Jim Eshelman, a top-notch musician who frequented the SynthZone for many years emailed me today. It was great hearing from him and with his permission I am posting his comments.

Gary;

I just read some of the posts in the SZ arranger Forum and thought I'd reply directly to you. I lost my password to that forum sometime ago - I've asked Nigel for it so maybe he'll send it and I'll be able to reply to the forum directly soon. He's not allowing "new" registrations so I may not be able to post there anymore.

I moved to Atlanta a year and a half ago from Hilton Head to be closer to family and to take a job with Wizard Electronics, which is a pro audio repair company. We specialize in keyboards, arrangers, guitar amps, pa gear etc. so spread the word if you know anyone in need of a fix. Hilton Head's music scene was suffering and after nine years of living there my wife and I wanted a change. We bought a house just 30 minutes northwest of Atlanta in the hills of Kennesaw... a lovely area. House prices are are incredibly low here and there so much to do.

Obviously you know that I wrote the review of the Tyros 3 in the March 2010 issue of Keyboard Magazine. It was a favorable review and many aspects of the arranger appeal to me greatly, but some of my more critical comments were changed slightly. For example, when I said I wished for XLR mic inputs, digital outputs and a 76-note keyboard, what was cut from the review was "...these are all things that are found on the Korg PA2XPro, a lower-price competitor to the Tyros 3".. Some things are cut for space, others for content, others probably to keep peace with the manufacturers who do support the magazine through advertising. That's just the way it is. While the editors and I worked together on drafts, I didn't see the final article until it was published. But honestly I think 95% of what I said is in there. I knew some things would be changed or altered but I'm impressed that more wasn't cut.

And I think someone from Yamaha might have added a few things also, for example, I and the editor Stephen Fortner were dismayed to find the Leslie switch for the sim organs was inconveniently located on the tilted panel, not from the mod wheel or from an ART switch. I think Yamaha added that statement about being able to assign the Leslie fast/slow to a footswitch.

Other things I was critical of were left in place - the acoustic pianos get lost in the mix and there is not enough variety in the EP's for my taste. And I wanted to say something to how challenging it is to play a Tyros 3 (like playing Motif XS and a Tunori-On at the same time). Those comments were left in place. Also, while the Tyros 3 is a step-forward in both arrangers and workstations in terms of quality of sounds, I did not recommend the Tyros for a Key-Buy award.

Writing this article was an interesting process that took about three weeks: And as anyone who knows me can tell you - I am in no way biased towards Yamaha. In fact, have been very critical of many things about Yamaha's arrangers in the past (support for my 9000 Pro being one) and I turned down the chance to do this article when it was first offered to me. I have been very critical of how Keyboard has done arranger reviews in the past, i.e. in an office or studio and not in the field, on-stage. I accepted the job the second time it was offered because I thought it was bold of Keyboard to offer this article to me and I knew it would give me a chance to do an arranger review fairly, from a performer's aspect.

Many things could not be included, like the many comparisons I did with the Tyros 3 and several Roland and Korg arrangers which I have plenty of access to not only because they come in the door all the time but there is a Guitar Center at our backdoor. Keyboard's editor liked my review very much and so far almost all the comments I have read have been favorable.

For all the faults I was able to find, and it wasn't many, the Tyros 3 is the best arranger I have ever played, and since the article I have used it impressively in the studio too and appreciate it even more. Feel free to post some of my comments on the SZ forum is you feel like it. Hope you are doing well otherwise.

My current website is: www.jimeshleman.com. and I answer emails sent to jimeshleman@hotmail.com

Best Regards,


Jim Eshleman aka "Esh"
Parts Manager

Wizard Electronics
1438 Tullie Rd. NE
Atlanta, GA 30329

This domain is missing from the Web server configuration

remove the period at the end of the address.

Jim just contacted me to have his password resent to him so I hope he will be able to post on the forum himself soon.

Well Jim, looks like we're neighbors. I'm in Woodstock. Maybe we can get together sometime. I tried to see if you were playing anywhere locally the last couple of times I was in Hilton Head (I have several friends with vacation homes there) but apparently you had already moved. I'll leave a message at your site.

chas

Wow ... I was doing a search of this forum recently and was thinking about some of the names from the past that are no longer here ...of course Jim was one of them ... it would be great to have him back ...

chas ... as soon as I saw he was in the Atlanta area I thought of you two getting together ...

t.

Jim,

Thanks for the review. Welcome back, it is good to hear from you again.

Tom

I wouldn't worry too much about the editing, Jim. To be fair, especially when you tried to compare it to the PA2X, the review was a 'review', NOT a 'shoot-out' where two competing products are compared for features and value for money...

And pretty much all of us here that take the words 'caveat emptor' SERIOUSLY already know that reviews in trade magazines and the like are there to sell advertising copy (like TV shows are) rather than preserve the 'purity' of their writers' intent.

I thought it was a very 'fair and balanced' review, and had just enough of the phrasing intact that it was easy to glean your intent, even if the harder edged stuff didn't get through. Reviews in these mags are very much 'secret code', most of the time. I can always get a sense from the phrasing whether the reviewer TRULY thinks something is the bees knees, or just another one in the pack...

And I'm sure most of us here feel the same.

Good to see you here again...