I am rather more concerned about a keyboard that UPDATES ITS OS than provides me with a completely useless set of sounds and rhythms that I'll never use unless I play in Austria!

Sure a handful of new styles and sounds (at a premium price, mind you) is OK if it fits your need, but it pales in comparison with OS updates that add entirely new capabilities to your arranger, ones that, if you were a Yamaha owner, you would simply HAVE to sell your current arranger and buy the new one, just to get. And Yamaha are just about the ONLY arranger maker that force this on their owners. ALL the other major players provide significant upgrades, usually for free. I don't play a G70.... I play a G90!

Let us not also forget that Roland have an EXTENSIVE library of extra sounds you can add via SRX cards, Korg have Akai import (the widest choice of high quality modestly sized sample sets in the world), and Wersi and Lionstracs have an essentially unlimited choice of third party sounds they can add. I don't even play a G90... I play a G90SRX!

BK-7m has been out less than a few weeks. It ALREADY has an OS upgrade adding things...

Yamaha...?

Yodels. Where is the update that adds SA2 capabilities to a T2? Where is the update that adds the T4 sounds to the T3? Where is the update that makes T4 styles compatible with the T3?

So your going to load Akaii samples into a keyboard with DIMM ram and wait about 60 minutes until it boots? At least Yamaha had the forsight to add Flash Ram to the T4 so you can convert your Akaii samples to WAV and then add those samples to Flash Ram. Can you do that on your G90?

And when was the last OS release for the Pa2xpro and the G70?

Ian, One touch settings and registrations (user programs) are also covered on the G70...and the pad feature is covered with D-Beam.....I just choose not to use them to the extent that you guys do...

Al, of course I want companies to continue support to their customers...the best support to me are OS update/features without the need to purchase another model to get them.....

Al, the best Korg PA2Xpro users can do is buy the PA3Xpro if they want improvements, and to make matters worse, Korg is extremely shy about showcasing these betterments, especially "live".

Are they ashamed of the instrument?

The only updates Roland G-70 users can hope for, would be to buy a spare instrument for parts.

Roland has long moved on from that instrument.

Of course, they can always duct tape the new, and really cool BK-7m to it...that would be an update.

Ian

Unfortunately, with the G70, your at the same mercy as the rest of us with the OS updates. The last update was April 2006. That's 5 years worth of updates and innovations that have not been realized.

So are the MediaStation and the Wersi the ONLY keyboards that have OS updates in perpetuity?

Yes, I knew the G-70 had them Fran ( I had one here for a week or so).

I was just saying I could do without them if I had to...but, they are pretty handy to me, and being basically very lazy, they are a much easier way to get around (in my opinion, of course).

The G-70 is still a good arranger, I agree. At least Roland went out in style.

Ian

Yamaha don't even HAVE Akai import... Maybe you LIKE to go to the incredible PITA of laboriously converting all the samples to .wav form, remapping the sample splits and layers (hundreds upon hundreds of samples in a well multi-sampled drumkit or instrument) and tediously recreating the sound on a Yamaha. Me, I prefer to bring it ALL in in one command...

Plus, most Akai libraries have a limit of 32MB for a full load. Unlike today's GIGA sampled libraries, a premium was put on sample efficiency and RAM limits. So, most sounds load up (even at the old school speed of Korg's) a LOT faster than 60 minutes. Which, BTW, it STILL takes to load a Yamaha until you convert to the Flash RAM, which, once it's full (and you have half or less of the room that a MoXF gives you), you are stuck loading any more in JUST as glacially.

Me, I'd trade load up speed for a MUCH wider choice of sounds any day and twice on Sundays! Yamaha's available library for the Tyros is pitiful, to be even kind! They have had HOW many years to develop one, and these few sounds is all they have? Where are the multi-sampled punchy drums that many decry as the weakest feature on the arranger? Where are the warmer, more detailed pianos? Where are the full libraries of time-sliced percussion and drum grooves, breakbeats and USEFUL stuff like that? Oh, I forgot... they are too busy working on getting yodeling down!

Tyros and Motif users have for YEARS been begging for Akai import. Where is THAT? Roland have it, Korg have it, Kurzweil have it. It's not a question of licensing. It's a question of Yamaha restricting their users to their proprietary format, raping their customers with sky-high prices for pitiful few useful sounds, and going 'take it or leave it' as they usually do...

I'd have a Yamaha right now if it did Akai import.

And where was ANY OS update (that didn't fix bugs or add Yamaha Store capabilities) to a Tyros? Roland updated the G70 two or three YEARS after it was launched. Korg added the DNC capabilities and a Guitar Mode to the PA2 (imagine if Yamaha had added SA2 capabilities to a T2, so you didn't HAVE to buy a T3 to get them!) several years after launch. Sorry, but you haven't a leg to stand on on this issue...

Al, I think there was a G70 update (3.2) in 2008......

The G1000 had 7 OS updates..the last 3 were after the G1000 was discontinued...now that was support

Wait until they stop making the MediaStation and the Wersi... THEN tell me about how many updates you get!

Always bordering on the Hypothetical?

No one fools around with Akai samples for Live play any longer. And I DO create my own multi-samples there are many conversion programs that will convert Akai to other formats and if your the type to actually USE an Akai sample, then you are probably well adept at conversion and Multi-sample mapping. I use quite a few samples with the Tyros from Shania Twain to Ke$ha...without the need for Akai samples.

And, you will not find the need to many OS updates on the Tyros since the operating system is mature and rock solid. It does what it is intended to do. Unlike my Roland G70 that is buggy and needs an OS update, but none will come from Roland.....in 3 years their flagship is DONE.

The Bk-7 was updated because as a new product, it was buggy. I guarantee it!