We recently has a stimulating discussion about what we call "flr2006", ie; arrangers & softsynths, and an unrelated post on another forum has given me an epiphany. I thought I'd share this with you guys and see what you thought:

Quote:
Originally posted by Zeke Smith.:
[QB] Re Roland and Yamaha, I think you're underestimating the amount that the great divide between the US and Japanese parts of the respective companies play into the equation. I have "friends of good friends" who are placed fairly high up in the US branches of Roland and Yamaha (but especially at Roland), and I know that they've had headaches for YEARS trying to get Roland Japan and Yamaha Japan to bend a bit to their values and product needs. It's not just a geographical thing, it's a cultural thing. I'll leave it at that. This means that the US branches of both companies get stuck trying to sell the occasional odd product that just doesn't fit the US market or the marketing concept at all, or they never get the products they beg for. Unless a product idea originates in the Japanese parent company, it has a harder time seeing the light of day. It's a strange political environment.
[/QB]


I'd heard this before but it makes more sense in light of the softsynth vs. hardsynth discussion. I thought we'd see a new breed of Yamaha softsynths when they acquired Steinberg and basically bought VST technology but it hasn't happened (yet?). In fact, Yamaha buried it's only XG softsynth some time ago, Roland makes proprietary softsynths for their hardware only, which leaves Korg as the only one of the top major three keyboard manufacturers to be making true softsynths (and even then, only emulations of their hardware products).

There's little doubt that softsynths are going to be increasingly seen as viable for live use, and they are multiplying like rabbits, so developing host instruments makes a lot of sense... it may be an inevitable result of progress. The two keyboard/instruments makers that are leading the way to the future in my mind are Open Labs and Muse Research, both American companies. Also, I think that laptop computers are growing in capacity and have a place in modern musician's lives so many of us are finding ways to incorporate them into our stage rigs.

I never saw this trend towards softsynths as a cultural clash before now, but as I recall the many years I have suffered with the difficult operating systems, slow upgrade offerings, translated-to-English owners manuals and frustrating customer support from Y/R/K instruments in the past, I realize that my flight to softsynths may indeed be a need to get away from Japanese keyboards. For example, I have no interest in the Tyros 2 because it's a closed-architecture instrument that doesn't address my needs for a serious 76 or 88 note keybed, and it never will. It may actually be offending Yamaha Japan that we (American and other non-Japanese consumers) would suggest making a 76-note Tyros. The Roland G-70 and Korg PA1X-Pro have also come up short in one way or another for what I need (polyphony, lack of pro recording outputs, lackluster sounds, limited computer interfacing options, etc.).

When I look at my studio and my stage rig and think of what it would look like without the Japanese products I've relied on for so long, it changes everything. It's a little like finding the cause of a mysterious pain that's been bothering me and finally knowing what to do about it.

Does this ring a bell for anyone else?