Because you told us, Ian! With great authority, and hints of 'insider knowledge'

I think we are making FAR too much out of the 'home' and 'pro' market issue. The majority of people that buy WS's are not 'pros' either. And the vast majority of OMB's that use arrangers ARE 'pros', no matter WHAT arranger they use.

The main difference, IMO, is that the WS market does not go as far downscale as the arranger market. Yamaha, Casio, even Roland arrangers have models that are little more than 'toys'. Consequently, these divisions get run by people that are comfortable in that market (maybe differently in Roland's case) but despite the fact that they make very 'pro' keyboards in certain aspects, especially at the high end of the line, those divisions are being run by managers that think 'toy' first, and have little knowledge or respect for the high end of their own product line.

WS lines, OTOH, don't go down NEARLY that far... Your bottom of the line WS is still quite a complex beast, not that far removed from it's MOTL cousins. And the divisions get run by managers that think about the TOTL first, BOTL second... (IMO)

I simply feel Yamaha have the tragedy of matching a high end 'pro' arranger OS with a low-end 'home' sound and build/size, and Roland have the tragedy of matching a 'pro' high end build/size and sound with a VERY 'home' OS.

BOTH companies have serious identity problems, but at least Yamaha's problem does NOT get in the way of sales! I don't think the 'divisional rivalry' theory works, because, if it were true, you would see Yamaha's arranger division holding on MUCH tighter to their SA technology and arranger aspects, both of which have been purloined by the MotifXS line.

My prediction? We probably WON'T see the fabled 76 S900. But we WILL see the arranger paradigm make more and more inroads to the Motif line, as these loop-station WSs need more friendly control systems than they do now...

Sonically, they are already what most T2 users are asking for (at least the OMB 'pro' ones), better in most sound categories than the T2, and they only have to add the ability to set the loops up in an Intro/Var/Fill/Ending structure, rather than the DJ-like 'cue up the next loop' system they have now, and the Tyros market (and S900, if a lower end model is produced, a sort of super MM6 thing) will be under serious stress.

When this happens, I see a radical move towards the BOTL, as MOTL and TOTL users head over to the WS line... If Yamaha Arranger won't give them what they want, they'll get it SOMEWHERE...

The Amazing Kreskin predicts