Doug and others, here's my opinion. Most of the full-time pros I know are playing Yamaha. Of course there are exceptions, like Uncle who has his hands confused with each other, but most of the full-time pros that I know about play Yamaha.
Scott, Donny P., Eddie, myself, The Pro, and many others. There are 4 or 5 part-timers here in my area, all playing Yamaha. But, in all fairness, they are playing them because I do.
I've owned Technics up through the KN5000. I tried Roland G800, I tried Solton X1, I tried PA80. They all have many wonderful attributes, but I'm back to Yamaha, because it is lightweight, a bargain for the price, and extremely reliable. It has most of the essential tools of my trade built in, including the Vocal Harmonizer. Doing as many as 3 or 4 jobs in a single day, you learn to appreciate the simplicity of the built-ins. It saves valuable time and back pain in the setting up and tearing down. The Operating System is easy to learn and use. I've never had one break on the job (as far as that goes off the job either).
Would I like it to be better--of course. When someone builds a new one that I can see without traveling more than 200 miles, I always go try it.
The only thing I can see on the horizon that MIGHT be better and still satisfy the weight criteria would be the new Korg. And, as we know, it isn't for sale yet. I haven't tried the SD1 or Xd9, because there doesn't seem to be one within that 200-mile range. The X1 sounded good, but the fill and variation buttons were on the wrong side for me to operate comfortably. They moved them at least some on the new models, but I must play before I pay!
Roland, while a worthy kb, lacks the vocal processing and is too heavy.
Technics has a great OS and good sounds and styles, but misrepresented the harmonizer and mic processor. Also, at least until the 7K, the hard drive was a ridiculous proprietary one, costing nearly as much as a spare Yamaha keyboard. The initial cost of the Technics is not that bad, you just have to dig out what the dealer cost is and find one that's willing to make a small profit, rather than a killing. Trust me, it can be done.
Korg PA80 has unexceptable fills and the harmonizer doesn't work the way I want it to.
Cascio hasn't quite got there yet. Farfisa had some great innovations, but seems to have dropped out of the race. Wersi sounds wonderful on paper, but I would be scared to death to rely on a Windows-based OS, even if I could afford to buy one. Again, it's academic because there are none to see. The new GEM shows promise, when they make a model that I can lift.
I've tried hard to find something other that Yamaha, ever since I bought the 2000. It is well documented how it was falsly advertised (AND STILL IS TO THIS MOMENT) as having the OS in flash rom. Also, as I have previously beaten to death, the vocal harmony had a couple of major (to me at least) mistakes, which Yamaha would not acknowledge because they would have had to repair a million or so of them with hardware fixes BECAUSE THE OS WASN'T IN FLASH ROM AS ADVERTISED (oh did I already mention that?)
Anyway, I got tired of waiting, and after testing a 2100 for two weeks at home and on the job, have purchased it to replace the 2000. At least the vocal harmony works correctly, and it has a little more memory. Also, the keybed feels a little different, although I didn't object to the much-maligned key feel on the 2K. I am not a piano player and I like the light, quick response of the keys. I do wish they were full-sized though. Anyway, I still consider it an interim keyboard, to use until somebody makes something better suited for my purposes. It doesn't matter to me whether anybody else wants the features I need, like the vocal harmonizer, but I know the ones that are important to me, and the damned 2100 has most of them and an extremely low price.
It will do for now.
DonM

P.S. Almost forgot--I really wanted to get a Tyros, but can't justify the $$$$, because my audience can't tell the difference anyway.


[This message has been edited by DonM (edited 08-25-2003).]