BS...I have been waiting a couple weeks and am told it may be another month before my order is filled..

I sell Yamaha and have to agree with the tendency for Yamaha to appeal to the home user. They assume (correctly) most people playing arrangers are playing chords with their left hand and do not need the extra real estate.

The T3 will be a glorified S900. I don't see Yamaha breaking out a huge jump in the evolution of the Arranger keyboard. I don't even see them doing as much as Korg or Roland has done by a long margin.

I see them having more styles,more SA sounds (or some new technology there) and an EASIER interface, Thats the way they went on the 400 series Clavinovas. Keep it simple. Thats Yamaha. They do sell a lot of arranger keyboards with that "mission statement".

They changed the look of their Clavinova line to make it look like there are LESS buttons not to intimidate the buyers. K I S S

Tyros has a support base that will buy it whether it has 15 extra keys or not. So why bother. I would not buy it if it had 76 keys because it is not as feature rich as the Korg. But a current Yamaha owner would buy another 61 key Tyros in a heartbeat.

Korg and Roland HAVE to appeal to those of us who want workstation like features, even if they are more complicated and have a huge learning curve. They know we are used to it.

Yamaha has always been the "Apple" of keyboards. Appeal to the simple even at the expense of pesky features,



[This message has been edited by Kingfrog (edited 04-25-2008).]

I'm not sure I get the same impression about Yamaha as you, Kingfrog...

To be honest, their OS has FAR more complexity and capability than Roland. There are many, many features that are hard to classify as anything but 'pro'.

Synced styles and SMF's (how many 'home' users use this?), detailed voice editing (not exactly KISS), complex rootless 'jazz' voicings (ditto), samplers (on the T2), and much, much more...

NONE of these exist in Roland's. Theirs, I believe, IS the best 'home' OS, KISS to the max! It drives me crazy seeing all the power in the PSR OS, while it is tied to a REAL 'home' keyboard, in sound (not very 'live') and construction. Heck, Roland's can't even store a User Tone... But Yamaha can

At the moment, I believe the Korg is the only TRUE arranger WS crossbreed. Sampler, User everything, 76 keys, 'live' sound, just about every bell and whistle there is (except Mega and SA voices).

But second in the depth of OS detail is Yamaha, no doubt. It doesn't SOUND like a 'live' keyboard, with a FAR more 'home', mastered and polished sound, but it has by FAR the more complicated and capable OS. Roland actually specialize in making style editing, creation and SMF editing EASY. These are FAR more complicated to do on a Yamaha...

Now if only I could tie the Yamaha OS to the Roland sounds... (but keep the editing stuff from the Roland!)

I toyed around yesterday with a roland V-synth and a Fantom G...........they had some awesome interfacing, if Roland can bring that to their next top of the bill arranger, they might have a jewel...

Thanks miden! I didn't realize Korg was in the process of making an 88 note real weighted hammer action Arranger!! I wasn't able to find any info on the Korg U.S.A. site but I found this info doing a Google search:

"Korg's new up and coming Pa588 88 note weighted hammer action Arranger details"

This should be real interesting! I have a few questions such as, how much the physical weight will be and how much polyphony it will have, etc? But from the info it looks like it will be an outstanding product. And apparently it will be out this Summer which will be a head start over the Audya or Yamaha's new flagship "61" key arranger.

This is exciting and I'm thrilled that Korg has taken on the 88 note Arranger challenge again. Competition is the main spark that flames the passion of ingenuity, creativity, and is the motive for invention. I'm glad two of the Big Three are following that particular course of action regarding the products they create. And the lesser known ones like Ketron as well.

I've basically given up on the idea of Yamaha changing their ways though. Sad, yes... but nevertheless true. I've already tried to convince Yammie until I was blue in the face. Sometimes you just have to leave them to their own devices and fend for themselves.

Best,
Mike

[This message has been edited by keybplayer (edited 04-26-2008).]

Not this current Yamaha owner! I've had my fill of "61" key arrangers. Never again if I can help it! In other words, if every arranger keyboard manufacturer in the known universe gave up making anything other than 61 key arrangers then I suppose I would have to give in and buy another 61 noter. But how I dread that thought and shudder at the mere idea of having to stoop sooooo low!! LOL

Best,
Mike

As is typical, the UK Korg site has more detail than the US.
http://www.korg.co.uk/products/professional_arranger/pa588/pa_pa588_specification.asp

Poly = 80, Weight = 51.5 lbs

There were some previous posts about how Korg has a way of better utilization of polyphony so 80 is not a problem. We'll have to see once it's released. Weight has yet to be confirmed.

You probably are right when it comes to the Roland. I did limited research on the G70 and decided the Yamaha would be a better choice for me. I think the Yamaha is like Verizon phones. The capabilities are there but Yamaha limits them somewhat in their quest to keep it simple.

I love some of the Yamaha sounds. It was a difficult choice to give them up in favor of pure W/S features. But I don't see myself using the keyboard primarily as an Arranger, I will use parts of styles and use my own playing as well

Which makes me wonder why this beast does not have the same specs as atleast the PA2X

It seems to be based on the PA-500.

51 lbs is a bit heavy (and that's without a roadcase)...but I suppose if you can lug around a G70 it wouldn't matter much.

Ian

Hmmm.... I realize Korg has a good method of Poly allocation but nonetheless 80 poly in todays standards is rather limited in my opinion. Yammie's PSR-S700 has 96 and it's at the low end of the mid-range scale. Also I was hoping that Korg would be able to make the Pa588 at possibly under 40 lbs. or thereabouts. I mean if Casio can turn them out at under 40 lbs. and in some cases almost half that much you would think Korg and the others could do the same!?!? Being a weighted hammer action does add some extra poundage to the Pa588 but you wouldn't think a whole lot i.e. maybe 5 to 7 extra lbs at most? FWIW, plastics and composites are getting stronger and lighter but maybe the space age stuff is still too expensive to be practical, I dunno. Nevertheless, 51 lbs. is an improvement over yesteryears ultra heavy keyboards so we should be thankful for that eh?

Best,
Mike