When did we become "Arrangerforums.com?"

[happyrat1]

I'm sure as hell you're all as pleased as punch with the pretty noises coming out of your yamahahahadoodles but if Yamaha's such a treasure to own then why don't they supply the resources for a user forum for their products?

Out of all the brands I've had to deal with in the last 20 years, Yamaha has been a persistent thorn in my side.

Their treatment of their customers is downright condescending if not simply rude and abrupt.

When I bought my first Sequential synth two years ago I received tech support on a personal and timely and direct basis from a warm and helpful human being at the company.

I've dealt with Roland support as well. Received a few bonus addons for a JD-Xi I've since sold off and ran a Juno DS88 for 3 years with nary a squabble.

Korg I've never actually encountered in support, but while the korgs I've owned have always been sturdy and well designed, but their software is utterly useless if not a serious security risk on your machine. And don't get me started on the 350 page manuals copied in Sanskrit from the original Greek.

Kurzweil >>>. Once upon a time they offered solid, rapid, professional support for exceptional products but the years have taken their toll on business, and sometime around the start of the pandemic they started dropping distributorship throughout the 5 eyes partnership with a precious few remaining like AU and NZ. I can no longer legally purchase a new Kurzweil in Canada. But in the past? Firmware solid as a rock but software farmed out to Soundtower "YUCK". Double Yuck for Korg using them too

M-Audio: - Generally good MIDI compliance and compatibility with their designated musical functions. Some issues directly relative to price of unit have included MIDI timing glitches with underpowered hardware.

Arturia >. The king of controllers and sequencers. Excellent build quality on most of the higher end stuff. Specifically the Keystep and Beatstep stuff. Minus 3 stars for their tacky DRM stinking software and their paranoid registration requirements.


And that kids, is my humble, unvarnished opinon of what this forum is all about.

PS. NOT "What stinking yamaha should I force my kid to play?"

 

[Old No7]

Gee Gary, did you run out of gummies or something ? ? ?

Seriously though, it seems we do attract a lot of newbies here -- with some asking about computer keyboards too!

As for Yamaha support, I've never had to contact them, but the website "yamahamusicians.com" moderated by a gent name Saul has been my go-to place for info and Q&A on my MODX6. Other Yama boards are covered there too.

Old No7

 

[happyrat1]

I'm simply appalled that from now til doomsday anyone who comes to the forum seeking buying advice is going to be swayed by the sheer number of PSR people recommending what they use to the detriment of all other brands.

Nobody wanted trump, but they hollered and screamed til they elected him,

 

[TedS]

I'm a home hobbyist arranger player, and arrangers have a broad appeal to musicians of all skill levels. You can certainly get a lot of output for comparatively little effort! A lot of folks equate "keyboard" with "arranger." Yamaha (along with Casio at the lower end of the market) also has the largest retail presence in the USA. So that might explain the sheer number of posts.

If you re-read my posts, you'll see that I generally DON'T recommend Yamaha, especially their entry-level PSRs which are very limited in terms of their capabilities. I also agree with you that as a company, they seem to have a condescending "we're never wrong" attitude. I know of no mechanism by which they elicit or accept user feedback, and I see little evidence of it in their feature development. Some of their experts who provide online support for their non-arranger workstations like the MODX have demonstrated a condescending attitude on their own support forums!

How I wish that Roland were still actively developing their arranger product line. Like it or not, for the foreseeable future Yamaha has the largest user base, and the largest collection of styles and content. A product I hope they will make is a Genos module, so that I can access their styles and patterns without shoehorning another expensive full-sized keyboard it into a corner of my living room! My $.02.

 

[aprilla]

People have to start somewhere and Yamaha seem to have their keyboards in more varied outlets. I noticed that soon even our Aldi is featuring a Yamaha keyboard in it's specials... nicely in time for Christmas. I've never seen a Korg or Roland or any other keyboard (except Casio) sold this way. They say once you start with a product brand you are likely to stick with it, so it's marketing. That's not to excuse Yamaha's neglect of their customers, but it does somewhat explain why so many beginners arrive with a Casio or Yamaha keyboard, and we/they can only recommend what we have experience of.

I started with Yamaha but after doing research years ago I decided Technics was the keyboard for me, so bought one (I still have my KN2400) but just a short time afterward Technics closed down, and a lot of the support for them went the same way. But having been used to Yamaha I missed the sound so went back to them and to the support system that existed for them. Even if not from Yamaha the support base for Yamaha was and is still very strong and it might not be a bad thing that they aren't controlled, managed or owned by Yamaha. Did they try it though? I seem to think maybe they did, but it wasn't as good or helpful/friendly/welcoming as what was already set up (possibly their attitude) and just didn't become a go-to place, didn't last... just a vague memory.

 

[aprilla]

with some asking about computer keyboards too

I've seen some of them, it's too funny

 

[Gunnar J]

..... why don't they supply the resources for a user forum for their products?

