No portamento in the PSR-e473, but portamento in the "toy" PSS-A50?

[jasonrohrer]

The 473 is a "beast" compared to the A50, and 3x the price...  except no portamento?

I played with the A50 today at a local shop, and I was pretty blown away by it.  A touch-sensitive toy keyboard?  With all kinds of crazy arpeggios?  With recording?  And with portamento!

I came home thinking that the 473, which I had just purchased, would surely have portamento too...  but nope?  I've scoured the manual and come up dry.

[SciNote]

The lack of portmento on the E473, considering that the I500 has it, as well as most of the newer Casios in this class, is one of the biggest surprises and disappointments concerning this keyboard, in my opinion.  It's still a very nice keyboard, but I feel Yamaha dropped the ball in some areas.

[jasonrohrer]

So the i500 is identical to the 463, except with a focus on Indian music.... no wonder they need the portamento!

[yul2000]

Was going to go for the E473 but no portamento...

My question: how really useful is it in real life considering pitch bend could do a similar job.

Anyone still going for it and using bends only?

[SciNote]

The pitch bend wheel is a great feature, and is very useful when using sounds like guitar, violin, or any other instrument sound where the actual instrument being simulated can bend the pitch.  And, it can be used to simulate a synthesizer portamento effect -- to an extent.  But it's no substitute for an actual portamento function.

Check out some Classic synth leads, like the beginning of "Fooling Yourself" by Styx, the end of "Lucky Man" by ELP (Emerson, Lake, and Palmer), and the theme to the 1970's TV show, "The Rockford Files."  There is no way you could simulate all of the portamento's sliding pitch between each note with just the pitch bend wheel.  Additionally, manipulating the pitch bend means you are now using your left hand for the pitch bend wheel, and cannot use it to play accompaniment.  If you're using auto-accompaniment, you might be able to quickly stab the necessary chord changes between actions on the pitch bend wheel, but it would be tricky.  And if you don't use auto-accompaniment, then it's practically impossible.  In that case, the pitch bend in this way would only be useful if you're playing in a band, where other band members are playing the accompaniment, or if you're doing a multi-track recording and recording the accompaniment separately on different tracks.  Using portamento, however, is automatic and does not require you to take your left hand away from playing the accompaniment.

I use a Roland Gaia SH-01 synth in conjunction with my PSR-E433, so that helps take care of my portamento needs, not to mention the ability to create a wide variety of custom sounds not available on the E433.  But it would be nice if Yamaha included some version of portamento on the E400-series keyboards.  Even if it was just an effect "baked in" to some of the synth presets, like what Casio does on the CTX-700 and possibly some of their newer CTS-series boards.  Oh well... Maybe on the PSR-E483!

[yul2000]

Thanks for your comments.

It might be that portamento is not crucial. Lucky man riffs or middle eastern solos perhaps might not be doable but I am really not looking for that right now.

It seems there is some form of a slide/drop feature on the new PSR-E473. I hear it in the dance/electronic demos.

I can't really figure it out. Anyone would know about this?

[SciNote]

If a link to these videos/special effects is available, please post it so we can check it out.

My guesses would be:

1. Something programmed in some of the DJ/groove tracks
2. Something programmed in a dance or hip-hop style
3. Someone using the pitch-bend wheel, which can be set to bend as far as one octave up or down
4. Maybe an S.Art Lite effect on certain sounds