No Keyboards In Stores!

[jazzpiano88]

6 hours ago, Nathanael_I said:

I think you are missing something in your analysis.  Much of the best visual storytelling today is NOT being done for theaters.  They are dying a slow death since COVID and the rise of truly great streaming shows.  Who wants to sit in a shabby seat with sticky floors and 30 minutes of truly mind-numbing previews for movies I'll never want to watch?  The best writers and directors are not making Marvel movies.  They are working on Netflix, Amazon, and other streaming productions. 

 

People aren't talking about movies in the hallways at work.  They talk about shows.  All of these are done to very high production standards - theater quality.  Read the Netflix video and audio standards if you don't believe me.  They describe in detail the entire post-production chain that must be intact in order to pay for the show.  It's as pro as pro gets.  No different than a Hollywood structure.  These shows have budgets in the tens and hundreds of millions - just like a movie.  Game of Thrones is a streaming franchise worth billions of dollars.  Video games are 9 times larger by revenue than the entire movie industry, and the blockbusters have the same budgets as the largest motion pictures.  The theaters are almost not relevant to the cultural conversation in 2023. 

 

The actual innovation in storytelling is happening on streaming.  What director would want to tell a short 90 min story vs. having a whole season to develop a narrative arc?  The medium is just vastly superior for storytelling.  And the innovation is happening much faster than the theatrical system can sustain.  The day of a handful of taste masters deciding what everyone should watch and listen to is over.  It's been over in music for almost two decades, and it's now that way for film and storytelling.  The explosion of creativity we are witnessing is fantastic.

 

It is an amazing time to be a creative with access to world-class tools at affordable prices and almost free global distribution. 

Agree.  Theater is pretty dead.   Add AppleTV+ to your list.  They green lighted season 3 of Tehran in Feb.  There’s a ton of amazing streaming content out there.  

[o0Ampy0o]

9 hours ago, Nathanael_I said:

I think you are missing something in your analysis.  Much of the best visual storytelling today is NOT being done for theaters.  They are dying a slow death since COVID and the rise of truly great streaming shows.  Who wants to sit in a shabby seat with sticky floors and 30 minutes of truly mind-numbing previews for movies I'll never want to watch?  The best writers and directors are not making Marvel movies.  They are working on Netflix, Amazon, and other streaming productions. 

 

People aren't talking about movies in the hallways at work.  They talk about shows.  All of these are done to very high production standards - theater quality.  Read the Netflix video and audio standards if you don't believe me.  They describe in detail the entire post-production chain that must be intact in order to pay for the show.  It's as pro as pro gets.  No different than a Hollywood structure.  These shows have budgets in the tens and hundreds of millions - just like a movie.  Game of Thrones is a streaming franchise worth billions of dollars.  Video games are 9 times larger by revenue than the entire movie industry, and the blockbusters have the same budgets as the largest motion pictures.  The theaters are almost not relevant to the cultural conversation in 2023. 

 

The actual innovation in storytelling is happening on streaming.  What director would want to tell a short 90 min story vs. having a whole season to develop a narrative arc?  The medium is just vastly superior for storytelling.  And the innovation is happening much faster than the theatrical system can sustain.  The day of a handful of taste masters deciding what everyone should watch and listen to is over.  It's been over in music for almost two decades, and it's now that way for film and storytelling.  The explosion of creativity we are witnessing is fantastic.

 

It is an amazing time to be a creative with access to world-class tools at affordable prices and almost free global distribution. 

 

I was describing a different form of bad presentation of visual entertainment. I see a lot of promise but there is little that lives up to the hints. Theatrical presentation has not yet and may not ever recover from the effects of Covid-19. The shift to home theater viewing started before Covid. There is a different barometer used and now that there has been time to gather data there is an emerging product with a different bullet list derived from the new metric. It isn't intended to be the best storytelling. It is intended to get the most out of the format it is presented through. It caters to distracted viewers with short attention spans. It aims to hook you quickly because you don't give it the time to go slower. This eliminates many approaches that can be effective. You end up with more of an extended trailer as the actual show.

 

There had been shifts towards streaming pre-Covid. Netflix, for instance, sort of wrote blank checks. They assembled all the top pieces but what came out of the oven looked great but didn't necessarily taste great. I notice beautiful cinematography, star actors, star directors, star writers. It looks good. The staging looks good. Having the best ingredients doesn't guarantee a great product. Even with good acting it starts to get hollow when things overreach.  Weaknesses are exemplified. The weakness may be the glue binding everything together. Part of that glue is the overall objective.

