Yamaha YPT series.

[musicstand]

After much reading during the last week in the Yamaha threads trying to further my education on terminology used to describe the various keyboards I have found..........
Arranger..........PSR xxx
Home Piano.......P85
Stage Piano.......CP50
Workstation........Motif XS
I did not find any YPT series however.
Am I right in assuming that they would probably be in the Arranger category. I know many will say "just keep playing".
OK, now back to my new preloved treasure before my Sunday afternoon nap.

 

[SeaGtGruff]

The YPT models are just another name for some of the PSR-E models, but are "export" models (whatever that means):

YPT-200 = PSR-E203
YPT-210 = PSR-E213
YPT-220 = PSR-E223
YPT-230 = PSR-E233
YPT-240 = PSR-E243
YPT-255 = PSR-E253 (I'm not sure why they didn't go with YPT-250.)

YPT-300 = PSR-E303
YPT-310 = PSR-E313
YPT-320 = PSR-E323
YPT-330 = PSR-E333
YPT-340 = PSR-E343
(The PSR-E353 doesn't have a YPT equivalent.)

YPT-400 = PSR-E403
YPT-410 = PSR-E403 (For some reason the YPT-410 isn't equivalent to the PSR-E413.)
YPT-420 = PSR-E403 (For some reason the YPT-420 isn't equivalent to the PSR-E423.)
(The PSR-E413, PSR-E423, PSR-E433, and PSR-E443 don't have YPT equivalents.)

So the YPT models, like the PSR-E models, are low-end "entry-level" arrangers, which Yamaha generally classifies as either "portable keyboards" or "digital keyboards" rather than as "arrangers" per se.

 

[musicstand]

Thank you Michael for such an extensive listing of the YPT's. I am anticipating an exciting exercise ahead of me in the coming months. I have just ordered a MIDI to USB adaptor cable to hook my YPT 320 to my old Macbook so I can play and learn the Garageband program on the Mac. Jim.

 

[SeaGtGruff]

I hope the cable works for you! I've seen a lot of posts on different forums from people having trouble getting their keyboard or other MIDI equipment to work with their computer using a standard "no driver needed" cable they'd bought. I'm beginning to conclude that for Yamaha keyboards and sound modules it might be best to get a Yamaha UX16 interface and install the appropriate Yamaha driver. I think the two main problems I've seen are (1) plugging the cable into a USB 3 port but it turned out that the cable would work correctly only in a USB 2 port, and (2) the cable manufacturer not having any drivers available for their cables and it turned out the cables wouldn't work with on a 64-bit operating system using the system's default drivers. If your old MacBook has USB 2 ports and doesn't have a 64-bit OS then maybe you'll get lucky and whichever cable you ordered will work like a champ. I'll keep my fingers crossed that it works!

EDIT: PS-- GarageBand works fine if you just want to use your keyboard as a MIDI input device to control virtual instruments or enter note data, but my understanding is that unfortunately GarageBand doesn't let you save MIDI files or stream MIDI data to a MIDI output device. If you don't want to spend money on a DAW (since commercial DAWs can be rather expensive, costing hundreds of dollars), there are other free DAWs you can try. For example, PreSonus Studio One has a free "lite" version called Studio One Prime, Avid Pro Tools has a free "lite" version called Pro Tools First, and Tracktion has a free full-featured older version called T4. I have all three of those, plus some others, as well as a few of the less-expensive DAWs. All DAWs are not alike-- they're all very similar as far as what they can do, but they can have totally different user interfaces, plus other differences, like the types of plug-in technologies (VST, etc.) that they work with. For that reason I think it's a good idea to try out a number of different DAWs to see which one does what you need and rubs you the right way as far as its "look and feel."

 

[musicstand]

Michael,
My Macbook laptop from 2010 is 32 bit OS and it has two USB 2 inputs. I was able to download the driver also. Here's hoping. Jim.

 

[SeaGtGruff]

Have you tried the iConnectivity mio? I think it costs about $40 USD, so it isn't as inexpensive as the really cheap ones you see on Amazon, but neither is it as expensive as people are selling the Yamaha UX-16 for.

 

[Biggles]

thanks Micheal. ive just had another search. in the UK its about 40. i may just order that. thanks

The one good thing about Amazon is the no quibble return.

Take care opening the packaging so you can return it should it not work.

 

[Biggles]

I think that this is what Michael is suggesting.

Amazon.co.uk: Buying Choices: iConnectivity midi mio 1-in 1-out USB To MIDI Interface for Mac and PC

I to am in the UK so this is our local Amazon.

 

[SeaGtGruff]

Yes, that's the one I was suggesting, although with the shipping it's kind of pricey.

One thing I just thought of, which has come up recently so I should have considered it right away, is that the older Yamaha keyboards apparently use MIDI Active Sensing, which can cause problems if you're trying to use them as MIDI keyboard controllers.

Basically, the keyboard is constantly sending out Active Sensing messages, sort of like "MIDI pings," and the device that's receiving the keyboard's MIDI data is supposed to send back a steady series of Active Sensing messages in response so the keyboard knows that the connection to the other device hasn't been lost. If the keyboard doesn't receive any of these "MIDI pings" back, it assumes that the connection has been lost and stops sending any more MIDI data to the other device.

If this is what's happening when you try to use the cheap interface cable, the symptom seems to be that the first key you play on the keyboard will be sent to the other device, but then the note will stop and nothing else you play on the keyboard will be sent to the other device-- at least, that's my understanding of what was happening with another member who ran into this problem.

If that is indeed what's happening, there might be a way to have the other device to send Active Sensing messages back to the keyboard, although I haven't tried it myself. The idea is to use an additional app on the computer or tablet or smartphone and have the app filter out any unwanted MIDI data (such as the Note events) coming from the keyboard and send the filtered events back to the keyboard. The only events you'd really need to send back to the keyboard are the Active Sensing messages, so if this additional app can filter out everything but the Active Sensing messages then that would be ideal.