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And you thought that the PSR-8000 was BIG?
And you thought that the PSR-8000 was BIG?
Introduction and Design – The Bigger, the Better
As I told when reviewing it, IMHO the PSR-8000 set the standard of what a “modern” high-end arranger keyboard is (at least, speaking of Yamaha), and all the following models, including the current ones, could be mostly considered as refinements or minor/incremental enhancements of the same concept.
Under that premise, the PSR-9000 can be seen as “more and better” stuff when compared to the previous PSR-8000, but without any radical changes, neither in concept nor in functionality. All in all, we’re in front of a “grown up” (also in a literal sense) PSR-8000. Nevertheless, this should not be interpreted as a criticism towards the PSR-9000, but rather as a praise of the PSR-8000.
That is not to say that the PSR-9000 has not more than a few enhancements; in fact, the list of new and/or relevantly better features is quite long and interesting. To summarize, the following ones can be highlighted:
ROM waveform memory is now 32 Mb (compared to 12 Mb in the PSR-8000, this is 2.5 times more)
Polyphony increases to 126 voices (the PSR-8000 has 64 voices)
Voices can have now up to 8 elements (4 elements in the PSR-8000)
The PSR-9000 uses flash memory and the OS can be now upgraded by software (version 3 is the latest)
Sampling memory can be increased up to 65 Mb (33 Mb in the PSR-8000), and the max. capacity of the hard drive is now 8 Gb (780 Mb in the PSR-8000)
New “Live” and “Cool” voices, as well as “Sweet” ones, are included (the PSR-8000 only had “Sweet” ones)
Accompaniment styles now have 4 different variations (just 2 in the PSR-8000)
The vocal harmonizer has now 3 additional voices (2 in the PSR-8000)
The “Music Database” feature has been added
The number of Registrations is increased to 512 (128 in the PSR-8000)
While the number of effects units remains the same, the number of algorithms is notably higher, and now there is also a “part EQ” (29 parts in total)
The amplification/speaker system is now more powerful (28W x 2, with 2-way speakers within a wooden enclosure)
More connections, including two sets of MIDI ports and a SCSI port for external devices such as a CD-rom or a ZIP drive
This time Yamaha didn’t decide to use the same design as the PSR-7000/8000. Now the keyboard is even longer (1,114 centimeters long, which is a lot for a 61-key model), deeper (over 46 centimeters; it’s indeed slightly deeper than a 88-weighted Montage 8) and taller (over 18 centimeters; again, taller than a Montage 8), with a metallic grey colour scheme. In general terms, straight lines are predominant, as opposed to the curvy ones of the PSR-7000/8000. The buttons are also bigger, although the screen type and size are the same. The rotary encoders of the screen have been exchanged by buttons, though (not sure if because of reliability reasons or just for reducing costs). On the other hand, a big multi-purpose rotary encoder next to the screen has been added. More remarkably, it’s notably heavier than the previous models, achieving a total of 22.5 kgs. (nearly 50 lbs.), making it the second heaviest Yamaha’s arranger keyboard ever, very close to the PSR-6700. The 6700, though, had a steel lower chassis (the PSR-9000 is all made of sturdy plastic) and it’s a 76-note keyboard, so the PSR-9000 could be considered even heavier in comparison. Anyway, it’s a PITA if you have to carry with it 😉. Speakers are greatly responsible for the weight. Although woofer speakers are now 13 cm (5.25”) instead of 16 cm (6.5”), they are placed in heavy wooden enclosures of 6 liters of volume each, which is more capacity than many dedicated studio monitors. It’s certainly an impressive-looking keyboard, but is it soundwise as impressive too?
Tech Trivia
From a strictly technological point of view, there are not major differences or game changers between the PSR-9000 and the previous PSR-8000. This does not mean that there aren’t some relevant improvements, though. Sound generation corresponds again to the SWP30 chip, although this time there are two of them and just not one. One direct consequence of that is the increase in polyphony, which is now of 126 notes (I just don’t know why polyphony is not of 128 notes instead, but I guess that there are technical reasons for that). Another even more interesting novelty is that now voices can have up to 8 elements instead of just 4. This is pretty relevant as even the Motif and the Motif ES had only up to 4 elements per patch, and it wasn’t until the Motif XF when it was doubled to 8. The synthesis engine, though, remains the same in all other respects: each element has two independent filters (which can be set as LPF, HPF, BPF or BEF), multi-stage envelope generators for pitch, filter and amplifier, and a LFO. As before, also custom samples can be used as oscillators.
