Hi everyone! I just recvd a "sales" email from Neil Blake of the "Style Disk Warehouse" with an very strange and disturbing message. I Quote

(Sadly, with the KN7000 probably being the very last high-range keyboard Technics produce, you're going to need all the new software you can get to keep your interest in this superb model when you get fed up of the onboard patterns)

What the heck is this all about ???

Anyone know anything about it??

Those rumours have been going for some time now,
but if it's true remain to see.
There are maybe more to it this time than before,
so Neil may as well be right.
If so, very, very, VERY SAD .........
GJ

Hi,
I just got the email too. I suppose if there's any truth to it ( and haven't misunderstood something), we'll have to start creating our own styles. Heck, they've certainly given us the onboard tools to do it.

best wishes
Rikki

I've just come back home from playing at a gig and read the same email !!
I find it difficult to believe
What does Neil know that others don't ??

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Willum

I read this notice with dismay

I agree with Gunner Johnny - it is very very very sad.

I console myself with the fact that my KN7 still fulfills all my present needs and another make etc., would have to be SUPER SUPER SUPER to tempt me to part with it.

What a dismal start to the day - Joan

I got the email to. Maybe it's a marketing response trick from Neil to find out how many read his emails??? And it works, see all the reactions.
rgds.
Willem

Hi All,

I have a different perspective to offer you. There WILL be a successor to the KN7000 and it WILL have new features that likely will make it attractive to buyers. Do I have inside information? No! But my common sense tells me that the obvious success of the KN7000 is enough incentive and justification for Panasonic to continue producing arranger keyboards for the foreseeable future. So take heart my friends. Trust me and get ready for the launch of a new flagship keyboard sometime in late 2004 or early 2005 - if not sooner. Panasonic is in the business of making money and their flagship keyboards are money makers.

As for Neil Blake's comment, I, too, received his e-mail and I feel the same as you, Willem. It could well be a marketing ploy. And anyway, even if Panasonic does not produce another arranger keyboard, Neil Blake will have plenty of incentive to continue offering styles, so the absence of a new keyboard is immaterial.

As for me, if a new keyboard is not forthcoming I'll just go out and buy a KN7000 and be happy. Simple!

Chuck

I have no knowledge that the above stated rumours are true but.....
In the UK the whole of Technics Music Instrument department consists of just a few personnel.
Considering the large size of the Panasonic Company overall the Keyboard side is such a small % of their business that it could be dispensed with completely without it having any major effect on Panasonics financial turnover.

Graham UK

Hi,
actually Technics keyboards are kind of unique. Yamaha, Korg, Roland all have a large variety of proffessional musical instruments including synths, workstations , recording equipment etc etc whereas Technics ( as such )is limited to piano's & keyboards.
Most people would probably associate Panasonic more with Tv's , video recorders, stereo's etc etc etc.

Noticed something interesting on the main synthzone forum yesterday. Yamaha is bringing out a new keyboard ( PSR 3000) It's niche is somewhere in between the PSR 2100 (Yamaha's kn26 equivalent)and the Tyros ( Yamaha's kn7 equivalent). ie it's going to have 128 note polyphony compared to the cheaper psr2100's 64 note, plus a number of other goodies, but it's not going to have the Tyros's hefty price tag.
What I'm getting at is maybe we're going get a new generation of keyboards. Something in between the kn26 and the kn7. Maybe some of the top end arrangers were getting too expensive and there was too bigger gap between it and the next model down( not only in price , but in features.

Time will tell.

I must admit I'd be loathe to trade my kn7 for a less expensive kn unless it still had all the features and quality of the kn7.

In some ways I was dreading when D Day arrived, and the newest flagship of the range was unveiled, and then seeing our happy little kn7 group split up because some of us would upgrade and some wouldn't.
Strange how times have changed for me since discovering Synthzone, when I look back, and remember how eagerly I used to look forward to each new generation of kn keyboard.

best wishes
Rikki

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Graham UK:
[B]I have no knowledge that the above stated rumours are true but.....

