This is great I'm gonna vent again. No one seems to know if my i30 will work with the Midjay. Take my word for it one of the popular harmonizes a few years ago would not work with the Korg i30. You had to by a Korg ih Harmonizer. Uncle Dave laughed when I posted that comment, but it is a fact.

Now since the Midjay also works thru the midi signal, perhaps it too like the other manufacture's Harmonizer will not work with the i30 midi signals or whatever the problem is.

So, if I decide to buy a Midjay, I'm supposed to get it from the mom and pop guy and if it doesn't work I get screwed, when the big store will let me try it for 30 or 45 days in some cases and if it won't work I can return it?

Maybe I should order it from the big guy and send it back anyway and then buy it from the mom and pop guy after I know it works? Then I’d really need Prozac to sleep at night. I don't think so. I'm not rich. Once you buy it for $1700 you might get $1100 for it on ebay even if it's only two days old.

Now, the local guy lets me try stuff out for over a week. But he doesn't have many of the items that I‘ve been interested in since I started this one-man band thingy. He sells the pianos for the big bucks and he has 40,000 guitars of every kind hanging on the wall. I told him he should change the name from Hart's Music to Guitar Center.

Thanks for this opportunity. This

Dave, I think you are on the money...

Dave good points for sure.......something is gonna happen one way or the other in years to come ...................shopping as a whole for ANY ITEM has been tremendously compromised since the internet shopping craze....if it werent for the internet we would never know about some of the smaller outfits & their products AT ALL!How can they keep building all these stores when half the customers buy thier items online & its growning year by year, something has gotta give & it ain't gonna be pretty !!

[This message has been edited by Dnj (edited 03-25-2006).]

The question that needs to be answered by you is "How are you trying to utilize any harmonizer when connected to your i30?"

Are you using the i30's single finger chord mode and expecting the full chord generated by single finger chord mode to be sent to the external harmonizer so it can create the appropriate harmonies? If so, it is possible that the i30 does not transmit that data via MIDI. I don't know this to be the case, but it is a possibility. I went to the Korg site but could not find a manual for the i30. Maybe you should contact Korg for an answer to this.

If you are playing full chords with your left hand and the i30 has the ability to transmit MIDI from the left hand section, then there is absolutely no reason why any external harmonizer shouldn't work.

If you are playing with SMF's that include a harmonizer track, then again there should be no reason why an external harmonizer wouldn't work. Of course this requires setting the harmonizer to the correct MIDI channel and making sure that at least that track of the sequence is set to transmit MIDI and not just play locally.

Or... you could upgrade your set-up to a Genesys Pro S which has a fine internal harmonizer as well as many other cool features. A store near Grand Junction, CO became a GEM dealer not too long ago and this is only about 11 miles from Fruita.

Good luck,

Dave

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Wm. David McMahan
Nat'l Product and Support Manager
Generalmusic USA
GEM Community Forums

[This message has been edited by WDMcM (edited 03-25-2006).]

[This message has been edited by WDMcM (edited 03-25-2006).]

Dave, you said:
"To expect a big box store minimum wage employee who is only there for the employee discount to sit down and read manuals and learn everything there is to know about the instruments" ...
Who said "learn everything there is to know about the instruments".
Maybe learn just enough to:
- Not tell the customer looking at a Casio WK-3xxx model that it could not play 2 different tones at the same time
- Not show a Motif to a lady who said she's looking for an electric piano that also has auto rhythms.
- Not answer 'No' to the question "does this keyboard (WK-3500) have stereo output jacks to plug into a church PA system"
- To know enough so as not to show Don a Tyros when he's asking about a Tyros2.
- Not tell a customer that the reason they had no PSR3000's in the store is because it is a higher priced item than what they (GC) usually carry, even though I can see that he's got multi models of Triton's, Motif's -AND- 1 Tyros! (new, not a trade-in) in the store on display.

I've seen and heard many more blundering errors on minor/general details from these "big box store minimum wage employee", as you put it. They are selling EXPENSIVE stuff, and to not know general facts like these I've stated, and many more just like these?
Give me a break.
Radio Shack personnel can't be making that much more, and more often than not, I'm surprised by the knowledge, accurate detail, clarifications, and alternatives they have provided. If the large inventory, large volume stores are hiring the "minimum wage employee who is only there for the employee discount" and that's why they are justified to stand around talking about their personal interests, instead of becoming more familiar with the products that they sell, that's fine with me.

As I said above, I will take my business (even if it means costing me a few extra nickels) to whoever, Wherever they are, if they are more deserving of the sale.

Uh, I can't tell if you are agreeing with me or not. From what you wrote, we are in agreement. If you don't think you agree with me, it is because you misread or I was not clear on the points I made.

If you are agreeing with me, well...never mind.

