Gotta say it’s odd that there is so much Tyros love here (due to the super articulation)… OK like has been stated before, you can’t really compare a Tyros to an OASYS as in what is better. You should compare the Tyros to other arrangers. The OASYS is a professional piece of studio equipment (sure you can gig with it too but wow it’s heavy!). Arrangers are typically used either by hobbyist or for gigging musicians that need a band in a box for accompaniment. The OASYS’ allure is the multiple synth engines, sound programming capabilities and it’s wonderful sound (insert promo for Sharp’s OASYS Assault here; fantastic work!). For me it’s studio use that I use the OASYS for; gigging with an 88 key is not an option for me but a 61 key Kronos would be quite nice to gig with. The Tyros is an arranger plain and simple. If you need an arranger give the Tyros a look along with the other arrangers out there. If you need a piece of professional studio equipment with multiple sound engines give the OASYS/Kronos a whirl.
The selling point of “super articulation” and “realistic” sounding instruments in a Tyros is a bit of a ruse. Before the Yammy fanboys flame me, let me explain… Yamaha has been known for a while now of having the more realistic sounding acoustic instruments, however if you are honestly looking for truly “realistic” acoustic instruments you will not find them in a Tyros or OASYS for that matter. You will find them in software. You’re better off buying a cheap second hand easily programmable arranger, picking up a Muse Receptor loaded with Kontakt and load it up with orchestral and guitar sample libraries. Even the preset Kontakt VSL orchestral sample libraries put the Tyros/OASYS to shame. Do the work in the studio or at home programming your styles running them via midi to the Receptor using that as your sound module. Once they sound good, you’re ready for the road. Then when you play live you have a full orchestral/guitar/choral/vintage synth arsenal at your arranger’s disposal plus whatever other VST’s you have loaded. I’ve used this set-up live and it’s pretty phenomenal.
So it depends what you want. If you want a simple arranger as a hobbyist, buy a cheaper one (the Tyros is way over priced) unless you have money to burn and don’t mind overpaying for the sound of the Tryos. If you are interested in studio gear and need a true workstation, the OASYS/Kronos route would be better suited. If you plan on playing live gigs and need an arranger, look at not only the Tyros, but the PAx series and Ketrons; weight the sound/cost and programmability of each one. If you really want to wow your audience with amazing realistic sounds look at a Muse Receptor triggered from a cheap used arranger. Note the drawback to the Receptor is a.) it’s expensive (still cheaper than a 5k Tyros) b.) It isn’t a fully open system (It’s Linux based and you can only install certain VSTs; i.e. East/West Play engine is still not supported). But by using only boutique Kontakt libraries you will blow the doors off of any acoustic emulations available by all keyboards on the market. I also use my Receptor’s acoustic/orchestral libraries for movie scoring; you simply can’t do that with any keyboard or sound module. FYI I own too many synths (and several arrangers) to count from all manufacturers. I’m not biased to one company or another. Dunno if it helps, but wanted to give a few other options to you depending upon what you are looking for.
This.
I had a Korg PA1x Pro, and I was in the market for an upgrade. I listened to a PA3x-Pro, and it sounded exactly the same! Same sounds, same styles. There was a ton of new control options, but at the end of the day, I'd be spending an extra $2000 to have the same old same old.
I listened to a Tyros 4, and OMG I was blown away by the sound!
I wasn't blown away because it was the end all/be all of sound quality. I happen to own Reason 6.5, and have a bunch of high quality Refills that completely blow away a lot of the Tyros 4 sounds.
The great thing about the Tyros 4 as an Arranger is that it gives you incredibly usable sounds, and really well made styles in a 30lb package you can gig around with easily.
I got one knowing the exact limitations you described above, and so far it's done exactly what I expected.
Only thing that sucks is how hard it is to create original data for it. Even with this limitation, once you have the data you want in it, the Flash ROM makes it almost indistinguishable from the stock stuff. I can load one of the great "Motif" sounding Acoustic Pianos, the next I can switch to my multilayered "Kurzweil" Acoustic Piano (which was a pain in the ass to sample from my PC161). I can play one of the great sounding stock EP's, like "Galaxy EP", then switch to my Multilayered sample of the 01/W's "DynoPiano"
This is exactly what I wanted! An incredibly good sounding Arranger with great stock sounds, and the capability for seamless Sample playback. I can even load my Reason created music for karaoke style singing.
Sure the PA3X-Pro could do all this as well, but I'd be starting from so much lower to achieve the same level of quality.
i am not a yamaha fan boy before anyone concludes that. I just dont like the way folks here dumb down a product just because it is an arranger.
I hear a lot of talk about what could be done with VSTs combined with a cheap arranger but i wouldlove for some one to actually demonstrate this with say just 10 styles, each style having four variations plus fills and breaks and with 4 one touch settings per variation per style.
Tell us how long it would take to programme all of this and then do a quick demo on you tube showing what happened every time you change style or variation in real time just like a gigging musician would.
There is a product called liontracs Media station which purported to be able to be programmed in exactly the way you have suggested . It was marketed as the mother of all arrangers because of its openess in terms of accepting the best VST on offer. It was a horrible failure because of the complexity of trying to achieve what you have just described ,
If it you believe it is an easy thing to achieve , to marry an arranger and its functions to VST's in the way you have described please demo this with just say 5 styles.
I am glad that someone on here actually owns an arranger so potentially can demo this for me I genuinely would love to see it done.
By the way i own the Korg PA1X arranegr and would love to update the sounds
Yup! I agree with this as well.
I'm not a Yamaha fanboy either, but the last thing Korg released that was truly innovative was the Triton Extreme.
Maybe I didn't spend enough time with an Oasys, but to me it sounded like a more controllable Triton Extreme.
It looked beautiful! But the Extreme was jam packed with awesome sounds.
I've never found a software synthesizer that would even come close to having the power of an Arranger, such as the Tyros, and I've looked! I would rather carry a small keyboard controller and a laptop like my MacBook Air to a gig instead of lugging around a huge keyboard.
It's not fair to call the Tyros an old folk's keyboard either, unless you want to call the Motif the same thing.
I've tested both, and Tyros is basically a Motif with Arranger function, sort of like the PAx series are basically Tritons with Arranger function.
You don't have to wait for KORG to do this though. There's tons of third party data to buy and load.
I do this in Reason, which can have infinite layers for whatever you want.
