is there a website where we can see how well arranger manufacturers do? i am curious to see what is the business structure of these companies... which one is bigger, more accesible, more reliable, etc.
do you know somehting about such an analyse?
and how come so many manufacturers are italian or produce in italy? (roland, korg, ketron, gem, and maybe some other too)

[This message has been edited by adimatis (edited 05-29-2007).]

May be it is just one Keyboardfactory that uses different names, such as Korg, Roland Ketron or Yamaha. Why in Italy ?
Italy has allways been a country with a great musical history, you will find there many Accordeonfactories.

what are you saying by this? i'm afraid i didn't get it right!

Bit absurd, Wis. Tell me that you're joking.

so, is nothing wrong with my english...! :P

Its not true of course....but it certainly is not onbsurd. In the Uk we have many many brands of soap powder for example that fill our stores shelves and naerly all of them come from just two soap powder manufacturers. By filling the shelves with numerous products all from the same company they fool the consumer into thinking that they have much greater choice than they actually have and any real competition has to compete with numerous different brands for a little bit of shelf space. Its quite clever really. But i am sure that yamaha korg and roland are diferent companies regardless as to how similar the Roland E80 looks to the Korg PA1X !

double post. sorry

[This message has been edited by spalding4 (edited 05-30-2007).]

but where could we find some information about the real facts?
for instance, i am very curious how much bigger is yamaha then korg? or is it? and how much does roland sell compared to... whatever.
you know, something like that!

I tried to find out a couple of years ago and it is a trade secret.
I wanted to know when they come out with a board like the tyros or G70 how many units do they expect to sell.
I don't need exact numbers but I'm wondering are they building them for 10 thousand people or ten million?
Or just the 10 or twenty guys here.

[This message has been edited by mikeathome1 (edited 05-31-2007).]

Musical instrument manufacturers are usually located in certain areas, since this lets them share technical knowledge, facilities and supplies. In Japan, there is also a shared component purchase office.

The area where most arrangers are built, in Italy, has a long tradition in accordion manufacturing, and this led to developing organ factories, then synth and arranger companies (not to speak of audio devices and accessories).

Primary parts are usually produced in shared facilities, making plastic and electronic components. Design, final assembly and quality insurance is absolutely separate for each company. This process lets each brand have its own personality, while reducing costs for common facilities.

Pieces produced vary for each company and model, but they are in the middle of the two orders you used as the boundaries.

Paolo


[This message has been edited by ptram (edited 06-11-2007).]

Paolo is correct.
When I was in Ancona, Italy back in 2002 on a trip for dealers paid for by Generalmusic, I was amazed at not only the beauty of the Country, but just how many factories and manufactures were all around the area.
Walking through one of I think 5 production facilities for Generalmusic, I was walking by a room filled with Ketron XD9 and Vega plastic frames, which had just been painted and silkscreened. One of my tour guides didn't want me to notice, but I did, and I was told that Ketron doesn't have the facilities to produce every part of their keyboards and so they contract with Generalmusic for parts of their products.
Very interesting, but we do the same thing here in the USA and I would imagine, as Paolo stated, so does Japan and other areas of the world. We certainly know China makes things in their factories for dozens of brands with different names.
Generalmusic has bought out many of the old organ companies from the 60's and 70's and converted these production sites to manufacture their products.


------------------
George Kaye
Kaye's Music Scene
Reseda, California
818-881-5566
www.kayesmusicscene.com

it's getting interesting.
definitely, some parts of different arrangers i can see being manufactured togheter, but some others, i think i'd be amazed to see it done in the same huge hall, with 50-100 workers and several ribbon straps taking the parts and finalised products all over the place!
man, i'd love to see a video of the production line!
and about GEM and ketron... i already had the feeling these two share something in common. i dont know why, but after all, they might have some common engineers and designers...
but i have a problem seeing roland and yamaha in the same production room! ...