The demand for these hybrid keyboards is VERY high, they are not a 'niche' market product..... The only reason they are 'niche' products right now is that few people can afford them at the price point they are currently at.

Domenik's MS is at a considerably lower price point than any Wersi, and to be honest, if it actually did what it claimed, I would probably have one by now. In fact, the MS's price and weight point should be making Wersi VERY worried, right about now.

You lump all those different keyboards together, and label them 'high-end', but miss the point..... Lionstracs are severely cutting Wersi's price-point (remember, an Abacus lists at close to $9k, doesn't it?) and if it ever really gets it all together, who's going to pay DOUBLE for the same thing?

Factor in the rapid improvements of computer technology, and I liken where Wersi are at now to the organ market of the 70s...... watching things get out of hand, newer technology comes along and does what the behemoth organs do (and more!) at a fraction of the price and weight. And it does nothing, smug in the self-satisfaction of 'It will always be OK for organs, people will always pay lots of money for boutique home entertainment'..... and in the meantime, the portable arranger decimates your sales.

Too slow...........

All I've been trying to point out is that Wersi, because they have the field entirely to themselves, chose to go the high-end (VERY high-end) route in pricing policy. This only works when you have no competition. Domenik is the first..... there will be even more coming soon, I guarantee.

The fact that an entire instrument can be designed entirely in software drastically reduces the startup cost of any company seeking to enter this market, common OS's (Linux, Windows) reduce the cost of developing expensive proprietary code, everything about this new hybrid technology screams mass market.

So, inevitably (and Domenik is the sharp end of this attack) more and more players will enter this field. Imagine what would happen if the Big 3 decided to enter it? Wouldn't Wersi prefer to be the dominant leader and everybody else have to struggle to gain a foothold, or will they prefer to stay selling boutique arrangers and organs, while some hungrier startup scavenges your sales.....?

If they decide to trickle down their technology to affordable ($3-5k) arrangers, they may be able to stop the up and comers, but if they sit in their $10k+ ivory tower, Domenik and his like are going to eat you alive.

After all, essentially these things are a computer in a keyboard case. We already know how much (or rather, how little!) a computer costs. And it certainly isn't $9000. It's the software you are paying for, and everybody's experience with software has shown that this year's killer $500 app is next year's $100 bargain, is the next year's freeware. I obviously exaggerate, but that's the general trend. Wersi are at the top of what is going to be a VERY volatile market for the next three or four years (technology moves so fast, it is hard to imagine that these hybrids WON'T be fully mature by then).

And be careful about claims of exclusivity..... If the ultra-high-end arrangers think they are doing a job nothing else can, that's only a factor if that job CAN'T be done any other way... The Oasys is a case in point. It's twice as expensive as any other workstation out there, sounds great, yada yada yada, but watch any TV show and 9 times out of 10, the keyboard player is playing a MotifES or Triton Extreme, etc.. The job doesn't dictate an Oasys, it can be performed VERY adequately without one. So sales of Oasys's are pretty slow.... those that have them appreciate them, but others with less capable rigs are still getting the call, so it's not like you HAVE to have one to gig.

A T2, a PA1X, an E80/G70, all of these, in the hands of a skillful player, are capable of making music that the average audience would be VERY hard pressed to differentiate from a Wersi, so why pay 2 or even 3 or 4 times the cost of one of these for a Wersi? I can see paying 50% more for the VST stuff, but not 2-300% more...... Obviously, Domenik thinks that is the price point he can sell them at, and still make a profit, but Wersi need twice as much?

After all, I still haven't heard anything from Wersi that made me go 'Oh my God! I GOTS to get one of these!'... I've heard plenty of stuff that made me go 'yes, that sounds a bit better than my G70' but I can't honestly say I've heard anything that made me say 'now THAT'S worth $6000 more!'

What's the feature touted the most in the new OAS? The ability to play Yamaha styles without a translation (although not one of the translations I've heard sounded BETTER than the original, just adequate - but still quite an achievement!). Why would anyone that just payed $10k for an arranger even have to NEED a translated style? At that price point, it should have a library of completely BETTER than Yamaha styles!

Anyway, I guess my point is, if Wersi ignore the regular high-end price point (I consider them the ULTRA-high point!) and refuse to compete in the $3-5k market, the day that a hybrid works capably at that price point, Wersi will never sell another arranger. I'm pretty sure they don't want that, but unless they start NOW (they are a very small company, this will take time) working on competing with stuff we won't see for 2 or 3 years, when the competition DOES come out (and it will!) you won't be able to recover fast enough and 'poof!' no more expensive OAS updates every few years..... no more Wersi.

Sounds stupid, doesn't that....? Ask any organ manufacturer from the 70's how stupid that sounds......