Don and Donny, I really cannot complain about any Yamaha arranger keyboard I've owned in two decades. I'll admit, they could have done a better job with the vocal harmonizer in the past, but the new one on the S-950 seems to do a bang-up job. It really sounds good, in fact, almost as good as my TC Helicon Harmony-M, but not quite. The drum kits have never been a problem for me or my audiences. Keep in mind, though, that I really don't rely heavily on the drum kits - my best attribute is my vocal ability. Today I performed at the oldest retirement community in the nation, Pickersgill Retirement. I was in their auditorium, had about 125 people in the audience, and one of the assistant ADs came in with a half-dozen college girls from Towson State University - damned those gals were purdy! The assistant AD asked my to play Hot Hot Hot, which I did live, using the Zuke style on the keyboard. Within a few minutes I had 50 people in a conga line winding through the huge room and out into the halways. Later, a young lady from the book keeping department came in, walked up to me while I was playing Elvira, and asked if I would perform "He Stopped Loving Her Today." She said I sound a lot like George Jones and thought I could really belt out the song. When I finished the song, she came up and gave me a big hug and kiss - God I love this job.

In all the years I've been playing, both with bands and when I picked guitar with a Roland drum machine, no one has ever come up and said anything positive or negative about the drums - not one person, including a lot of musicians. So for me, it's a non-issue.

All the best,

Gary