Folks, yesterday I bought a companion for my trusty PSR-9000. She's a brand spanking new Roland XV-5050 sound module and the two get along wonderfully. This is a great module! Although it's got lots of sounds I'll probably never need (synth sounds), there are hundreds of others that fit well with my style of music and they are just so beautiful, you'd have to hear them. The pianos are truly great! I also got the new SRX-06 expansion board for it. It's the "Complete Orchestra" board and it has the most beautiful strings I've ever heard on a keyboard. Outstanding!

The best part of it all was I bought my new toy from George Kaye whose store is about 2 hours from where I live. Let me tell you, he and his staff are the most knowledgable, professional, and friendly folks you'll ever find in any music gear shop! I don't know how many of you have had the opportunity to stop by his store. If you get a chance and you're in the LA area, drop by and take a look around. Those guys stock virtually everything our arranger hearts could wish for. Thank you George for a very pleasant shopping experience! The module works great!

ev

Congratulations on your purchase of the XV5050! The XV5050 is a great sounding synthesizer module and a true baragin in my opinion. I myself have an XV5080 with several SRX expansion cards in it and love it. The SRX strings card and SRX piano card are especially nice.

I've also had the pleasure of visiting Kaye's Music Scene and I found their selection and service to be top notch. The selection of arranger keyboards is truly second to none and I doubt you'll find another retailer who carries as many arrangers or who knows as much about them. For anyone in the LA or surrounding area the short drive to Kaye's Music Scene is well worth it.

Y'all make me jelous, I wish I lived so close to George's store!!!

Same goes for me.. I'd love to be able to run through his store. There are NO dealers in my area, or even my state that provide the type of service or carry the selection that he does... Hey George, any way of getting something like a virtual tour of your place, maybe post some pics??? I'd love to see it..

Squeak

Squeak, I know what you mean, the same goes for my area here in San Diego, ... we have no dealers who carry arrangers. It's kinda sad too when you walk into one of our 3 area Guitar Centers and ask them about arranger keyboards they don't even know what you're talking about. I'm glad George is a mere 2 hours drive (maybe add an hour or so for LA traffic depending on the time of day ). As for the store, imagine 1/4 of a GC (size-wise) only with dozens of keyboards and very very knowledgable sales staff. I wouldn't do them justice trying to list all the gear they have. I saw all the high-end Yamahas big and small, they have the Genesys we hardly hear about anymore (a great-sounding board imo btw), and even a Ketron SD1 (what an ugly sucker) ... I dare you finding one of those ANYWHERE else in Southern California (or beyond).

I thank you all for the nice comments. It's being able to cater to my arranger customers that keeps me excited to go to work each day. Don, it was a pleasure getting to spend some time with you on Saturday. We were busy when you were in, but I know Emerson took good care of you and I enjoyed showing you around the Tyros and Genesys keyboards.
After Don drove the over 2 hour drive to see me, I offered him a NAMM show pass for next week and I'm hoping to see you there! It is an exciting event to experience. Every musical product under one huge roof (except for Yamaha which you will find in the Marriot Hotel main ballroom).
My store is a small one but I try hard to keep everything organized and always plugged in and ready to try things out. Since I don't have any pictures handy, here is a discription of my store:
I have 2250 square feet and included in this space are 4 lesson rooms and a storage room in the back. The front of my store is all my arranger and digital Pianos and then I have pro keyboards and more arrangers in seperate cube type spaces as you move back. The Keyboard sections are on the left side and counters and my cash register are on the left side. The store is only 20 feet wide but it is 125 feet long, so it took some planning to make it look "comfortable" to my customers when they come in. One of the things that I don't like about the chain stores is that when i walk in one, I feel confused because things are all over the place and I wanted my customers to not feel "dizzy" when they walk inside my store. The cube spaces are made by using 3 triple Ultimate Support keyboard stands with 9 keyboards or modules filling up the available spaces. I then have a cube space with digital recording gear followed by a seperate room for acoustic guitars near my office and my teaching studios. Along the walls on both sides from the front to the back are high end acoustic guitars on one side and electric guitars and basses on the other wall. Underneath the Electric Guitars against the wall, are two rows of guitar amps and on the other side, just past the Arranger keyboards, right before my counters and cash register are the PA's and speakers. Just past the counters are some drum sets, both acoustic and electronic. Above the drums, on the wall is a shelf with band instruments and more stacked drum sets. Just past this space is sheet music and books with my office right behing with a big glass window and a couple of Platinum Records hanging on my red wall. One of these is from a producer friend of mine who wrote some songs on a Ozzie Osborne album and the other one is from a David Lee Roth Album. The whole store is done in grey with a red stripe painted at the top of the walls. Well, there you have it....Kaye's Music Scene. I hope any of you passing by the LA area of Southern California might happen through my doors some day and say hi! Many of you have done this over the past 4 or 5 years and i enjoy meeting you.
Thanks again for the kind words
George Kaye
Kaye's Music Scene
Reseda, California

Wow ....... do you realize what you just said? (Without really saying it?)

Can somebody compare XV5050 with 5080?
Thanks

sk, this might help:
http://www.synthzone.com/ubbs/Forum37/HTML/005092.html

ev

I'm sorry, I still find myself after all these years catogorizing my keyboards as Arrangers, Digital Pianos and Pro models. I then explain to customers that there are models in all three catagories a pro will play. A Yamaha Motif, Korg Triton, etc. are usually found on stage in concert situations and thus my calling it a "pro" keyboard. Please excuse my poor choice of words.
George Kaye
Kaye's Music Scene
Reseda, California