Of all the computer oriented features being added to arranger keyboards.....what is a feature that has really "excited" or said "wow" to your needs of playing ?


How many use a thumb drive?

How many let your finger drive ?

[This message has been edited by DanO1 (edited 10-14-2004).]

I vote thumb drive. I'm a pretty bare-bones arranger user, but the TDs allow maximum storage and no moving parts.

Dan,

I use the Thumb Drive, Smart Media Card and USB 1/2 hook up to the PC. I'll use anything and everything it takes to keep those folks entertained. In fact, when DNJ and I head to Bossier City in January, our thumb drives will be going with us. It's like taking a PC along, but it fits on your keychain.

Gary

I personally vote for the LCD Color Tiltable display!

Yes the USB connections to the computer help a great deal, but for live performance on dark stages, the LCD has been a Godsend.

Thumb Drives are cool. The only problem is they stick out the back of a Keyboard's USB slot and could be cause for concern. OTOH, Smart Media Cards are slotted and fit snugly into the back of a Keyboard with no protruding part to be concerned about. But alas, Smart Media Cards are limited to a rather paltry (in todays PC standards) memory capacity of 128 Megabytes. A nice solution would be for more Keyboard manufacturers to switch to Secure Digital (SD Digital) memory Cards and interfaces. Technics utilized SD Memory with their KN7000. Unfortunately Technics no longer makes Keyboards. Also SD Memory has capacities far exceeding Smart Media Card's specs. and is more in line with Hard Drive sizes of just a few years ago, i.e. 1 Gigabyte and growing. For instance; in the year 2007 or 2008 SD Memory capacities will be at or around 32 Gigabytes!!! Astounding to say the least since the size (dimension) of the Card itself will remain the same at an amazing 24mm wide, 32mm long, and just 2.1mm thick. About the same size as a Postage Stamp! And prices will drop over time so you can start out with smaller size Cards and increase incrementally, etc. as prices drop for the larger capacity ones.
All tucked away neatly on the back/front of a Keyboard with nothing to protrude and get in the way. With Thumb Drives you have to be 'very' careful nobody (including yourself) accidentally hits, bumps, or otherwise damages not only the Thumb Drive but the Keyboard's USB interface itself making it unusable and in need of fixing/replacing.

Plus SD Memory has a 10MB/sec transfer rate which is much faster than Smart Media's 1MB/sec so SD Memory would be ideal for Video applications as well. As in; being able to project video onto a screen from a video out (such as the Tyros has), you could provide your audience with video during your musical performances if so desired. Although all the other aspects, i.e. (requirements) needed to provide streaming video (MPEG 2/4, etc.) through a Keyboard would be necessary before it could be utilized but SD Memory allows for it with its fast transfer rate.

And another benefit of an SD Memory interface is Pretec's (a Flash Memory Company's) new 2GB MMC Card that fits, i.e., "is backward compatible" with a standard SD Memory slot and has a transfer rates of over 18MB/sec! So a person could use Pretec's MMC [Multimedia] card and have an even 'faster' transfer rate that could be used in the same Keyboard using a standard SD Memory Card slot. It would be compatible. So this allows for innovation on an existing format. Unlike Smart Media to my knowledge.

Best regards,
Mike

[This message has been edited by keybplayer (edited 10-15-2004).]

Besides, if you both get tired, you can let the thumbs drive

The most important thing of the keyboard is the playability and the sounds. I said "wow" when I heard the Tyrosdemos the first time and now enjoy the sounds and styles of the PSR3K. All other things are nice, apart from the screen, which you really need for controlling the instrument.
So I choose the screen.
The PSR3K is my first arangerkeyboard and I like the screen better then the one on the PSR2100.

I've been using a thumbdrive for a long time now. I use it at work for transfering files between computers and take files home. I carry one at all times. But I use the SM-card to transfer files from the keyboard to the computer and back. Simply because the card sits in the keyboard all the time and it is in the front of the keyboard - I find it easier. My computer has a slot for 6 different kinds of cards.

I haven't used the Direct Internet Connection yet, and I can't find any other way of downloading from the special site - even as a registered user. In time this option might become very important to me, but not right now.


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drdalet

The internal hard drives on my 9000 Pro's are great for me - lots of space, nothing to carry/remember, no possibility of an accident from someone bumping into it. Some places I play have no stage and people can be really careless when dancing or just trying to get by me - I actually use right-angle audio cords in these places because I'm afraid someone will run into the back of my keyboard and break my plugs off if they stick out too far. When I used to sing they would inevitably run into my mic stand - they would do that to a thumb drive for sure.