Here's a thought for you.

At our Keyboard Club we have owners of Casio, Yamaha and of course Technics. During the past three years keyboards from Casio and Yamaha are noticeably becoming more and more like Technics keyboards with the latest having almost identical design, layout etc. Are other manufacturers just following Technics lead or,in view of the fact that Technics instruments can now handle many more manufacturers software/disks
is a merge likely? Makes you think doesn't it?

Aud

Aud! The cat is starting to pull at the strings of the bag. It will not be too long before you will see the cat spring out of the bag. When the spring comes all things begin to come to life. The life blossoms and in in it’s time comes the fruit. Oh how sweet it will be. Just wait and see! Riddle the fiddle and fiddle the riddle. Can you name the tune from the riddle? I can! Look at the wall, the handwriting tells it all! Borrowing a quote: Let those who can see, see and let those who have ears, hear!!!!

Grandpa Doug

Hi Grandpa Doug,
obviously our imaginations are running a riot.
At times we just can't help ourselves, at least it keeps ye old brain ticking haahaa.

best wishes
Rikki

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Douglas Dean:
[

What is everyone afraid of? What difference does it make if the 7000 IS the last of the line. Surely it is good enough to last anyone a lifetime. It doesn't depreciate like my car does. What is this (modern?) idea that we must have something new every year or so? Is it just another sign of the "throw-away society".
I challenge any member to say that they have already explored every facet of the KN 7000 and thus need another challenge.
Long live the KN 7000!!!!
Mike O'R

You'd lose that challenge!

Well, then I have a lot of fun coming, I have'nt
started the KN7 exploring yet.
But of course I have all the knowledge I've been
reading by your posts here at SZ.
GJ

What sort of odd's are you offering

I think that even Alec would have trouble substantiating his claim. Computerised equipment has a nasty habit of surprising even those who did the designing.
Mike O'R

you imagine what you want to imagine, Mike, and I'll continue to know what I know

Hi Jonny,
are you actually considering taking the plunge and getting a KN7???

best wishes
Rikki

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Gunnar Jonny:
[B]Well, then I have a lot of fun coming, I have'nt
started the KN7 exploring yet.

Me too,
not that I'm in any rush to replace my kn7. I've still got lots of exploring to do on mine. ( thanks to your books Alec ( haahaa)
If it truly is the last of the kn "top end arrangers" then it would become a "keeper".

best wishes
Rikki

Quote: “you imagine what you want to imagine, Mike, and I'll continue to know what I know”.

By George Alec, I sure like your style!!! Ruthie was looking over my shoulder and messen with my hair as she was reading this thread with me and out of her cute little mouth drifted the very words I was thinking when I was reading your response. ‘You know hun, that’s one of the reasons I married you. You know what you think and you say what you know’. Maybe that’s why me and her been kinda close these many years.

Grandpa Doug

Well, I was waiting for the KN8000 to see what
news to come, but maybe it will be too long to wait?
We'll see......
GJ

Btw.
The big difference in the rumors now, are
that noone deny any of it, at least so far.
Also it looks like it's not only the "high
end" serie, but rather all instrument line
if it is not the little fly who's grown to
an elephant.
Time will tell what happens, and there is
probably nothing we can do about it anyway.
As always, life will go on, "one mans dead,
is another mans bread" they say.....
GJ

PS.
Had to edit a bit, because it looks like some
of the posts in this tread are gone, also the
post some of my reply was about.
What's happened, I don't know.......


[This message has been edited by Gunnar Jonny (edited 12-22-2003).]

Hang on to your KN 7000. It might just become a collectors item as well as a fine keyboard!!
Mike O'R

What is different about the kn7000 is the expansion boards and SD cards. The amount of data and information that can be put in to the keyboard makes the possibilities endless.

