Don't sell us or yourself short brickboo. We are the ultimate consumers for arranger keyboards, the final testing grounds, the proof. While we may be a minority in the big picture, we are the ones that find the flaws that an entire team of engineers and marketing managers overlook. We directly affect the quality of their customer service. If there are lessons to be learned and improvements to be made in keyboard products, this forum and others like it is where they will show up first. That makes us worth more as a field testing unit than any company could ever hope to pay for and the smarter companies know it. That's why Yamaha has it's own forums like Motifator.com now.

There is a small ongoing war within keyboard companies between the design engineers and the marketing people; each trying to figure out what the consumer needs/wants, will buy and use, and will be profitable to produce while keeping brand standards at their peek. Guessing what the customer wants is nothing compared to getting direct feedback from heavy users like us. You can bet that every word here is read and when real problems surface, it sets gear into motion that we may not be able to see but are certain to improve the products we currently own or their next generation. In fact, as soon as we are compliant about the flaws and shortcomings of our instruments, they will stop improving.

Even after I told Yamaha's Mark Anderson that I was frustrated and willing to give up on making the PLG150-DR work with my 9000 Pro, he sent me a message from where he is on vacation that he will personally try to make the drum expansion card work with a 9000 Pro as soon as he could. I believe him. In fact, I have no doubt that several of my stubborn complaints have already caused changes in Yamaha's customer service, documentation, marketing and design.

We should not take ourselves for granted - in the eyes of companies like Yamaha, meeting our needs is the goal line.