I haven't read all this string, so this may not be applicable, but did you consider the Ketron Midjay? It's a wonderful-sounding, powerful little gadget. May be out of your budget though.
DonM

Squeak, I am not sure what your budget is but have you considered a PSR1100? Music123.com has them on clearance. Check this out:
http://www.music123.com/Yamaha-PSR1100-i105978.music

Man I'd love to have a PSR-1100. However my wife allocated $550 from our tax return for me to play with. Believe it or not Gary sold me his PSR-2000 for this great price, but that didn't work out.

With all that happened I don't think the wife will be willing to give me another $189.00 to buy the 1100 even though the 1100 is well worth the price they're asking at Music123. I thought she was going to skin me alive when I told her I was going to buy Gary's keyboard.

Squeak

I guess you are in luck! Musician's friend has the PSR1100 for $599.99, here:
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=home/search/detail/base_id/104675

Call music123.com at 1.888.590.9700, tell them about musicians friend price and they will beat it including free shipping, you may even get it for $550 shipped or very close!!. It doesn't get any better than that

[This message has been edited by harosha (edited 02-23-2005).]

Wow good price! I'm emailing Music123 right now.. They better give me a good price, I've bought a great number of things from them.

Squeak

Hi squeak_D,

I Started out about a year ago with a qy100 bought new. I used my alesis qs6 as a controller. I liked it's size. versatility etc for a short while then it's shortcomings started to seem more and more pronounced. It is not really a dedicated sequencer and it's not really a dedicated arranger. Though it is a little bit of both, I found it dificult to get comfortable with. I was very happy the day I traded it in at GC for my wk 3000 and a 32 mb smart media card. Just 3 months after I bought it. Sequencing I do on my pc, and the wk as an arranger blows the qy100 out of the water. The sounds on the qy, even with editing, never were comparable to the casios imo.
You have the wk, and you like it. I do not know why you want the qy100. You can sequence on your pc way easier and I do not think you will be satisfied paying as much as you will for the qy as a sound source.

I was very fortunate to buy a psr 2100 from a forum member here at sz for as good a price as you had from Gary. At first, I thought it was not as good sounding as the casio, but that was just initially. After the first week, I've never even wanted to plug the casio in again. I just shipped my casio to the ebay winner and am using the funds recieved to buy the logitech Z-5500.

I am not exactly sure what you are in need of or what you are after. I do think your musical tastes run a little bit differently than mine, as you are a bit younger, I think in your thirty's?

One thing I will suggest though, is that you really make sure ahead of time that what you get next, you will keep and make good use of.

Your wife will be more upset at your buying something and still not being satisfied than she will be due to the size of whatever you buy. Those are words of experience talking.
She does not want you continually wanting/buying something new! And, she is your most important audience! You need to keep her happy.


Best of luck to you,



------------------
The old Newb

OldNewb,
Hey thanks for the advice. I really wasn't looking to the QY-100 for arranger features. What sparked my interest was the 16 track sequencing with 8 track pattern sequecning. That along with an editable XG sound set would work for me.

I still have my Casio WK-3500 and have absolutely NO intentions of parting with her. I love that keyboard. I bought it because of the (bite) it has in the sounds. The saxes are great, Stereo pianos are really good, Digital Drawbars, Solid pitchbend and modulation wheels, EXTENSIVE effects section with indepth editing. Overall a damn good keyboard for the money.

My musis style that I play is mix of hip hop and jazz and sometimes a touch of funk. The Casio WK-3500 has good sounds and drum kits for this. I emailed Music123 regarding a competetive price for the PSR-1100. Musciansfriend is currently under them.

Squeak