PSR S900 - First Impressions

[kemo]

Just like to add a little about the USB Audio Recorder on the PSR-S900. I have to say I have never really had a great deal of time to think about learning the skill of recording, or setting up my own home studio, this is due to the fact of having a young family.. I sat down last week with my S900 and tried the very easy plug and play vocal audio recorder function that it has, and I was very surprised how easy it was. I never really touched on the vocal settings as I tried the default setting at first, but I think with a bit of tweaking it could be mastered. I will post a song that I recorded with it last week on the member’s stage when I return from work later. I Used a Shure Beta 58A as my microphone. I'm just wondering have any of you guys tried this yet and how did you think the keyboard performed with USB recording..

Regards
kemo

[Emerald Midi]

Just been checking out the spec for the 900.

Manufacturer: Yamaha Music
Catalogue no: PSR-S900
Series: PSR Keyboards
Further details: - 61 full size touch sensitive keys with initial touch
- Polyphony: 128 note
- Number of preset voices: 392 + 480 XG voices
- Accompaniments: 281 pro styles, 24 session styles
- One Touch Setting (OTS) 4 for Each Style, with OTS Link
- Music Finder/Music Database
- Number of channels (recording): 16
- Effects: Reverb (37 types), Chorus (32 types), Vocal Harmony (70 types)
- Internal Flash Memory: 1.4MB
- USB Flash Memory
- USB Audio Recorder
- External Flash Memory: Optional USB (via USB TO DEVICE)
- MIDI in/out
- Headphone socket and music rest
- MIC in, video out
- Amplifiers: 2 x 12W
- Speakers: 2 x 12cm + 2 x 4cm (dome)
- Dimensions: 100.3x43.3x 14.8cm (WxDxH)
- Weight: 11.5kg
- Manufacturer's warranty - 2 years

POWER SUPPLY INCLUDED INSIDE BOX

[kemo]

The Specs are very good Pat, one thing I have to say is that I feel for the Tyros 2 users.Think of the money that they have spent on the release of their model I'd say allot of them would of held back for this. It is a super mid range keyboard with all the trimmings.. The Voices, styles and extras are all that any muso would require. The Midis sound great through it. At half the price of the T2 Pat its a bargain. I think it was Tony that sold me on his first post, which again was very informative and everything needed to sway me to upgrade. Take your trip tomorrow, stick a couple of your files on a thumb stick and let yourself make the decision. I can't see you leaving the shop without one... Good Luck..

[Emerald Midi]

Very impressive, alright.

Kieran, when you get the chance would you post that link to the 900 demonstration I am sure other would also appreciate seeing this wonderful machine in action.

You mentioned you use a lappy as a hard-drive, when you have time could you eloborate how you set it up, for example: is it USB to USB?

[kemo]

admin said:

Very impressive, alright.

Kieran, when you get the chance would you post that link to the 900 demonstration I am sure other would also appreciate seeing this wonderful machine in action.

You mentioned you use a lappy as a hard-drive, when you have time could you elaborate how you set it up, for example: is it USB to USB?

Hi Pat, heres the link for the demonstration: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImsxV32ii8U&eurl..


Ok so elaborating on my USB drive... What I have Pat is a normal IDE Laptop (40gb) Hard drive. I then bought an Ide to usb Converter caddy/Enclosure, which converts the drive from IDE to USB. These caddies or Enclosures are available to buy everywhere. One thing to remember when buying is (the type of hard drive you are converting) if its a (sata) drive or if it is an IDE drive, buy which one meets your needs. The Caddies also come in different sizes from 2 1/2" right up the scale, again just but to what meets your needs. For example my hard drive was a 2 1/2" drive so I bought a 2 1/2" caddie. The drive fits into it nicely and it is held by a couple of little thumb screws. The converter on the top just fits nicely to the IDE pins of the hard drive. The drive enclosures are also USB 2 allowing maximum data transfer speed. The enclosures also come with a usb to usb cable which is handy for any PSR-S900 users as the USB port is at the back. So for a total of £18 I had a USB storage drive which is 40GB in Size. ( more than enough for us MIDI muso's. see below an example of what the enclosures look like








All the Best

Kieran (kemo)

[kemo]

mike said:

Hi Kemo
Have you tried this site?
psrtutorial.com/Files/collections.html
Plenty of good styles.
Regards
Mike

Hi Mike, I'm sorry I missed your post. Yes I have access to this site. I am a registered member also on the forum. There are alot of yamaha enthusiasts on there that have helped me aswell. A very friendly and handy resource site.

Thanks you again
Kemo (kieran)

[Emerald Midi]

Thank you Kieran for explaining that in your very helpful post. To be honest I though you actually connected your laptop directly into the 900 but I see now it just the hard drive. Clever!

So you remove the hard drive from the laptop, how do go about doing that? I always thought laptops difficult to work with.

[kemo]

admin said:

Thank you Kieran for explaining that in your very helpful post. To be honest I though you actually connected your laptop directly into the 900 but I see now it just the hard drive. Clever!

So you remove the hard drive from the laptop, how do go about doing that? I always thought laptops difficult to work with.

Hey Pat, removing laptop hard drives can vary depending on the type model etc. In all my time working with desktops and laptops I never had any problems with removal process. I used to use this site for removal purposes. Have a look to see if your desired model is there..

www.cmsproducts.com/notebook_drive_removal.htm

The reason the laptop hard drives are so easily removed is most of the time they are the first point of troubleshooting when you have software issues. Pat the alternative also is if you just purchase a drive online from Ebay or Amazon, you will pick one up very cheap as everyone now is looking for massive storage drives. As you know 20-40gb drives can hold alot of midis.

hope this helps you Pat..

By the way how did you get on in Limerick City??

cheers

[Emerald Midi]

I did not get to go in the end. Next Saturday looks the most likely now.

Thanks for that link, again a very helpful place and one I intend to go through in more depth this evening.

Quick question: is the 900 able to play MP3? It would be a handy feature if it did.

[kemo]

admin said:

I did not get to go in the end. Next Saturday looks the most likely now.

Thanks for that link, again a very helpful place and one I intend to go through in more depth this evening.

Quick question: is the 900 able to play MP3? It would be a handy feature if it did.

I'm not sure Pat If it does. What I do know is that you can take an Input from another audio device, such as a CD player, MP3 player via the [MIC/LINE IN] jack). I will try the above for you tonight and post my results.

[Emerald Midi]

Good man, Kieran. I appreciate that.

[rosetchfie]

I watched the youtube demo that kemo listed above - after being a dedicated Roland keyboard fan and owner for many years I almost felt like giving them away and changing to Yamaha - very impressive - at least from what has been described above and what you could see and hear on the video
Roy NZ