I think you have the misconception that we have some kind of influence over what keyboard makers include in their products. We don't... for example, we've all been saying that digital audio outputs would be welcome but obviously the G-70 doesn't have it so there's how much Roland listens to us (Korg's PA1XPro doesn't have it and I'd bet Yamaha's next pro arranger won't have it either). Never the less the G-70 includes V-Link technology, which nobody here asked for in an arranger to my knowledge, but it offers some intriguing possibilities for live multimedia performances that may truly set this arranger part from any other in the world. Now that's some spiffy hi-tech thinking, but the real question is who is going to setup to the plate and make use of this? And how? I'll bet Roland would be very interested to know that!
The influence comes in the form of cash and whether or not we part with it or not, and, when it comes to bbs, especially ones that have company reps as posters, there is the risk of the bbs serving as an early adopter/beta test site and relationships being made.
Companies like Roland obviously do market research and as much as one or two posts may be made about digital outs, if the market research doesnt fit, it isnt put in.
Being a Yamaha user, you will likely know that the G70 may need the Edirol DV-7PR Digital Video Workstation for the V-Link usage (not confirmed?)
Probably the most radical, breakthrough, new-thinking-departure-from-everything-else keyboard that has ever been discussed here is the Open Labs nEko. When it was announced it appeared to be the end-all answer: a keyboard with nearly infinite hard/software and configuration possibilities that wasn't beholden to the big music companies for support. It's still all that but at such a price that nearly everyone thinks that a good laptop and a controller would offer more for the money. So there's the ultimate arranger for you: a laptop and a controller... you can design it to do anything you want - now what do you want it to do? And why?
Sounds like youve been on Yams for too long!
If it were a large company producing this instrument, things maybe different, who knows from one product brave enough to tread into waters that the big fish are scared of. Remember, if people dont vote with their wallets, you will get apathy and thats really obvious on this bbs.
IMHO manufacturers can only do so much when it comes to technology - by the time ANY product gets to us the technology that the product was designed around and programmed for, then finally manufactured and shipped is about 3-5 years old. Open Labs found a way to change that but darn few keyboardists of any kind have been willing to step up and buy one. It'd be different if they were selling like hotcakes - that's something that keyboard makers would pay attention to. But they aren't, and the hoopla has died down now, and the Tyros and Motifs' sales haven't suffered any because of the nEko to my knowledge.
As last comment. Your point about them using the latest tech isnt true. Just look at the memory types in keyboards and you will get a good idea.
The fact is that most arranger buyers/players aren't Buck Rogers or Keith Emerson and we're not touring or cutting Grammy-award winning albums. We're localized players that are kings of small clubs & restaraunts and private parties. My Yamaha 9000 Pro was discontinued earlier this year and technologically it was passed by other keyboards well before that. However, the instrument never fails to impress people in the audience nightly - some write down what it is, others quiz me endlessly about it's features... it might as well be the latest thing for the attention it gets. Or perhaps it's the way I play it. It doesn't matter - what does matter is that I generate enough income with this instrument to support my home and family in comfort. That's more important to me than digital audio outputs.
The question everyone wants to know has nothing to do with what keyboard features: it's what are YOU as a performer going to do with improved technology that is different from what we do with it today? Will you be playing restaraunts and private parties with a high-tech arranger or something radically different? What specific application is pushing your need for more? Because asking for more just for the sake of asking is just greed... but asking because it will make you a better performer and/or make a better living is the one of the reasons we're all here.
Whether youre playing a lets say traditional instrument like a guitar, banjo, violin ..... IS VERY DIFFERENT to playing a keyboard that is really a computer with keys. You are then in a place like any computer user that you can expect new features and software that makes what you do easier, better and near bug-free.
As for a specific application that me or anyone else is out to get from these tech instruments, it is a desire for radical improvements and by that i dont mean upgrades. A good example the G70 has 190mb of samples, the previous top model had under 50.
Now, some poor git might go out and get £500 for their old model and pay another £2000 for the new one. You know how some players, esp here, are sticklers for details, thinking, hey this board has nearly 3 times the amount of sounds, its going to sound amazing, just like 3 years ago, when that 50mb bettered the model before it, which had only 24....
You get the picture, and it is playing an upgrade game, and my whole point is that if we keep expecting and buying upgrades without thinking about the basics and whether they have been thought about then we may as well keep what weve got. For the record, this whole 'arranger' matter is true of Yamaha, Roland, Korg to name a few.
The basics for arranger keyboards is chord recognition and styles and using those in whatever setting you see fit. You can improve upon those in many ways, and looking at models going as far back as '97, the basics havent been improved by much. More variations, fills, samples, colour screens, more buttons, buttons with lights or without, models with screens that tilt.
All those 'upgrades' obviously help, but you rightly asked what is the great need, and the great need and desire is to have features that make arranging better.
Styles could be improved with more use of being able to use samples, and even though Korgs have this and your 9000, it should be standard on anything above $1000. As should memories of 256mb for sample loading. They could also be improved by creating software that makes them easier to make and customise. Roland is doing this with the G70, but if its only as good as the VA then its not worth it. There should be computer software for this because it is complex. What about software that takes a MIDI file, you define the verse, chorus, bridge and it makes you a style in major and minor. This would hurt style sales of course.
As for improving other basic arranger features I guess that calls for some serious R&D, which is spent on arrangers and not on copying features from synths.
[This message has been edited by digitalvision (edited 10-07-2004).]
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