All I'm asking is just an occasional thread about a Korg, Roland, Ketron, Casio-whatever, without touting what you are paid to sell and demo for a living.
I could easily go on every Yamaha thread and post a LONG list of shortcomings. Terrible harmonizer, buttons that push down into the case, paint that wears off. . . Tyros is such an awkward size that it's even hard to find a bag for it. The drums, until T4, haven't changed in 10 years and sound lifeless and dull without extensive editing to improve them a little. A vocal harmonizer that actually SHUTS OFF the singer's voice momentarily if you activate it while singing. They kept the darn thing unchanged since the PSR 8000 up until Tyros 4! That's amazing. Oh and you can get a partial upgrade every couple of years for only a few thousand dollars. There are lots of well-documented instances of display failures and everyone should know that if you keep one past the "upgrade" you better be prepared to take it apart and replace the strips under the keys (the keys that are smaller than the size used by everyone else.) You can also buy a great midi foot controller for only $300. It only weighs 7.7 pounds. If you want speakers (pretty bad ones) on the Tyros you can buy them for an extra $300 also. A $100. set of Logitechs blows them away. Oh, and do not try to run a Yamaha into a monophonic system. It sounds even worse than normal. I wonder how many thousands of would-be arranger players have been stymied at level one because of the proprietary fingering system that lets you play a C and an arbitrary note below it to get a C Minor or 7th chord. It has no musical basis at all. To make full chords you have to start over at some point and learn the right way. I can see the value of that on kid's toys 20 years ago, but why now?
I have personally experienced EVERY ONE of these faults by owning eleven Yamaha arrangers.
I won't be able to badmouth the 76-note MOTL or TOTL model will I?
Having said all this, I think they have a real winner in the Tyros 4. It has great lead sounds, although pretty gimmicky, finally vocal sounds on a par with Roland, an improved harmonizer (still a step below those of Roland, Korg and Ketron), even at long last an XLR mic input (what a concept!) Maybe the next incremental upgrade will address a couple more of the shortcomings. Start saving your money now.
That's a lesson on back-handed compliments I learned right here on this board.
Every arranger has its faults and good points. I could point out those faults on every thread about Yamaha, but then I would put myself on a level lower than I care to be on.
I used to be such great fun to come here and post and keep up with what the others are doing. Maybe I'm getting old, but it's certainly not fun right now. Too many threads turn into arguments. I don't have an enemy in the world that I know of, and don't want to start having them now.
I said all the stuff above to try and make a point. Am I the only one who wants to discuss the topic of the thread without someone turning it into a commercial for something else? If so then maybe it's just me and I should slip back into a Bayou in my boat somewhere and give up on this site, like so many of my friends have.
I'm serious, is it me?
DonM