How much would you be willing to pay for an arranger of your dreams? One that surpassed everything out there?

I get the impression at times that the TOTL arrangers are not really that...TOTL. That TOTL arrangers are the best you can get for the price many are willing to pay.

Case in point. Cameras.

After I retired from 3M, I used to shoot both still and video for area magazines and newspapers. I shot a higher end Canon camera and video camera.

Back then the body alone of this still camera, 12 years ago, sold for about $1,500(video camera more $5,000) and did a great job...kept me in local business.

But the pros? The ones who shot stills for the NFL, National Geographic, and the major networks? They bought the Canon 1D body $6,000 at the time. The price to get into the majors meant a camera body that cost four times what I paid for my camera...at the time....not to mention a higher end video camera.

Total price of admission to get into the majors, 12 years ago or so ? $20,000 or more.

I have yet to pay as much for a Tyros or PA4X as I did for my camera equipment 12 years ago...but it was still a good investment, my business paid for it.

That said, what would you pay for the best of the best arranger?

Not as much as I'd pay for a cherry B3/122 and Rhodes .

chas

Just ordered a Cannon 6D...$1399.00...body only. That's the bottom end of the pro models with the full sized sensor, and about 1/4 what I paid for Nikon F-2's and similar equipment 20 years ago.

The 6D is an excellent 2nd video unit also. The little Cannon video camera I mentioned in the post on doing personal music video is good enough to be the primary for high end You-tube industrial productions. The last Cannon video camera I bought, the ones you used to see with a white angled lens used for football, was about $6,000. And that was really a camera which required media conversion on an Avid editing suite...about $90,000.00.

The bad news is, this equipment becomes obsolete almost annually.

Good news: If you know what you're doing you can make as much or more with cameras than you can with piano's. The secret is not all talent; it's the kind of client and the size of the budget.

My average 15 minute film bills out at just under $20,000, without animation. That includes about $5,000 for the score. More complicated films (read: lots of edits/changes and animation and more complicated scores) can run in the 6 figures easily.

What a GREAT time to be in the communications field.


R.

1. Probably much more than it's worth and my wallet would manage to deliver.
2. I'm not sure that Genos is so much or any better for my needs than PA4X and SD9 that I'm willing to pay more than £1000 exstra.

For an 88 key arranger with high end 88 keybed and aftertouch... combining all the features of Genos and Montage, i would be willing to pay 6000 euro.

Currently the Montage starts at 3000 euro and the Genos is 4500 euro. When you look at all the shared technology, a price like that would be what i expected.

Lets call it the Genos Grand. Grand written in fancy letters.

Interesting thread, QuitPic1:

My brother-in-law always had the latest and best gear when it came to photography. This was "back-in-the-day" when digital had only just begun to appear on the scene. His Large-Format Cameras were the envy of all his crowd and I hate to think what he would pay for those things. I remember the day he told me that "digital" would never "catch on!" LOL!

Back to Arrangers! My needs are different from the vast majority of folks who post here so frequently. I need better sounding instruments and would love it if Yamaha could find a way to improve upon their vocal harmony. Since I do most of my recordings without employing "tracks" (even though I have the capability) the Arranger makes it possible to adjust the volume on each instrument to suit the song I'm recording.

I don't need speakers built-into the Arranger because I monitor my recording activity with head-phones. I never have found a decent way to keep the Mic and the Speakers from "clashing" with that horrible feedback squeal. I place a disconnected Mic Adapter in the front Mic Inlet and that turns off the speakers.

Down through the years, Yamaha has pretty much kept the same layout with only minor changes to new models. This reduces the learning curve for me significantly... and old brains are difficult to adjust to new changes.

Since I don't play piano... the left hand side of the board is usually all I need... so, a very compact arranger would suit me just fine. Remember, I'm only a songwriter and the arthritic fingers can muddle through while the arrange takes care of the rest. Throw in well-selected Multi-Pads and I'm usually "good to go!" Now if only I could emulate the vocals some of you performers here at the "Zone" seem to do with reckless abandon and fantastic results. I never perform. To do so would probably cause Wall Street to immediately tumble, children would cry and old ladies would cackle incessantly.

I know, Band-In-A-Box would probably work better for me but I'm doing my best to emulate what the "big boys" here do with such style and panache.

All the best, ----Dave Rice

Don't knock the old ladies. It's been a while since I could make the YOUNG girls cackle!