VP SOFT

[Gemor]

I apologize if this has been asked before. I tried wading through all the posts, lol. On the left of the main screen it says vp soft. I thought it was perhaps for adding to the accompaniment? Most of the ones I select sound terrible with the songs I play. I read the manual but didn't see anything about it   George

[BogdanH]

hi Gemor
Keyboard keybed is by default divided into two areas: 11 white keys on the left (C0-G1) for Left hand playing and the rest on the right for Right hand playing. The key position at which left hand area ends (G1 in this case) is called "split point". The voice that is used on left hand area has label Left. By default that's "VP Soft" voice, but you can change to some other voice instead.
To actually hear the Left voice, you need to enable it with Left button on the right side of the panel.

Everything is in Owner's Manual (page 44). I took the time to find the answer for you.. now it's your turn 

Bogdan

[DerekA]

If you're using a style for accompaniment, you wouldn't *normally* also enable the Left voice unless you specifically wanted to hear the notes from the chord that you played "on top" of the accompaniment (or as a substitution for say the pad style part).

[Gemor]

Thankyou Bogdan for pointing me to that page. I glossed over it many times lol. If Yamaha had put vp soft beside the title maybe I wouldn't have to bug you guys. Yes Derek I am using styles and after hearing my music now, I am almost in tears it actually sounds good!. What a great keyboard and to me the possibilities are endless. I play simple songs from ez play books, 1 finger chords and auto accomp. George in Canada

[BogdanH]

hi George,

... to that page. I glossed over it many times lol.

I know what you mean. Many times when we look at certain page, we actually don't see the practical usage of what manual is trying to explain. That is, we actually understand what manual is saying after we already know how it works 

Bogdan

[mikf]

George
You definitely don't want to have the left hand voice activated if you use one finger chords.
Mike

[pjd]

By default that's "VP Soft" voice, but you can change to some other voice instead.

"VP SOFT" is a relatively light, non-offensive pad sound. Yamaha typically programs these kinds of sounds into the LEFT hand voice part. They usually reduce the LEFT voice sound level so it doesn't interfere too much with the accompaniment.

If you go through different OTS settings and different styles, you'll see some of the other common voices Yamaha use for the LEFT hand part. A good way to learn about voice selection...

All the best -- pj

[mikf]

But one of the downsides of the single finger chord system is that it produces some slight discords when you add the left side note to get minor chords or dominant 7ths - like D and C# together for Dmin. So you really need to learn proper chord fingering before using lh voices.
Mike

[Gemor]

Thanks Mike, I am a novice at this. I did have a 9000 for several years but couldn't grasp all the things it could do but liking the sounds of a keyboard I eventually bought this sx700. It is a learning experience and in time I may evolve into using proper chords but not reading music. I like the simplicity of ez-play books and have many of them, mostly country and radio hits from my younger years.  George

[mikf]

George, One further piece of advice. Don't fall into the trap of spending time learning about all the functionality of the keyboard.  It might seem fun but  you will soon get bored with that. Use the time learning to play better. Much more rewarding.
Mike