Interesting toptic "to the genesys".
Regarding price I have this to say for whatever it's worth.
Manufacturers price their products a lot of times on the "supply and demand" principle. Arrangers are coming into their own here in the States and have already been established in Europe for many years. So they are finally getting recognition and they are becoming a hot item for pro's and hobbyists alike. When you finally get major artists and other high level professional figures buying high end Arrangers for their Studios or jobs and they are getting rave reviews in MI magazines and they are now starting to become more and more an option from musicians that are of the traditional mindset. And consequently they are selling more and more of them here in the States and even more so in Europe.
For instance, let's take the Tyros.
Yamaha originally priced the Tyros at $2,499 at all major MI stores throughout the U.S.A. when it first came out.
When Yamaha saw that the Tyros was popular with consumers and they started selling briskly it didn't take Yamaha long to raise the price to $2,999. That's $500 more than they were getting which is quite a substantial increase. The Tyros stayed at that price for years and only until the Tyros2 debuted did Yamaha {temporarily} reduce the price of the Tyros back down to $2,499. But I noticed recently the price is now back up to $2,999 at Guitar Center. Why?? Well one reason is GC doesn't stock the Tyros2 to compete with the Tyros for sales. So Yamaha has conveniently raised the price again because the Tyros is probably selling just as well at $2,999 as it did at $2,499. And since the Tyros is a hot item on the market right now, Yamaha is taking advantage of this and has marked it back up because of: you guessed it
, - "supply and demand" and people are willing to pay the price.
If there is a big demand for ANY consumer product the manufacturer more often than not raises the price - sometimes 'considerably'.
If high-end Arrangers were not hot items in the market we would see their prices drop much lower than they are right now in my opinion. Case in point: 3 1/2 years ago the Tyros came out which in my opinion was the first time an Arranger's sounds were considered up to snuff with the PRO level Workstations in the eyes of many people. And when they started selling like hot cakes in the States and in Europe Yamaha suddenly realized the gold mine they were sitting on and quickly raised the price accordingly as I stated earlier.
It's not so much the cost of hardware or styles as some have suggested but the fact that these new high end Arrangers are becoming hot items to the public and many don't seem to mind shelling out more and more bucks for them. The manufacturers are probably bemusing to themselves that the saying: "If you build them they will come" is fascinatingly becoming a reality for them with the like of the Tyros/2, etc. And they are seizing the opportunity by pricing these new high end (or even mid-range) Arrangers through the roof. And as long as people are willing to pay these outlandishly high prices for these companies high end or mid-range Arranger products they will gladly continue to oblige you and price them at the same high levels thank you.
My 2¢
Best regards,
Mike
[This message has been edited by keybplayer (edited 07-28-2006).]