How has everybody been? Sorry i have been away from the board for a while now, since being promoted in January i have had absolutely no time to even play on my X1 as much as I would like. I have scanned thru some of the messages here and its great to see some of original members that i used to know still going strong, and of course its great to see new members just as much.

I tell how bad its been, i do not even know what new models of keyboards are available now! Maybe someone could kindly give us a run down on what flagship models are currently available from each major company or if any significant new or rumoured model to look out for.

Best Regards,
Danny

Hello Danny,
Welcome back
Nice to see you back again...we wondered where you had got to! You've been gone so long....(old Peter's and Lee song that), that Uncle Dave is back with the yammie 9000 and Scott is considering another brand other than Technics!
The fave arrangers at the mo seem to be Korg PA80 Yammie 9000 pro and of course the much discussed of late Ketron SD1. Technics have the 6500 and Roland the VA7 and 76! (the latter having no speakers and seventy six keys).
Don't think I have missed anything unless you consider the Korg Karma to be an arranger...some would say yes some no!

ttfn
Tony W (fellow U K er! )

hi and thanks for your reply. I think that most of the stuff you mentioned were just rumours when i last was active here. i am certainly happy with my X1 for the time being, i had a good session on it the last couple of days and its a fantastic keyboard. Still also own the WK8 but my father uses it. I also own the WX2 (1993??) which my sister uses. I wish the X1's piano was better, the built in piano spoils some of the styles that you play along with as i think a lot of the styles are just that good! if you blend them with an average sound, it really shows up the weaknesses.

the main reason why i have been absent is like ive said ive been promoted to a project manager within my workplace which involves travelling around the place, staying in hotels and generally no time for fun! my wife does not like it much but it pays the bills (and buys me keyboards!!!). My only break is actually in the winter so for now im still working hard!

Ive noticed that yamaha are bringing out another range to replace the mid-range keyboards, PSR1000/2000? my local keyboard shop has the PA-80 but not yet demo'd it, looks rather nice though and not that expensive, wonder what the SMF is like on that keyboard as it was pretty average on my I30 when I had it. Any new stuff from GEM yet? I wished that GEM and Yamaha (possibly even Roland) would cut down on the amount of similar sounds it has and just concentrates on using the ROM memory on important sounds like Grand Piano, and not have 20 variations of the same thing, it just clutters up the keyboard's banks. I like this about the X1, not many sounds but most are usable.

Out of all the keyboards ive had though, i regret selling my PSR8000, and im pretty hard pushed to find a 2nd hand one now. I just loved the Virtual Arranger within the styles, that was pretty exclusive in the PSR8000 and PSR730 range.

regards,
danny

Hi Danny,
If you are looking for a second hand 8000 then there is one for sale in Loot north west edition today for £799. Bit expensive I thought but maybe you could knock him down a bit
Details are on www.loot.com

ttfn
Tony

Danny,

I agree with you that the biggest drawback to the X-1 is the weak pianos. I ended up buying a used Kurzweil Micropiano (module) for $200 USD. Even though it's older technology it has some excellent piano and electric piano sounds as well as some good strings. The micropianos are frequently for sale on e-bay. I've been very happy with the results. The pianos/electric pianos are defintitley worthy accompaniments to the outstanding X-1 styles.

Bob

Danny, GREAT to see you BACK! Yes, I agree about the X1 pianos. Coming from a long background of playing acoustic piano, I found the X1's acoustic piano COMPLETELY unacceptable which canceled any possibility of considering the X1 for my performing needs, even though many other X1 sounds/styles sound MOST impressive. It seems that Solton now has made an extra effort by including a most superb sounding acoustic piano on the SD1. So this is the reason (in addition to Solton's current effort to include jazz chord recognition on the SD1), I am re-considering the Ketron (Solton) line now, though I Still (and will continue to) love and perform on my RELIABLE Technics KN5000. - Scott