My opinion is this: Yamaha is working on this prototype. Somebody took an unauthorized photo, and they want to handle the publicity and release in their own time. It will likely be many months before it's ready in its "final" form. (After that, the first wave of buyers will field-test it for them.)
I also feel that Yamaha is too big to want to cater to a few pros. They build the keyboards for the mass market, which is home players. That is where they make the profit. If pros find them adequate to use, fine. If not, fine also. They would rather sell to a million or so buyers than a few hundred.
The 9000 Pro is a perfect example. It's just as much work for them to support a keyboard that's tailored for that few hundred (or thousand) than something like a PSR3000, which appeals to a huge number of buyers.
Also, that huge number is not nearly as critical or demanding as the small number of 9000 Pro users. For every Jim Esh or Dave Boyd or Don Mason there are a hundred thousand Sally Smiths. She is a little old lady who, along with her husband Jim, is retired and enjoys listening to Jim play "Somewhere My Love" with single finger chords and one-note melody, which he plays by following the lighted keys.
Yes, that's probably extreme, but you get the point. The Yamaha US guys such as Steve are wonderful, but in reality have very little to say about what the guys in Japan decide to market. Again, just my opinion.
GEM, Korg and Ketron have indeed released flagships that target pros. I wonder if they are very successful sales-wise.
On a related point, I think the small companies such as Ketron CAN afford to target a more sophisticated clientele. I hope they continue to have the resources and motivation to do this. The Midjay indicates that Ketron is looking at a bigger market--DJ types. For every one of us that plays Arrangers for money, there are most likely thousands of DJ-Karaoke types who have day-jobs that give them expendable money to buy "toys" they can
use on the weekends.
Having said all this, I look forward to seeing what the Tyros 2 has to offer.
DonM
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DonM