Originally posted by ianmcnll:
Not having a chord sequencer doesn't seem to bother Michel Voncken.
It matters very little to me either, for that matter.
I remember my old Roland E-70 had one...I didn't use it very much and neither did a lot of other users, or Roland probably wouldn't have eventually dropped it.
Well as long as you and Michael didn't use it, I guess the dozens of players that said they DO miss it don't count...
The fact was, Roland didn't exactly go out of their way to educate users (especially the 'home' ones so dear to your heart) or promote the feature, and, as a demonstrator yourself, you must be only too aware that education is the way to get users more interested in things other than the basics.
You had better pray that Yamaha don't remove every feature from the S900 that the majority of 'home' users don't use much...
As to it not bothering top demonstrators... well, I guess, just like yourself, in public they feel it their job to present the product in it's most appealing light (especially as Yamaha's never HAD a Chord Sequencer - it's hard to miss something you never had), but trust me, I HAVE talked to a top Roland demonstrator privately, and he admits that he STILL uses a G1000 for his OWN gigs, rather than an E80 or G70 (which he has access to) simply because of the Chord Sequencer.
The list of favorite features that inexplicably gets dropped is a long and by no means exclusively Roland one. No doubt you have a few yourself. Do you think that YOUR favorite 'dropped' features were useless, or is that just other's?
So far, I haven't talked to a single player that DID use the CS that doesn't miss it, and badly. No doubt there are many features of the S900 that you know don't get used a whole lot by the majority of 'home' users. Do you want Yamaha to drop them?
I get accused of arrogance here quite a bit, but do you think your attitude of 'well, I didn't use it, so what possible value could it have had?' doesn't come off the same way..? Ditto 'I love the PSR key-feel, so everybody else MUST be wrong' etc., etc.. One of the benefits of public fora is you soon get a feel for what are the majority opinions, and what are the minority, despite how many times they post to say the same thing.
Trust me, Ian, I can count FAR more posts from players that say the miss the CS than I do from players saying they prefer the PSR key-feel over all other's...
And trust me, once again, Ian, if the S900 DID have a Chord Sequencer, Michael Voncken would be promoting it as enthusiastically as any other feature. And so would you...