This is an in depth question, please bear with me…

I just purchased a new S90XS.  I own a Motif XS8 and a Roland RD700GX.  With the S90XS I wanted the sounds of the Motif and the user friendliness of the Roland.

When I play a gig, many people yell out requests.  On the Roland RD700GX, I am able to split the keyboard and layer the keyboard “On the Fly” and begin playing immediately.  The strings and piano in the layer mode go to the top half of the keyboard automatically and the bass goes to the bottom half automatically as well.

If I want to change the strings to organ, I can do that with 2 keystrokes.  Everything is displayed and I can begin to play right away.  I can also see on the display what sounds I am working with.

Before I begin the gig with the Roland RD700GX, I EDIT Part #2 to be controlled by the footcontroller. No matter what combination I choose, Part #2 will always respond to the foot controller.

On the S90XS, I have to anticipate before I play the performances I will need.  I can not just put piano in #1, strings in #2 bass in #3 and take off.  Then I can’t replace strings with banjo in #2 for the next tune I do.

I wish that Yamaha would look at the Roland RD 700GX and make it that easy to change in the heat of a gig.  I play many solo gigs and do requests and do not have the time to “program a performance”.

Yamaha sounds are the best, Roland sounds are not very good except for the scat sounds.

My question is: Is there an quick and easy way to put together 3 or 4 sounds on the S90SX or do I have to live with the performance programming routine?

I am a Yamaha fan and will do whatever it takes to continue using Yamaha!

Thank You

Performance Creator should allow you to make your SPLITS and LAYERS on the fly.

Basics: Category Search and PERFORMANCE Creator PDF

Bad Mister

Thank you and I will study this report.

It means alot to me.

Sincerely

Frank

Bad Mister

After reading the manual you sent to me, we still have not touched on the fact that everytime I change a layer and split, I have to tell the new voice (example: organ) that I would like it to be controlled by the foot controller #1 and I would like the organ sound to be split on the top half only.  It does not make sense for an organ sound to be in the bottom half only to make my bass player angry! 

I realize that I can take the time to make all these things happen, but again, it does take that extra time.  By the time I put in all of the parameters, the effect of having the crowd in my hand is gone.

Not to keep bringing up the Rolad keyboard, however it is a fact that I can do all of these changes quickly.  The foot controller always controls part #2 (if I choose) and the layers always go to the top half when the bass is in the bottom.

Thank You

We think you are comparing apples to oranges here… They are both fruit but are in entirely different categories.

One is like a “stage piano” with a couple hundred synth sounds thrown in and several banks of GM sounds for variety, the other is a “stage synthesizer” with well over 1700 individual sounds and is full fledged synthesizer. You are trying to make one fit the mold of the other, we feel your pain. We could easily write a series of things that would not work in the other direction (but that would not really be helpful here… And in the end, it would just point out that, again, these two products do not neatly fit into the same category, not at all).

A better comparison would be to a Yamaha CP-series, these are the equivalent ‘stage piano’ + some synth sounds line. Less emphasis on having to customize everything beforehand, more emphasis on real time, “on the fly” operation, and as you might expect, less of a library of sounds (just a few hundred, like the RD). Not all of the pro CPs feature the GM compatible sound set, don’t know if that compatibility is a requirement of yours.

If “two button” press access to a banjo sound is an important for your keyboard needs, as a sales person, I might have steered you away from the S90 XS, particularly if the other keyboard can do that… Really, I don’t think I can match that on any Yamaha in an “on the fly” situation… Not with over 1700 sounds in the basic library.

S90 XS/S70 XS Voice Library:
1024 Presets Voices
512 User Voices - fill these with the scores of libraries available for Yamaha synths!!!
128 GM - pseudoGM set, Voices laid out to respond to GM program change list.
64 Preset Drums
32 User Drums
1 GM Kit

Yes, the paradigm is that you might want to prepare, to get the most out of the S90 XS as an instrument.

S90 XS/S70 XS Performsnce Library
512 User Perormances - these are for those that can (and do) prepare for the gig (and this is where the “stage synth” shines for those who can prepare) all Performances are user performances because it is all about bringing the extensive library of expressive sounds under your control for “performing” on stage.

If you don’t know before hand that you are going to need a banjo to replace the strings, well, I don’t know that all this will help. But if you can prepare a few hundred of these Performances with one, two and three Voices in the PARTS you can keep Part 4 as your wild card… Add it with Category Search and simply raise the fader or turn the Part ON.

Sorry I don’t have a two button press solution for you, if you didnt know in advance.. That’s impressive, if you are not exaggerating. But I don’t really think it is a realistic goal for a synth with this many sounds.

And just FYI, when you change the Voice assigned to PART 2, it inherits the Foot Switch “receive switch” settings of Part 2. Not sure what you are doing if you lose this but maybe something you are missing.

Check out the Yamaha CP- series for a more comparable keyboard to what you describe. I think there are more players that know exactly what they are going to do on stage than those that need a banjo (or any one sound) immediately, if you get my meaning. The one thing I can say for your solo gigs: tell the bass player to get over stepping into his range, particularly on your “solo” gig :-) .

:-)
Hope some of that helps.

Bad Mister

Thank you for your time.  I am going to make it work because I love the voices and drum patterns.  I will do some pre-planning and that should make me better anyways.

Thank You