I mentioned to Ben and Peter, back when I worked with them on the S950's introduction, about a touch screen for the, then not yet released, Tyros5 and got basically the same consensus.

I'm sure there are many live players that find touch-screens the bees knees and consider them easy to work with, but I'm not one of them...I still prefer the basic button style setup that's on my Tyros4 and now on the present Tyros5.

I wasn't too struck on the CVP-609's touch-screen, but I suppose, with time, one could get used to it, but I still wouldn't prefer it over buttons.

Also, I'm to understand that visually impaired players would find touch-screens very difficult to work with, and I've heard this directly from several people with vision problems.

I can't say for sure if this is another reason why Yamaha has held back on touch screens, but considering the CVP-609 has one, and since it's quite likely there will also be visually impaired "home" players, it doesn't appear so.

So, perhaps the Tyros6, or maybe even the PSR-S950's replacement will introduce the touch-screen on Yamaha's "portable" arrangers...nothing would surprise me.

Ben (who's based out of Ontario Canada) and Peter are great guys and very dedicated to putting on a good show. I'm glad you got to attend Steve, and that you enjoyed the presentation.

Ian