Donny hit it right on the head. This, friends, is coming from a Pro who makes his living with his music and his tools. The mnanufacturers throw some goodies at us as each upgrade occurs, but I can make music the same whether it be with the PA80 / PA1x, or the PSR9000 or Tyros..etc etc. Fran can still make good music on his "aged" G1000, Boo on the ancient I30, Denny is still enjoying his suddenly "antiquated" 9000 pro ....etc etc.

I see guys in bands that still use M-1s, Trinity's, old analog synths, etc that can play the heck out of them and make them sound good. Then there are guys out there with the latest Triton's, Motif's etc that can't.

Think about it. The new Roland whateveritmaybe, even if it is "better", won't make you a better player rolandfan. I don't mean that to be disrespectful or harsh towards you, but it is a reality. Buying a Korg isn't gonna make me play better than having a Roland or a Yamaha. Oh yes, I can add some new tricks / sounds to the bag, but the bottom line is, my performance will live and die by virtue of my own two hands, no matter which tools I choose.

The kb manufacturers want us to buy the latest offering, and falling in line with that they don't support the previous board after a new model comes out. This was a hard and cold reality I discovered once my "buggy" Korg M1 was replaced by the next model. Support was pretty good before that, and then after the new model came out, Korg acted almost as if they never heard of an M1.

We worry about chips and upgradability, but really, why should we ? The 9000 pro is upgradeable, but is it really ? It's no longer supported. Neither is the PA80. I guess to a point those with flash rom are, but usually upgrades seem to be focused primarily on fixing bugs, except in the case of the PA80, where upgrades were used to introduce basic features that the board should hacve had when it was first released.

You have to accept this when you buy the next board, so you better be happy with whatever it is when you get it, knowing that in a couple of years it will be ancient history. This is somewhat unique vs other instrumnents. A good guitar doesn't go "out of style" ( ok it might if it isn't well kept and the neck warps or something.. but you get my point ). A good drum set is still a good drumset years later, ditto a good sax..etc etc. Kinda makes me wonder why I didn't stick to being a drummer..lol

AJ

[This message has been edited by Bluezplayer (edited 01-19-2004).]