Yamaha have ALWAYS been 'not going to make something' until they actually DO. Whereupon, all the fanboys that said such a thing promptly found some other bandwagon to jump on, and conveniently forgot Yamaha doing exactly what they said they never would!

And, one more time (as if this is going to stop this idiotic gushing) YAMAHA DO MAKE 76 NOTE ARRANGERS.

But they SUCK...

That's all we are asking for... not for Yamaha to start doing something they aren't already doing. But to merely START to do a decent job at something they obviously haven't managed yet. Would it KILL them to add THIS YEAR'S arranger technology to THIS YEAR'S CVP? Would it kill them to add this year's arranger technology to all the 76 arrangers they DO make?

But their business model seems to say 'if you play anything bigger than a 61 by choice, you don't NEED our best arranger technology'. And I, for one, can't come up with a single reason why a person playing a 76 or an 88 needs anything different whatsoever to a 61 player.

BTW, there are piano sounds, and we play piano parts (as best we can!) on 61's as well as 76's and 88's. If nothing BUT an 88 will suffice to play a piano part on, despite the obvious fact that you no more need to be an organist to play organ parts, or a sax player to play sax parts, why are they included on a 61 (and I guarantee that Ian plays them)?

Grasping at straws, I'm afraid, Ian... Is an 88 optimal for piano? Of course. Can you play organ parts on an 88? Sure. Optimal? No... but 88 note arrangers and WS's have organ sounds onboard.

A 76 is possibly the BEST keyboard for a KEYBOARD player. Big enough for most piano parts' range. Light weight enough keyboard for most organ parts. Sure, it's not the best for a PIANIST. But I'll bet the majority of us here consider ourselves KEYBOARD players. And we NEED all the sounds, on a keyboard that limits them as little as possible.

The biggest compromise, IMO is a 61 plastic. Not only does the key weight penalize you, but the size penalizes you even MORE. I can easily play piano parts good enough for any producer on a 76 G70. But I am hard pressed to do a good job on a 61.

Let's face it, were Yamaha to actually decide to make a GOOD 76, Ian would be trumpeting its' superiority to everything else at the top of his lungs. Amazing how quiet he gets (to the point of completely ignoring the fact that they DO make 76 arrangers) when they don't make a GOOD one...

To my mind, if a keyboard has an arranger engine in it, it is an arranger. It walks like a duck, quacks like a duck... you get the picture! So Yamaha make 88 arrangers (they don't want to CALL them arrangers, but that is what they are), they make 76 arrangers (but don't want to call them that, but that is what they are) and they make 61 arrangers. Sadly ONLY the 61's are any good...

Is that cause for celebration? Personally, I'd be ashamed if my employer and favorite marque could only dominate in one segment, when all it needs to do to dominate across the board was cobble a different size keyboard onto what is already the best selling 61.

Is that laziness, incompetence, or both?