Hello all welcome to the Blackpool report.
This years report is a more focused affair rather then day by day, and so there will be no concert reports as such, as it can be taken for granted that they were all top notch.
As in my previous reports, these are my Personal Impressions and may not be the same as others.
I have decided this year to break it down into manufactures.

Allen: Had their usual range of Theatre and Classical Organs on show.

Casio: Had their range of keyboards and Pianos on show, all of which for their price point gave excellent sounds and performance.

Hammond: Had various models on show including the Exceed Organ (Basically a XK135 with lower keys and pedals integrated with a Ketron XD9, all built into a smart unit)

Ketron: Existing range on show all giving excellent sounds and performances, the new Audya is not expected till much later in the year, but may make an appearance at the September Pakefield Festival.

Korg: Had their range on display with all the latest OS updates, with a superb performance on Sunday Night from Rod Pooley on the PA 800. All of the sounds produced were excellent with many as good or better then Yamahas SA voices, the most impressive part though were the Style backings. (Close your eyes and you would think you were listening to a real live band)
Overall I still think the PA1X as the better overall balance, but compared to the PA 800 the sounds do seem a little flat.
Personally I don’t think it would be a good move to go from PA1X to PA 800, but to hang on and see what Korg has in the Pipeline.(If the PA 800 is anything to go by it should be really special)

Lowery: Full range of Organs on display

Orla: Full range of Organs, Pianos and keyboards on display

Roland Organs: Bad news if you have just bought one, as a new range is being launched later in the year. (Good deals on existing models)
Interestingly they were still pushing the existing range with some excellent demos and concert performances.

Roland Keyboards: What a disappointment, (NOT the Instruments) there was no real promotion of the boards and the dealers seemed put out if you asked for a demo, however if you showed any interest in the E80 they were over like a flash, with particular emphasis to get G70 owners to upgrade. (Plenty of free styles Registrations etc)
Interestingly the E80 was being used through external SR Technology speakers, with the dealer refusing to disconnect them so that you could hear the internal speakers. (He kept saying it was too difficult to set back up, although I hardly see how pushing a couple of plugs in and out would be difficult, particularly as he kept banging on about how good the internal speakers where)
I will leave you to draw your own conclusions on this.
As to the sounds and styles of Roland, they were as good as ever, but I have to say compared to the new instruments being introduced by other manufactures, they do appear to be falling behind. (Maybe the dealers have inside information that a new range is on the cards, although I didn’t hear any rumours)

Wersi: Only had 1 instrument on show (Good job the sounds and styles are the same quality on all their instruments) due to selling pretty much their entire demo stock at the Pakefield Festival a couple of weeks earlier.
For those that are not aware, all Wersi instruments are built to customer requirements due to the various hardware setups that are available, and consequently have a 4 – 6 week lead time. (Plenty of orders were taken at Pakefield, and I am sure they did well at Blackpool as well)
The sounds of OAS 7 were impeccable as usual (Easily a match or better then other manufactures in a lot of departments)
The capabilities of the OAA were also way in advance of most other manufactures (First time I had seen or heard it live) arranger sections (Although the Audya may put a spanner in the works when it is released) with too many features to go into details.
If you get the chance to hear Tyros 2 styles played with the OAA do so, as the styles are easily a match to the live sounds of other manufactures. My guess is that the sound system in the Tyros 2 is the limitation causing the closed in (Squeaky Clean) sound of the Tyros 2 Styles. (The Wersi OAA totally liberates them)
Around September there should be another big update, with most likely a new instrument as well.

Yamaha: All the model range was in attendance, but no D-Deck which is now unlikely to come to Europe, however the new S900 was there (Although from previous internet demos and the spec I wasn’t expecting much) and what a board, Yamaha have definitely got a winner on their hands, the sounds and styles you get for the price are quite amazing.
The S900 has the characteristic Tyros 2 sound, but don’t get carried away as it is NOT a Tyros2, but (To quote a US saying) it kicks the 3000s butt into the middle of next week. Well done Yamaha.

This concludes the report from Blackpool from My Perspective, however I think the real showcase of instruments is going to be at the Pakefield festival in September.

Point to note, not one demo anywhere on the net came close to producing the quality of sound that listening to all the instruments live gave.

Bill

AS usual a nice comprehensive report. Thanks for this Abacus

Bill.....
I thank you so much for your HONEST report on the festival....wish I was there, it sounds like a fun time for sure.... that Roland thing sounds fishy

appreciate it!

