Yamaha Expansion Packs

What are Yamaha Expansion Packs

A Yamaha Expansion Pack is software data which can add more music content to your Yamaha Arranger Keyboard: In other words with the installation of a Yamaha Expansion Pack you can add to your keyboard more, Voices (or Sounds) and Styles (not all Yamaha Expansion Packs contain styles, this is optional).
The material (data) are combined together on a single file which has a "yep" or "ppi" extension.

There are available Yamaha Expansion Packs which contain also Registrations and/or MultiPads.
This data have the normal extensions (different for Multi Pads and different for Registrations) and you can import them to your keyboard without installation. But in most cases the Registrations and/or MultiPads are useless since they use material (Voices oe Styles) from the main Yamaha Expansion Pack. So if you don't install the main Yamaha Expansion Pack, you can't use Registrations and/or MultiPads

Basically with Voice & Style Expansion Packs for the Yamaha Arrangers, musicians can take advantage of a wide selection of different Voices and Styles. After loading an Expansion Pack to your Yamaha arranger you have access to completely new sounds, rhythm and backing in the musical style of your choice!

Where can you buy Yamaha Expansion Packs

Yamaha itself offer a wide range of various Yamaha Expansion Packs.
You can find some free Packs but the quality is very basic and the variety very-very basic.
Unfortunately Expansion Packs for Yamaha are extremely expensive (+100 USD per Pack) and in most cases the price doesn't offer value.
Besides the Expansion Packs for sale from Yamaha, you can also buy cheap Expansion Packs from http://soundandstyles.grandblogs.com for a very reasonable price (20 USD per pack)

Interchangeability

Expansion Packs for Genos, Tyros 5, SX900, SX700, PSR S975, PSR S995, PSR S970, PSR S770, PSR S670 and A3000 is a new common format. File extension "ppi".
Expansion Packs for the PSR A2000, PSR S750 and PSR S950 have the same format.
Finally for the old PSR S650 you can have special Expansion Packs with limited size because of the by the keyboards low storing capacity. File extension for this special 650 Expansion Packs is "yep".

The Best Expansion Packs for Yamaha

How to Installation Yamaha Expansion Packs

The "ppi"/"yep" file is the installation file of the pack which goes into the keyboard.
Only one "ppi"/"yep" file can be installed in a keyboard at the same time.

However more "ppi"/"yep" files can be merged into one "ppi" file.
You can do that with YEM (Yamaha Expansion Manager) For creating "ppi" files from different expansion packs; both "ppi" and "yep" file formats can be used - but only the styles of "yep" files.

The software creates a "ppf" file, which is the project file. When you save this, the expansion manager software creates the "ppi" file.