Yamaha Tyros 2: The Decision to Purchase It

It was only in May 2007 when I looked at the local keyboard market, browsing around to see whats out there… happily deciding that the Casio MZ-2000 had still enough appeal to be played on and listened to. So, what happened to make us reconsider?

Yamaha Tyros 2: View from Front/Top

The Background

"We" refers to my wife and I. She has played music all her life, while I have started learning to make music at the piano on June 1^st, 2007. Her current keyboard was the Casio MZ-2000. It was and still is an awesome machine! It has, amongst other things, a 3-speaker system per stereo channel, great sound, many styles and voices. In 2000, when we bought it, it was hailed to be a "Yamaha Killer"  due to its aggressive price, compared to the Yamaha arranger keyboards at the time. Despite being Yamaha fans, it made it us switch to Casio. Over the many years we had a Yamaha PSR-37, a PSR-500, and even the WX7 wind controller… we were very happy with those instruments, and got our money worth back in enjoyment.

Why a New Keyboard?

After playing the Casio MZ-2000 for over 7 years, some 1.5 hours per day or some 4,000 hours altogether, and no matter how much you enjoy music or a particular instrument, there is a high probability that — as sad as it may be — the styles just don't cut it anymore. The inherent problem of arranger keyboards for the "just playing along" customers is that some styles are not (no matter how well sampled these are) to the liking of the player. As a result only a portion of all styles are being played; eventually the reduced and preferred styles come to age, the keyboard to its end of life, rather from a taste than physical perspective… and something new needs to come along.

It was not that long ago, as of matter of fact in September 2007, when we bought extra styles for the Casio MZ-2000. Loading these from floppy disk took forever, and did not help preserving the MZ-2000 for longer.

The idea was born: If we want to buy a keyboard, which one will it be.

The Decision-Making Process

Based on our market-scan we knew that a replacement has to occur at a level, at least at par, with the MZ-2000. The type of keyboard we wanted had to come from the "arranger" space. This ruled out synthesizers such as the MOTIF range from Yamaha, which are quite nice too. The keyboard at level appeared to be the Yamaha PSR-1500, with the next step up being a PSR-3000. The latter was coming end-of-production. Yamaha had released the PSR-S700 and PSR-S900 as new top models (under the Tyros 2) in the digital arranger keyboard space. The Tyros 2 was always off the planet for us; we were joking about how ridiculous (expensive) the cost of it was for us.

The Options

1. Buy No Keyboard
2. Buy a Yamaha PSR-S700
3. Buy a Yamaha PSR-S900

Option 1: Buy No Keyboard

This was not really an option, because we wanted something different. We most certainly knew that the MZ-2000 has reached its end-of-life for us.

Option 2: Buy a Yamaha PSR-S700

We had a closer look a the Yamaha PSR-S700. It has 205 styles and 317 voices. It has USB and a LAN port. USB was certainly the way to go, considering we were sick of floppy disks. We also liked the way it looked. All in all a good package for the associated price tag.
Our main concern was the number of styles; some 200. Based on our experience over the years: 50% are hardly played, based on taste, leaving 100 voice for 7 years to listen to. A bit weak we felt, and declared the PSR-S900 as favourite in this comparison.

Option 3: Buy a Yamaha PSR-S900

The PSR-S900 is a PSR-S700, but with more features, styles and voices. It has 305 styles and 392 voices. It also boosts Super Articulation Voices. Super Articulation voices provide "a completely fine level of sonic realism and musical expressiveness. The remarkably authentic voices feature the unique performance characteristics of each instrument, the expressive finger-slides on the guitar, or the breathy, legato phrasing of a saxophone. Never before have such string, wind and brass instruments, played live with a keyboard, sounded so convincing or so real!" We listened to the MP3s on Yahama's web site and thought wow! I went to the shop, still wow!

At the time the Yamaha PSR-S900 seemed to be the clear winner. Considering its price tag, which we felt was the limit we had in mind, we had two thoughts on it:

1. It is dearer than what we paid for the Casio MZ-2000 at the time.
2. It is worth the extra expense considering what we will get in return.

The Decision-Making Process Takes A New Turn

I became curious. What is the difference between a Tyros 2 and a PSR-S900? What does the Tyros 2 have, that justifies double the price? And I started investigating, despite our identical thoughts about the Tyros 2 still being too expensive for our liking (and most certainly: budget).

The Options — Take 2

1. Buy No Keyboard
2. Buy a Yamaha PSR-S900
3. Buy a Yamaha Tyros 2?

Option 1: Buy No Keyboard

Was not an option, because we progressed to definitely buying one.

Option 2: Buy a Yamaha PSR-S900

Still a valid option based on what we said above.

Option 3: Buy a Yamaha Tyros 2

I had a closer look at the Yamaha Tyros 2 and its specifications and features. It has 400 styles and 504 voices! Heaps, and much to our liking.  It has all the other features… we couldn't care less. Now, this sounds harsh; so let me explain what I mean by that: The Tyros 2 is different things to different people! There are the live performers, the studio crew, and amongst others: the play along. My wife — ultimately playing the keyboard — has to date no interest in anything more than the basic functionality (styles, voices, playing), hence, why the rest does not matter to us.

