On this DVD, Richard Bower takes you on a “close-up” tour of Yamaha’s Tyros4 digital keyboard, playing a host of classic, popular and original compositions including: Cherokee, Lay Down Sally, Wonderful Land, House Of The Rising Sun, Puttin’ On The Ritz, Blue Skies, 1492 Conquest Of Paradise, Bye Bye Blues, Under The Moon Of Love, When A Child Is Born, Lady Be Good, Charmaine, Mornings At Seven, I Want You Back, and many more…

If the stock situation improves, I will of course let you all know!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5uangDnb7A

You can hear a preview of the track in the video below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8XfJydQkcQ

Steve Jackson's Fighting Fantasy - Ending Music

Buyable formats:

Ending Music - 320kb MP3

0.79 GBP

Warning: This music is for personal use only and must not be re-sold or used within any media format without written permission from James Woodcock

A video previewing the track can be played below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkvPJS79A-A

Lovely Loco Music Track - Featured in Train Simulator 2012 Podcast #31

Buyable formats:

Lovely Loco by James Woodcock - 320kb MP3

0.79 GBP

Warning: This music is for personal use only and must not be re-sold or used within any media format without written permission from James Woodcock

In this video, I interview Roger Hagarty (music dealer), Shaz Kelly (Avalon Guinea Pig Rescue) and Nicola Ross (music teacher). You also get to view a few very cute guinea pigs!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZ3lv0sVgBw

Yesterday evening, James Sargeant (courtesy of Roger’s Music – Nottingham) entertained a large group of Yamaha keyboard enthusiasts at the Bonington Theatre in Arnold by playing the Tyros4 keyboard (the current Yamaha flagship model).

Over roughly 7 years, you can imagine the amount of demonstrations I have witnessed featuring Yamaha musical instruments and most certainly a fair few with the Yamaha Tyros4 keyboard as the main attraction. Yesterday evening however included a slightly different approach from the norm and rather than using the hundreds of backing styles to aid his performance, James Sargeant instead played the Tyros4 as if it was an electric organ.

James delighted the audience with various well known classical and modern songs – relying completely on his own skills as a musician to see him through the evening.

I am a big fan of backing styles (auto accompaniment) for when I am playing a Yamaha keyboard at home, as this provides an immense feeling of being surrounded by a whole band or orchestra as you perform. It is hard to ignore however the spectacle of a very different and indeed freestyle way of playing as he used a second keyboard and a set of bass pedals to great effect – ignoring backing styles almost completely.

Watching this style of performance is certainly more of a spectacle as there is so much to take in and you also feel more assured that the wonderment reaching your ears is so much harder to achieve. Not only were his hands flying across the two keyboards with ease, but his feet were also carefully triggering the bass notes and overall volume level – a style that is alas rapidly losing appeal for modern generations.

I may no longer run a Yamaha enthusiast website, however my love for these superb musical instruments remain intact – especially after watching a wonderful player and demonstrator by the name of James Sargeant.

Tips from the Top – Volume 1 is a first edition in a new series of DVDs I am creating with the Yamaha Club and Glyn Madden – covering Yamaha keyboards and digital pianos:

Yamaha artist Glyn Madden answers some of the most frequently asked questions in a treasury of hints and tips from the Yamaha Club’s archive – presented as a series of easy to follow mini-workshops and step-by-step demonstrations.

Link: Tips from the Top DVD – Volume 1

DVD Chapters:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpDyV6ATNOg

• Introduction

• Playing with Style
  (Choosing part of an accompaniment style to play with your left hand – and
  'borrowing' elements from several styles to create your own 'mix and match'
  accompaniments.)
  • Introduction.
  • Choosing a sound for your left hand.
  • Mixing and matching style parts.

• Using & Creating Registrations
  (How to use the Registration Memory to create settings for new songs – and a useful way of making, saving and naming registrations based on the sheet music in your collection.)
  • Introduction.
  • Personal touch.
  • Creative use of registrations.
  • Saving and naming registrations.

