Looking for a suitable psr Series

[Bernie9]

I have a friend that is a pro player in Ireland, playing a Ketron Audya.  He has asked for my help in buying a second keyboard for more and different styles.  We discussed the SX900 which is a bit too much money for a second instrument.

The question is, what psr would give him a good sound engine like the psr970 or would the 950 be too inferior. He has all kinds of peripheral equipment, and just needs good solid sound and styles. I told him the psr970 is good, but don't know about anything older.
Thanks
Bernie

[Fred Smith]

If the sx900 is too much money, I think the SX700 is the next best thing. I wouldn't do a PSR — they were great in their time, but lack much of today's technology

Cheers,
Fred

[Bernie9]

Thank you Fred. I would hate to have him come up short for the sake of a couple of dollars.

[andyg]

I have to disagree a bit here. The S970 and S975 will be great at delivering 'solid sounds and styles'. Sure, they won't do all the tricks that the SX series will do but they do sound great. And there are a few of my favourite sounds that have been dropped on the SX900!

Trouble is that second hand prices have been creeping upwards in recent months with S class keyboards like the S900 and even the PSR3000 selling for way more than I paid for mine many years ago!

If you can find a good deal on an SX700, great. If not, I'd look for an S970.

[DerekA]

If you don't need vocal harmony, the S770/S775 are pretty good choices too.

[Bernie9]

Thanks for the additional  information.  It is only the styles as a second keyboard that is most important, but since the OS changed with the Genos and SX series, wouldn't you lose backward compatibility by staying with a psr070 eg ?

[Fred Smith]

Thanks for the additional  information.  It is only the styles as a second keyboard that is most important, but since the OS changed with the Genos and SX series, wouldn't you lose backward compatibility by staying with a psr070 eg ?

No, as long as the keyboard supports SFF2 styles, it can play any Yamaha style. So a 970 can play Genos styles, for example. You may have to tweak the style a bit, but that's true of all styles not native to a keyboard.

Cheers,
Fred

[DerekA]

since the OS changed with the Genos and SX series, wouldn't you lose backward compatibility by staying with a psr070 eg ?

In reality only the user interface changed, to make good use of the touchscreen. Very little really changed 'behind the scenes'.

[Fred Smith]

In reality only the user interface changed, to make good use of the touchscreen. Very little really changed 'behind the scenes'.

Not sure you'd get a whole bunch of agreement on this, Derek. The voices were improved, the styles were improved, there's a playlist feature, three right voices, etc., etc. In fact, an SX keyboard is more like a Genos than a PSR.

Cheers,
Fred

[DerekA]

I was really meaning the underlying system hasn't changed beneath the user interface. It's still all based on the xg standard. So yes, there are improvements due to better sample playback, and new features. But it's really not a new operating system, certainly not enough of a change to make the styles incompatible which is what the op was concerned about.

[Amwilburn]

For what it's worth? The PSRsx970/975 sound library is identical to the PSRsx700 one; any styles that play on 1 will play on the other 2, except that the sx700 isn't compatible with Audio Styles, and the sx700/s975 come with pre-loaded sample packs (which *can* be installed on the s970 anyway).

The only differences are in the interface, the triple layer instead of only 2 right hand sound layers, and the sx700 has megavoice guitar arpeggiators (the s97x don't). Given the smaller sample area size and the lack of Audio styles, I'd say for most people the s975/s970 would have the edge. But if you have no intention of using the available sample libraries, and you like to use the triple sound layer for say, orchestral stacks, and you use the megavoice arpeggiator a lot? then the sx700 would be the best bet.

Don't @ me with the touch screen though; I can definitely edit/program faster with the non-touchscreen models; although a novice user would probably find the touch screen less intimating to learn at first.

The s770 > sx600 chipset btw (the sx600/dgx670 and even the PSRA5000 share the same base sound library).


For more /different styles, I would definitely go with an s975 at that price point.

Mark

[Bernie9]

Much obliged to all for the valuable information to forward on to my friend.

Bernie

[Toril S]

Good advice from everyone. The S975 is a very good keyboard.

[tyros2009]

If the sx900 is too much money, I think the SX700 is the next best thing. I wouldn't do a PSR — they were great in their time, but lack much of today's technology

I agree on the first part, SX700 cost is more reasonable. In Europe, it's cheaper than in USA !!! A friend of mine in Paris bought one (second hand, one year old, as new) for 800 Euros. Can't beat that.
Here in USA, I was content buying a second hand S770 (also for a bargain) to play for gigs.
My beloved Genos still for playing at home.
By "PSR" , I understand that folks here meant the S series, not E-series or the true low end PSR like PSR-270.

The touch screen is quite useful in many aspects:
1) typing text is almost as easy as on tablet or smart phone,
2) menus, features can be updated with firmware upgrade. Not limited by how many button we have on the board.

Question though: Why the SX700 and SX900 still have style buttons and voice buttons Genos removes them.
One STYLE button brings up a screen with voices in current categories, and the categories are listed on the left/right side of the screen. No physical buttons are needed.