Ok .....I have had a day of rest and getting caught up with the family .
NAMM went by very quickly this year for me personally . I did stop over to Yamaha , Korg + Roland , Technics + General Music .
I think George Kaye covered Yamaha ! Arranger's are alive and well ! The new Yamaha S08 was the most interesting item to me from Yamaha .
Roland ....as predicted will make the VA76 available for MI stores such as GC,SA,MARS etc.... I will not be carrying this product .
AJ + I were on hand to hear the Canadian product specialist demonstrate the EM55 + VA76 . I did not care for the sounds at all . Very disappointed !
Roland did introduce new HArd disk recorders .
VS1882 was one of them ! All price points for hard disk recorders will be coming down in the ROland products !
I did talk to a few friends at Technics . Nothing new to report . They plan on releasing KN7000 sometime this summer !
How about syncipating what's in the screen to the music your playing ? or putting your own digital picture in the screen ? Look for it !
Korg .....Sp500 will be winner ! It will take the Fp3 customer away from Roland . A new OS for the PA80 is available . The new Triton LE will be nice and the price will be dropping on other products !
I did not hear the Genesis . Chris Anthony and I have known each other for over 7 years now . He is the heart of Genereal music . I respect him very much . I know he will make every effort to make this keyboard a winner . It looked to heavey for my taste . General music is using Solton Germany to distribute products .
I do believe that CD capablility will be the future .
The new KETRON DG100 was a pleasant surprise . I was mostly concerned about the action . I hate most FATAR actions . However the DG100 action was excellant ! SD1 in a nice grand piano case .
That's it for now .....off to play raquetball ! and increase upper pectoral growth ! dano

DAn,

What are the difference from the VS-2480HD and the new one, excluding the CD burner.

And what didn't you like about the VA sounds?

Hello Dan01,

You have mentioned that the S08 was the most interesting item from YAMAHA for you.
Could you explain why ?
I have found some specs from NAMM but they do not have a picture of S08.
How does it look like ?

Thanks !

Denis

Hi DanO.. It was a pleasure to meet you at the show,, I had to wonder off real quick though, since I had only Friday to visit the show.. It was a great show.
Thanks for all the efforts you guys made to make it a success.. Hope to see you again next year.

George..

Hey George ...It was great to meet you as well !
Frank .....VA series sounds and styles seemed thin ! Aj was with me . We both put on headphones and went at it . The styles are pretty much the same styles Roland has been using . I still think the E86 was the best arranger ROland made ! remember ketron 0 holic . Big difference IMO .
Yamaha S08 will be a nice price point and good action (that's really it) . Maybe I overstated my opinion . The problem with most 88 note piano's is that they do not have GM capabilities . The S08 does ! dano

Dan,

Thanks for your reports. You seem to be very critical about the Roland series. Roland needs to improve things here and there, but I find the styles and sounds great, but that's my opinion.

When will the Genesis be released to the public?

Sander

Hi Sander,
The Genesis' planned release date is for April according to Chris Anthony. - Scott

Then I need to make a trip to my music store around April.. The owner of that shop is a GEM fanatic, so that could be interesting.

Thanks Scott!

Hi Dan,
Nothing new to report? Are you kidding?
This is indeed a real BIG Technics scoop. Dan, can I assume you heard this from your Technics buddy Dan Slick.? This is GREAT news many of us have been waiting a long time for. Sounds like Technics has changed course from their past Fall/Winter tradition of releasing new arranger models every other year. I guess it's time to start planning my summer trip to Nashville
- Scott

The Yamaha S08 will be featuring the Yamaha Balanced Hammer Effect Keyboard found on their Motif 8 but without aftertouch. There are over 700 sounds and 24 bit Digital effects. There is a built in USB midi interface and a SmartMedia card slot and SMF playback sequencer. Secquencing software and voice editing software is included and the retail price is $1495.00.
The Roland styles are not nearly as exciting as the SD1 or X1 styles. They are however, very musical and very easy to work with. The sounds, once you know how to get into the 4 maps are quite good. The sad thing I saw at NAMM was that people would switch the map from the fourth or "new" map to map number 1 which is sound canvas or map number 2 which is G800 and the people trying out the keyboard doesn't know that they are not listening to the sounds from the XV5080. On a side note, I was selling a PK5 Roland pedal board last week to a salesman who works at a Roland CK store and he told me they never have sold even one VA7 because they could never figure out how to choose between the 3600+ sounds. Guess what, I didn't tell him either! How mean of me!
George Kaye
Kaye's Music Scene

George ,
That's funny ! You da man ! It was great to see you . I am glad you received a shirt ! I am wearing mine NOW ! dano