It needs to be said that the Tyros 2 has all the features the PSR-S900 has, except for:

• USB recording; The Tyros 2 can only record to the optional hard disk drive.
• LAN port: The Tyros 2 has no LAN port, but a wired or wireless LAN adapter solves the network connectivity if required.

The Reasoning

Again, the Yamaha Tyros 2 was simply too expensive for our liking. The question surfaced: What would we be prepared to pay for the Tyros 2?

I will not go into the price and negotiation details that eventually took place, but would like to say this: The Tyros 2 has a RRP of 5,999 AUD, the PSR-S900 RRPs for $2,900. Double the price is simply not on, as in: it is not justifiable. The street price for the Tyros 2 has dropped at least to $4,999. Music Express had it on their web site for $4,500 at the time we made the decision to purchase a keyboard. The key point for this discussion is, that the extra cost for justifying the purchase of the Tyros 2 had to be "affordable" and "value for money".

The reasoning for the decision-making process — now with an interesting upgrade price on offer — took a turn, simplifying the options, reducing it to: you get more keyboard, and you pay more dollars. This time, the proportion of "more" was far better balanced between features and dollars.

The question was now reduced to: "Do we want the PSR-S900, or do we pay proportionately more money for proportionately more features (here voices and styles)?"

The Decision is Made

The Decision to buy the Yamaha Tyros 2 was not an easy one! We never thought the Tyros  would be in reach, as in affordable for us to buy. The significantly reduced price we had on offer did let us consider the Tyros 2 as a viable option to purchase, and as a replacement of the Casio MZ-2000.

Assumptions and Findings

The following assumptions and findings were made to support the Tyros 2 over PSR-S900 decision:

• This keyboard will last us at least for 7 years.
• It has enough styles and voices, almost double compared to the current keyboard, despite the consideration that we (reasonably) only make us of half of the styles anyway.
• The quality of sound is superior to any other arranger keyboard. Though superior was not the motive. The driver was the authenticity the Tyros 2 voices demonstrated. In particular the Super Articulation voices in the Tyros 2. The PSR-S900 has some Super Articulation voices; unfortunately only those of less interest (this is just simple marketing and product differentiation strategy.)
• The speaker set (optional in most countries) was included in the purchase. Without the speakers included, we would not have purchased the Tyros 2, because it would simply have been a keyboard without sound.
• The reduced price point was enticing and in the worth spending on this keyboard. (Playing keyboard is not a fad, but a fact of life, with my wife playing 1.5 hours per day.)

Future Promise

Now this is a weird thing, and something I have never done before for any private decision or value analysis. The problem is: I will do something in the future that will benefit me and justifies a higher expense for something I would not need (or make use of) were it not for the future promise. Sounds complicated? OK. In other words: My wife has expressed a keen interest in learning how to really use a arranger keyboard to get the best out of it. The Tyros 2 has all these features that can add value if used properly or to its full potential; even simple things such as OTS or registrations. "The appetite comes while eating" is a saying that describes it, except we paid for something today we may use in the future.

The future promise was not the key driver this decision, it did not play a major part in it.

Conclusion

We decided to purchase a Yamaha Tyros 2 over the Yamaha PSR-S900, because we could afford the difference in price, we saw the value in the extended features, we got a very good thing for a very good price. The key driver for the decision was definitely the price we negotiated for the Tyros 2. With the new PSR-S900 out on the market, and under favourable circumstances in price (depending on your negotiation skills for either model), the Tyros 2 is still almost double the price for not returning double the features.

I hope your decision will be easier! 

In Hindsight

Dec 27^th, 2007: We have now enjoyed the Tyros  for six days! Despite Xmas on the calendar, we did nothing else but Tyros 2! No kidding. My wife played 4 to 5 hours per day; even I spent some 6 hours all up with it so far. This is excluding the time I spent setting-up 13! related web pages on my site, as well as installing an extra Hard Disk Drive and memory expansion.
The sound is so realistic, hearing is believing! It is very nice! In aid for the "future promise" I mentioned above: MusicFinder is a key functionality for making better use of the Tyros 2 (also applicable to any Yamaha keyboard with MusicFinder). I am working on a database that inlcudes the titles of all fake books we have and registrations that go with the songs. The aim is to generate fake-book-specific MusicFinder databases that can be loaded on the fly for the fake book being played, setting the keyboard's styles and voices appropriately to the song.

My point is: We would buy the Tyros 2 again, without hesitation!

Visitor's Comments

Entries are shown in the order of latest first.

Author Date / Time	Comment
MaxG from Brisbane wrote on Monday, July 05, 2010 03:00	Well, what can I say? Others by a Ferrari in a country with a general 100 km/h speed limit. I like the package of the Tyros 2 at the time, as well as the great deal I got for… and I am still happy today
Stu from Oban wrote on Monday, July 05, 2010 02:37	Wow, you bought the Tyros 2 when you can easily convert the styles from the Tyros 2 for the PSR S900 at virtually no cost... seems a lot to pay for a few more styles and voices…