Yamaha PSR-S970 Portable Arranger Workstation

Yamaha PSR-S970

An excellent all-round specialist this is Yamaha’s S-series flagship. The PSR-S970 includes the best sounds and features that Yamaha offer, plus extra abilities that are unique to this particular instrument.  

Control

For maximum ability to electronically manipulate the music the PSR-S970 is fully loaded. It has two assignable live controllers, a modulation wheel, and two assignable foot pedal controls, all of which give the opportunity to use the voices and styles in any way the player wants.

To insert samples into the music the PSR-S970 has Multi-Pad controls. The Virtual Circuitry Modelling brings phaser, Wah, and compressor effects to the arranger. From the famous Tyro 5-series Yamaha have borrowed their Real Distortion and Real Reverb, giving the most authentic rendering of these effects yet. A synth vocoder is present allowing the synthesiser effects to be used on vocals; similarly the Vocal Harmony 2 feature controls pitch, level, and the number of harmonies on the vocals.

The DJ Styles feature plays a pre-set chord sequence, this frees both of the performer’s hands to interact with the diverse technical apparatus, giving ever more possibility for music creation.   

Sound

The range of voices on the Yamaha PSR-S970 is comprehensive, maintains superb standards, and is open to additions. Built into the machine there are 989 Super Articulation voices for a truly realistic representation of all well-known instruments and many other sounds. Organ Flutes!, 41 Drum/SFX voices, and 480 XG voices are also included.

By using the Yamaha Expansion Manager it is possible to customise data sets for upload onto the PSR-S970 and to create unique voices using the sample library. This is all within the capability of the PSR-S970’s large 512MB of memory.

With 450 accompaniment styles to choose from, plus the possibility of introducing new ones, there is ample scope to find one to suit. This feature inserts all the sounds of a standard backing band, following the music as it is played on the touch response keyboard, to fill out the music using only the power of the PSR-S970.

With 80 mins of recording time and a 16-track sequencer the PSR-S970 lets ambitious composers store their creations on the machine itself.

Connectivity

A 7” widescreen LCD display is the focus point of these abundant features, this multilingual display is clear and comprehensive and ensures interaction with the PSR-S970 is easily managed.

Connection of and to other instruments, computers, and devices is another thing that the Yamaha PSR-S970 excels at. The line-out connection streams the arranger’s sounds through an external PA system. USB drives allow data to be mounted onto the PSR-S970 and computers to be connected, essential for using software packages to produce music. MIDI connections include both IN and OUT; an aux in port links music players.

For those who feel music from their head to their toes there are foot pedal connections. A headphone jack for private playing, and when working with vocalists and musicians the mic/guitar port unleashes creative potential to flourish.