buy sx900 or wait?

[nforce777]

Hi everyone!
I am on the fence of buying a Sx900. I really like the keyboard from what i have seen on youtube. The reviews are also really good. I would suit me perfectly.
Hower it is 4 years old and a replacement is due soon. Since the successor will be based on Genos2 and in my opinion, the Genos2  is a small improvement over Genos1. So I assume the same will be the case with sx900 successor.
So, my question is: should I buy a sx900 or wait for the successor?

I am a home keyboard player, i dont do gigs.

thank you!

[Dnj]

I would wait till after the Winter NAMM show to see what Yamaha is up to
good luck.

https://www.nammshow.org/event/nammshow

[Divemaster]

Waiting for Yamaha to produce new models is never a given, and if you're a home player I'd also look at the SX-700.
There isn't a lot to choose between the two models, and for home use most of the extra stuff on the SX900 is actually no big deal and saves you quite a lot of money.
I have the SX700. I have all the SX900 styles, all the Genos styles, all the Tyros styles, some of the G2 styles and counting, and many other styles from other Yamaha keyboards.

It's infinite really. Hugely adaptable, and as it was introduced AFTER the Genos 1 it's a very versatile arranger. It's a very enjoyable keyboard to play.
There is a very good YouTube comparing the SX700 and the SX900. In it the guy concludes that the SX700 is a better bet.
Sure, you get a few more gizmos.. Chord looper, Bluetooth and marginally better speakers but for the extra money,  not really mind blowing.
If I had to answer this question "Do I ever wish I'd bought the SX900 after buying my SX700"?
The answer is absolutely not. I made a very good choice, after doing a LOT of homework on both models.


Bottom line is, it's your choice, but your logic that the SX 900 is 4 years old is somewhat flawed.
It was INTRODUCED in 2019, along with the SX700.... but if you bought a brand new one tomorrow it will be a brand new keyboard.

Food for thought.

Keith.

[J. Larry]

I, too, was wondering if there might by an SX 900 upgrade in the forseeable future.  I have the SX 900 and prefer the size, weight, and 61 notes.  But, it would be nice to have some of the Genos 2 hand-me-downs in a new SX arranger.

[pjd]

NAMM is January 25 to 28, 2024. That's a short wait.

However, I doubt if Yamaha will announce a new arranger so shortly after Genos2. If I had to guess, NAMM will bring SEQTRAK and the new CLP-800 series.

The next SX9xx will be a relatively minor bump over the current SX900 -- a few more voices, a few more styles. It may have full phat Revo drums. Maybe. Incremental improvement, AKA "the Yamaha way."

The SX900 is nicely done and it would be a great instrument to own and play. Plus, folks are already working on Genos2 to XYZ style conversions. Drake's conversions for S950, for example, should play just fine on SX900.

It's all up to you -- does the SX900 fit your personal musical goals and needs?

All the best -- pj

P.S. Welcome to the Forum! 

[BogdanH]

hello nforce777,
Let me add some of my thoughts (as SX700 owner)...

First and important question: you already have/had some keyboard? I ask because if that's your first keyboard... how do you know it would suit you perfectly? You just can't know that -no matter what Youtube says.

In general, I have the same opinion as Keith (Divemaster) above. However, it might depend on where you live. Here in Europe new SX900 is almost double price of new SX700 and so SX700 is much better choice in my opinion. But even if price difference would be smaller, I would still get SX700.
But as always: if money is less of concern, then just get what you can afford.

Buying now or waiting? Nobody knows when next SX successor will come. SX900/700 came almost two years after Genos release and so I just don't believe to see next SX keyboard in spring. Not because Yamaha couldn't make it.. it's also a marketing strategy: Genos2 needs to stay hot for a while!
And so my advice: if you can not wait for about a year, then get what's available now.

