I think you have the misconception that we have some kind of influence over what keyboard makers include in their products. We don't... for example, we've all been saying that digital audio outputs would be welcome but obviously the G-70 doesn't have it so there's how much Roland listens to us (Korg's PA1XPro doesn't have it and I'd bet Yamaha's next pro arranger won't have it either). Never the less the G-70 includes V-Link technology, which nobody here asked for in an arranger to my knowledge, but it offers some intriguing possibilities for live multimedia performances that may truly set this arranger part from any other in the world. Now that's some spiffy hi-tech thinking, but the real question is who is going to setup to the plate and make use of this? And how? I'll bet Roland would be very interested to know that!

Probably the most radical, breakthrough, new-thinking-departure-from-everything-else keyboard that has ever been discussed here is the Open Labs nEko. When it was announced it appeared to be the end-all answer: a keyboard with nearly infinite hard/software and configuration possibilities that wasn't beholden to the big music companies for support. It's still all that but at such a price that nearly everyone thinks that a good laptop and a controller would offer more for the money. So there's the ultimate arranger for you: a laptop and a controller... you can design it to do anything you want - now what do you want it to do? And why?

IMHO manufacturers can only do so much when it comes to technology - by the time ANY product gets to us the technology that the product was designed around and programmed for, then finally manufactured and shipped is about 3-5 years old. Open Labs found a way to change that but darn few keyboardists of any kind have been willing to step up and buy one. It'd be different if they were selling like hotcakes - that's something that keyboard makers would pay attention to. But they aren't, and the hoopla has died down now, and the Tyros and Motifs' sales haven't suffered any because of the nEko to my knowledge.

The fact is that most arranger buyers/players aren't Buck Rogers or Keith Emerson and we're not touring or cutting Grammy-award winning albums. We're localized players that are kings of small clubs & restaraunts and private parties. My Yamaha 9000 Pro was discontinued earlier this year and technologically it was passed by other keyboards well before that. However, the instrument never fails to impress people in the audience nightly - some write down what it is, others quiz me endlessly about it's features... it might as well be the latest thing for the attention it gets. Or perhaps it's the way I play it. It doesn't matter - what does matter is that I generate enough income with this instrument to support my home and family in comfort. That's more important to me than digital audio outputs.

The question everyone wants to know has nothing to do with what keyboard features: it's what are YOU as a performer going to do with improved technology that is different from what we do with it today? Will you be playing restaraunts and private parties with a high-tech arranger or something radically different? What specific application is pushing your need for more? Because asking for more just for the sake of asking is just greed... but asking because it will make you a better performer and/or make a better living is the one of the reasons we're all here.

A V-Link arranger... if that doesn't make you stop and think then you don't need it...

[This message has been edited by The Pro (edited 10-06-2004).]