Is This A new Trend?

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Yamaha is selling keyboards without power supplies!

This is just ONE that I saw, where on the case, it says, "Power adaptor not included"!

Why would I buy a car without a steering wheel? :eek:
 

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happyrat1

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It's yet another reason why I don't ever buy Yamaha. Most of their lower end keyboards ship without power adapters unless you are willing to shell out an extra $20 to $30 for them. :p

Gary ;)
 

SeaGtGruff

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This is nothing new as far as Yamaha keyboards are concerned. The lower-end models don't normally include a power adapter, but one might be included if the keyboard is being sold in certain countries, although I don't know what the deciding factors are. However, it does seem that those models which require a larger or more powerful adapter are sold with the adapter included-- for instance, when I bought the PSR-EW400 it came with an adapter, and it's a larger adapter than the one which is used by my PSR-E443, PSR-E433, and YPT-400.
 
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My Korg Kross 2 is battery powered but it did come with a power supply.

Not surprised at certain Yamaha keyboards not having power supplies included, they are not exactly expensive to start off with.

There is certainly a trend and a drive within the EU to stop power supplies being included as standard and for the power supply to be of a standard rating with standard connectors.
 
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I've noticed this too. Arturia keyboards don't come with power supplies either. Thankfully they can be powered over the USB port (through wall outlet or computer), so it's kind of irrelevant. Suspect many keyboards in the near future will ditch dedicated wall outlets, as USB ports can power most, and they're far cheaper.
 

happyrat1

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Controllers aren't the same as synths.

Likewise my Alesis QX49 came without a power supply but one reason I chose it was that it could run from USB as well as a 9V supply. Also because it had real MIDI ports as well as USB MIDI.

I picked up a compatible supply on eBay and use that nowadays with a MIDI module I picked up on Amazon.

The thing is nowadays the trend is for controllers to be plugged into a computer 99% of the time to use with soft synths.

Plugging into MIDI modules is more the exception than the rule.

But you may be correct that in the future we'll see more USB powered gear. The price of a USB wall wart and a USB cable is peanuts for most of us so in the worst case scenarios if you're plugging in on stage for a live performance without computer you'd still have an option.

Come to think of it, my Novation Ultranova also has dual power options. Depending on which way you slide the switch it's powered either by USB or by 9V wall wart.

Again this works out well for me since it uses proprietary USB drivers that don't run under Linux so I use the legacy MIDI ports with the wall wart instead.

Then again, Novation started out in the business as a controller company so it's really not that surprising they went with a USB power option.

Gary ;)
 
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This may be a bit of a medium-term transition too. You might be right that older USB cables (with the thinner wires) may not be capable of the power draw required for some full-blown workstations. However, USB3 and USB-C are spec'd to supply far more power, and I see a very bright future for USB-C. After that transition is made, I see little reason for keyboards to include a power port. Cheaper to just put 2 USB-C ports on and call it good. And it's a VERY good physical connector, far more robust than most coaxial power plugs.

The catch is that many computers aren't powerful enough to power a workstation but when used with an AC adaptor to a wall outlet, USB cables can provide much more.

That said, your comment about Novation Ultranova being USB powered makes me think that probably quite a few could now. I'm just done with wall warts. USB cables are everywhere. I'm cool with full computer power cables. But if you're using a small coaxial doodad, I'd always rather use USB.
 

happyrat1

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Well my Juno DS for instance, which is my newest keyboard, uses something that looks like a repurposed laptop supply.

My Studiologic Sledge and my Kurzweil PC3K8 still use internal supplies connected thru standard three pronged computer cables.

Back in the good old days they put the supplies INSIDE the keyboards and the only extra kit you had to haul around was a simple power cord.

It's all about saving $12 on the manufacturing costs these days. *sigh* :p

Gary ;)
 

happyrat1

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Another reason I'm not thrilled with USB power for everything these days.

Health Canada made a statement last week about cheap USB chargers causing fires and electrocution hazards.

https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2018/03/27/usb-chargers-recall-fire-risk_a_23396831/

By allowing the keyboard manufacturers to save a few lousy bux they put the onus on the end user to scrounge up a suitable supply and there's a lot of dodgy stuff coming from China these days. :p

Gary ;)
 
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Question.

