For every keyboard Dave, Donny, Don, the Pro Me and you guys buy to do a solo gig, Yamaha, Korg Roland etc. sells thousands of thousands to home owners that play with them once or twice a month.

We here who derive a living using arranger keyboards and those of us here who are wannabees, are the minority. Do you know of any business that caters to a minority for profit. If you do, I'll bet that they don't make arranger keyboards

How many members do we have here on the forum? 30, 60, 100, 1000. It's nothing to a business that wants to sell thousands of thousands of keyboard. We are meaningless to these companies. They want to sell thousands of these keyboards to home owners. Not 25 to us forum guys. I figured this out 2 years ago. It's obvious. It it not.

We here on the forum are nothing to these companies. They laugh at us all the way to the bank.

That's how it looks to me. I'm just happy they are usable for wht I want to do. Play my sax and sing a little bit.

Life's a drag! Live it!

Don't sell us or yourself short brickboo. We are the ultimate consumers for arranger keyboards, the final testing grounds, the proof. While we may be a minority in the big picture, we are the ones that find the flaws that an entire team of engineers and marketing managers overlook. We directly affect the quality of their customer service. If there are lessons to be learned and improvements to be made in keyboard products, this forum and others like it is where they will show up first. That makes us worth more as a field testing unit than any company could ever hope to pay for and the smarter companies know it. That's why Yamaha has it's own forums like Motifator.com now.

There is a small ongoing war within keyboard companies between the design engineers and the marketing people; each trying to figure out what the consumer needs/wants, will buy and use, and will be profitable to produce while keeping brand standards at their peek. Guessing what the customer wants is nothing compared to getting direct feedback from heavy users like us. You can bet that every word here is read and when real problems surface, it sets gear into motion that we may not be able to see but are certain to improve the products we currently own or their next generation. In fact, as soon as we are compliant about the flaws and shortcomings of our instruments, they will stop improving.

Even after I told Yamaha's Mark Anderson that I was frustrated and willing to give up on making the PLG150-DR work with my 9000 Pro, he sent me a message from where he is on vacation that he will personally try to make the drum expansion card work with a 9000 Pro as soon as he could. I believe him. In fact, I have no doubt that several of my stubborn complaints have already caused changes in Yamaha's customer service, documentation, marketing and design.

We should not take ourselves for granted - in the eyes of companies like Yamaha, meeting our needs is the goal line.

Jim,
Mark is a good man, and if he said he'd address it ... he will. I remember speaking for hours about the psr2000 with him. I think he was the right set of ears to dump on.

No matter how they improve arranger keyboards in the future people will complain about their wants and needs. Everyone uses them differently and unless they are custom made for you we will always have to settle and compromise on features on like it or not. I for one being a pro and coming up with arrangers from the beginning appreciate the unbelivable technology and count my blessing up to this point to be able to create music with them on such a high level at such a low cost to make a living. can they be better?....sure......will they improve?.....of course....so just hang in there and things will change & change as the years go by.
It's Technology in its Infancy my friends....theres much more to come beyond your wildest dreams if we're around long enough to see and experience it !!


Jam On

[This message has been edited by Dnj (edited 08-29-2003).]

I agree and disagree DNJ. Sure, technology marches on - but what about true mistakes? What about when companies release products that do not have sufficient documentation? Or have not been tested adequately? What about operating system bugs that we find but manufacturers do not? These things do not get cured by osmosis - they require feedback and interaction. Sure, individuals will have individual needs but if they are not unreasonable needs then it's the manufacturer's responsibility to address them.

Everything I have complained about in this particular thread has been a combination of product oversights and insufficient documentation, and that much has also been acknowledged by Yamaha and they are acting to fix the problems. They wouldn't be if I hadn't provided some motivation.

Jim,

Its like I said .....for me I hardly ever have any problems with most arr keyboards the way I use them to play music....but others do have issues......due tho their style of performing. If Im not happy I jsut get rid of it and hope the next one witll solve the problems of the last one....I'm not going to get a headache worring about manufacturers screwups, bugs, and whatever else they Don't Do correctly. You would think after all the time it takes and the time we have to wait for these Kb's to come to market they would be almost perfect but thats not the case. Its just plastic and circuit boards nothing more.
Life is to shore...if it aint what makes me happy ...I just chuck it!!

I truly wish I could "chuck" my 9000 Pro in favor of something better or more suitable for me - nothing of the sort exists or is even in the works to my knowledge, by Yamaha or anyone else. I even told Mark Anderson that if they were coming out with a replacement for the 9000 Pro or an upgraded model, I wouldn't be bothering him (he didn't take the bait). So for all I know, the 9000 Pro is the keyboard I will be using for years to come. Might as well make the best of it, especially if it means improving it.

Right back at ya Jim......just hang in there like we're doin for now and who knows? At least we're doing "What We Love" and thats a Good Thing my friend!! What will be Will Be..
and Im sure we'll be right there when it does....don't you agree?


goto run to a gig .......


Enjoy the Holiday weekend!!