Thing is, with the "touch screen"...why are there still so many buttons?

I thought the PA's touch screen would simplify the panel layout.

I have to agree with Donny...the PA3X has a lot of buttons the same color and the same size, and they are very close together.

I suppose one gets used to them, but it still seems strange to see such a plethora of similar buttons along with a touch screen interface.

Ian

Donny, I like the rubbery buttons on the S910 too...wish they were on the Tyros4, but it's layout is nonetheless very well done, with lots of big easy to use buttons ( I like that the whole button changes color on the T4).

Touch screens have their uses, but until one comes out that covers the entire surface of the arranger, imagine if you had an arranger where EVERY control was crammed into a four inch area in the middle of the keyboard... That would be awkward, to say the least!

IMO, physical buttons on the left and the right give you things to hit that are close to where your hands already are, sliders in the middle give you ease of adjustment no matter WHAT hand you have free at the time, and a touch screen gives you access to FAR more parameters for editing than a simple button matrix can ever give you...

Sounds sort of familiar, doesn't it..?!

BTW, NONE of my main arranger control buttons have any color whatsoever. Just LED's to light the way. To my mind, it's more about SIZE and logical layout than color. If your key colors were reversed (Farfisa, anyone?!) would it make the keyboard harder to play? The most important feature of buttons is a logical layout, so you don't end up with buttons better hit by the RH stuck on the left (and vice versa), and not cramming them in too tight, and ending up with inadvertent wrong button pushes, because you can't easily hit them quickly, accurately.

Yes I remember my Farfisa Pro & Vox Continental keys very well...

http://www.combo-organ.com/Farfisa/Professional/index.htm

http://www.hollowsun.com/vintage/vox_conti/index.html

colors work with the brain signals & is definitly a good navagating feature no matter how you cut it.

Well, you are damned if you do and damned if you don't...

Probably the best keyboard for distinguishing different areas and buttons is the Lionstracs Groove, but DAMN! Boy, is it UGLY..!

We all want subtlety in the daylight, black arrangers, muted, sophisticated looks, but when the lights go down, and you are on stage with colored lights washing out all the subtlety, we need it painted like a circus clown!

Can't have BOTH...

Maybe a nice feature could be a knob that allows you to rotate and change the color of the light on button lights, display etc, etc, for different venues.

Nice, but I would rather have a 'hidden' function that allows you to re-task the buttons. Not everybody wants the buttons where the manufacturer says you HAVE to have them. I'd rather decide where my OTS buttons or Variation select buttons go than be told...

It's all just software... ANY button should be able to control ANY function, if you want it to.

AMEN, brother!
DonM

Sure that would be great..except how do you mark the functions on them...Labelmaker?

If you go to the trouble of re-programming where they are, I doubt you will have any trouble remembering what you did...

Admittedly, someone ELSE playing your arranger might have a problem, but that's when you re-load the factory defaults!

My K2500's buttons are ALL completely flexible. I have little problem remembering what I've used them for.