Another remarkable difference is that ROM waveform memory is increased to 32 Mb, compared to the 12 Mb of the PSR-8000. Despite 32 Mb wasn’t either an incredible amount back in 2000, it was certainly more adequate for a flagship keyboard. More memory usually means more and (most importantly) better sounds.
AFAIK, the PSR-9000 is the first of Yamaha’s arrangers to include flash memory. Thanks to that, the firmware can be updated from software, for example to correct bugs or to add new functions, without having to physically replace the chips. For this reason, if you look through the web you’ll realize that there are “version 1”, “version 2” and “version 3” PSR-9000s. In fact, all of them are identical from a physical point of view, and all are upgradeable to the latest version. Flash memory is also used for a certain amount of accompaniment styles; it is possible to load a style from disk and save it to the flash memory, so it’s readily available just like a preset one, without having to load it from disk.
There are several other minor (or not that minor) technological enhancements. For instance, max. sampling memory is now 65 Mb instead of 33 Mb (although it includes just 1 Mb from factory, just like the PSR-8000). The max. capacity of the hard drive is now of 8 Gb. A new SCSCI interface is included (for external CD-Rom or data storage). Also, for the first time, there is a video output for connecting the keyboard to an external screen (for example, to display the lyrics of a song), and there’s also a PC keyboard interface to use a computer keyboard to enter data more quickly and efficiently than using the panel. For Vocal Harmony the same VOP3 chip is used, but now there’s an extra voice.
Sonic Pleasure
As usual (at least since the PSR-7000), each new keyboard from Yamaha contains also most of the voices of the previous models, and adds new ones. Taking a look at the preset voice list, we can realize that, actually, the number of voices is not much higher than in the PSR-8000 (331 “native” voices and 14 drum kits vs. 261 voices and 13 drum kits, respectively), and this contrasts with the much higher amount of waveform ROM (32 Mb vs. 12 Mb). This, combined with the new 8-element voice structure, makes it easy to figure out that efforts have been put into quality rather than quality, which is good news, actually.
So, in sum, in the PSR-9000 we can find relatively few new voices but of a high quality. While the PSR-8000 introduced the “Sweet” voices, the PSR-9000 not only adds a few of them (such as the soprano sax or the pan flute), but also introduces another two new (then) and classic (now) voice categories: “Live” and “Cool”. Yamaha has never been very clear nor specific regarding the technical characteristics of those voice categories, but we can guide ourselves by what is stated in the user manual of different models. It seems that “Live” voices refer to acoustic instruments/voices that are sampled in stereo, whereas “Cool” ones refer to electric instruments (such as electric guitars, electric pianos and so on”, which use “long samples to capture the nuances of the real instruments”. All in all, and despite the jargon, what “Live”, “Cool” and “Sweet” voices mean, at the end of the day, are high-quality voices.
Taking a look (or an ear 😉) to some of the PSR-9000’s new voices, we can appreciate that the quality is certainly quite good:
As already said, the only relevant change regarding the synthesis engine is that now it’s possible to use up to 8 elements or oscillators in a single voice (this can be used, for instance, to create more velocity layers in a piano voice). The virtual tonewheel organ engine (“Organ flutes”) remains the same as in the PSR-8000. The number of effects processors is also the same (reverb, chorus, variation, 4 insertions, microphone/line in effect, vocal harmonizer and global EQ), although now there is also a part EQ (one for each of the 29 multitimbral parts in total, albeit it’s only a two-band EQ). The number and variety of effect algorithms, though, is greatly increased, up to 164 types, including interesting chain effects (such as wah + distortion + delay), new types of rotary speakers and amplifier simulators, talking modulator or ambience effects. Of course, all the effects settings are editable, to the extent that it’s possible to save your own “custom styles”.
Some of the factory demos:
Styles: Reaching the Goal
The biggest difference of the PSR-9000 in the styles department when compared to previous models is that they finally adopt the same structure (or almost) of all the following, including the current, high-end Yamaha arranger keyboards: 4 sections (usually organized in order of complexity), 3 intros, 3 endings, 3 fill-ins (to same section, to prior section and to next section) and one break. There are also 4 OTS (One Touch Settings) per style. All “experimental” things of previous models, such as the “interactive arranger” are gone.
