Fran, I've always been a big fan of Roland's drums. Until about 8 years ago, I still had a programmable Roland drum machine that I used with my 12-string Yamaha guitar. When I sold the guitar(s) I sold the drum machine to another guitar player that did solo jobs just like I did when I first got out of the U.S. Navy. He still uses it and it sounds great.

Yamaha has recently placed a lot more emphasis on it's overall sound, and agree, the 2100 was not much, and only a small step up from the 2000. Yamaha's sounds really improved with the release of the PSR-3000, but as Deane Peters once told me, the PSR-S950 is like a 3000 on steroids. He was right on the money. There is a big difference in the overall sound.

That said, for an OMB entertainer, one like Donny Pesce, Don Mason, Eddie Shoemaker, Deane Peters, Uncle Dave Boyd, Tony Madalone, myself and a host of others, it's the well balanced, overall sound that really counts. We provide our audiences with the entire package, the full band and the singer(s). I sincerely believe that Yamaha has done an outstanding job in that regard. And, so has Roland, Audya, Korg and others with their latest arranger keyboard releases. With each new model, there's a vast improvement in overall sound quality.

Our audiences, nationwide and worldwide, are really not that much different from each other. They all want to be entertained. They want to hear the kind of music they grew up with, music they can dance to, music they can sing along with. They want it to sound as close to the original song as possible, and by and large, most MOTL and TOTL arranger keyboards can do this. Granted, to the trained ear, you can hear some subtle differences, but those subtle differences are somewhat meaningless if the entertainer/player cannot deliver the entire package to the audience in such a manner as to be entertaining.

Some arranger keyboards have louder drums, some drums sound sharper or more harsh, some are more subtle and soft, and nearly all can be tuned to meet the player's demands or preferences. I agree that drums are sometimes the centerpiece of some song selections, however, in many instances the bass is the driving instrument. Then we also need those guitars, horns, brass, etc in order to provide the entire package. Yes, the drums are important, but so is every other instrument of the arranger keyboard's overall sound quality.

As I said in another thread, if drums were the only reason I was buying an arranger keyboard, I would go back to my old Roland drum machine and 12-string guitar - sure would be a lot less gear to haul around and I'm sure my audiences would enjoy the music, but I would rather play the keyboard and sing to them - to me it's a lot more enjoyable.

Cheers,

Gary