That's for sure. There is rarely a day that passes on this forum that fails to provide some helpfull advice. I occasionally check in with the "general" forum, but the tone is far too angry and one-sided for my taste. We all share a lot of wisdom at this site, and I'd miss it greatly if we lost it.

Pro or not ....... we're full of players here, and we can all learn form each other. Nice words, DMC. Spoke like a gentleman.

By reading this topic I realize even more and more, how good parents I have and how well they understand me and my hobby: music. For them arranger was never a toy. They knew how important machine it was for me and what I could do with it. I am very thankful of that. To tell you the truth, my last two keyboards really fascinated them.

I was 11 years old when they bought me my first keyboard. It was Roland E-16. When I was 15 they bought me Yamaha PSR4000. When I was 17 they bought me the PSR9000 (with 6 Gb hard disk + 64 Mb sample RAM) and now when I became 20 they bought me the Yamaha Tyros. All these keyboards + a huge amounth of extra stuff like MFC10 midi and some other pedals, microphone, speakers, zip drive (for PSR9000), stands and other stuff like that.

I could also add to the list the Roland RD150 stage piano. I got it when I was 18 years old. Then my (Yamaha YTS62E) tenor sax and (Yanagisawa S9930) soprano sax at the ages of 17 and 18. My first instrument was a Hellas upright piano. My grandmother bought it to me when I was six years old. I still have it of course.

I am very thankfull to my parents of my instruments. They really make my life better. Of course it doesn´t make your parents good if they buy you everything you want. My parents are not good because they bought me instruments. They are good parents because they are fantastic people and good parents. I hope that everyone understand what I want to say. My english is not the best possible.

Micco

There is still something I want to add. What I want to say is that my parents have the right attitude. Once my mother said to that she would much rather buy me five state of the art keyboards than one Nintendo. The truth is that I never wanted a Nintendo. I didn´t have anything against video games, but I never needed one. A friend of mine had one and every now and then when I wanted to play I visited him.

Second thing is that I want to correct something. My parents didn´t always buy me everything I wanted. They bought me things that where good for me. My parents said me once that instruments make me creative. It was also my mothers idea to buy a keyboard for me and she bought me the Roland E-16. My dream keyboard was E-86, but my parents said that you are a beginner and the E-86 is a professional keyboard. At the moment you need a small keyboard to begin with. Later it is time for a more professional model, if you really need it. Like I mentioned before I was eleven years old that time.

Also we didn´t pay full price of all my instruments. I always got very good offers form my dealer and a few times I gave my previous model for a exchange, but still it has been a lot of money.

Micco

Micco,
You are indeed very fortunate, and you do have wonderful parents, whose values seem to be exactly right.
DonM

I agree with Don.. You are very fortunate to have parents like that.

Squeak

Yes, Micco. Your parents are great. Reminds me of my own parents. They bought us Yamaha electone organ, Steinway pianos and when I was older, got me a ROLAND E-70 keyboard and later TECHNICS KN-2000. These were the signature keyboards on those days.

But I also got hundreds of games like ATARI, etc back then. I got sick of the games when it became overly abundant. Too much of a good thing can decrease the value, I guess.

Ahhh the old Atari days... I remember those well.... It's amazing to look at that system and compare it to what we have today. I remember playing games on Atari like "Pong", "PitFall", "Pole Position", and others.. Gosh remember those paddles that they used, and the huge joysticks...? We thought that system was so cool then.. My wife is a Nintendo lover, and of course we have the gamecube.. I have to admit I have my games too...

Squeak

I have championed this topic in many other discussion groups. This topic has been around for a long time and will probably continue for an even longer time.

Two things: 1) The manufacturers keep the top end arranger keyboards in their home divisions because it works for them, NOT US.
2) No matter what keyboard, Pro, arranger, toy, etc. - a good musician will make good music. One of the first electronic keyboards I bought was a mini Casio CT100 for $100. I still have it and can make it sound Pro whenever I have to, although I'll stick to my 2000 given the choice.
In the old days we used drum machines and played left hand chords and used footpedals. Today I use my arranger, but I usually prefer to play my chords (full) rather than two-finger them. Whatever works. Good discussion, folks.

Arrangers had not been invented when I was young, but my parents always had a piano. They later bought me a trumpet, a bass guitar and amp, drums, and a guitar. Video games?--I can remember having only one channel on the tv and it signed off at 11 p.m. I did get to watch Annette on MMClub and Dizzy Dean on Saturday baseball.
DonM