Is it bothering anyone else here how keyboard makers are suddenly deciding that common features on both arrangers and synth/workstations aren't important anymore, and how they're dropping some basic features to lure in more buyers for other products of theirs..???

One thing that really bites my backside is how suddenly basic midi jacks are no longer important on some arranger keyboards, and the USB jacks they've added are really a joke in terms of midi control. I've been considering an inexpensive arranger to add to my synths and I have a few in line. One of the "so called affordable" arrangers from Yamaha I've been looking at is the PSR-S500. I can't for the life of me swallow that Yamaha has dropped basic midi jacks on a $700 arranger keyboard, and given it a USB-Host (that's quite limited). Even Roland's E-09 has midi jacks. I would assume that Yamaha has grown tired of musicians buying their lower end arrangers for the secondary use as a midi keyboard. Dropping the midi jacks means buyers now have to buy the more expensive models just to get them....

Yammie also did something VERY dirty with the Yamaha Motif XS. Someone or some team must have brain-stormed on this one for a while. They somehow had a team decide that "step sequencing/recording" is no longer a needed feature on a full blown synth workstation! They got very dirty on this one. Yamaha has dropped this feature (which is a very commonly used feature on workstations especically for the styles of music synths thrive at which is electronica), and when this issue has been brought up a Yamaha rep has always so kindly said "use the included seq software" that ships with the Motif. They've taken a very used feature and are using that to drive the "upgrade sales" of their seq software program. Why in the hell should a Motif XS user have to hook up to a software seq just to get freakin step recording... It's not just Yamaha. Even the all mighty Kurzweil has seen this effect. I read about this on another forum too. I never thought I'd see the day that a Kurzweil-a maker who has for years been known as one of the leading synths for the program junky..., has dropped step seq/recording on the new PC3X.

I'm just tired of the makers dropping features people DO USE on keyboards in order to sell their more expensive line. Sorry, but this has been bothering me lately. I'm going nuts trying to find the right arranger to add to my setup, but it's not going to be used as a main keyboard, but I still want it to have freakin MIDI jacks and not some crippled USB midi.

[This message has been edited by squeak_D (edited 08-05-2008).]