand what you mean -because of whatever reason, majority of voices remain unselected.
I didn't know that Tyros5 (once a flagship keyboard) was left on "sidetrack" by Yamaha -considering it's not that old keyboard.

Not that old? Depends... the T5 came out in Nov of 2013 (at least here in Canada) so it's been around for over 9 yrs!
I mean even the Genos is now over 5 yrs old.

Mark

[BogdanH]

hi Mark,
Yes, it depends on how we look at age.
Genos came to market in 2017 as Tyros5 successor and at that time Tyros was 4 years old model. But it's age was actually 0 years, because it was sold just prior to Genos release.
PSR-SX came to market two years later, so Tyros5 was 6 years old model. At the time of PSR-SX release, there were already quite a lot of packs for PSR-SX, but as it seems, not many were "converted" to  Tyros5, which was sold only 2 years ago.
As I mentioned earlier, Yamaha is mainly interested on selling new keyboards.. however, I did assume that Yamaha's TOTL keyboards would age better in this regard.

Bogdan

[gabrielschuck]

hi Mark,
Yes, it depends on how we look at age.
Genos came to market in 2017 as Tyros5 successor and at that time Tyros was 4 years old model. But it's age was actually 0 years, because it was sold just prior to Genos release.
PSR-SX came to market two years later, so Tyros5 was 6 years old model. At the time of PSR-SX release, there were already quite a lot of packs for PSR-SX, but as it seems, not many were "converted" to  Tyros5, which was sold only 2 years ago.
As I mentioned earlier, Yamaha is mainly interested on selling new keyboards.. however, I did assume that Yamaha's TOTL keyboards would age better in this regard.

Bogdan

The tyros5 if I'm not mistaken was launched in November 2013. Long before that, it was my consumer dream to acquire the tyros4. I managed to invest in a tyros5 only last year and thank God I didn't get a tyros4 (even more outdated).
In my case, I could very well have chosen an SX900 or 700 and even saved a little more money to invest in a genos, but I don't feel safe playing with these instruments with a very palliative solution such as the Voice Guide feature.
Note that I am referring to keyboards that are on the market.
I could try a used S975 that has Brazilian packs for it, but doesn't have the super articulation 2 voices of tyros5, especially the choir voices (the big reason I made the decision).

Keyboards of this line are costing here in Brazil the price of a top of the line. To give you an idea of prices:
Genos: BRL 38,691.00
SX900: BRL 14,168.96
SX700: BRL 10,799.91
SX600: BRL 6,390.00
SX900 is costing what tyros4 cost at the time. The SX600 is going for the price of an S910 when it was sold here (maybe a little more).
Yamaha wants us to buy new keyboards, but it should be more sensitive about the economic situation in less developed countries, where it's not that easy and simple to discard a keyboard. They needed to age better.
A lot of people like me, for example, are unable to change instruments every 6 months.
So yes, I agree with you that the top of the line should be much more valued.
It was a total abandonment by Yamaha towards the tyros5, since a lot of things that are in the genos (voices and resources) came from him.

Regarding the packs that do not install most of the voices on tyros5, I believe it is really a matter of marketing, because in relation to other more complex packs, they could even run smoothly on it, especially Brazilians.
Some packs for the SX600 like MPB and others use for example drum kits that are included in tyros5, very little sample stuff.
Anyway, I stick with the phrase that is on the Yamaha from Brasil website when searching for the tyros5 and its specifications, in which today it is very clear that it is not quite like that:
"High-quality expansion packs, made exclusively for Tyros5, Premium packs offer a wider sonic variety for songwriting and performance. From authentic Eastern European instruments to Dances of Ibiza (and even more in future packs), these new voices and styles add an entirely new dimension to your Tyros5."
Remembering that a lot of things were certainly released for Tyros5 (such as audio styles) and disappeared from the store, without the possibility of buying.
Imagine the situation of tyros4 users...
Regards,
Gabriel