New I series model launch : PSR I500

[AnupamEnosh]

PSR I500 is ready to be dispatched out of the factory in India, also it has been manufactured in India..
https://in.yamaha.com/en/products/musical_instruments/keyboards/portable_keyboards/psr-i500/index.html
https://youtu.be/zUiGzUDfuhs
Enjoy...

[vbdx66]

Hi Anupam,

It was really time that the i455 got an update.

Here an interesting presentation video of the i500 by Jeremy See:

https://youtu.be/NoOyFY_I4HY

More to come I hope.

Regards,

Vinciane

[SeaGtGruff]

I hadn't seen anything about this, so thank you very much for posting!

It will be interesting to see what updates have been made in the new model.

[AnupamEnosh]

Well I visited the official Yamaha India website, where they had detailed specs of I500. I played some samples of Indian voices uploaded there, and they are of great quality ! Also this keyboard is quite advanced in terms of features as well, as it comes with the inbuilt recording feature which was introduced in E463.
I assume this keyboard might be launched in the price bracket of almost 400-450$..

[AnupamEnosh]

Hi Anupam,

It was really time that the i455 got an update.

Hi Vinciane,
Yamaha was facing the heat of competition from Casio, Korg, Roland in the entry level segment, specifically in Indian market. Since I455 was good enough, but an outdated board. They had to launch this to keep themselves selling, they don't have an affinity for low cost keyboards, else they would have updated I455 long back in time. If you visit a keyboard shop in India today, you would find 8-9 boards of Casio on display, and hardly one I455/F51 there. And there would be no E453 on main display even if they have it in the stock.

[SciNote]

Interesting, indeed!  Looks essentially like an Indian version of the PSR-E463.  Also, saw this in the manual concerning the sustain pedal...

"Determines the function of the footswitch connected to the SUSTAIN jack (page 45). When "1 (Sustain)" or "4 (Sostenut)" is selected, the footswitch works as a damper pedal or sostenuto pedal as on an acoustic piano. Note that sustain does not affect the Split Voice, while sostenuto affects only the Split Voice when Split is on..."

From what I've seen, the E463 does not have option 4 (Sostenut), which would be nice to sustain the split voice with the pedal.  However, there still appears to be no way to sustain the main and split voices at the same time -- even here, you can only choose one or the other.  But at least, with the Sostenut function, you can sustain the split voices, and then you can always add some release to the main voice with the envelope generator to get a sustain effect for the main voice, as well.  Come on, Yamaha -- bring this function to the regular E400 series boards, as well!

[AnupamEnosh]

Interesting, indeed!  Looks essentially like an Indian version of the PSR-E463.  Also, saw this in the manual concerning the sustain pedal...

Yes, sostenut was always available in Indianised keyboards like I455. It is useful in playing the sitar voice on keys, the bass notes have to be kept on sustain for a realistic effect.. I don't think it will have much use in global version (E463), as there are very few Indian classical voices on E463, and the Sitar voice on I500 is totally different from that offered on E463, or any other E series keyboard.

[SciNote]

Yes, but it could still be used on other voices.  I could have a left-hand piano, and a right hand string sound, and I might want to sustain that left-hand piano for a more flowing accompaniment line.  Being able to sustain the split voice would give me that effect, but right now, it is not possible on the non-Indian E400's to do that.  The closest I can do is to just crank up the reverb to 127 on the split voice.

It is interesting that this new board is called the PSR-I500, and not the PSR-I485 as Michael had predicted (going from the I425, then to the I455, he figured that each new PSR-I model was just having a value of 30 added to their model number, which would've resulted in the next model being the I485).  Between this, and the PSR-E360, I think we're going to see a new numbering system with these keyboards soon.  For the regular E models, I bet we'll either have the E360 (replacing the E263, as it is essentially just an E263 with a velocity sensitive keyboard and color variations for the housing), an E460 replacing the E363, and an E560 replacing the E463... or, as suggested by the PSR-I500's model name, Yamaha may just go back to round multiples of 100, such as E400 and E500.

[AnupamEnosh]

Just saw a video on youtube, from Yamaha Music India channel, where Glenn Fernandes demonstrated the Portamento feature of I500.. And it is great for the Indian voices ! Probably it will work the same for Western voices as well. I am surprised how Jeremy See skipped this major update, that NO other E series keyboard has.. 

