Introduction to the PSR

The lessons in this section will help you start exploring the voices and styles that come with your new keyboard.  You bought your keyboard to make music. So you will want to learn all the features included that help you do just that. Learn about the different sounds your keyboard can make. It can simulate the sound of many different instruments. You'll learn how to sample those different instruments. You will also learn about the different styles included in your keyboard. These styles give you great versatility and can turn you into a one-man band.

Navigating PSR Screens

You may already be familiar with that big MAIN SCREEN sitting right in the middle of your keyboard. You use it, as well as the keys, of course, to tell your PSR what you want to do. So, before we go much further, the very first thing you will have to understand is how to navigate that screen to select different files (that is, different voices, different styles, different songs). We'll illustrate how to do this by exploring how you access and select the various demos provided in your PSR.

PSR Demos

You may not yet be able to play magnificently, but you can demonstrate what your keyboard can do by simply using the built-in demos.  There are many more of them then you may realize.

PSR Functions

Among the many demonstrations is one that allows you to explore the various "features" included in your PSR. This page merely reproduces that information here for you convenience so you don't have to scroll through the pages on your keyboard to read it.

Finding the Right Sound for Your Songs

Selecting Main and Layer Voices

There are hundreds of voices available in your PSR. You select the voices you want to use from the MAIN screen. You can select a single instrument, say a Grand Piano, and play your keyboard as a Piano. You can also select a second voice that could accompany your piano, such as an orchestral string section. This lesson explains how you use that MAIN screen to select voices, how you turn voices on or off, how the voice categories work and how you navigate through the available voice selections to find the instrument you want to use.

PSR Panel Voice Overview

One of the great strengths of the Yamaha PSR models are the hundreds of Panel Voices included in the keyboards. The voices included with each model are one of the main distinguishing characteristics that separate one model from another. This lesson gives you an overview of PSR types, voice quality, and voice categories. It also provides a comparison of the voices available in different Yamaha arranger keyboard models (Tyros, PSR-2100/1100, and PSR-2000/1000). If you haven't yet purchased your PSR, or you are thinking of upgrading, the information here may help you decide on the model you want.

Voice Comparisons by Voice Category and Model

The PSR-1100 has 303 panel voices while the PSR-2000 has 329. Do you want a new PSR-1100 or a used PSR-2000? The PSR-2100 has 350+ voices but the Tyros has 440. Do you want the 2100 or the Tyros? The total number of voices may not be as informative as the particular voices provided in that total. This lesson provides a reference point where you can see what voices (instruments) are provided in each category for the various Yamaha models. If there are particular voices you think sound fantastic, you might want to check if they are included in the model you are interested in.

PSR-2100 Panel Voices

No voice comparisons needed! You have a PSR-2100 (or PSR-1100) and that's all you are interested in. OK, just check out this page and you'll find a complete listing of the various voice categories and individual voices available in your keyboard.

PSR-2000 Panel Voices

This page is for owners of the PSR-2000. It provides detailed tables showing all the voices available, by voice category, for the PSR-2000 as well as its junior partner the PSR-1000.

XG Accompaniment Voices

T here are also an additional 480 XG voices, often used in the accompaniment tracks, but also available as solo instruments. A table at the end of this section lists all the 480 XG voices, which, by the way, are common on most PSR models so that styles made with these voices will work on different model Yamaha keyboards. You are not, however, wedded to any particular voice that is used in a style to accompany you. Our lesson here will show you how you can vary some of those accompaniment voices while you are playing and see the dramatic effect you can have on the overall sound of the style.

PSR Styles - A Band at Your Fingertips

How to Select a Style on the PSR

You have learned how to select voice that will carry the melody of your song. Now, if you are going to use the arranger feature, you need to select the band that will accompany you while you play. This lesson introduces you to the PSR Styles and Style Categories and explain how you navigate the style screens to select the style you want to use.

Styles and One-Touch Settings

Included with every style in your PSR are four one-touch settings (OTS) that, at the touch of a button, instantly select appropriate voices (instruments) for the style you have loaded. This lesson introduces you to OTS and how the four style variation buttons can be automatically linked to the four OTS buttons to give you instant musical variety without you having to master all the intricacies of the PSR.

PSR-2100 Internal Styles

Here is another reference page that shows you all the style categories available and which particular styles are available in each category for the PSR-2100 and PSR-1100.

Styles by Tempo

The style categories can be useful aids in finding an appropriate style, if you know you want to play a slow (or fast) song, it would also be useful to see all the styles that have a relatively slow (or fast) default tempo. This page provides a simple table that lists all 203 PSR-2100 styles by their default tempos from slowest to fastest. There is nothing sacred, of course, about the default tempo. You may find some styles playing at 140 beats per measure, sound just fine, perhaps even better, if played at 90 bpm. But if a style is designed for a slow song, it is most likely going to sound best with played at a slow tempo.

Model Comparisons of Preset Styles

Styles are certainly one of the key features of an "arranger" keyboard so if you are comparing models, you will be very interested in the styles that are (or are not) provided with the keyboard. So we have included a page showing a comparison of the styles included on the PSR-2100 versus those on the PSR-2000 and another page that compares the PSR-2100 styles to those provided on the Tyros.

PSR-3000 vs Tyros

The Tyros is the top-of-the-line Yamaha arranger keyboard. The PSR-3000, the replacement for the PSR-2100 model, is coming available during the summer of 2004 and potential purchasers will want to compare what the PSR-3000 offers versus purchasing a Tyros. This page provides information on all the styles in the Tyros and those in the new PSR-3000. The PSR-3000 has 240 styles and the Tyros has 300. The Tyros has 60 more total styles than the PSR-3000 while the PSR-3000 has 37 more styles than the PSR-2100. But the "totals" mask a number of changes within the style categories. Actually, the PSR-3000 has 47 styles that are not in the Tyros while the Tyros has 107 styles that are not in the PSR-3000.

External Styles

One of the very definite strengths of the PSR family of arranger keyboards is that floppy disk in the keyboard. It allows you to load a style into your keyboard that was not provided with your keyboard. This means you are not restricted to ONLY those styles included in the preset styles. In reality, you have access to literally THOUSANDS of additional styles that you can use. This lesson will tell you about the external styles and where and how you might get some of these.

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