Today was a fun day. I had to take my oldest granddaughter to see her specialist, as she has had some medical issues that now appear to be improving quite nicely. While I was in Middletown, NY I spent some time at Alto Music. Great store with tons of keyboards ( and everything else ). I wanted to look at KB controllers. I was also pleasantly surprised to see an E80 on display, and I got to play around on the PA1x again ( speaker version ) and the new Motif XS, along with a couple of electronic drum kits.

I liked the E80 quite a bit. Although I've never owned a Roland arranger, I found it quite easy to navigate and figure out. Seems like a very intuitive layout. Then again, based on what I've seen here, you would want to use some caution concerning my rating of an intuitive layout, since to this day I still prefer the Korg arranger OS to Yamaha's. The E80 styles sounded alive to me. The guitar mode has the equivalent of some of the basic features of Music Labs Real Guitar and Rythym N Chords. Pretty nice all in all. When I chose the Tyros 2, I demoed it against the PA1x and G70. It was by no means an easy choice, as I liked all three. I have no regrets at all regarding my final decison, but I will say that the decision may have been even more difficult than it aready was had the E80 been there at that time. There is a possibility that I would have gone home with it instead of the T2. One thing I will say though is that the keys feel a whole lot better on the T2 for my style of play than on either of the Roland arranger flagships. Other than that though, very good arrangers, all of 'em.

Then there is the Motif XS. The screen is much more to my liking. I see that the adjustable knobs have been doubled from 4 to 8. I noticed a much larger selection of synth based sounds, and some that the ES doesn't have an answer for. While I didn't get a feel of a vast improvement over the ES for staple sounds that both boards share or can closely relate to, there is enough there that I almost certainly would have upgraded.

Again, for me, and probably not all that many others, the main sticking point is the lack of integration with my plug in boards and a breathe controller. The breathe controller in particular has become a significant tool for me that also has a certain coolness factor that just adds to my enjoyment when playing live. I always feel that stuff like that translates well to the audience, so while it certainly is not an absolutely essential piece of equipment for me to have, I enjoy working with it to the point that I don't feel the tradeoff is worth it to me. Still, for those folks that want a workstation that also shares some characteristics of an arranger, and are in the large majority that don't care about the plug ins and breathe controller, I think this might be a worthwhile piece of equipment, that at the very least is worth a good long look.

When I take the time to reflect upon it a little, I can't help but think "What a great era to be a KB player / Electronic musician".

Regards,

AJ

[This message has been edited by Bluezplayer (edited 04-25-2007).]

AJ, I have to agree with you...it is a great era to have all the great keyboard stuff at our fingertips..All the major companies have great keyboards, especially the top of the line models..You can't go wrong with any of them..SD1, SD5, Genesys, PA1X, E80, G70, Tyros2, MediaStation, Wersi Abacus, and others..It can't get much better...

Definitely, Fran... If you have enough money and time, just about any of the TOTL arrangers will do a more than satisfactory job. Picking which one is the hardest part!

There is so much similarity, and yet so much difference between each one, the question of 'best' becomes moot. Each of us has our own individual needs and 'sound' we hear in our heads, the choice of one over another is a VERY individual decision.

Only AFTER we make the purchase does the need to 'defend' it's value sometimes appear, unfortunately. But expecting anyone else to have the same needs and wants than you do is unrealistic. Hopefully, everyone finally makes the 'perfect' decision, but must realize it is for YOU alone.

The new Korg M3, the MotifXS, Muse Receptors, so much ground-breaking new technology... How can we NOT think we live in great times...?

A fellow pilot buddy of mine used to say, "if God had intended man to fly, he would have given him more money". I'm starting to feel the same way about the gear lust created by today's great choices in the world of musical electronica.

BTW, is this the new, improved Fran talking? I like it........I think.

chas

I have to agree that we have come a very long way in the keyboard industry. There are so many options out there to select from. It's not just in the TOTL arrangers either, you can see so much has trickled down into the entry level models. Roland for example has 16 tracks of sequencing on their lowest arranger, Yamaha has mega voices on one of the entry level arrangers, and soon to be added SA voices to the 3000 replacement. Korgs lowest arranger has amazing synth editing features, not to mention many other great things... Just a great time to be a keyboardist for sure.

Squeak

Yes its a wonderful musical world out there that is really traveling changing so fast ...the hard part is meshing the Old train of thought with the New for players & audiences alike. Finding your style & your Niche` is the key...if you think this is good now...you ain't seen nothing yet believe me down the road!