But just to be clear; yes I think it is appalling that someone could be in a position of selling a product and have no idea of its capabilities, basic or otherwise. When I was in retail sales it was a matter of personal pride that I had a better understanding of the products I sold than most of the manufacturers reps that came into the store. Why, because I felt it was my responsibility to be able to teach a customer how to operate the instrument he just purchased from me. How, by taking the manual home and reading it thoroughly and working with a new instrument before or after store hours and by going to every factory training session that was offered whether the store paid for the trip or not. Did the effort pay off? Yes it did. I became known as someone who is knowledgeable on many brands/models and was willing and able to offer help to those in need in a clear and precise way that even a beginner can comprehend. As I mentioned earlier, I travel the US conduction dealer product training and clinics and find that not too many people are interested in offering the kind of after-the-sale support that I felt was essential when I was selling.

BTW: IIRC, Radio Shack employees must go through a training program and then pass tests in order to become a store salesperson.

Dave

Dave,
Its agreed, we are then in agreement.

You mentioned earlier about retailers staying in their own territory...
I would think that GEM sales would go down because I don't find any in ANY territory.

If I asked about GEMs at the local 'big' stores, they would probably refer me to the jeweler down the road!

Hi Donny,
unfortunately I think the times are changing,
I luv the old rythms like waltzes, ballads bigband , latin etc
but unfortunately I don't think the younger generation does. Even my husband prefers listening to some of our son's dance trance music in preference to listening to some of the wonderful old classics from the 40's 50' 60's. Give me dean martin , perry como, johnny mathis any day of the week.

Also the workstations lend themselves better to the more modern beats than do the arrangers.

It's really sad.

best wishes
Rikki

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Dnj:
[.......plus as I played some of these workstations they really seem to be all geared to hip hop, jazzy, new age, alternative type rythyms & sounds,

..Ive been playing all my life and have seen many changes thrui the years but I have a bad feeling about what is happening in regards to
arragner KB playing in the future performing swing, foxtrot, chacha, rumba, polka, waltz, rock, disco, ballads,etc etc in the way we are used to in the coming years......

Dave,

The Korg guru I met thru the internet knows why only the ih will work effortlessly with the i30 and others have problems working with the Korg i30. If you'd like to ask him why this is so I'll give you his email. I don’t know the answer.

I don't know how to play one finger chords. Can you tell me how to play a Dm7b5 with one finger. I didn't think that was possible. What about for an ending going from a C7#5#9 and then resolving to a C7b5b9, and then if the melody note ends on a F in the key of F using the raised 5th chord which in this case is a DbM7 and then resolving to the Fmaj7. I don't believe any of this is possible with one finger. As a matter of fact I'll bet the fellow who invented the arranger keyboard can't do any of the above with one finger. Ha! Ha!

OK enough already for the chord theory.

DAVE explanation and QUESTION: I bought the i30 because I took the Korg guru's word at the time that nothing on the market could compare to the i30 at that time for sequencing which was my primary need because I wanted to sequence tunes using the arranger’s styles for my sax playing, not just computer software and besides the arranger fit me perfect because I wanted to sing a bit and play some keys.

Now, I've never seen a GEM before. And if the answer to the following question is no, I don't need to see one.
Will the GEM in sequencing mode allow me to record 8 bars then copy them and paste them to bar 9 and then allow me to just record and change just the turn around that is just about always different right before the bridge? Then will it let me record the bridge and then can copy and paste the first 8 bars right after the bridge for a complete song? If so, will it then let me copy and paste the whole song for 10 choruses if I want? I think the old Yamahas made you record the whole 10 choruses over again if you made a mistake.

I think the Korg has the top sequencer on the market. It perfect for the rare guy like me that plays a horn knows chord theory and wants to do a on-man band.

If you don’t have the answer , please send me a copy of the sequencer mode on the GEM. If it has as good a sequencer mode as a Korg I promise I'll go look at it and you might be doing me a bigger favor than the Korg guru did for me 4 years ago.

[This message has been edited by brickboo (edited 03-25-2006).]

[This message has been edited by brickboo (edited 03-25-2006).]

Ok...

From 1999 to 2002, I was a keyboard manager for Guitar Center in Towson,Maryland ( store 831).
I was also a demo guy for Ketron for a few years from July 1999 to 2002. Part of the reason I was a demo guy,is because I was an employee of GC and that ment that the GC keyboard buyers would come by the Ketron booth . I would show them (buyers for GC) a quick demo and even I as an employee of GC,having developed a sku and sell ketron products from a GC store, they could have cared less about Ketron ...

So,the ignorance of the buyers at the chain stores are a hugh factor in whether arrangers get purchased.. Hence...no arrangers in Guitar Center, except in their "A" store locations...Atlanta,Hollywood, Boston, etc....

Keyboard magazine has started reviewing a couple of arrangers in the recent past, BUT Even the way that writers at Keyboard Magazine has covered and reviewed arranger keyboards is very poor , in comparison to the approach of a magazine like ..Sound on Sound , as a comparison.... http://www.soundonsound.com/


If Guitar Centers continue to expand,than arranger keyboards will be hard to find...


Regards ... Dan O'


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