• Using Sound Effects
  (Discover where the library of sound effect voices is stored in your keyboard or Clavinova – and then add these voices to registrations or, for keyboard owners, record them into multi pads for quick access during a performance.)
  • Introduction.
  • The 'hidden' sounds in your keyboard/Clavinova.
  • Building sound effects into a performance.

• Using Footswitches
  (How to install and set up footswitches on a keyboard – or assign specific functions to the pedals of a Clavinova – and how to use more than one footswitch at a time to control rhythm fills, breaks, and change registrations during a performance.)
  • Introduction.
  • Too many buttons!
  • Installing footswitches.
  • Using footswitches in a performance.

Total duration approx 1 hour

COMPATIBLE WITH:
Yamaha PSR-1000, PSR-1100, PSR-1500, PSR-2000, PSR-2100, PSR-3000, PSR-S700 and PSR-S900 series, Tyros (1), Tyros2, Tyros3 and Tyros4 keyboards. CVP200, CVP300, CVP400 and CVP500 Series Clavinovas

…James and I (Glyn Madden) are always happy to be invited to take part in these discussions because it gives us an opportunity to pass back to Yamaha feedback about its instruments that we’ve gathered from members – both of Yamaha Club and, until very recently, the YPKO forum.
Glyn Madden – Yamaha Club Magazine August/September 2011 Edition

To view the featured page in the magazine, click the link below to view the PDF:
> Meeting with Yamaha Corporation of Japan – Future Development of Keyboards

In “Tips from the top”, the latest tutorial DVD from Yamaha Club, Glyn Madden presents a selection of ‘mini-workshops’ based on the wealth of material contributed to Yamaha Club Magazine by top players and teachers over the years. Essentially, this collection of hints and tips provides the answers to several frequently asked questions – with a few extra ‘good ideas’ thrown in for good measure. Our hope is that you’ll find them useful when planning new performances for your Yamaha keyboard or Clavinova.

We have created a little promotional video to introduce the series, which includes a performance by Glyn on the current flagship keyboard by Yamaha – the Tyros4.

Visit the Yamaha Club website to view our current selection of tutorial DVDs:
Link: The Yamaha Club Tutorial DVD Collection

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpDyV6ATNOg

James is a difficult act to follow because his honesty and integrity will be hard to match – and it’s these qualities, combined with an expert knowledge of Internet technology, that have played such a crucial part in YPKO’s success.

Glyn has allowed me to include a *.PDF version of the two page article:
> Yamaha Club Magazine – James Woodcock Closes the Door on YPKO

Shortly, all Yamaha Personal Keyboard Owner related domain addresses will forward to a new section on my blog specifically for Yamaha related posts, which will include performances, demonstrations and my experiences with Yamaha keyboards and digital pianos. Domains include ypko.co.uk, yamahapkowner.co.uk and of course yamahapkowner.com.

Plus there is much more…

E-mail Subscription

For the over 1400 visitors that subscribed via email for news, these will continue to flow through as normal and will track Yamaha related posts on my blog instead which will include performances, demonstrations and my experiences with Yamaha keyboards and digital pianos..

To subscribe, click the link below:
> Yamaha related posts via E-mail

Latest Yamaha News

For those that use Facebook or Twitter, I have amended existing YPKO related social networking sites to automatically post news that Yamaha themselves create relating to Yamaha keyboards and digital pianos.

To follow / join, click the links below:
> Join YPKO Facebook group
> Follow Yamaha related news on Twitter

Membership Records

As promised, all membership records that were created through the forum or Buy&Sell sections will be removed entirely (deleted) within the next 72 hours and you can be assured that this information will not be passed on to anyone else!

Yamaha Club Tutorial DVDs

I am pleased to inform you that I will still be working with the Yamaha Club to create additional tutorial DVDs.

The current selection can be found here:
> Yamaha Club Tutorial DVDs

Amazing Comments

I have received an incredible amount of support and understanding from the YPKO community, so I have saved a selection and posted them right here on my blog:
> Yamaha Personal Keyboard Owner Messages – Appreciation from Members

Final Thoughts

Thank you all for your continued support and I hope these recent changes continue to provide news and Yamaha related information and will help you discover new and exciting Yamaha keyboard and digital piano related products.

