Here's my first report of this years NAAMM Show.
I went to Roland first and met Mauro Gola, Product Manager from Roland Italy. He's the VA7 and VA76 authority. He was showing me the new Discover 5 keyboard. This keyboard is very impressive for playing midi files and singing with them. The ability to create a vocal harmony track to songs that don't already have them is very cool. The sound engine inside this board is the VA7 but with 64 voice polyphony instead of 128. This keyboard does not have an internal sequencer, but if you love to entertain and sing, it's a great addition. The retail price is $2195.00 so expect a price of around $1895.00 as a MAP price. Mauro knew who I was from the Synthzone Arranger Discussion Forum and assures me that Roland is not out of the Arranger market for too much longer. I would expect to see a new product at the Summer NAMM show in July. He gave me his card and told me to contact him with any questions on how to use and demonstrate the Discover 5 keyboard. I think this will be a difficult keyboard for big chain stores to sell because it will take a great demonstration to show it's features well. The only arranger showed at the Roland Contemporary Keyboard booth was the VA7 because they still have some left. However, once gone............no more!
Next it was off to Generalmusic Booth. I gave a big hug to Chris Anthony and Michael Chin and thanked Daniele Galanti for the trip of a lifetime my wife and I got to share at the Generalmusic facilities in San Giovanni, Italy this past June. There, the new Genesys Professional was staring me right in the face. A 61 key, no speaker model with pop up screen. It seemed to weigh between 35-40lbs. It will easily fit into a normal case or gig bag and will be available in March. The price will be around $2995.00 in my store. All the features of the Genesys with speakers are in this model. Next to this model was the new ProMega2 and although it is a Piano and not an arranger, anyone interested in the best sounding digital piano made might be interested in this new, more modern looking version of the highly acclaimed ProMega3. The Promega2 is lighter, grey in color and still has the same operating system but with smaller knobs, no automated moving faders, 4 band EQ instead of 8 bands on the 3, 160 note polyphony instead of 360, one less catagory of sounds and no aftertouch. The price will be $2195.00 list compared to $2995.00 for the ProMega3. There was also an 88 key weighted version of the Genesys but in a black polished cabinet Piano type cabinet. I didn't get the price on this one. There will also be a slab version of this model in the future.
Next on to Ketron and I got to visit with my friends Lou, Aldo and AJ. There I met many Synthzone friends. AJ showed me the version 4.0 for the SD1 and although I'm buying these from the NAMM show, I was told to not give the 4.0 software out to anyone yet because this is still a beta version and the final version should be available soon. AJ and the Italian team has done a great job of cleaning up the electric piano voices, improved the guitar voices and have added so many asked for features. Nothing else was new at the Ketron booth. I actually sold an XD3 module while there and the customer lives in California and I will ship him his module next week. We went into Lou's makeshift office and did our business. He paid me in cash and I gave him a receipt on my business card. This was a first for me!
I then walked through Korg and found that they have no new models this year. Still the PA60, PA80, SP500.
Yamaha had many new keyboards, but the Tyros got most of the attention. I was so pleased to meet the new Product Specialist for Southern California, Heratch Touresian, who comes with a middle eastern music background and I'm excited to know that he will be assisting me in providing middle eastern styles and sounds for Yamaha arranger keyboards and the Motif. The new low end Yamaha Kareoke keyboard was really cool. It comes with mic, lyrics on the screen and a new feature which allows you to play along with a midi file and while doing this, you can't play a wrong note. It plays to the tune even if you don't know the notes. It doesn't give you the melody but rather allows you to improvise to the song. This keybaord will replace the PSR350 and will sell for $399.00
The PSR1100 and PSR2100 both looked exactly the same as the current models including the color. The difference is twice the Rom size for the voices, twice the Flash Ram for the user storage, the PSR1100 will now have the notation screen function like the PSR2000 and the PSR2100, there will be USB for connecting to a computer (but still not for updating software like the TYROS0) and the PSR2100 now has the sounds of the 9000PRO plus more....and there are many Tyros styles in the PSR2100. Mark Anderson of Yamaha gave me a grand tour of these products. There are also now EZ keyboards with the lights under the keys like the Casios rather than the lights above the keys as the current EZ models are designed. There were demonstrations by product specialists on the Tyros and you had to be impressed by their playing and the magnificant sound of TYROS. I think I got the award from the Yamaha staff for selling the most Tyros keyboards in the past month here in the USA!
I will be going to work Friday and will return to NAMM on Saturday and Sunday. It was a great day!
George Kaye
Kaye's Music Scene
Reseda, California