Thank you all for the nice compliments! You made me blush :-)

Concerning the 61/76 key discussion, i still miss the Roland Fantom-G8 piano keys (feel, space & action), but buying an 88 key midicontroller is an easy solution for this 'problem'.

Best Regards,

Joost

Look guys... I've NEVER said I can't WORK with 61. Just, when there's an option, I prefer a larger size. It just seems like there's a lot of tap dancing to excuse Yamaha for NOT offering the option.

The CVP's have always trailed the Tyros line by quite a bit. I doubt very much the 509 will be a complete substitute for a T4. Might have a FEW T4 voices, but if it is an equivalent, it will be the first time Yamaha has done this.

And, it STILL doesn't address the 76 size, which is the preferred size for MANY arranger players and keyboard players in general all over the world. Even Yamaha offer all their WS lines at a 76 size. Roland have already shown that a full 76 WITH speakers and a decent keybed can be made at well under the weight of even a 61 T4, in fact barely a couple of pounds heavier than an S910!

And, I'm sorry, but a keyboard is a keyboard is a keyboard. There is no intrinsic reason why an arranger has to be any different in size (as Yamaha's CVP's show - you can't have it BOTH ways!) from any other keyboard. Sure, you bottleneck yourself into an arbitrary decision on how you can and cannot use an 'arranger', and you can get by with a restricted choice of notes. But ask yourself this... You CAN just about get by playing piano on a wooden 76. Most pre-Beethoven fits, and most pop could easily be done on it. But would you WANT to? Even if that was the only size Yamaha (or Steinway, in your case!) offered?

You'll see many good arranger and general keyboard players (many of us, contrary to what you might think, play arranger AND band gigs) playing 76 note arrangers when the option is offered. It's just SO easy to dismiss an option you don't even have. But, were Yamaha to do what everyone else does, and offer the damn plastic 76, I guarantee you would find the decision MUCH harder to make...

The robust sales of 76 plastics in the WS world shows that things are not as cut and dried as you would like them to be. There is a VERY legitimate size option in the 76 plastic, offering MANY advantages over both 61 and 88 woods. It's just sad that Yamaha users are denied the opportunity to make the same decision that other manufacturers allow us.

I went it our local music shack yesterday and there were two prof KB players in there, I put it to them about this 76 /61 KBs and frankly they don't give a toss, when I told them about you and your views on the subject they just could not understand, they would both glady play the T4 on stage in front of 1000s if thats what paid the water, gas and electric bill and if 76 note kb died tommorrow, so what! The only thing they did say " we need bigger speaker than supplied with the T4".

If his intention was to start a debate 76 vs 61 keys, I stand corrected...if he did not, then let's carry on with comments on the posted music, which is what I believe was the original reason for posting.
Ian

I totally agree with you there Ian. I am tired of the same old discussion over and over again that hijacks completely unrelated threads. Though to be fair it wasn't Diki that kicked off this tiresome tangent about keybed size. Look back at the thread and you will see that. Enough said .... and I mean enough ... don't anyone bother replying to this issue cos I will simply delete it.

Though as far as the onboard speakers go, there really is a limit to how big and heavy they should be. They aren't really intended for performance but are more for personal monitoring.