Like most things though, everything has a beginning and an end and it became clear that now was the time to let go and reflect on the past six wonderful years of YPKO. It has helped shape my experience in many areas including article writing, podcasting, DVD video creation and much more besides as well as affirming my passion for Yamaha keyboards and digital pianos. It was because of the Yamaha Tyros (1) that I was inspired to create YPKO, however even with this passion for the musical technology that still proves to be an amazing magical experience – the closure of the website just couldn’t realistically be avoided.

YPKO Statistics

• Nearly 12,000 members
• 34 million page views
• Over 300,000 forum posts

Below is the full announcement I wrote appearing on Yamaha Personal Keyboard Owner:

Today I am afraid I have to announce that YPKO will be closing in May 2011 permanently. All site content, features and of course the forum will be removed in a gradual process beginning immediately and finishing completely in May. The forum will remain open for a couple of weeks for members to exchange any details so the community can remain in touch with each other after the final closure of YPKO.

I understand that this decision will upset and maybe even anger parts of the membership, however it has become impossible to keep YPKO running at current levels of activity while keeping content up-to-date with all of the latest news including articles. This added with forum moderation, maintenance and general oversight becomes a huge time-sapper.

YPKO began its life in 2004 and ever since its inception has been a free resource for Yamaha keyboard and digital piano enthusiasts all over the world. In this time, it has evolved greatly in functionality and depth far beyond its original intention to meet ever greater demands of a growing membership.

This decision was certainly not taken lightly and for the past six years, it has been a pleasure to be your Administrator. I have weighed up many alternatives including taking on extra help, however no matter which way I analyse the situation, YPKO will always be a huge drain on my time & energy and in this difficult economic climate, this simply can’t go on. To protect membership records, these details will not be passed on to any third party and will be removed entirely from the database at the time of the final closure.

There have been some very happy times running YPKO, meeting members, discovering new musical techniques and learning skills – on the flip side of course there have been moments of frustration, however on the whole it has been a truly wonderful experience and one that I will look back on with very fond memories. The community has been instrumental in sharing a positive atmosphere within the forum and welcoming new members with open arms.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Yamaha UK and Yamaha staff worldwide who have been so helpful in assisting me with news, content and access to interviews. I would also like to thank Glyn Madden of the Yamaha Club Magazine, who has been a very positive influence while we have been working together, which will continue on various related projects including future tutorial DVDs. Finally of course to you the valued visitor/member of YPKO – for your support, participation and assistance.

I know this will have come as a shock to you all, however I will remain just like you an avid fan and enthusiast of Yamaha keyboard and digital piano products and will no doubt continue to discuss and be involved through sites including my own personal website and Twitter account in sharing my love for these amazing instruments.

All the best to you all

James Woodcock
Owner and Administrator of Yamaha Personal Keyboard Owner

All of the sounds you hear are generated by the Yamaha Tyros3 keyboard and the WX11 is merely the controller. I hope you enjoy the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AH_w7AW7jPU

So yesterday while enjoying my Yamaha Tyros3 keyboard, I decided to play and record my version of the credits – you know just for a bit of fun between all of us Broken Sword fanatics. Enjoy this short trip down memory lane…

Don’t forget to read my review of the Apple iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch Remastered version of the game.

This is my second promotional DVD following on from the earlier release covering the flagship keyboard the Yamaha Tyros3. I have been the editor for these promotional DVD offerings and also a set of three tutorial DVDs. In fact, publicly announced in the latest Yamaha Club Magazine is the fourth tutorial DVD I am working on with presenter Richard Bower. The DVD tutorials cover the basics of Yamaha keyboard and digital piano operation, ensuring that enthusiasts unlock the potential of their musical instrument.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7g7t2SE1Ht0

Here are a few details for Yamaha keyboard enthusiasts…

• Style: MallorcaDiscoBeat (A Preium Style available from www.yamahamusicsoft.com, with a slight voice change adding a pad sound)
• Voices: Right3 – PWMLead (Lead voice), Right2 – ButterStrings, Right 1 – BrightPadBell, Left – BigOctavePad, Left (Last chorus) – HahPad (from the Choir and Vocals Premium Voice Expansion Pack
• Multipad: TechSeq1
• Tempo: 122
• Left Foot Pedal: HDR playback trigger, playing a couple of *.wav sound clips from the Windows version of Lemmings (Also triggers Harmony/Echo on registration 4)
• Right Foot Pedal: Style Fill Self trigger

All of this performance is live with no audio altered or added after recording.

