Model: Yamaha S90ES
Former synth: Roland XP80

I play in a church band.  I have the synth set up in Master mode so that I can just hit one of the 1-16 buttons on the right to quickly change instruments.  SOmetimes I have to make a seamless change from one instrument to the next.  On the old Roland, this was easy: I held down the sustain pedal while playing, press an instrument button to change the voice, and then start playing in the new voice.  I can’t seem to get the S90ES to do this- as soon as I hit the new voice button, the old voice cuts off even tho I’m holding down the sustain pedal.

So sequence of events on the old Roland:

1. Hold sustain pedal
2. Press and release keys (sound continues)
3. Press instrument button (old sound still continues)
4. Press key (new instrument plays)
5. Pump the pedal once (old instrument stops, new instrument continues)

Now with the S90ES on step 3, the old sound cuts out.
Is what I want, possible?

The S90ES is made by Yamaha so it works differently from your old Roland keyboard.

First there is no “instrument button” on the S90 ES, you will instead press a PART SELECT button.

Place the sounds you want to switch between (you can select any 16 Voices) - place them in a MULTI. Each of the 128 MULTIs in your Yamaha S90 ES can hold any 16 VOICES that you need, you can switch seamlessly between any of the 16 PARTS, even sustaining them with your fingers or the sustain pedal, while you switch to another and begin playing it.

Simply use the numbered SELECT buttons [1]-[16].

If you have been trying to switch between programs while in VOICE mode, that will not work. Anytime you need access to multiple Voices, it woud be wise to use the mode that lets you select multiple Voices - and that is the appropriately named MULTI mode. Make sense?

Please look up the MULTI in your S90 ES documentation and learn about the different things you are can customize for your “live” setups. It’s time you started learning your newer S90 ES and leave the other keyboard you mentioned back in the 20th century..
:-)

Hope that helps.

Thank you for the advice!  Yes I admit I haven’t spent the necessary time to really get to know the S90ES.  I understand the buttons aren’t “instrument buttons” - I just didn’t have the keyb in front of me when I wrote this so I didn’t remember what they were called.

I’m going to poke around some more - I saw your reply to GigMan here:
http://www.arrangerworkstation.com/forums/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=S90ES&Number=433427&page=19&view=collapsed&sb=9&o;=&fpart=1
And I’ll also look at the Harmony Central thread that Gigman posted.