Another relevant novelty of the accompaniment section is the inclusion of flash rom memory for styles. Actually, the number of preset styles is pretty low (just 125), but there’s room for up to another 120 styles stored in flash (some of them are included in the factory settings). A style stored in flash is directly accessible just as a preset one, at the press of a button, so there’s no need to load it from disk every time you want to use it, and as it’s stored in non-volatile memory, data is not erased when turning the power off, so the styles are there when turning the power on again, just like preset ones.
New fingering types, such as “Fingered Pro” and “On Bass Pro” have been added to the list (there are a total of 11 in Version 3!). The “classical” ones, such as single finger, multi finger, fingered and full keyboard are still there, of course.
As usual, there is a custom style editor, with two levels of detail, “easy edit” and “full edit”, so there’s no longer need for a “groove style” function like in the PSR-8000, as those settings are now included into the “easy edit”. Finally, it’s worth to mention that it now includes another very useful (and very common nowadays) feature, the “tap tempo” button, to set the tempo easily just tapping with your finger and without having to use the encoder nor dedicated buttons.
Finally, there is an interesting and useful (for live players) feature, the “Music Database”. This is a list of songs that contains the appropriate settings for each particular song, including the accompaniment style, tempo, voice settings, effects and so on, so the user only has to search for a particular song (by name or by genre), and when selecting it all the relevant parameters are set. There is a maximum of 616 entries, and, of course, they are completely editable.
As the preset styles are the same as in the 9000 Pro, please refer to the 9000 Pro's webpage to hear some demos. Keep in mind though that the styles might sound sligthly better on the 9000 Pro, as long as they use some of the improved sounds which are absent in the PSR-9000, but in general terms the styles are pretty identical.
Other Interesting Stuff
In the rest of aspects and functions, the PSR-9000 is much like the previous PSR-8000, although better in almost everything.
There is a complete synthesizer section, in which you can edit the parameters of each aspect of the synthesis engine, from the selection of the oscillator waveform (sampled and/or custom loaded ones can also be used) to the effects settings. There are no remarkable differences compared to the PSR-8000 other than more waveforms to choose from, up to 8 elements instead of 4, and more effect types.
There is an extra voice (3 in total) in the vocal harmonizer section.
The sequencer section seems to be also the same as before, with 16 tracks and up to 38,000 notes, and full edition capabilities.
The amount of panel registrations increases to 512 (64 banks of 8 each), compared to the 128 of the PSR-8000.
An external 50-pin SCSI-2 port is included for allowing the connection of storage devices, such a CD-Rom drive or a ZIP drive (up to 8 Gb), and load/save data (samples, voices, styles, songs, etc.).
The max. amount of sampling memory is now 65 Mb (2 x 32Mb SIMMs plus the 1 Mb built-in). In the PSR-8000 this was 33 Mb (2 x 16 Mb SIMMs plus 1 Mb built-in).
The max. amount of the internal hard drive is now 8 Gb (just 780 Mb in the PSR-8000).
The PSR-9000 includes a RCA composite video output for connection to an external screen (the PSR-8000 lacks video connection).
There’s a PS/2 computer keyboard interface for entering data directly from the external keyboard to the PSR-9000.
The amplification and speaker system is improved. Now there’s a 28W x 2 amplification (AFAIK, the most powerful amplification system ever in a Yamaha portable arranger keyboard), with two-way bass reflex speaker system (13 cm woofer, 5 cm tweeter), in a wooden enclosure of 6 liters of capacity. Certainly, the PSR-9000 sounds as big as it looks!
It has more connections and ports than any previous arranger model before: 4 main line outs, stereo loop send, stereo aux. in/loop return, three pedal connectors, two sets of MIDI ports (although just in/out, not thru), serial MIDI port, PS/2 PC keyboard connector, RCA composite video out, SCSI port, mic/line input and headphones socket. There are also internal connectors for an IDE hard drive and memory SIMM boards.
A couple of examples of MIDI sequencing using the PSR-9000 as the sound source:
Verdict
A true beast, as big in features and functions as in size. Can be seriously considered as a real alternative to a dedicated synthesizer workstation. Nevertheless, although sounds are quite good, they could have been even better in comparison to a flagship synthesizer keyboard.
Pros
The quality of the new voices is significantly higher compared to the previous PSR-8000
Great connectivity
Impressive amplification
Very complete keyboard workstation (arranger, synthesizer, sampler, sequencer, effects processor…)
Long list of improvements and enhancements, such as 4-section styles or the music database
Cons
Big and heavy as hell, not quite a “portable” keyboard
Only 61 keys
32 Mb of ROM samples isn’t still enough for a flagship model of this level; should have had more and (even) better sounds
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