There are currently three DVD tutorial disks available including Getting Started: Exploring Music Finder, Understanding Files and Folders and Basic Sequencing – Recording using Song Creator…

Below is a YouTube video with Glyn Madden, who presents us with all the information regarding the current selections available including video previews and even a couple of short musical performances on the Yamaha Clavinova CVP-509:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxNo5-6SFd4

Presented by Glyn Madden, Edited by James Woodcock.

To find out more about our Tutorial selections on DVD, click the link below:
> Yamaha Club Tutorial DVD Information

Titled Basic Sequencing – Recording with Song Creater, this DVD covers a wide range of recording and editing features of Yamaha instruments.

I have only had this keyboard for a day and with 450 backing styles and over a thousand voices, I will be enjoying the delights of this keyboard for a long time to come.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OjfTBklQf8

I hope you enjoy this short video…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arbPl1el3JU

In their latest magazine, I have written an article explaining how the website began, while also detailing a new forum feature for Yamaha Club members and mention the official Tyros3 website updates. The Yamaha Club is an independent bi-monthly magazine edited by Glyn Madden.

If you have been watching ‘Your Country Needs You’ on the BBC, you will know that the ‘Twins’ (Francine and Nicola) who featured at the Yamaha Club Weekend 2008 have been performing their hearts out in a bid to represent the United Kingdom at the Eurovision 2009. They made it all the way to the final night with many very memorable performances, but unfortunately on this occasion it wasn’t to be. Having heard them live myself, I know this is just the beginning of their career and I know that Glyn is very proud of what they have achieved as are the rest of us here at Yamaha Personal Keyboard Owner.

It was a little stressful at times, however I am very happy with the end result and my thanks go out to Glyn Madden, who did a fantastic job of creating a structure and presenting the keyboard and of course James Sargeant for his performances and co-presenting. The first feedback from the subscribers of the Yamaha Club Magazine have been released in their latest edition:

Congratulations on your excellent DVD introducing the Tyros3. In addition to being a wonderful advert for the new instrument, the DVD itself is very entertaining, superbly produced and informative. - Tony Hayes

And another…

The Yamaha Club Magazine arrived on the morning of Saturday 27th September and before 3pm that afternoon I had not only watched the accompanying DVD but also paid my deposit for my new Tyros3! - Robery Running

There was also a nice message from Glyn Madden, Editor of the magazine:

And our thanks to James Woodcock too…

Of course whilst James Sargeant and myself were on screen the man in the background piecing all the bits of video together so creatively, was James Woodcock who, once again, did a superb job of filming, editing and producing the DVD.

My thanks also go out to Yamaha UK, who were extremely helpful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NpZKY2GyRA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IU9fDAgkWEM

In the latest issue of this bi-monthly magazine, I inform members of the new Yamaha Club website that I am building (using WordPress) and how my own Yamaha website has gone from strength to strength.

After three years with over 86,000 posts, 7800 topics and over 7500 members on the forum, the future looks bright…

“I’ve played the Tyros2 for about a year and have to admit that, initially, I was not wildly excited at the prospect of spending some considerable time with a ‘baby’ keyboard.

I’ve never been involved in sales and don’t know a great deal about the smaller instruments in Yamaha’s range – so I was wondering how on earth a model costing around £500 would be able to inspire me after the wonders of the flagship.”

Download: Yamaha Club Magazine – April – May 2007 Edition

Peter is well known on the Yamaha circuit due to his many events and presentations that have been featured on the Internet through the official Yamaha website and of course the avid fans that follows his talent.