Probably because they see that the customers can join a couple of great and dedicated fora where to post pros and cons as well as get great help for almost all there is asked for.
That way Yamaha (and others) have world wide and very knowledgeable support centers at low cost.....

To be fair, I've contacted Y Support once or twice during the years, and they where nice and helpful.

 

[Biggles]

If you head over to a certain other forum you will find many there who also are here but you will also find dozens and dozens of the most pretentious that reside on any forum, embrace the good natured member content that we have here, there is room for all like minded musicians.

As a home player I much prefer Arrangers to workstations plus I have never owned an out and out synth, only played around with synth apps.

Synths do not really work for me, there are more than enough Synth sounds which are still customisable in my Korg Pa to keep me more than satisfied.

So a welcome to all the Yamahaha owners and players.

As long as we all make music it matters not what we use.

 

[mindfulplayer]

I'm not on this forum much, but looking at a bunch of recent posts here I don't see a huge number of PSR posts. I actually see a lot of Korg arranger posts. But I'll defer to the OP on this since he is on here much more.

Currently, I think psrtutorial is still the main Yamaha go-to arranger forum site, followed by Yamaha Musicians Forum (which has more in-depth discussion than psrtutorial), followed probably by this nice forum. I have found just about all members on all these forum sites to be considerate and helpful.

Rich

 

[TedS]

Rich's^^ post reminded me that psrtutorial was down for about a month, and then Korg Forums went offline, supposedly for maintenance, and is still down. So for a while at least, folks were looking for other places to discuss keyboards / arrangers. PSRTutorial is back online, not sure what's up with the Korg Forums.

I've also been a member of the Arranger forums on SynthZone since about 2005. That place used to have a lot of volume. But some folks passed away and others moved to other sites. I'm a gear junkie and I'm always looking for info about, and experiences with new gear. The market has been relatively stagnant, so from my personal perspective, there just hasn't been as much to talk about. My $.02.

 

[Bouncingogre]

This has been my go to forum for a number of years, quite simply because the Korg Forum seems to have died, and the Original psr forum has been taken over by some kind of condescending corporate dictatorship site who have pretty well already destroyed all the great work that Joe Waters and Roger Brenizer built up over many years.
Yamaha musicians is going the same way with up your arse, gobby self opinionated moderators who just like to see their own names on the site. One in particular! Bye to that kind of self infatuation!

I've played pretty well all makes in my 78 years on planet earth. Some great... Technics, Roland, Orla and Yamaha. Some, outright shite... we all know those!
But recently, the build quality of higher range Yamahaha boards has been complete crap and eye wateringly expensive!
Dodgy, rattly keybeds, plastic cases and blingy lights. Built anywhere cheap and not the traditional Yamahas which were built in Japan with care. So they leave these dodgy outsourced factories with more bugs than a tramps mattress.
My own view of Yamaha customer service is that if you do have a problem, the immediate response is to say "Oh... We haven't come across that before". Complete tosh answer instead of dealing with it.

So currently for me, Korg is my choice.
Korg Customer service in the UK is swift, helpful and effective. This forum provides non waffly, sometimes very funny answers, and it's always great to help and share ideas with others.

I like Arranger's, I don't like synths, I like organs, I don't like basic pianos, I like composing, but I don't even understand what a DAW is... My Only experience with them is opening and closing them.....

I'll get my coat!

Keith

 

[mindfulplayer]

I don't totally understand what the Psrtutorial forum new owners are about. I am OK that they also run a styles and pack store, but to me the content they offer on that shop is oddly very sparse. I think they did a pretty good job getting the forum back somewhat to what it had been before, and they are at least responding to member complaints. But we don't know why they have not implemented private messaging and the performers section is getting complaints.

Yamaha Musicians is a quality managed forum. I check in there almost daily. All the moderators (several from the original PSRtutorial forum) I would say are experts in their categories and they offer their knowledge and opinions in a totally appropriate manner, all voluntary on their own time, which is the whole point of a forum. If there is any forum I might be concerned about, it might be this one.

Rich

 

[happyrat1]

Please don't tell me this is a political turf war between different systems, because nobody wins ANY war these days.

The best thing about the old community was our familiarity with each other and freedom to be ourselves.

Looks like the old neighbourhood has become designated a commercial zone

 

[happyrat1]

 

[mindfulplayer]

Who's starting wars? Not me

 

[happyrat1]

Who's starting wars? Not me

Civil wars inside the yamahahahadoodle forums.

Are we collecting refugees?

Who's minding the borders?

 

[happyrat1]

Basically we've become a high traffic forum thru no fault of our own.

Now I know how Arthur Dent felt when they demolished Earth for a hyperspace bypass.

 

[Bouncingogre]

Each to his own opinion.
Wars aren't necessary.

 

[happyrat1]

The Huns are at the city gates!!! Man the ramparts!!!

 

[terryb]

Tosh, Play your keyboards guys