What a sad state of affairs. Michie's just shown me your original message. Only three months ago we ditched our Panasonic keyboard and purchased (second-hand) a KN6000 from an old friend. We like it a lot and thought we would get, say, about 2 to 3 years use and then look for a second-hand KN7000. However, if what you've heard is true it must also mean that they'll be little if no technical support availible from Technics/Panasonic. Whoever reads this, take a piece of advice. If you do anything, at least subscribe to a user group such as this forum or to Techplus where, at least, you know you can get some form of assistance. I have only got one question. Why, when keyboard sales seem to be on the increase is such a marketing ploy being used? Are we being duped?

Mark

This is a rumor and has never been verified by anyone. Take it with a grain of salt
Bebop

I think you are quite wrong because it's been posted here that many dealers are saying this and they should be in a far better position to know?? So I would not take it as a grain of salt & certainly treat it as more than just a rumour

But you will get yourself a great keyboard,
the KN7000 will still do as it does today,
even if there are no further models in the
KN serie
GJ

To GJ,

Hi,

We appreciate your comments. It's going to probably take us that long just to use every facility that the keyboard offers. We're still finding new things each day. However, and this is my thoughts, not Michie's, why when there is such an interest now in home(?)keyboards, thanks mostly to the interenet (i.e. MIDI files, sequences, etc. to download), would Technics decide to ditch the KN series. I think we all understand that they are not cheap to manufacture but there are plenty of people still willing to pay for what is possible the Mercedes-Benz / Jaguar of keyboards. By the way I still class Roland as Rolls-Royce. Surely Technics could carry on production just based on after-sales service. I wonder, has anybody got a figure for the number of KN users world-wide...

Thanks for your comments; well received...

Mark

Piano's that's where the market is today & obviously Technics realise this.
Technics do not compete at the lower end unlike Yamaha/Casio Etc who have big outlets for their lower end keyboards.
It would also seem that Standard Midi Files have also run their course particularly as it now seems that karaoke in wav or MP3 is becoming the in format for wannabee song junkies but that does not mean to say that the floppy will not still have it's uses.
It is generally accepted that Yamaha are the most popular keyboard producers purely by the amount of units that they move.
Technics are known not to be as popular in the USA as in the UK& Europe and even then it is mainly through the older population that they move most of their boxes.
There will soon be a major move by Technics/Panasonic
so it would be as well not to take it with a grain of salt as has been suggested in this thread.

I am a dealer of Technics.


The 7000 is not going to be the last keyboard made by them.... think kn7500...

and then in about 2 years a kn8000.

Sounds like someone is pullin your leg.

If anything Panasonic will put their name on it and market it as a pro board.

We had a friend over for a drink last night, a 'TYROS' owner. However his version of the events mentioned seems to make sense.

If a certain, not so nice, dealer was to start this rumour that the KN series is about to be buried, it would obviously make for a very big increase in the value of second-hand KNs. Even Scrooge could work that one out. Our local dealer, quite nice, now sells second-hand 6000s for 999GBp. We wonder what the second-hand price of a 7000 will be in, say, two years time.

Back to basics though, to quote an old saying; 'There's no smoke without fire'.

Michie

Sorry Ben
You have the wrong scenario

Since both Panasonic and Technics are produced
by Matsushita, and the strong rumours are about
that the musicdivision are going to be closed
down, who will produce Panasonic then?

There are going to be a music messe in Frankfurth
as usual this spring (my guess) and also in a few
weeks the NAMM, so maybe we will get more to spin
around by then.
GJ

Why would Technics allow their latest keyboard the KN2600 which boxed was £1000 to be sold in several outlets for £299
1. Can't they sell them
2. Are they not any good
3. Are they dumping all their stock
4. WHY
Don't worry we can take it with a grain of salt

If the rumours would be true, there is another way to get yourself a "KN7777"

You know how?? Well, get yourself all wave expansion boards and be surprised of the many superb sounds. Have you heard the soprano voice, the B3 Organ sounds, the Cinema effect sounds, great guitar sounds (better than Tyros), etc.

Regarding Styles: We have eachotehr and internet and this forum. And easy composer, and.......

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Kind Regards, Fred

Hi,
I also started a styles group (haahaa) http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kn7000styles/

best wishes
Rikki