I thought it would be interesting to post our feelings of the Arranger keyboards we each owned...
This is my list with favorites first..

Roland G1000[what a surprise]..Durable,dependable,best get around board for live performance,lots of sliders and buttons.Great sounds,excellent read from zip for styles and SMF's..Best SMF playback..Very playable,best feeling keyboard of the bunch...

Roland VA-7..When I first bought the original VA new, I thought it sounded great, but some of the extra touches drove me a little crazy, I preferred the G1000 operation better..Later I bought a used VA-7 from a SZ member...this had a version 2 update..allowing many great updated features..It also had a great sound system and input jacks for a laptop..I was even able to get a decent mic/effects setting and save in a performnce..It actually recorded nicely..I sold it to make room for a G70...If I deside against the G70, I may replace with another Version 2 VA[maybe VA76 for better keys]..

Ketron X1..This keyboard was on the path to be the best...Great sounding voices and styles..good key feel..good speaker system..some quirks in the SMF playback,but had solutions to the problems..The hard drive folder limits made me crazy..especially searching while playing live..The G1000 was superior for performing live..

Ketron SD1,,this is a great board,but I could not get use to the all the same looking buttons...and it a semi dark room, it was a NO NO...Ketron is still capable of being the best...I don't know what the hold up is...If Roland re groups it may be too late for Ketron..


Roland EM2000..many of the G1000 features but had severe shortcuts compared to the G1000..It seemed to be built solid, but did not hold up compared to the G1000..

Roland E-600..A darkhorse keyboard...Great piano sound, good mic/harmonizer..Played sequences from floppy drive okay,but had quirks when using a laptop[99% okay]..

Roland G800,,I loved this board, it had a lot of great things , but the G1000 had all the good things plus the great things not available on the G800..

Roland G600,,a good 61 key board with the same great sounds of the G800, with a few goodies not found on the G800..but it didn't stand a chance next to a G1000..

Roland EXR-5, great board ,but novice oriented..Sounds are good but not Roland's best...

Yamaha PSR2100..lots of goodies for the dollar, but a poor feeling keyboard..many poor sounds..harmonizer was okay..SMF playback was embarassing too many times..

Casio MZ2000,,First impression was okay, but did not like overall..

Yamaha PSR2000,,Just did not like this board,,weak sounds,,2100 was much better..

Yamaha PSR 740,620,
Korg IS5 and IS35...FORGETTABOUT them..


The views are my own opinionated revelations of hands on applications...and are not meant to offend you poor Yamaha and Korg lovers......just kidding..

Hey I forgot the Farfisa G-7,nothing great but a pretty neat all in one keyboard[simular to the PSR2100]...and that is where I am going to place the Farfisa..right under the 2100...

[This message has been edited by Fran Carango (edited 01-04-2005).]

you will love your g-70 !
It reads SMF perfectly from internal or external memory - absolute reliable !

I suppose my all-time favorite at this point would be Tyros. It's easy to operate, reliable, light in weight, has good sounds and versatile styles.
The important buttons are lighted, and along with the huge display allows you to play in the dark.
It accesses styles and songs from user memory, hard drive or floppy instantly.
My second favorite would be the love/hate relationship I had with the Solton (Ketron) X1.
If only the buttons had been in the right place. . . It had a great "live" sound.
The weaknesses, besides the misplaced fill, variation, start and stop buttons, was the operating system was difficult to learn.
There was zero dealer support in my area, and I worried about reliability, even though I had no problems with it.
Two keyboards that were WAY ahead of their time was the Yamaha PSR8000 and the Technics KN2000. Either could still be used today, despite begin a little antiquated as to storage, speed and size of the styles (two variations).
The 8000 was the first kb I had that let me eliminate the vocal harmonizer, outboard mixer, etc. I could still use it today and not be that handicapped.
The Korg PA80 was another kb I both loved and hated. The size and weight was right. The sounds were wonderful. I liked in particular the harmonica and acoustic guitar. I liked the way the organ rotor was assigned to the Joystick. The styles were great except that there were virtually no CW styles, but the fills, intros and endings left a lot (everything maybe) to be desired.
The midi playback was particularly strong, although I don't use much anyway.
Also, the on-board vocal harmonizer was useless to me. There was only one pedal input besides the dedicated volume (or was it sustain?).
I didn't like the OS on it either, but then it is easy to be spoiled by Yamaha's OS.
Of all the others I've had, the Technics KN5000 was pretty good, and the Yamaha 2000 and 2100 were also good, although not in comparison to the Tyros.
I'm looking forward to seeing the next offering from Ketron (if that ever happens). They seem to understand that some of us don't want to lug around 50+ pounds of kb.
My least favorite was the Roland G800. I didn't like the heavy weighted keys. Made my fingers hurt. Physically, it kept breaking. The Joy stick spring broke after two weeks, the buttons began sticking after a couple of months. It weighed something short of a half-ton. The registrations wouldn't remember key transpose (at the time at least). The OS required going through many menus, and the display was smaller than the one on my wrist watch.
It DID sound great though, and had some neat features like assigning two sounds to the right hand and setting the volume pedal to increase one and decrease the other as you pushed it down. It also had some interesting key-split options. I enjoyed using the Joystick when it worked. I think I prefer the joystick to wheels. The G800 was also had one of the first sequencers (as far as I know) to record directly in GM (or GS) format. The Technics had to be converted as did the earlier Yamahas.
Wow, that was longer than I expected.
DonM

Quite the list you have there haha, heres my "list"

Roland XP-60- I Love it! Built like a tank on steriods, good selection of sounds, exspandable, 128 user slots. User friendly (takes a little bit) A little short or weak in some sounds overall they are fairly good, very programable, but... you have user slots and exspan boards so no matter what you can get what you want!