How many power supplies do you folks have in a drawer somewhere that you do not use?

I probably have about six.

That is a lot of wasted materials.

As for Chinese rubbish its up to the governments to stop sucking Chinese ass and ban or levy out of anyones price range sub-standard or ripped off goods.
 

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How many power supplies do you folks have in a drawer somewhere that you do not use?
I have a few but can't remember what they belong to. Obsolete Phone charger maybe. I would be scared to use any old adapter on any new appliance. I remember throwing out some over the years.
As for Chinese rubbish its up to the governments to stop sucking Chinese ass and ban or levy out of anyones price range sub-standard or ripped off goods.
second that!
Ray
 

happyrat1

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It's up to you then. If the government were to ban substandard Chinese imports you'd be paying $50 for a phone charger or $300 for an MP3 player or $2000 for an LCD 32" TV.

It's one thing to ban a substandard product. The government does it all the time. It's quite another thing to police the $100 Billion a month imports that come in shipping containers daily.

You'd have to increase the number of postal and customs inspectors by 10 thousandfold in order to guarantee no counterfeit or dangerous products slipped thru and in the end it's the consumer who foots the bill.

Even now as we speak here the Donald has instigated a minor trade war with China which has resulted in a 15% plunge in the stock markets this past week.

Woulda coulda shoulda, but fairy tale solutions are no answer in the real world :p

Gary ;)
 
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Gary's TOTALLY on the money. It's not that simple at all. What people are talking about would instantly bankrupt the western world and throw us into an immense depression. Unfortunately, economic change only really works when it's gradual, you gotta give time for things like median income, cost of living, inflation, etc. to catch up, or everything will go south for a very long time.

The simple truth is that we in N/A, Europe, and most of the 1st/2nd world rely on the backs of cheap, awful 3rd-world labour. It's not right, true, but everyone looses with trigger-finger changes. We enforce large-scale changes in standards on them, millions loose their jobs over there, cost of living skyrockets here, and the income gap becomes even more extreme than it already is. Don't want to get into politics, here, and I don't really have to... not gonna pretend to know what the answer is, there probably isn't one.
 
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China makes a substantial amount of goods for the western market to the standards set in the contract they have with the Western Companies who have sourced the manufacturing in China.

They they produce cheap clones of the very same goods and sell them in their own market and to anyone stupid enough to buy one.

Its your Governments and Companies who have created the environment where western jobs have basically been moved to third world manufacturing bases, Gap, Reebok etc were doing it years and years ago and others have followed.

Its only in the last 20 years that China has boomed and that was due to rampant western capitalist Companies seeing a quick buck and Governments helping them by exploiting the cheap labour base.

Look at within China itself, collosal differences between the mega rich and the very poor, low factory wages, billionaires in there luxury ivory towers (some communist regime is it not), does this not ring any alarm bells, the decline of manufacturing in the USA, UK etc.

Check out blatant Chinese clones of luxury cars like Range Rovers, Porsches etc. and then argue why this is acceptable for an international trading partner.

Then look at just how much China now owns of the USA, it owns a collossal amount of the national USA debt, China can bankrupt the USA in an instant if it chooses to do so.

So the millions of jobs lost in manufacturing in the western world have been replaced by factories in third world countries where the staff are exploited for the benefit of the few and of corporate greed.

Sadly there is no easy fix to give a decent lifestyle to every person on this planet, I wish I knew that one was even remotely achievable.
 

happyrat1

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Actually a study was released a week or two ago.

In order to give a poverty line standard of living to everyone on the planet we would require the resources of 4 planet Earths!!!!

If you wanted to live in a utopian world without poverty you should have thought about that before you had kids :p

Nowadays the trend is to build up the living standard in the third world at the cost of tearing down the expectations and standards of the western world.

Of course logic rarely enters the mechanics of procreation so we remain merrily on course for 8 Billion in another couple of years and then onwards and upwards to 9 and 10 billion.

Thank god I'll be dead and gone at that point. It'll become your kids' problem then.

Gary ;)
 

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