Yes, but it could still be used on other voices.  I could have a left-hand piano, and a right hand string sound, and I might want to sustain that left-hand piano for a more flowing accompaniment line. Being able to sustain the split voice would give me that effect, but right now, it is not possible on the non-Indian E400's to do that.

I think these features "Portamento" and "Sostenut" cannot be put into other E series lineup, because that will affect the sales of S series keyboards. These features have been put on I500 coz it won't be available globally for sale.

[SeaGtGruff]

That was very interesting to watch! My only criticism was when he mentioned "the new DSP effects," but then the example he used was Chorus, which has been one of the two standard effects (Reverb and Chorus) for many years. It would have been nice to hear him use a DSP effect that hasn't already been available on a PSR-I.

[SciNote]

Just saw a video on youtube, from Yamaha Music India channel, where Glenn Fernandes demonstrated the Portamento feature of I500.. And it is great for the Indian voices ! Probably it will work the same for Western voices as well. I am surprised how Jeremy See skipped this major update, that NO other E series keyboard has..  I think these features "Portamento" and "Sostenut" cannot be put into other E series lineup, because that will affect the sales of S series keyboards. These features have been put on I500 coz it won't be available globally for sale.

So what it looks like I see here is basically a PSR-E463, but with the groove tracks being replaced by more detailed Indian voices and styles.  Yet there are still about 800 voices and over 280 styles, and it also includes the sostenut feature for the pedal as well as PORTAMENTO?!  While I likely would not use the Indian voices and styles much, I also do not use the groove features, either (I've never really used them on my PSR-E433).  But I would sure use the added pedal features and portamento!  I wonder if this keyboard could be special-ordered from Yamaha for delivery to the US for a reasonable cost?  If so, perhaps that could be an eventual replacement for my E433.

Did the previous PSR-I keyboards have portamento?  And is the portamento a selectable function for any voice, or is it just available on certain voices?

I know I go nuts about portamento, but to me, it is just such a classic and quintessential synth feature, and until Casio just introduced it on their new models, it was just unheard of on any keyboard in this price range, except for maybe the newer low-cost mini-synths that have come out recently, but they usually don't have full-size keyboards, dozens of notes of polyphony, and on-board multi-track recording.

[vbdx66]

Hi Bob,

Yes, portamento is really a thrill. I hope that Yamaha will implement this feature in the PSR E473 when it'll be launched.

I really hope for a synth in the 300 euros/dollars range with the CT-X sounds and the PSR E 4xx ease of use.

Maybe someone up there at Yamaha's is hearing us...? Or maybe I am just dreaming out loud...?

Regards,

Vinciane

[SeaGtGruff]

Maybe someone up there at Yamaha's is hearing us...? Or maybe I am just dreaming out loud...?

I think the folks at Yamaha do indeed listen, although that doesn't mean they take each and every complaint and wish to the drawing board when they're planning future models.

As far as portamento, the changes that were recently made to portamento in the PSR-S models suggest that Yamaha has listened to people's wishes about how portamento is implemented.

And the appearance of portamento on the PSR-I500 is a hopeful sign that we might see it added to select PSR-E models-- although such a decision might be driven more from Yamaha's desire to stay competitive with Casio, as may have been the case when Yamaha increased the polyphony of the PSR-E models from 32 notes to 48 notes.

In any case, it's my understanding that portamento is sometimes limited to certain voices, since I think maybe it must be programmed or designed into the voice and isn't usually something that can simply be "switched on" for each and every voice.

[SeaGtGruff]

I've just been looking at the Owner's Manual and Data List for the PSR-I500 with regard to portamento.

Portamento seems to be able to work with any of the preset voices, although the amount of change in pitch will be affected by the decay time of a given voice. But it won't have any effect with the Quick Sample voice.

It's interesting that even though portamento can be toggled on and off, and portamento time can be adjusted, the MIDI Control Change messages for these two settings (CC65 = Portamento On/Off, and CC5 = Portamento Time) aren't implemented on the PSR-I500. It would be very interesting to record a User Song using portamento, then inspect the song's MIDI data to see what messages are being used.