Bogdan

[mikf]

Agree, if you already have a pretty good arranger and the SX is just an upgrade, might be worth waiting, might not be. But if you have no arranger, go ahead. You can be playing it for a year or maybe more before the new SX arrives, which is surely more important, and it may not be that much better when (or if) it arrives anyway. And worst case, you can trade the old one in for the new if you want, and you will at least have been playing it for a while.
Mike

[nforce777]

Wow, thank you guys for your awesome insight!
And thank you for a warm welcome!
I had a Korg pa800 but I sold it. Now I have my old psr280. I mainly use it to practise so i dont get rusty
I thought about sx700 but my biggest concern is that the sx900 has more drumkits and some sort of revo drums variant and the styles sound better because of it. Do you guys know , is this really the case?

[ton37]

If you are doubting go on safe with the sx900 ( maybe a used one?). You will not regret. 

[wersiplayer]

Yhe lessons i learned are, there wil always be a better model waiting somewhere. The question is, is it worth waiting? Are you willing to spend the extra cost for the new model? As said, there are at times good second hand keyboards to buy, peeps who migrating or did an impulsive purchase, you name it. If there is no imediate need you could also wait until the update comes out and many wil have the urge to upgrade and dumping there omd instruments. And as said it could be not for this year or even next year. Or consider the sx 700 who is a good choice. Voices and styles are there with miliions, and that is true, so if you take the jump or wait is a very personal thing depending on your needs or expectations. Do you have the money and need some new stimuly for your experience? Go for it. Das it hurt if you do it now? Wait or go for a second hand sx900 or even asx700. Dont go for the sx600 because this is a total other beast.The choice is yours and yours alone.

[hans1966]

Yhe lessons i learned are, there wil always be a better model waiting somewhere. The question is, is it worth waiting? Are you willing to spend the extra cost for the new model? As said, there are at times good second hand keyboards to buy, peeps who migrating or did an impulsive purchase, you name it. If there is no imediate need you could also wait until the update comes out and many wil have the urge to upgrade and dumping there omd instruments. And as said it could be not for this year or even next year. Or consider the sx 700 who is a good choice. Voices and styles are there with miliions, and that is true, so if you take the jump or wait is a very personal thing depending on your needs or expectations. Do you have the money and need some new stimuly for your experience? Go for it. Das it hurt if you do it now? Wait or go for a second hand sx900 or even asx700. Dont go for the sx600 because this is a total other beast.The choice is yours and yours alone.

Although it is the smallest of the SX family, it also has its charms.

I myself just bought a new SX600 right now, and I love it. It comes with some functions that its older brothers do not have, such as: unison & accent, smartchord, ability to record audio to the computer through a printer cable.

I will wait for the next SX9XXX model, but I will continue to keep the SX600, since it is very portable and brings what I need for my live concerts.

just my thoughts.

Hans

[BogdanH]

Although it is (SX600) the smallest of the SX family, it also has its charms.
...

Completely agree on that!
Quite often we look at SX600 as a poor man's choice, where the truth is far from that. Unless we're nitpicking, the difference between i.e. SX900 and SX600 is much smaller than the pricing suggests. I had PSR-S670 (SX600 predecessor) before and I was quite impressed by it's sound and features.
The main reason why I sold it, was small display (which makes custom style creation quite difficult) and small memory amount -other than that, I was happy with it.
For first time buyers, who usually don't really know how far they will go, I always recommend SX600.

Bogdan

[Amwilburn]

Completely agree on that!
Quite often we look at SX600 as a poor man's choice, where the truth is far from that. Unless we're nitpicking, the difference between i.e. SX900 and SX600 is much smaller than the pricing suggests. I had PSR-S670 (SX600 predecessor) before and I was quite impressed by it's sound and features.
The main reason why I sold it, was small display (which makes custom style creation quite difficult) and small memory amount -other than that, I was happy with it.
For first time buyers, who usually don't really know how far they will go, I always recommend SX600.

Bogdan

Hi Bogdan,

it's true that the s670 was the predecessor to the sx600; and you'd think all the features from it made it into the sx600.

