Depends on who the home player is For years I just played home as a hobbyist, people would comment why don't you gig. Pretty much because I had a another career that demanded much of my time and who wanted to be working Friday and Saturday nights anyway with a demanding 8 to 5, 6... even 7 PM full time job. A few years ago I purchased the a CVP and realized it made a lot of music with a minimum of effort vs. playing solo piano. Fast forward to October 2004, retired from the demanding job and now do my other hobby full time supporting computer users at a law firm. I bought a PSR 3k and decided I could have some fun gigging.(not making a living) as many of you do. Based on some good advice here at the forum I tweaked what I've been playing and did a 180 degree turn on my approach to the whole thing and the gigs are starting to come my way. Played 2 shows this weekend at a Fall Festival in my home town. I know the audience enjoyed my playing from the sound of the applause... and seem to be getting repeat calls and thank you notes from activty directors to come back to play the retirement homes. I know I still have a long way to go to catch up with you pros( and may never get to the "pro status" that many of you have achieved). But, I still contend as a home semi/pro player that Yammie should have market a CVP with 88 keys in portable version. Yea, it maybe heavy but there's nothing like a true piano action and 88 keys for me.

[This message has been edited by Stephenm52 (edited 10-03-2005).]

Stephen........Yamaha & others should have a PRO KB arranger line a gear, designed by pros, for use by pros inside and out .....ruggedly built to withstand the punishment of everyday use...+ a choice 61-76 good feeling keys & yes weighted 88 piano keys....+ a choice of optional accessories, vocal boards with 2 or 3 xlr inputs, polyphony, sampling, Hd's, etc etc that the Player can easily plug in and install..
they should be listening to REAL players wants & needs & satisfy them ....
Ahhh whats the use just keep searching for Shangrila while they bait & bleed us each year with minimal useless upgrades & dissapointments!!

Thankyou Im finished ranting..

[This message has been edited by Dnj (edited 10-03-2005).]

Posted by; Dnj

-------------------------------------------
........Yamaha & others should have a PRO KB arranger line a gear, designed by pros, for use by pros inside and out .....ruggedly built to withstand the punishment of everyday use...+ a choice 61-76 god feling keys & yes weighted 88 piano keys....+ a choice of optional accessories, vocal boards with 2 or 3 xlr inputs, polyphony, sampling, Hd's, etc etc that the Player can easily plug in and install..
they should be listening to REAL players wants & needs & satisfy them ....
Ahhh whats the use just keep searching for Shangrila while they bait & bleed us each year with minimal upgrades & dissapointments
-------------------------------------------

Dnj, Very well put! Couldn't agree more.

Stephen, I totally understand where you coming from. I worked at a Law Firm myself. Worked in Real Estate and then Workers Comp. That job took SOOOOO much energy out of me. There were many times I even pulled weekends. Like you I was always having people tell me I need to get back into performing. I did this years back when I had the time (and the band). Then after the band split I did the solo gig.

Now that I'm at home taking care of my daughter and finishing college, I still find that I don't have the time or energy. My Birthday is next weekend, and all my friends want to go out and paint the town. Hell I don't even have the desire to that anymore I'd rather spend the day with my wife and daughter.

Dnj, is right. Yammie needs to listen to the pros more often. I honestly think it's pretty damn insulting. Yamaha knows that pros are using the arrangers (like the PSR-3000). Their not oblivious to this in any way. Steve was a frequent here and I'm sure he relayed many of our thoughts and suggestions. However, I STRONGLY feel that Yamaha doesn't give a rats behind about what the pros think in the arranger department. It seems that they (and others) want to make sure their is a definitive line between the arranger players and synth players. They will continue to advertise the arrangers to the home buyer/hobbiest, and market the synths to the pros. Drives you nuts huh?

Squeak

But Donny .... then it would be tooooo HEAVY !!!
t.

Most of you know that the only thing I like coming from Yamaha these days is motorcycles and grand pianos. But, I have to admire the corporate business model. They have one of the best research divisions in the world. They know the size of every portion of the market, price elasticity, can forcast volume of each model by age and income groups...even by education. They make decisions based on the bottom line.

That's extremely admirable from a strictly business point of view, but sort of cold-hearted in my mind, as a user of arranger keyboards.

All Yamaha arrangers lack build quality and cutting edge sound, for my purposes.

I'm glad so many people can use 3000's (I had one for a week and gave tt to my granddaughter), Tyros ( I,II...whatever).

The important thing is to play what YOU can use to produce the results YOU WANT!

Whatever you play, keep the music happening, and ENJOY YOURSELF. Then, everyone listening will enjoy themselves, Too!

Russ

So what are you playing nowadays Russ?

Even though I'm waiting for a 76 key Tyros2, which btw may never happen, I do feel it is the best Arranger Keyboard on the soon to be market. Hardly a toy in my estimation. Especially when you consider Yamaha has improved the keybed, which supposedly will be more suited for the traditional Piano player with a more Piano like touch. With such statements as you gave it appears you've given up on Arrangers or Keyboards in general and are instead using a real Grand Piano or possibly a Clavinova CVP-309 or something similar??

If you are using a real Grand then unfortunately you will only get a Piano sound out of it. If you are using a CVP-309 then congratulations Russ! You have the best of both worlds. But you wouldn't be able to transport it to Gigs because of its weight. A Grand Piano either for that matter.

Enter the Tyros2...

Best regards,
Mike

Call the Tyros an expensive Toys-R-us toy if you wish, but aren't ALL keyboards that are FUN to play really toys anyway?

As a gigging performer, a keyboard must INSPIRE musical inspiration & creativity yet be PORTABLE (and lightweight as possible) at the SAME time. Tyros delivers!

Scott

As a new guy here, I want to chime in a bit and say I totally agree with Scottyee on the Tyros2. I'm now transitioning from a 30-year career to performing original music whenever and wherever I can, and there's nobody helping me carry the stuff around. (PSR2100, two Mackie srm350s, Logitech sub, poles). I've tried all the top-end stuff, and all of it's too heavy, period, except Yammie. So far, no one has come up to me after a gig and said "Dude, the velocity sample on that snare drum didn't cut it." (whatever that means). Actually, I'm trying out drummers to see if a duo approach works, maybe even a guitar. Also, if I do some recording down the road, I'll take the T2 into the studio and start with it and add other instrument tracks as it suits me.
Anyway, what I want now is a keyboard that sounds good (I've always liked Yammie's "musical" styles) and is light weight. I actually hope the keybed isn't too "good>" I don't want to play "guitar" riffs on a Steinway. One thing. . .I'm disappointed there isn't an XLR mic input and apparently no upgrade of the vocalizer (why?). Lastly, how many "hobbyists" are gonna shell out three grand for a keyboard? DerfM

Great prospective DerfM! And welcome to the family.
BTW, our local music store (small market) had four of the original Tyros. They sold all of them to MDs. (Medical Doctors, not Musical Directors) Three of the Doctors were originally from India. I don't know what, if anything, this means, just interesting.
DonM