I purchased and loaded the N/zyme and it has a lot of motion stuff sometimes very annoying and harsh but can be tweaked to taste I assume.

Montage had that motion engine but it wasn't useful in most music. Both of these are more like a party trick or for sound effects but not real music.

I haven't explored the N/zyme that much, well only once thus far. The interface is awesome and intuitive at first glance.

The Hydrasynth Deluxe is buttery and creamy and piano like and really useful and purely enjoyable.

I did not know what to expect but some multi layer voices are so entrancing and hypnotic you can't stop playing them.

For $1,500 discounted it was a steal with a display you can actually read unlike YC.

It still kills me whomever at Yamaha invested $20 in the CP/YC displays.

Literally for $20 more they could have doubled the size and no one will ever figure out how to rotate the screen to a ergonomic viewing angle. That costs what $10?

Just common sense stuff like the designer and engineers have never played a keyboard before or tried to read/type on a micro-screen.

Only my SKpro and CP1 have a rotated screen however the Hydra is plenty large enough it doesn't need to be rotated.

I own the CP1, YC73, SKpro, Hydra Deluxe, Fantom 6, Korg OP6 FM, (2) Deepmind racks so I have everything covered.

If we follow trickle down theory, FM showed up in 1983 with the DX7. It finally shows up on the YC, a regular priced stage board, almost 40 years later.

BUT keep in mind it's stagnate or fixed FM like on the 6K CP1 and you can do nothing more with it.

So if the CP1 technology is 2010-ish, then 40 years from then we might expect that tech to arrive on a common stage board like YC around 2050?

Yamaha stage boards are still using ancient AWM2 tech. that have no dynamics and that loop and poop.

CP1 has life and dynamics but when will we ever see it on a regular stage board? It's the year 2022 and we all were probably as happy back in the 80s.

It's been the law of diminishing returns for the last 30 years. Just imagine if synths were smart phones and everyone had one.

Sound would be nothing close to what little or low quality we have right now.

Supply and demand principle which doesn't benefit musicians since there are so very few compared to smart phone users.

Synths are only reinventing the interface and hardware mostly. CS-80 only sold/made 2,000 units. The DX7 was over 200,000 units and Korg M1 was over 250,000 units.

How many smart phones do we have? Many Millions. It's insane you can't even purchase a PS5 anymore and it has demand. What is going on?

The industry is still placing smaller screens into stage pianos. Roland's RD-2000, RD-88, RD-800 do not have significantly different sized screens. There are limitations of comparing motorcycles with buses.

Below are not sizes as there is no dot pitch which would start to define the size - but the resolution is a good way to compare given they all use LCD technology and should generally be roughly judged in "size" by the resolution. The YC isn't the biggest of the bunch - but it's "in class" with all of Roland's stage pianos currently offered.

Roland's Stage Pianos
RD-88 128x68 LCD
RD-2000 256x80 LCD
V-Piano 240x64 LCD

Korg
Grandstage 128x64 LCD (x2)

Compared to:
YC Series 128x64 LCD

I do understand you would prefer a larger screen for a stage piano. This is not the industry trend. Maybe a manufacturer will start steering in that direction but design philosophy looks to favor button I/O and small screens.

FWIW, I did not find the YC61 screen difficult to read. Of course, the basic design of the board benefits from the fact that you can do so much of the basic stuff you need to so without looking at the screen, which is kind of the point of a panel full of dedicated controls. Korg SV2 takes this to a bit of an extreme, there's no display at all. I did wish that had a small screen just for you to confirm the name of the patch you're selecting. The YC screen is fine for that, and that's probably the thing I'd most use it for anyway.

Another point... looking at the physical layout of the YC61, I'm not sure they could fit a larger screen there, without making other compromises to the layout.

I wasn't sure what you were talking about regarding a "rotated" screen... but eventually I figured out, you meant tilted. (When it comes to displays, "rotate" usually refers to horizontal vs. vertical orientation.) I do like screens that tilt, they increase readability when the keyboard is higher (like when using it as a "top tier" board from a seated position), and also tend to make them easier to read in sunlight. Though from that perspective, I don't see the rationale for your thought, "however the Hydra is plenty large enough it doesn't need to be rotated" -- tilting for the reasons I mentioned is equally beneficial no matter how big or small the screen is. It is pretty rare, though. In fact, I think it may actually be more common to see the entire control surface tilted than it is to see just the screen tilted! You can see that, for example, on the MODX.

On my Fantom and with most dedicated keyboard stands you can tilt the whole synth or the arms holding the synth.

On a table top I've used a wedge to tilt the whole synth but then it also messes with the angle of your fingering.

If tilting wasn't important or valuable then the Genos/Tyros wouldn't tilt to customizable and such drastic angles.

That is significantly more money but not like the SKpro. Just the screen sits up and is tilted.

It's just easier to see in general. We don't look at laptop/computer screens laying flat and we hold our phones at the most logical easy to read angles.

If a synth screen or surface isn't at a tilted angle, literally the first thing I do is tilt the board. I guess the manufacturers don't think about it in the design phase or if it's a low budget board they automatically forget it.

I spent a ton of time on the YC creating custom voices or layers so I'm a designer more than a player. They apparently assume only players will use these and won't design on them or use the screen however they'd be incorrect. If it has a screen then it should be tilted by default or especially when flat or near flat on top.

My Hydra and Fantom have a naturally tilted surface so perhaps that's why I didn't notice those as much. The YC73 is also flat and it needs a tilted screen. It's heavy and weighted so it's harder or less practical to tilt the whole board.

The SKpro is also flat but they tilted the screen for practical reasons.