Why don't we have something like this in North America? Jeez, these companies need their "butts kicking into the middle of next week".

Well, it's a little easier for someone one side of England to get to the other side than it is in the States...

Plus, England (and Europe in general) still has a HUGE following for theater organ music and musicians, and any organ music at all. You can go to many seaside towns in summer, and an organist will still be a featured entertainer. Best of luck finding THAT in the States. (yes I know they exist, but it isn't COMMON...)

Then add in the fact that community music-making (singing in pubs and soccer games, village brass bands, community get-togethers), and ballroom dancing participation is generally at a level rarely seen outside of Wisconsin and the borscht belt....

As a transplant from England to the USA, it often saddens me to see how few pursue any form of music after high school, despite huge resources put into enormous high school marching bands. It would not surprise me to find out that the USA has possibly one of the highest rates of adult non-participation in music, AFTER having been in band at high school.

Personally, I think the ONLY measure of success of a school music program should be how many continue playing music in their adult lives, NOT how good the marching band is, or how well they do at DCI....

This is NOT to say there is NO adult opportunities in America, but as anyone who has been to Britain, or the continent, has seen, if there is over a thousand people (sometimes even less!) in a village, they probably have a brass band! In the States, many towns (some fairly large) have NO organized civic band. We are a nation of consumers, and I think prefer to have music SERVED to us, rather than participate.

Good for us here at SZ, but sad as a national characteristic...

Hi Abacus, thank you for the fine report from the festival. You mentioned free styles and registrations for Roland arrangers. Do you know where to find these files online? Thanks in advance

Diki, as an ex-pat myself (no, not a displaced Irishman :-)) I agree with your points, but how is North America ever going to wake up to the joys of arranger playing if the major manufacturers don't get out there and promote the hell out of it?

Yes, this is more of a 'consumer society'; all the more reason for the makers to get out there and create a 'need'. Also, yes the distances are greater in general, but there are some pretty hefty market areas where there is enough disposable income that could be directed to our favourite pastime. I mean, George Kaye seems to have a fairly healthy business, so why not in other metro areas?

Well, as squeak, and several other younger (at heart!) members here keep pointing out, if the manufacturers don't wake up and start providing the styles and sounds in arrangers that younger americans want to hear, old age will gradually kill off the only people these keyboards are currently aimed at!

But seriously, the way our cities are built, with 'white flight' out of older neighborhoods, and suburbs springing up with no social center, the opportunities for us to get together to do ANYTHING of a communal nature gets smaller and smaller. Add to that the cult of individualism, of personal so-called 'freedom', of 'doing your own thing' and you can see a culture that puts little value on any group activity other than football and baseball and basketball.

And even those are primarily spectator sports, yet a town that can come up with several different softball leagues (well sponsored and supported) somehow cannot get a town band together. Pathetic... But you can't fault a people for doing what they want to, just infer from what they do where their priorities in life lie.

And it sure ain't music... At least in any communal sense.

On the other hand, they have little sports hooliganism, so perhaps it's a draw!

But it sure goes to demonstrate, despite having English as a semi-official language (soon to be Spanish if you listen to FOX - the network, not the Mexican politician!), it is as surely a foreign country in the States as Latvia, or Zimbabwe or Mongolia...! Strange people, with strange customs and strange priorities.... Not bad, just different.

But I wish they had it in their hearts to sing, and to gather together just for the joy of making music, rather than leave it up to those who chose music as a career. They don't know what they are missing....

Hi Weissefar
The styles and registrations mentioned are not free to everyone (You can buy them of course) but the dealer will include them free of charge if you purchase the instrument. (The usual sales incentive)

Bill

Bill. Thank you for the Keyboard Festival report.
One thing I'm rarther suprised with in your report are your comments regarding the Roland Dealer. Keysound of Leicester.
We did not attend the Blackpool event but we have attended these Keyboard Festivals twice a year for the past 9 years. All the same Dealers attend each time.

If there is one dealer that stands out in all these 9 years regarding customer care and attention it is Nigel of Keysound. In fact myself at Pakefield Keyboard Festival only a few weeks ago ask Nigel if I could hear the E80 on it's own speakers and he was very pleased to do so.
Keysound are agents for SR Technology speakers and I would have thought it a sensible move to combine the two products to show the E80 at it's best, just as Yamaha do with their demonstrations.

I will add that Keysound had no support from Roland UK to help with demonstrations which shows poor dealer support from Roland.

[This message has been edited by Graham UK (edited 05-19-2007).]