Correctomundo!

What an amazing difference in attitudes and acceptance in this thread. It is interesting to see who is progressive and who is not.
This reminds me that on friday I was over at Frys huge electronic 2 square block store that now handles appliances. I was only there to buy a new ADSL filter for the studio. I was absently minded standing there wondering where to start looking for this needle in the haystack when something caught my attention on the TV in front of me.
IT WAS AN ARRANGER PLAYER, PLAYING AND SINGING ON THE TV THAT WAS BUILT INTO THE REFRIDGERATOR DOOR THAT WAS IN FRONT OF ME!
Is this what we are talking about here?
Bebop

I love the TV /fridge combo..you don't have to leave your seat to get another snack..

Just open the door..

Refrigerator door?

Cool! (literally!)

Was it Iced T...???

I think the main thing that gets my goat is the concentration by the R&D people on utterly NON-musical features. There is nothing (on the musical side) in these VIMA things, that isn't surpassed by a G70 or E80. You only have to look at the dearth of control buttons for MUSICAL functions (video don't count) to recognize where this thing's entire focus is on.

Now, you know I am the LAST guy to sit around and crow that Roland's OS and controls are the absolute best..! I just find it worrying that Roland are spending vast amounts of their obviously limited resources, putting out this 'fluff' product, while essential, day-to-day aspects of their OS need long-overdue correction.

The whole idea is to make the perfect arranger FIRST, and then graft this stuff on later. NOT put it on now, and who cares if the OS is flawed. After all, it's target consumer (you DID watch the video, didn't you? Look like any REAL arranger players you know?) isn't exactly too worried about the playing aspects, given the emphasis on the karaoke player features.

This is a gussied up karaoke player with an arranger tacked on. NOT a full featured arranger with karoake stuff tacked on, which is what most arrangers have been doing, lately. Look at the video, and the aspects that it emphasizes. FAR more emphasis on the video and karaoke features than anything much about the arranger. It shows fairly accurately where their heart and mind is.

Now, I'm not saying there isn't a market for something like this... I was just (apparently forlornly) hoping that more of you would recognize that it isn't the product for US...

Diki, do you know how long this site has been up? I saw it two years ago and it hasn't changed one bit. I haven't heard anything anywhere about it except on this site. Have you seen it in a store, on a webstore?

The answers are, NO. And you probably won't be seeing it any time soon. There's no real market for this "yuppie" karaoke machine. Those who can afford it don't want it and others, maybe like us, see no use for it.

But my purpose in posting this thread was to show how the future may change. Your or my definition of 'musician' or 'entertainer' may be something completely different than what the future holds.

I think this has been a good discussion. It has brought out some very interesting opinions and positions. I leave saying, don't close your mind to any possibility for the future. When I was a kid I never thought my Farfisa would turn out to be a $3600 arranger setup, did you. Hell, a B-3 was only $2400 dollars, with the Leslie.

ps - I still think this would be a great concept for Mikey Maestro to consider. He has the audience it would work with.

To be honest, there's not much on an arranger today that I couldn't have anticipated from my early days... I remember the 'rhythm' boxes, the very first appearance of 'auto' features in the late sixties or early seventies.

But, other than some lights underneath the keys (to guide you on your melody), I sure don't remember ANY audio-visual features... No karaoke players, no 'center cancel' vocal elimination, no synced-up audio/visual slide show...

I can only imagine just how much HARDER that generation of players would have laughed at this box of fluff.

Essentially, this is still a far east product (that probably isn't even taking the far east by storm) being desperately marketed to the west in the forlorn hope of at least making SOME sales back on their investment.. As you say, cassp, it has met with a resounding yawn over here...

I just guess there must be some kind of nurturing spirit out there, that wants to protect these poor, deformed orphans, no matter HOW poorly they work in our society. Me, I'm a little more Darwinian. Survival of WHAT WORKS. This doesn't.

Perhaps, in the 'future', society might change to where this IS a good product, filling a widely held need... I can only hope the earth is 6 ft. over my head by the time that happens...