I went to Guitar Center the other day and they had the T3 on display, priced at $4599.

All I can say is that the keyboard really does not impress me. Not enough change from T2 or T1 for that matter.

I could never use a Yamaha, particularily with only 61 keys.

I guess I am still a spoiled Ketron owner.

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http://www.esnips.com/web/SongsfromDanO

I didn't realize that the T3 was that expensive. I thought it was in the upper 3000- low 4000. $4599 is only a few hundred less than the Audya. oh well, mid range keyboards are starting to look better and better.

It seems rather appropriate to have the words "spoiled" and "Ketron owner" in the same sentence, made even more so with the introduction of the Audya....actually, "ruined" might be a better word.

A 61 key fully working arranger (any brand) knocks spots off a 76'er that's nearly finished.

Using clients as Beta testers is hardly "spoiling" them...it's more akin to "violating" them.

It's long time since there has been a keyboard intro that has been so poorly done...let's hope it's an even longer time before it happens again.

It has been a truly heartbreaking story, since the instrument did/does have great promise, and sounded pretty darn good.

Back in the day, Ketron surely made some great products....now it's a company that deserves careful watching...literally.

Ian

Well I'll probably get flamed again for saying something bad about a keyboard, but in all fairness incremental upgrades should never be allowed by the end users.

For all that's new in the T3 the majority of it could have been sold on a memory stick for 100 bucks.

Seems to me Yamaha dropped the ball altogether after the awesome PSR9000 Pro. Not much has changed since then which was a LONG time ago.

Mega Voices, Sweet Voices and all that are not new technologies. They are just regular samples people load into other keyboard day in day out. Yet Yamaha wan't you to buy an entire keyboard rather than a CD to get this data.

Yep, you're right James...Yamaha is a wise marketer...they've been in the game over 100 years...they even bailed out Korg, sometime ago, and since you're a Korg user, you should at least be grateful, if not impressed.

Incremental upgrades (actually, much more than incremental, but we'll use your word for now) are nothing new with Yamaha...but, say what you like, the method has been very successful.

You don't make any profit giving away "new" features, but you do make oodles when you sell "new" keyboards.

If it seems stupid, and it works...it probably isn't stupid.

Yamaha has quite obviously learned from their mistakes...let's hope Ketron has the finances to stay afloat long enough to learn from theirs.

Ian

[This message has been edited by ianmcnll (edited 11-19-2009).]

Hi Ian.



Yeah, respect where it's due, Yamaha sure do know their market like the back of their hand.



Fingers crossed here for sure. If they can survive the Audya and complete it, then I feel with the next keyboard we will get back the Ketron we have all learned to love and respect.

Until then a rocky road lays ahead for them.

Regards
James.

I think Yamaha must thank Korg for teaching Yamaha how to build a good workstation. And Yamaha need more lessons from Korg on how to build a good arranger keyboard.

Those days are well and truly over now I think. KORG haven't even purchases so much as a keybed off Yamaha since the OASYS 76 a few years ago.

Can't see them ever going back to Yamaha for a keybed now either when the Fatar designs they have are so much better.

The entire Pa and M Seires are all fatar.

James

I'm sure they might be very grateful, Frans, as Yamaha does make exceptionally good workstations.

It makes everyone feel all warm and fuzzy knowing that Korg was rescued by Yamaha, and nice to see that they've sort of repaid the favor.

I'm sure Yamaha and Korg are busy teaching each other how to make great arrangers, and we both know that healthy competition is always beneficial, especially to us arranger users.

I'd love to be able to try out a Korg arranger, but they are seldom seen in my neck of the woods...no doubt they are great instruments, as most of the users on this forum seem quite pleased with them.

What do you play? You sound like a Roland user to me.

Ian

Ian I play a Korg PA50 now and will change to a Korg PA800 next month. I had a Roland the GW 8 before the Korg but didn't like that. Therefore I always played Yamaha. My last Yamaha was the psr 730. Great keyboard. But like James said after the great psr 9000 pro they didn't make keyboards anymore that I like.

[This message has been edited by FransN (edited 11-19-2009).]