Couldnt ask for much more, and dont plan on selling this thing for a while!

Phil

[This message has been edited by Pennywizz6 (edited 01-04-2005).]

I own the Tyros and find the OS great, but I have tested the Ketron SD1 plus and that is a definite winner where sound and styles are concerned. It's wave based drums are the most live sounding by far. There are some issues, but I must give it to the Italians, they make great insruments and speakers.
Ketron no 1!

------------------
Roy-Andrè

The most important arranger keyboard considerations for me are: Sounds, styles, user friendly navigation, & professional-type chord recognition.

The Tyros is the big WINNER for me here, but then again my LAST name starts with a Y also, and the Tyros was produced in the Country my ancestors came from: China!

Previous to the Tyros, the Technics KN5000 was my arranger of choice. Great sounds (for its time) and terrific arranger features.

My first arranger was the Roland RA-800 (module version) of the G-800. I can only tell you that I DON'T recommend ever purchasing a tabletop MODULE version of ANY arranger keyboard because of inconvenient button access & screen view limitations. I've since learned that a full function arranger KEYBOARD is the BEST way to go.

Scott

No contest for my purpose. THE i30

1. The best Sequencer I found on any keyboard. Fast, easy, reliable.

2. Touch Screen. I can't imagine not having it. Simple easy to get around. Playing live, sequencing naming files anything.

3. The best styles for all the standards I do with the sax for sequencing. For me they swing, i do funk whatever I want. It's hard to find the perfect style for the country stuff I do.

I like in song mode the easy pop-up list for all the midi files on the touch screen. Just touch the song you want to do and wa-la. I have maybe 15 great midi's that I use for back-up vocals.

I love this old Dinosaur! In keyboard years, it is as old as Uncle Dave. Got em again.

My first arranger was a cheap Casio I used it with a computer as a sound module because it cost a hundred bucks, was the first GM I could find and had it's own speakers.
Then I went to the Yammie 540 with the disk drive, walked into a music store, brought a disk with me put it in it sounded great, I took it home,
Then the psr 2000 the yammies just kept getting better.
I had the psr 3000 for a short time but I was injured and didn't get to use it.
I've also had a couple of workstations like the ensoniq SD-1 and a Roland and some sound modules.
But of course the best for last, Now the Tyros my all time favorite keyboard, I'll be set for quite a while I think.

------------------
qqqwq@hotmail.com

What an excellent topic!
Starting with fave first...

Tyros,
I am so glad I (eventually) took the plunge and bought the Ty. It really is my dream keyboard at the moment. I would prefer it to have a digital out and more modern storage facilities (like they put on the 3k) but apart from that I have not one complaint!

9000PRO,
I kept this board longer than any other board I ever owned. I loved the keyfeel and the four sub outs. Playing it was wonderful and I half wish I had kept it alongside the Ty (but that would have been greedy!)

KN6500,
Enjoyed this board but it was to be my last technics board after years of technics ownership. (unless you count the KN7000 fiasco.... see below!)

KN6000,
I thought this was massive jump from the KN5000 at the time. I remember the sound system blowing me away in the shop and I just had to have it!!! Kept this board until the 6500 (above) came out and upgraded just for the sake of it really. Not a lot of difference between the two boards.

Technics KN5000,
One of my first 'real' boards. I felt like a million dollars when I bought this board. I had never spent as much on an instrument before and I adored it. Played one recently and was surprised how much I felt it had 'aged'.

Roland EM 2000,
stunning sound but I could not settle to it. I loved some of the styles, especially the accoustic piano stuff, but the menu system and OS in general was imho abysmal. I could not get used to it at all. Only kept the board about six months. Bought this after the KN5000 but went back to technics with the 6k after it went.

Korg i40m,
Like Scott says modules are just not practical. Trying to get at the buttons when playing was nightmare. I loved the VH feature on it though. Very simple to use. I hated the OS and the way of loading styles with a vengance. Even the roland was childsplay compared to Korgs way of doing things! It is the one thing that puts me off auditioning the PAx.

Technics KN3000
Down at the bottom because it is so old now. I quite liked it at the time though.

Technics KN1500
ditto

I am not counting the casio's and 'toy' yammies I kept buying when arranger technology was in it's infancy (and for that matter so was I )

Best wishes
Tony

oooops!
I forgot the KN7000
I bought it on a whim after selling the 9000pro. I only kept it a week before flogging it on ebay. I really could not take to the board after the 9000pro. Guess Yammie had mesmerised me SO I sold it to a charming lady in Southport and bought the Tyros!

Tony