Didja see this?

The Piaggero NP-V80:

76 keys (non-hammer)
USB to DEVICE
160 styles
Intelligent Arpeggiator
Under 16 lbs.
$399.00 USD

No, it's not a 76 key Tyros, but it's heading in the right direction.

Probably not good enough for a pro, but interesting, none the less. (more like a PSR E-423 on steroids)

Shipping in August. Here's a European site - every time I post the US site, it disappears...
http://europe.yamaha.com/en/products/musical_instruments/keyboards/digitalkeyboards/np_v80

[This message has been edited by CoasterTim (edited 06-01-2010).]

YO GUYS!!!

I said, a YAMAHA ARRANGER with 76 KEYS! Doesn't that warrant a response? All you that have been crying for a 76 key arranger, it's beginning to happen. Maybe in 6 years it will trickle into the TOTL !
Or not.

http://europe.yamaha.com/en/products/mus...v80/?mode=specs

32 note polyphony? It's a toy.

Yamaha HAVE been making 76 note arrangers... DGX's, CVP's (at 88), now this. But they seem determined to NOT make a good one. I still think that an S910 with a 76 keybed would sell like hotcakes. But Yamaha are determined to never let us find out, are they? It's not like they have ever even TRIED, the 9000pro being a VERY expensive TOTL disaster (and the disaster came because of the OS, hardware and cost, not the number of keys).

It's curious that Yamaha think there's a need for a larger keyboard at the low end, but no need whatsoever for the better and more well heeled player... Do our skills get WORSE as we get older?

Sorry, Tim, but this is no more heading in the right direction than the DGX series is...

What Diki said...

And, the NP-v80 doesn't have USB support for additional styles or songs. That's a biggie today! If Yamaha would come out with a 20 lb. 76-key arranger, ala s910, then I might be interested in buy ing another arranger. Until then, I don't see anything out there worth switching to.

I would even be interested in a board with less sounds and styles as long as what was there was useable. I don't need sampling or a mic input/harmonizer or even tons of editable effects.

I can't see this being used as an arranger by anyone but a beginner...you can't play ON BASS chords, and even worse, there's only 32 note polyphony.

For a pro, or advanced player, the Korg PA2XPro is the only 76'er worth buying today, and they really have zero competition.

I seriously doubt if Yamaha plans on a larger than 5 octave TOTL, or MOTL arranger in the future....Roland stopped making their 76 note instruments, so the only one of the "big three" now making one is Korg.

It will be interesting to see if there is a successor to the PA2XPro.


Ian

You would think, with Roland out of the MOTL 76 market, that Yamaha would think to fill the void...

Mind you, a 20 lbs. 76 S910 is a bit optimistic, cassp, as the 61 weighs about 25 lbs.! Probably 30 lbs. is a more realistic figure, if they stick to the NP-30's keybed or an expanded S910 one... I think the E60 was about 28 lbs., so that proves a quality keybed 76 CAN be made light enough...

The thing is, it is so frustrating to watch Yamaha completely ignore the MOTL and TOTL 76 market, while demonstrating that they obviously think there IS a market for 76 arrangers. And logic seems to indicate that, if a 76 is needed at the low end, it is needed even MORE as you progress musically. Add to that how little it would cost Yamaha to simply make a larger case but leave the electronics exactly the way they are, and you have a head scratcher of the highest degree.

Steve Demming actually called me at home quite a while ago, and we had quite a conversation about why Yamaha won't make a 76 arranger, the gist of which was essentially, there's no demand for one. And yet, here are Yamaha, showing once again that they DO think there's a demand for one.

Just not a GOOD one...

Cassp, it DOES feature USB to device that allows additional songs/styles.

I'm not defending this toy, nor suggesting any of you buy one. Just that I found it interesting and with future potential.

I'm sticking with my s910 and Pa800.

Yes, Steve and I have talked about this as well...and, he's right, there was found to be little demand for 76 notes in the high range and mid-range arrangers.

However, in the piano based arrangers, like the DGX, the CVP-series, and this new model NP-V80, there will always be the need for at least 76 (and 88) keys, and, they are quite successful, as are the Tyros and PSR five-octave instruments.

Korg has the small segment of 76 note pro arrangers pretty well to itself...and, probably will do well, as long as there is no competition from Ketron, and Liontracs...so far, they aren't much of a threat.

I'm sure if the demand for 76 note high end arrangers was to increase to the point where it was viable for Yamaha, or Roland, to make a significant profit, they'd be making them.

Ian

How do you find out there's no demand until you MAKE one? There certainly seems to be a fair number of this forum's membership that use 76's. So much for no demand...

There are even those amongst us that state quite unequivocally that if Yamaha DID make a T3 or S910 in a 76, we would actually buy it!

And sorry, but ALL arrangers are 'piano based arrangers'. In fact, the piano sounds in the S910 and T3 definitely blow this toy out of the water. What makes these 'piano based'? More than 61 keys, and that is ALL.

Let's call a spade a spade. If there were NO demand for 76 note arrangers, there would be no NP-V80, and there would be no DGX's. And if there IS a demand for 76 note arrangers, it extends, quite obviously, up into the MOTL and TOTL lines, too. Or there would be no sales of PA2Xpros, Audya's, SD-1's, E60's, G70's G1000's and all the innumerable other 76 arrangers that, apparently in Yamaha's addled mind, are not bought and used...

Stick your fingers in your ears, your head in the sand, and go 'La la la la la' as loud as you can, and just about ANYTHING that is patently obvious can be denied. But if there's a market for a DGX, for an NP-V80, there IS a market for a 76 S910. Why would any toy 61 arranger player want to upgrade to maybe an S910 as he got better, and an NP-V80 or DGX user NOT want to?

You are defending patent absurdity, Ian...

Well, Diki, there is such a thing called market research.

Roland has decided there is no need for 76 note arrangers, but they found out about it the hard way...they made them, and they didn't sell.

Why don't you get a job working for Roland or Yamaha, and present your theories to them?

They're bound to listen to a smart lad like yourself, who feels he knows far more than the professionals they have working for them.

Problem solved.

Ian