But surprisingly, the note edit page for style creation is gone. You can record live, and quantize, and even use style assembly. But note by note creating (incl step recording) and editing of drum beats has been removed. So be aware that the sx600 (and it's shared architecture brother, the DGX670) aren't as versatile at style creating/editing as all the other Yamaha "pro" arrangers.

It also depends where you are. Here in North America, the sx700 is 70% of the price of the sx900, so might as well get the nicer model. In Europe, however? It's only 53% of the price of the sx900, which makes the sx700 much more attractive over there!

Sorry, I digress: will there be a new PSRsx900 successor? Eventually, of course. But as the sx900 arrived 2 years after the G1, the true successor (sx1000? sx910?) will likely arrive in the 3rd or 4th  quarter of 2025. There will likely be a stopgap model, let's say an sx905, that would potentially show up a year before that, which (given history) would be a repackaged PSRsx900, but with some new features and probably some sound packs pre-loaded (of the 3 packs that were preinstalled on the PSRs975, 3 were already previously available, and the 4th eventually showed up as a pack for the PSRsx series as well)

But assuming the psrsx900 and it's successor would be like G1 to G2? Unlikely.
The sx900 is *not* a Genos. The sound library is the same as the Tyros 5, but with all the S.Art 2 voices removed, but with Live drums that used the Revo drum mapping for style compatibility.

Which means more than likely the successor will be a Genos with all the S.Ar 2 voices removed, but with the REV reverb, and probably live versions of the Ambient drums.

So if you're willing to wait maybe 5-8 months for a repackaged sx900, or another 1.75-2 years for an actually sx900 successor (no idea if it will be called sx910, sx925, or sx1000) then by all means, wait. Depends how much of a hurry you're in,


Incidentally, if you dig through all the Genos 2 prediction posts, in mid 2022 I had said G2 would arrive Fall of 2023 at the earliest* and 2024 at the latest. Having said that, I too, would wait to see what's at NAMM (pjd is usually quite prophetic)

Mark

[BogdanH]

hi Mark,
Thank you for pointing out the difference between S670 and SX600 (which I wasn't aware of).
Maybe I was also misunderstood when I said "the difference between SX900 and SX600 is smaller...", because (as I said later) I had first time buyers in mind. As we become more familiar with arranger concept, every detail counts and then differences become more important.
Recommending i.e. Genos is always safe, but it can easily happen that it becomes money thrown away (you know what I mean). And that's why I always recommend "the necessary minimum" -unless there are more specific needs.

I also realize that OP didn't come back and so our advices will probably end in the air 

Greetings,
Bogdan

[pjd]

(pjd is usually quite prophetic)

Even a broken clock is right twice a day    -- pj

[nforce777]

Thank you all for your very useful insights. I decided not to wait and buy sx900 or sx700.

[Divemaster]

Whatever you buy, you will get great pleasure from. playing it. They are both great keyboards.

[DaPaleRider]

Maybe you wait since there is NAMM 2024. You will never know if they release a new arranger keyboard.

[EileenL]

I don't think the next SX series will be out for another couple of years yet.

[DrakeM]

Wait for the new SX keyboard which will most likely be in mid 2024.
Yamaha introduced the Genos in December of 2017 and the S975 model just 30 days later.

[BogdanH]

...
Yamaha introduced the Genos in December of 2017 and the S975 model just 30 days later.

Well, S975 wasn't really that different from S970 which was released three years earlier. If similar happens with SX900/700 successor then I'm definitely not interested.
My guess: SX900/700 successor will come in last quarter of 2024.

Bogdan

[jugge]

I hope the SX900/700 successor also get an USB audio interface that the Genos 2 have.

[J. Larry]

I'd spring for an SX900 upgrade, if it only had an XLR VH input with phantom power.  That probably won't happen in the SX line.  But, any other Genos 2 hand-me-downs would be welcome.