This podcast includes:

• The Tony Ross Audio CD (full CD available from the Yamaha Club)
• Peter Baartmans Interview
• Peter’s music history
• Inspirations…
• Recommendations for learning the piano
• Demonstrating around the world to different cultures and the challenges involved
• Using pianos and keyboards
• New Clavinova 400 Series Digital Pianos
• New Internet Direct Connection styles samples
• 80′s Hi Energy
• Classic Movie Ballad
• Party Waltz
• Brazil Guitar Samba
• 80′sChartPop

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUT3FbaPVjA

The new Regi-Stick is designed for the Yamaha Tyros 2 allowing owners to expand their keyboard even further.

Podcast discussion includes:

• Yamaha Clavinova CVP-405 Modern Country Snippet
• James Sargeant Interview – Part 1
• What is your typical day at Yamaha UK?
• How did you get involved with Yamaha?
• How did you get into music?
• What is the original Regi-Stick (now named Regi-Stick Classic)?
• What is Regi-Stick Plus?
• How many registrations are included?
• Are all the registrations completely new and not from the original Regi-Stick?
• Can Regi-Stick Plus be copied to the internal hard drive?
• USB Stick design
• What was involved in creating the Regi-Stick Plus?
• Yamaha Tyros 2 Internet Direct Connection New Style Demonstrations (Power Disco and Rock Keys)
• James Sargeant Interview – Part 2
• Do you require bass pedals to fully enjoy this product?
• Setting up
• Will there be any other versions of Regi-Stick for other instruments?
• What is Melody Maker?
• Where can we see demonstrations?
• Pricing

This podcast also features sound demonstrations from the PSR-S900 and Clavinova CVP-405!

This edition features the following:

• Yamaha PSR-S900 Main Demonstration
• Andy Carvill Interview – Part 1
• How does Yamaha UK fit in globally with Yamaha?
• How much influence does Yamaha UK have over Yamaha Japan with instrument features, ideas and design?
• How long have you worked with Yamaha and how did your career with them begin?
• Yamaha UK EXPO 2007
• Yamaha UK public demonstrations
• Yamaha CVP-405 Main Demonstration
• Yamaha CVP-405 Piano Sound Samples
• Andy Carvill Interview – Part 2
• Yamaha PSR-S Series information, UK launch dates and retail prices
• Yamaha Clavinova CVP-400 range information, UK launch dates and retail prices
• Yamaha Modus H01 information, UK launch date and retail price
• Yamaha CVP-405 Uptempo 8-Beat Sounds Sample
• Yamaha PSR-S900 Dance Sounds Sample

Thanks to Roger Hagarty from Roger’s Music for allowing me access to record the sound samples from the new Yamaha PSR-S900 keyboard and Clavinova CVP-405 digital piano.

I have released this podcast here just to demonstrate my other interests as much as anything else. It is a very different style to most of my gaming podcasts, however I love variety! The podcast also explains my Yamaha website.

This edition features:

• Yamaha PSR-S500 Keyboard Demonstration
• MusicPad Pro Interview – Part 1
• YPKO Voicemail Callers
• MusicPad Pro Interview – Part 2
• Yamaha PSR-E403 Keyboard Demonstration

You can also purchase and download sheet music from their new website. You can also read my review on my Yamaha Personal Keyboard Owner website.

Although gaming has always been a great pastime and pleasure, I also have a great fondness of keyboard playing and have done for quite a few years now. Gaming is great to meet people online and have some quality laughs, however sometimes leader boards are just not enough and eventually you look for something much more creative and inspirational.

Yamaha keyboards came to my rescue and now for over 2 years, my enthusiast website for digital piano and keyboard players has matured and expanded to hopefully a positive response from the 6300 member strong community.

It is hard to think that I was one of the newer kids on the block when you compare my site with other similar Yamaha enthusiast sites, however it has progressed at a great rate and is now a home for some truly fantastic people.

Thanks to Anthony Barker for his help with the graphics and Mike for his persistent waffling and assistance with ‘YPKO Search’.

Link: Yamaha Personal Keyboard Owner