I only see boxes where the photo should be.
Don

I have to agree with UD here. I don't know about today but in the 60's we played six nghts a week in Morgan City at Morice's Lounge, in Louisiana from September through the first week of January for the Shrimp Festival season.

Then we'd play in the French Quarter at the House Of Zin 5 nights a week for 4 or 5 months at a time. We use to hang around for a couple of hours when we finished then go eat and then play for a 6AM to 8AM jam session on Bourbon Street at the Blue Angle. Yes I played some strip joints in the olden days. Can you believe that.

We did this off and on for several years. I still couldn't make any money so I learned to lay brick. Ha! Ha!.

We use to get $12 to $15 a night. Now I desperately want to be UD, Don, Donnie, or Scott. I've come full circle with music.

There was a black Tenor man around the block from my home about 24 years old. I was about 15 or 16 in the 50's. He and I couldn't believe that I was getting $12 or $15 a night and he had to play for $8 to $10 a night. He practiced 6 to 8 hours a day in a closet so as not to disturb his sick father. He blew circles around me. I think he played on the West Coast some time back. Maybe Scott heard of him. I think his name is Roy Henderson.

George, If you find an (i30PA80), that is a keyboard with the features of the i30 sliders and all, especially the touch screen (not the PA80 touch screen system, WHAT A MONSTER)and the sounds of the PA80 with speakers ( I agree with UD here on the speakers)just send me one. I don't care what it cost. I'll sell all my belongings and divorce my wife if I have to so as to pay you. Don't call or write just send it to:

Boo Hargis
216 Lexington Way East
Grand Junction, Colorado 81521
If it were possible I'd give you my VISA number here.

I would like light weight but I also am enchanted with good piano sound so I carry Corg sampling grand which is really a two man job to carry but Little me does it all on me own and I have three back injuries. I will get to the weight of it, but it is about as heavy as 4 arranger keyboards??.
I cant drag myself down to the sound of my X1 piano or its or feel or response. At home perhaps x1 sounds reasonable but compare it at gig --500% 1000% ??I dont know but I cant (to Date) do without it.I did try.
I sometimes play for 3 hours and I feel that 5 minutes haulage for 3 hours playing is more than worth the heavy load. Sometimes I admire those that can settle for the lesser sounds. I should say that my style makes it hard for me to accept bad piano. Pierce

I confer with DonM, the NAMM showings just convince me to stay on track to get a PSR2000. Cost v. features it looks to be a great keyboard- plus its not a back breaker.
As for the sounds, how come I havent heard much about working with some of the quality synt or sample modules. SOme are quite small (I admit have not rounded the models up yet).
Seems a good GM module with work nice with an arranger. I know.... you want it all in one box, but even as shown in this NAMM, the manufacturers just arent there yet.
Its great George, that you posted so quickly, the harmony-central.com web site, which has a NAMM review page does not give much coverage for arrangers.
What a great forum. I am buying a house real soon and I have to wait till its closed to get my arranger. No matter how much money I end up with, I still may go with a modest PSR2000. After all, still looking for my custom martin M-38 I hope to order in 2002.
Chow,
Tgalf

Thanks George for that lengthy and detailed report of NAMM! I really appreciate the detail you put into that writing, I found it VERY interesting and it gave us an inside look at Winter NAMM!

The GENESIS sounds awesome from what I read in your post! I am so excited to hear the news! It includes features that I have never heard of, unlike any other keyboard. The CD Burner is one of my favorite features and the 3.5 gigabyte hardrive too. It sounds massive and I am really glad that the sound is improved! That is the best news I have heard. However, the price of $4,000 is just insane! Who is going to buy a keyboard for $4,000 - you could by 4 decent computers with that money! General Music had better lower their price to $2,000 - $2,500 instead of, what was it, $4,000?! Sure, it sounds awesome, but no keyboard is worth $4,000.

Also, I know you wrote a lot, but if you don't mind, I have some questions for you.

1) Is the GENESIS' CDRW Drive optional and do you have to pay extra to get it included with the keyboard? I'm wondering this because the Triton Studio has a CDRW drive, but you have to pay $400 extra to have it included with the keyboard!

2) Also, about the Yamaha DGX300 and DGX500: Do the DGX keyboards come with an onboard sequencer, where you can record to it like that of a standard 16 track sequencer? Also, what other voices does is have other than the piano and how many voices in total are there?

Well, again, thank you very much for that detailed report. I found it very useful - I am very glad that you were so kind to take the time to post it out to us who could not go! Thanks a lot, see you around on the forums,
Ryan

Ryan, yes the Genesis comes with the CD installed, it is not an option. Also, the price for the Genesis will be about $400.00 more than the 9000 pro or the SD1 is selling in most stores and less than most stores sells the Technics KN6500 and the Roland VA76, so I don't think this is an overpriced keyboard considerating a 100 what system, 64 MB, a CD burner, 3.5MB hard drive and Vocal harmonizer and a host of other great features.
The Yamaha DX keyboards have the standard 6 track yamaha sequencers found in other lower priced Yamaha keyboards such as the PSRGX76, the PSR282 and the EZ30 keyboards. Nothing fancy in the new DX500. The sounds are about 600 and are better than the lower models but not as many as the PSR550 and the PSR2000.00 There are music data bases on all and the ability to layer and split which has been off the lower priced Yamaha's is now available on all new models. Also, when you select the voice, style, song buttons, you will have the whoe switch light up which is a nice touch and on the replacement for the PSRGX76 (again I can't remember the name) there is both a data wheel for changing sounds and a keypad if you like.
George Kaye
Kaye's Music Scene
Reseda, California

Thanks again George! That information is very helpful and I truly appreciate it.

About the DGX500 keyboard, 600 voices is a lot to me, considering that I do not have the money for higher priced keyboards. Plus, the DGX has 88 keys, which is really cool...and the sequencer seems decent for the price. Again, that information is very useful to me.

About the GENESIS, of course it has a lot of features. But to people who just do not have the money, it is just ridiculous. $4,000 is too much for any type of keyboard, I still hope that they lower the price somewhat. But, anyway, it is an awesome looking keyboard from what I have seen at Scott Yee's website. You are right, the speakers do look expensive. The keyboard is VERY impressive and it is obvious that GEM worked extremely hard. I have also heard the sounds are just astonishing and that is the most important part!

Well, thanks a lot for the help! Have a nice day and see you around on the forum,
Ryan

When can we expect to see those new gears on the market? Next year?

the genesys is due in april of this year
George Kaye

I'm expecting a lot then of the new Genesis if it's going to cost around $4000. In comparison.. The functions of the WK8 board were OK in my opinion, but I do not like the sound overall. I'm now starting to be curious what's GEM really bringing out. The prices of the WK8 SE dropped hard here. One of the local musicstores here also doesn't seem like to get off his GEM's that are still in the shop.

[This message has been edited by Sander (edited 01-20-2002).]