Many years ago, I purchased a keyboard from Wersi. They were sort-of like General Music in that they have very few dealers (actually none), a niche product, were considered advanced for the times, were very expensive, etc.

I sorely regret ever purchasing a Wersi. The reasons were simple, not enough users were using the product in the states and could not share their experiences. There weren't enough documents, files, voices, etc. in the public domain to help support the product. The support was also very bad.

Additionally, Wersi advertised the product was expandable and will never be obsolete, but I found in a few years, it was downright cheezy compared with new keyboards appearing on the market. I noticed other keyboard manufacturers at the time selling their keyboards in the retail stream with great success. Those users were getting great support from both the company and the user community surrounding the keyboard.

So at the end of the day, there is a stigma with boutique type products; especially musical instruments. If i'm going to spend $6000.00 on a keyboard, I'm going to be damn sure it's going to be supported by the retail system, will have a large following, user groups and user forums will sprout up and support it's usage, and most importantly, there will be a healthy aftermarket and re-sale market. I hope companies like GeneralMusic take this to heart and try to bridge the gap between mainstream and eclectic so that creativity and competition will not be stifled.


Al

[This message has been edited by kbrkr (edited 07-24-2003).]