On the other hand, the Portamento Control message (CC84) is implemented, as is and always has been the case on the PSR-E models. However, there's a note on page 27 of the Owner's Manual which warns that "External MIDI Songs containing Portamento Control and Scale Tune settings may not be played correctly."

[vbdx66]

Hi Michael,

The portamento feature as it is implemented on the PSR i500 looks very promising indeed, I strongly hope to see it implemented in the future PSR E473, too.
With Casio CT-X3000/5000/9000 having the feature onboard, IMO Yamaha will have to program it into its next PSR E models, or they won't be competitive any more. Even the CT-X700/800 (whichmare more in line with the PSR E363) do have a preset portamento feature for some of the synth sounds, etc.

Regards,

Vinciane

[AnupamEnosh]

Did the previous PSR-I keyboards have portamento?  And is the portamento a selectable function for any voice, or is it just available on certain voices?

This is the first E series keyboard to feature PORTAMENTO, AFAIK.

I think the folks at Yamaha do indeed listen, although that doesn't mean they take each and every complaint and wish to the drawing board when they're planning future models.

I don't remember when last time Yamaha premiered a feature in localised keyboards, to be further implemented in other E series lineup. So the implementation of portamento in E473 or even further models looks difficult to me. Note that the Sostenut feature existed on I455 since almost a decade, but it NEVER came to E series. If we look at the timeline of E series keyboards, most of the features were premiered in global models FIRST, localised Indian model next. The reason I believe, S-series keyboards have Portamento, is that they are more of a professional keyboard and it has a different userbase. But putting that into E series would affect the sales of E series keyboards in India.
This time Yamaha has been forced to be competitive with its offering to match the products of Casio in India, so it has provided some extra features in I500. I believe if Portamento was not there, the I500 could not stand in front of Casio's line up, because even CT-X 8000 & 9000 models are almost 60-150$ cheaper than Yamaha I500's expected launch price, and CT-X are  ACTUALLY offering much value and specs for money.

[SciNote]

The competition with Casio may be one reason that we see portamento introduced in the next version of the top level PSR-E keyboard (PSR-E473, or whatever it may be called).  It's not just in India.  Here in the US, we can buy a $180 Casio keyboard that now includes portamento on certain synth voices -- the CT-X700.

In the past, there has been a kind of give-and-take tradeoff between the higher-level entry keyboards from Yamaha and Casio.  For example, the previous high-level Casio (the CTK-7200) had organ drawbars, Leslie speaker simulation, more registrations, and the ability to modify a sound and save it to a custom voice, not just a registration.  But the Yamaha has live-control knobs to make it easier to customize sounds and the ability to alter the sound during a live performance; the groove/DJ features; a sequencer that, while having fewer tracks than the Casio, has the ability to record both the main and dual voices (if the previous Casio sequencers were anything like those of the sequencers on the new CT-X models, most of the tracks could only record the main voice of a set up); and in my opinion, a better key feel and sound quality.  And, also subjectively, I believe Yamaha has a much more straightforward and easy-to-use control layout and user interface.

By adding portamento, it really starts to get people thinking more about the Casios, and I would hope that Yamaha sees this and adds this feature in future models.  Would this cause it to bite into PSR-S sales?  Maybe a little, but the PSR-S keyboards have a lot more than just portamento, as they have more polyphony, more registrations, more registrations per bank (requiring fewer button-presses to change sounds during a performance), more sounds and styles, and things like vocal harmony in the upper-level models.  By the way, does the PSR-S670 have portamento?  I wasn't aware that it does, but then again, I never fully researched it, either.

Plus, Yamaha has put features in the PSR-E models that were not yet even introduced on the PSR-S models, such as the fact that live control knobs were on the E keyboards long before the S models, and the EW provides 76 keys, whereas no S-model currently offers 76 keys.

[AnupamEnosh]

My only criticism was when he mentioned "the new DSP effects," but then the example he used was Chorus, which has been one of the two standard effects (Reverb and Chorus) for many years.

I have not compared the spec sheet of I455, I500 & E463, but I believe the DSP effects have been updated to a level of E series standards, because I455 lacked in the master EQ effects, and some DSP Parameters..