Mark

Its been trending that way since DJ's overtook live bands in the 80's. I saw it years ago at a restaurant in North Jersey. Friend tells me this restaurant has a good piano player so I go there. Guy sits behind a table covered with a black cloth and sings. I go look behind the table and he's got a CD player, his drink, and an ashtray. (This is when you could still smoke in bars so you know how long ago this was) I knew him from years ago and he used to be a pretty good guitar player.
After that a good friend who gets lots of great gigs in North Jersey gave up bringing his keyboard and sings along with two IPODS and then DJ's the rest of the night in restaurants and for parties.
Since moving fulltime to the South Jersey Shore area and getting around to see as much music as I can, I've seen 3 totally live acts. A pretty good full band at the North Wildwood Elks, a decent piano player at a restaurant, and a very corny guitar player called Capt. Larry. Depressing huh? Since selling a lot of my stuff before the move here I have the funds to re-equip myself and the only thing that makes sense to buy is a laptop and join the crowd. I really don't want to go that way so I haven't bought anything new.
So the BK7M sounds better than the BK5 which you can't program as well as the PA500 which doesn't have all the goodies of the PX3 Pro, but the Yamaha is still the best seller. Don't matter. People only care about what comes out, not how you do it. HA! Just gotta do what makes US happy. I feel sorry for the new "musicians"