I don't know about the interest in general, and can only speak of my own interest - indeed, my interest is in a 76 key high-end arranger. I would love to get a 76-key Tyros2, I believe that it is the most user-friendly instrument out there. However, if at the time when I will need to replace or augment my G1000, the T2"Pro" is still not available, there will be other options. Thankfully, the marketplace provides us with a variety of choices. The Ketron SD1, Roland G70, and Korg PA1XPro all have the good features AND 76 keys.

Some people say they get by swimmingly with 61 keys - that's great. I, on the other hand, feel severely constrained having only a 5 octave keyboard to play, so it would not work for me. The saddest thing is that Yamaha could probably add the 15 missing keys without even changing the case dimensions - just eliminate the wasted space on the sides of the keyboard (the same goes for Genesys "pro". While it may be true that the 9000Pro did not make a lot of money, its development costs were miniscule - it reused all of its technologies from other boards - the case, keyboard, sound engine, user interface were all cannibalized from other products in the Yamaha's product line. As Jim's (Esh) experience indicated, Yamaha did not even do a proper job integrating all the parts together, and the plug-in cards did not work properly. Hopefully they will do better when putting together the Pro version of the T2.

I also wanted to address the subject of using a controller - it may work for someone who is playing at the same location every night. I play in a variety of venues, and not very regularly. The extra work to accommodate the keyboard AND the controller is significant - I'd need a larger, heavier, longer to set up and break down stand, another case to carry to and from the car, another set of wires to plug, even more mess on the power bar. With the extra height I would be forced to play standing up, and the keyboard higher rig would obstruct the view of the audience. In addition, having to reach over the other (the T2) keyboard would put the panel buttons out of easy reach, negating much of the user friendliness of the T2. Sorry, but to me having a controller keyboard is not an answer.

The only approach that IMHO works with controller keyboards is having the T2 (or even PSR3000) functionality packaged as a module. Such a module can be placed right on top of the controller, with its buttons within easy reach. However, Yamaha does not seem too keen on making a module version of the T2/PSR either.

Regards,
Alex