Yeah I know. Steve Deming told me "they were working on OPT panels for the 9000 Pro now" last year, then told me last month that it wasn't going to happen after all, so that much has been confirmed. And I don't expect Steve or Phil of Yamaha to go out of their way to help me solve my PLG150-DR/9000 Pro problem at all - they both volunteered to do that on their own and seemingly out of genuine concern. If it results in any progress at all, great... if not, I won't be any worse off.

I find it somewhat reassuring that at least two brave people at Yamaha do seem to take legitimate gripes from knowledgeable users seriously enough to promise that they will look into the problem and report back. They put their own reputation and Yamaha's on the line doing that when they didn't have to, so I respect them for that. At the same time, threads like this one let Yamaha know that arranger users are both demanding and technically knowledgeable enough to find the shortcomings of their products. They won't be making the same assumptions about us as they have in the past, and whatever eventually takes the 9000 Pro's place will be a better instrument because of it.