Quote: Everybody "wants" but, nobody wants to pay.....

I'm willing to pay but there is a limit. First of all high-end keyboards are a lot like fine furniture. There is a huge 'mark-up' on both products. A nice piece of fine furniture can sell for a lot of money but the profit margin is huge. A piece costing $5,000 can turn a $3,000-$4,000 "profit" and the manufacturer laughs all the way to the bank.

High-end keyboards are a similar "pot-of-gold" for keyboard manufacturers. For example a Tyros4 costs around $5,200 and I'm estimating Yammie probably makes $2,500-$3,000 in pure "profit" on each Tyros4 they sell. It's a brilliant marketing scheme that Yammie and others have seized upon after realizing that many people are more than willing to fork over big bucks on so-called high-end keyboards. Most consumers who buy high-end arranger keyboards are senior citizens... many with large bank accounts with money to burn... and they seem to have a tendency to acquire the "latest greatest" gadget(s) i.e. the Tyros1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9 and so forth. Yammie adds just enough additional "improvements" in order to keep the ball rolling i.e the scheme perpetuating itself, and the result is a huge profit margin going directly into Yammie's overstuffed pockets as they laugh all the way to the bank that their brilliant marketing scheme remains intact for the next generation of keyboards that rolls off their assembly lines.

Was it P.T. Barnum that said "a sucker is born every minute"?

I'm not suggesting people who buy each new generation of any given product is a sucker. Rich people with money to burn don't really miss the money and if it makes them happy then more power to them. Apple products are a similar case study. The iPhone, iPod and i-Pad are also highly popular and usually much more expensive than the competition. Yet consumers devoted to Apple products keep forking over big bucks on each new model in many cases.

What I think needs to happen is for consumers to "step back" and realize what they're doing and once they become more "discriminating" in what they purchase (that is to say in what each new model has to offer in terms of significant improvements vs. 'incremental' cosmetics) and then hold off buying those products with incremental improvements. It would go a long way in holding manufacturer's 'feet to the fire' and force them to produce keyboards worthy enough to write home about without breaking the bank. In other words, those excellent sounding Drum Kits everybody wishes were on the Tyros4? If Yammie realized consumers were starting to "buck the trend" and wouldn't settle for "incremental", Yammie would then be obligated to provide consumers with what they wanted and those excellent sounding Drum Kits - from the Motif series, etc. - would finally arrive on Yammie's high-end arranger product(s) no doubt. Or else Yammie's Music Division could suffer severe repercussions and their "stream of money" could dry up and they could eventually go out of business. The same thing applies to Korg, Roland, Casio and Ketron.

Consumers need to take the bull by the horns and demand excellence in the products they buy, at a fair price. But if enough people keep purchasing those incrementally induced products, then Yammie and the rest of them will likely keep dishing them out to consumers in a "business as usual" manner. Thus perpetuating the marketing scheme that keeps Yammie and the rest of them laughing all the way to the bank and consumers scratching their heads that the Drum Kits still aren't up to snuff and/or the keybed still feels cheesy, etc., etc., etc.

I owned the original Tyros. It was a great keyboard (at the time) at a fair price and the Drum Kit(s) were a nice step up from my PSR-2000. The Tyros4, on the other hand, is a nice keyboard with many excellent sounds but you pay through the nose and the Drum Kits just don't cut it for the price you have to pay. The Korg PA3X is a nice keyboard as well. But it too is way overpriced in my humble opinion. Although the Drum Kits are much better than those on the Tyros4.

I'm a consumer advocate if you haven't noticed. I don't fault Yamaha for trying to make a profit and I don't really fault senior citizens for forking over big bucks on the latest/greatest product(s) which seems to bring them joy and happiness and a chance to brag that their toy sounds better than the other guys toy. No pun intended.

What I take issue with is incrementally improved products that cost and arm and a leg and yet still "lack" features and functions considered professional in nature. Making them cost prohibitive to me at least. If, on the other hand, Yammie released a Tyros5 (or whatever they call it) and it was reasonably priced and fully featured and had great sounding Drum Kits, I would seriously consider buying one. But why would Yammie produce such a beast when there are so many eager beavers out there willing to fork over big bucks on over-priced, incrementally improved products? Therefore in all likelihood Yammie's successor to the Tyros4 will once again be astronomically priced and the Drum Kits will probably still sound amateurish. I would like to be proven wrong on both accounts. But I won't hold my breath needless to say.

All the best, Mike