Some really cool and interesting responses, it’s nice to sometimes reminisce.

I have to admit to still having a very soft spot for the GEM WX2 also because it was that keyboard that made me deviate from the norm and my first real experience in breaking the tradition of sticking with Yamaha for so long. The WX2 sounded so powerful in comparison to anything I’d heard at the time, however, the problem I found with the WX2 was that it was very limited, I think it only had 64 styles and 300 odd sounds, albeit very good but it wasn't many and soon had to rely on those extra and expensive discs from GEM’s software library.

I also didn't like the way the WX2 played the standard midi files but of course it was a completely different story when playing GEM's own music discs, it just blew anything away I'd ever heard at the time. As much as I loved the keyboard I soon became a little under whelmed because I felt I had bought a Karaoke machine and that was driven by the huge catalogue of discs that GEM were releasing and the need to wanting to acquire them all, this took me further away from what I wanted from a keyboard so I was very excited when GEM announced the WK series but unfortunately the WK’s didn’t do it for me at all, I was disappointed with how thin and lifeless it sounded, a watered down version of the WX. Still had fun with the WK8 though but I always knew that I wasn't going to keep it for much longer. I then exchanged it for the i30 and it felt like a huge leap forward to everything I’d owned before.

Here’s a list of all the keyboards I’ve owned:

Yamaha PSS 790 - My first ever keyboard mid 80’s and have it somewhere!
Yamaha PSR 500
Technics KN 800
Yamaha PSR 410
Yamaha PSR 510
Yamaha PSR 520
Yamaha PSR 620
Yamaha PSR 8000
GEM WX2
GEM WK8
Korg i30
Ketron X1
Korg PA60
Korg PA80
Korg PA1X – Currently Own
Yamaha Tyros 3 – Currently Own

I wished I had owned a Technics or Roland TOTL board but as you can see from the list I tended to stick with what I felt comfortable with, I already felt a bit weary when I went changed to GEM but I am glad of the experience and at one point was very tempted with the Genesys but glad I went with Ketron and maybe I would have kept the X1 if it didn't continually break down!

Thanks for reading.
Danny.

PS, I forgot to mention what first got me into keyboards was really when my dad brought an organ:
http://electro-music.com/forum/phpbb-files/thumbs/t_elka_166.jpg

Now that takes me back!!!



[This message has been edited by DannyUK (edited 02-22-2010).]