Hi all,

For the second time now I read on some forums about the soon to be released Kurzweil arranger...

What do you know about it? I did only red things that can be called rumors. Is it some facts known for sure?

Thanks!

I haven't heard of any new arranger from Kurzweil adimatis. Rumors have a way of spreading much like gossip has a way of spreading. The proof is in the pudding though and until Kurzweil actually announces a new arranger it is only speculation and thus it should be taken with a grain of salt.

As a matter of fact the Tyros5 is only rumor and speculation at this point and until Yammie actually gives a heads up regarding the rumor we're all left in the dark until they do announce it. Some companies like to tease customers by leaking product information ahead of time as you know. Yamaha's timeline for new product releases is usually around 3 years. Therefore, that would make the so-called Tyros4 successor relatively imminent if you go by that 3 year timeline schedule.

As much as we like to speculate it is still Yamaha's duty to inform the public regarding new product releases. So the rumors will remain only rumors until Yammie gives the green light and lets the public know one way or the other. My guess is that they will release a Tyros4 successor before the year is out although again that is just my opinion. Steve Deming probably knows the answer to these and other questions but Yamaha Japan ultimately runs the show and so far their lips are tightly sealed. Kurzweil's lips are also sealed and therefore it is only speculation at this point. And since they've never produced an arranger previously it seems highly unlikely but stranger things have happened. Competition is good and so I hope they do make the leap in order to provide greater competition. Competition drives prices down and so I say the more the merrier. Bring it on.

All the best, Mike

You're right. I still don't know anything about the new Casio arranger that was suppose to come out this year...
If Kurzweil was to release an arranger, that should be an amazing instrument. And the price just as well!...

Thing is, there is considerable overlap between arrangers and WS's with chord following arpeggiators, these days. Even my venerable K2500 can do some fairly simple chord following, and modern WS's have MUCH better chord recognition.

It is difficult to imagine Kurzweil moving into a market that is shrinking the way arrangers are, nowadays. The younger demographic, which Kurzweil have always addressed, are far more synth and arp obsessed than into arrangers... But maybe Kurzweil, if they choose to go down this path, might be the first to address the needs of the young as well as the elderly players. I still think the idea of combining styles (with NTT's rather than simple note usage) with chord following arpeggiators like the MotifXF and synth control knobs might tempt the younger players back to the segment...

Maybe this is exactly what a comapny like Kurzweil will do! The much anticipated synth workstation with serious arranger functions... Or the arranger with total flexibility of a synth workstation... The ”missing link” between the two worlds. Actually, put it this way, I think Kurzeil WILL release an arranger sometimes soon!

Actually, Kurzweil made two digital piano based arrangers in the past, around 1993, if I'm not mistaken. The models were the Mark 10, and the Mark 150. I believe Cassp had a Mark 10. They were pretty much the same except for cabinets. The Mark 150 was housed in a real grand piano cabinet, courtesy of their then new owners, Korean piano giant, Young Chang, and the Mark 10 was similar to Roland and Yamaha home digital pianos made at that time.

Quite expensive, with the Mark 10 retailing at around $6000, and the Mark 150 at approximately $10,000 and they were relatively popular in the Church market, where sound versatility plus a certain amount of visual panache counted for more than the odd penny saved here or there. Both used disk drives, had 32 styles (more could be added via floppy disk) and a decent, for the time, 32-note polyphony. Both have been discontinued for many years, but, appear to be still supported by the company in regards to manuals and a limited amount of custom styles.

The sounds, however, weren't much better, if at all, than anyone else's at the time, although both had very high end built-in sound systems (by Boston Acoustics) and sounded impressive.

In my opinion, the questions to answer are:
Would Kurzweil would want to re-enter and/or re-invest in a market that has even more competition than before (all very much established) and one that may possibly become a dwindling niche industry in the future?

Would the market bear another high-end piano based arranger, or perhaps another PA3X, Audya or Tyros4 level instrument?

Certainly the mid and low end arrangers are very well represented by Casio, Roland, Korg and Yamaha.

I, for one, would be surprised if Kurzweil released an arranger instrument at any level, but, anything is possible.

Ian