The Yamaha S90XS? - What an amazing musical tool.....................

...........I have got for myself!
My new S90XS has kept me very busy over the weekend since I received it early on Friday morning.
I have sussed out alot of what it has to offer but I still have so much more to learn about it and feel a little daunted.
However, there is help out there though in the form of the Yamaha Arranger Workstation Forums and SNinety.com and Logic Pro Help for the DAW side of things. Each have proved to be useful for queries I have had in relation to newfangled terms I am learning about such as Performances, Multi, Master, SEQ PLAY etc!?

The arpeggiators on this thing are incredible and many of the heaps of default Performances sound oustanding and are such a lot of fun to play along with.

I have managed to get the XS talking to Logic Pro and I am looking forward to getting some of my favourite performances properly into Logic now that I have found out the method for doing so. My first attempt at it being an abject failure.

One thing I have to say about synths is they are certainly not very user friendly and I know Yamaha have really tried to make this product more so! Sheesh!

The new S6 piano voices have received a lot of flak but to my neophyte ears they are wonderful and very tweakable anyway and they will certainly do me. I have managed to pick up some tweaks created by one of the gurus at the Yamaha forum.

I have the theme for Couperin's The Mysterious Barricades down and it is wonderful to play it using the harpsichord voice. It actually provides some sense of the strings twanging away and just transports me to the 16th century. Amazing!

The Tenor sax voice is also a pleasure to use and there are heaps of other wonderfully realistic and rewarding sounds.

Want to have a one hell of a good time and own an all-time great music creation/performance tool? Then do yourself a favour and get either the S90Xs or the equally brilliant S70Xs!

A Yamaha S90XS is on the way!

So now I am getting serious about this piano thing! In case you don't know anything about this awesome instrument here are 3 vids for your viewing pleasure featuring the S90XS's little brother, the S70XS!

The Guitar Wall!

So yes, I have been concentrating my musical efforts on the piano for the last few months but the guitar still plays a role in my life and here they all are including a couple that Michelle owns. They look pretty good up on the wall and it is a great way to store them as they are always immediately ready for action.

Starting from the left:

1. Michelle's Yamaha G-225 classical that a friend gave to her

2. My Regal Square-neck dobro

3. My Simon Rovis-Hermann concert classical

4. My Line 6 Variax 600

5. My Tanglewood TW170AS-CE cutaway electric acoustic

6. Michelle's Washburn bass

There is one other that is not functional but decorative and is stored high up on the adjacent wall.

Michelle painted it for a guitar related exhibition and, as nobody bought it, adds excellently to the ambience of my studio.

Bert is brilliant!

I'm a fan!

Or a Yamaha S90XS.............................maybe!

Really impressed by Yamaha's latest offering and may purchase the S90XS instead of the Roland RD-700GX.

Starting to get serious about playing keyboards

I have just ordered John Thompson's 4th grade tutor as I am getting through the 3rd grade book pretty quickly.
I am rapt that my ability to read the bass clef is becoming far more instinctive and so I am getting quicker at familiarising myself with each piece. I am also still amazed at how much easier I am finding memorising piano music is in comparison to the guitar. It is almost automatic once I have decided that I wish to work further on a piece and I am starting to get a core of memorised repertoire together which is fantastic.
Typically, I am already looking at upgrading my Digital Piano and I am most impressed with Roland's RD-700GX depicted above. Apart from the reported brilliant sound and touch etc I am really interested in the USB stick feature that allows the use of the keyboard to run backing tracks.
Once Michelle and I move to Denmark, within the next month or so, I am hoping we will get back to playing and performing music again. With some hard work, I hope I have my keyboard chops up enough to make use of them and being able to use it to run backings would allow us to create a massive sound for a duo.
I was contemplating purchasing a laptop to run the latest version of Mainstage to do the job but I think this maybe a more elegant solution.
I really feel gaining these keyboard skills is rounding me out as a musician and adding new and exciting possibilities for the future creation and performance of music.
Why have I not chosen to start this journey earlier! Bewildering!