On my Fantom and with most dedicated keyboard stands you can tilt the whole synth or the arms holding the synth.

Right, at least on the upper tiers. The bottom tier of a keyboard stand rarely tilts.

On a table top I've used a wedge to tilt the whole synth but then it also messes with the angle of your fingering.

Right, changing the angle of the board also tilts the keys, which is not always desirable. That's why just tilting the control surface (as on MODX) or just the screen can be more beneficial. Ideally, you can adjust the angle of the screen tilt (as on the Korg PA1000), but that's rare.

If tilting wasn't important or valuable then the Genos/Tyros wouldn't tilt to customizable and such drastic angles.

I don't think anyone has said it is not valuable. BTW, it's also one of the old Korg OASYS features that people complained about losing when the OASYS design was basically reduced down to the Kronos price point.

I spent a ton of time on the YC creating custom voices or layers so I'm a designer more than a player. They apparently assume only players will use these and won't design on them or use the screen however they'd be incorrect. If it has a screen then it should be tilted by default or especially when flat or near flat on top.

The Nords are the same way, Again, the only defense I can offer for this from a "designer more than a player" perspective is that 90% of the sound design on these boards can be done without ever looking at the screen anyway, it's part of the benefit of having all those dedicated controls. And when you get down to it, I'd say the YC (and Nord Electro, for that matter) is aimed more at players than sound designers in the first place. If you're into sound design, these boards just aren't all that versatile, you'd be better off with a MODX. These are really much more players' boards than sound designers' boards.

The SKpro is also flat but they tilted the screen for practical reasons.

The SK Pro is also more of a sound designer's board than a YC is. You can spend a lot more time with its screen, because of the far more extensive sound editing capabilities (full envelope and filter parameters, splitting/layering of up to 10 sounds across the board, deeper editing of effects, etc.). Maybe that's one reason I didn't mind the YC screen at all... it just doesn't have to be used for all that much, especially once you set up your global parameters the way you want. The SK Pro screen gets used much more often, just based on the capabilities and interface of the whole board (for example, the lack of front panel controls for effects).

The CP1 is countersunk and tilted which is another way to accomplish that task.

It is surface controlled but also knob tweakable so Yamaha realizes a titled screen is important but not important enough in all applications.

As for touch screens I can understand with the much larger screen and being finger touched a lot it needs adequate support and protection.

The Genos does not have the tilt option like the Tyros did but it's a touch screen. It appears to have a slight surface tilt.

The YC73 isn't practical to tilt the board so they should have tilted or recessed-tilted it somewhat.

But it was evolutionary coming from the CP series and they just copied the components over. It had zero chance of that design improvement.

I might still attempt to rotate is slightly using a wedge or shim on the rear feet.

Almost half way through February 2022 and still no YC OS update.

Either the next update will be totally fantastic or it will be nothing at all.

I'm not sure how to decide which.

Either they have been working on this a long time to make it extraordinary or they absolutely don't give a crap. One or the other.

If it's just like the last one it will be sadder than it has been waiting this long.

New post on Facebook about Tech Talk on "great new features coming to the YC Series"...2/22 4:00 PM... Could an OS update finally really be happening?

The full blurb:

Get ready to tune into an exciting livestream from our international demonstration team! Join Hans-Peter Hencke (DE), Alvaro Gandul (ES), Manuele Montesanti (IT), Joel Borg (FR), John Melas (GR) and Blake Angelos (US) as they explore some great new features coming to the YC Series Stage Keyboard. You won’t want to miss it!

FEBRUARY 22 AT 1:00 PM
YC Series Tech Talk
Tune in to watch live

"Great New Features"? Holy crap but then again I've learned over the years not to get to excited. Sometimes they embellish rather dramatically.

If they do add something exciting to a "stage board" that will be a first for Yamaha.

Dang it's still a long time from now.

The real question is, will it be released before, on or after the 22nd?

I went to FB and pasted the blurb and found nothing that matched it.

Navigate to https://www.facebook.com/yamahasynths and the Tech Talk announcement is currently at the top.

Boy the FB search engine sucks because it didn't bring up anything using key words like Yamaha Synths, YC Tech Talk etc. or even the pasted advertisement.

Right - FB, a public company with shareholders and primary business as a forum webpage, seems to have no better a search experience than a musical instrument company that does a forum "on the side".

I guess that's good perspective for just this one aspect of the relative experience. And, BTW, I can google search the Yamaha forum better than Facebook. I know the two platforms are a different scale - but the experience overall seems to be better for searching here than there.

Right - FB, a public company with shareholders and primary business as a forum webpage, seems to have no better a search experience than a musical instrument company that does a forum "on the side".

I guess that's good perspective for just this one aspect of the relative experience. And, BTW, I can google search the Yamaha forum better than Facebook. I know the two platforms are a different scale - but the experience overall seems to be better for searching here than there.

One is by design. The other is here. You knew that.

So we think we understand that the brains of the YC is same as the CP except for the organ panel.

I'm curious about what features can be added to the YC that can not also be added to the CP.

IF there's something internal that's greater than the CP that we aren't aware of.

We know it has FM capabilities. Does it have a bigger brain ya think with bigger capabilities?

The interface is extremely limited to what stage boards do. Anyone what to speculate as to new features?

We generally know it will have some new voices, we hope an improved organ rotary, still limited to only 3 voices, maybe additional organ models and FM expansion, perhaps some percussive sounds built into combo voices. An FM mode within organ with sliders as the modulators, or FM editor software, assignable slider capability, new effects?

I can't really imagine anything super amazing being added because of the format and hardware limitations. Is there something secret inside?