 

The new approach isn't to be great. It is to pique curiosity so you tune in and want to keep with it to the end. The new objective is not to present a great story the best way in a visual format. Having all the best tools and operators with a blank check doesn't guarantee the best end product especially when the objective doesn't align with what the patron is anticipating.

[Dave Keys]

In the UK we have plenty of Music stores, but from a Keys point of view, it is mostly Roland, Yamaha, Casio, Korg, Nord. I live in Britains' second largest City, and could not find anywhere that had the Roland RD88 in stock for me to try. I had to get a store to order it into their showroom first.  If you want to try Dexibel, Hammond, Sequential, or Numa Pianos, you have to resort to buying online and hoping for the best. 

[Ibarch]

5 hours ago, Dave Keys said:

In the UK we have plenty of Music stores, but from a Keys point of view, it is mostly Roland, Yamaha, Casio, Korg, Nord. I live in Britains' second largest City, and could not find anywhere that had the Roland RD88 in stock for me to try. I had to get a store to order it into their showroom first.  If you want to try Dexibel, Hammond, Sequential, or Numa Pianos, you have to resort to buying online and hoping for the best. 

 

Birmingham is a bit of a musical backwater  😂

 

[David Emm]

There's another aspect, which is the hellish expense of theatrical laser projection and related sound systems. Operators can't begin to sell enough popcorn for it after a while, with ticket sales NOT being the main source of profit. It may not be traditionally "cheap," but here on KC, semi-big gear rigs are no new thing and that goes likewise with home theater. A few thousand bucks (a few, he says) will land you a 5-foot-wide screen and 5:1 sound. Your only problem then is annoying the neighbors with the noise. Its sometimes undervalued, but there's a lot to be said for enjoying your home from within the comfort of your own shorts.

 

Do I miss the crowd reactions? Oh yeah. I went to see "Avengers: Endgame" again just to drink in the crowd response to all of the narrative beats. OTOH, sometimes the only thing worse than isolation is the alternative. One screaming kid 3 aisles back turns my milk of human kindness into cottage cheese.   

[The Real MC]

Could someone change the thread title?

[ElmerJFudd]

The thread needs no less than three titles.  What else is new!  Hahahah

[Josh Paxton]

19 minutes ago, David Emm said:

Do I miss the crowd reactions? Oh yeah. I went to see "Avengers: Endgame" again just to drink in the crowd response to all of the narrative beats. OTOH, sometimes the only thing worse than isolation is the alternative. One screaming kid 3 aisles back turns my milk of human kindness into cottage cheese.

 

Ding ding ding. This is the reason I basically stopped going to movie theaters somewhere between 10 and 15 years ago. That was when my idea of what constituted Acceptable Movie Theater Behavior became irreconcilable with the general public's idea of it. Every once in a great while I'll make an exception and go to a weekday matinee at a small neighborhood cinema, and more often than not I end up regretting it, because that many people either don't know or don't care how their behavior affects those around them. For a movie to make me want to endure the presence of random strangers for 90 minutes, it's got to be something pretty special. 

[ElmerJFudd]

37 minutes ago, Josh Paxton said:

 

Ding ding ding. This is the reason I basically stopped going to movie theaters somewhere between 10 and 15 years ago. That was when my idea of what constituted Acceptable Movie Theater Behavior became irreconcilable with the general public's idea of it. Every once in a great while I'll make an exception and go to a weekday matinee at a small neighborhood cinema, and more often than not I end up regretting it, because that many people either don't know or don't care how their behavior affects those around them. For a movie to make me want to endure the presence of random strangers for 90 minutes, it's got to be something pretty special. 

When we were kids, for me in the 70s, the movie theater was still a big deal. Movies were still a big deal. They only came out with a few good ones a season.  There were one or two that just about everyone wanted to see and you’d wait in a line down the block for a ticket. Technology has made movie making more affordable and the internet has given us an incredible variety of sources for content. Not all of it is good.  But if you can sift through the junk there is more stuff than ever that might appeal to you. Just like what’s happened to music. 
 

It would also seem the 160 minute movie format may no longer be king for good story telling.  The budget for a series has gone way up and it gives creatives much more time to develop characters and weave plots.  I hope a similar trend happens for music where albums get more attention than singles.  

[Docbop]

3 hours ago, Josh Paxton said:

 

Ding ding ding. This is the reason I basically stopped going to movie theaters somewhere between 10 and 15 years ago. That was when my idea of what constituted Acceptable Movie Theater Behavior became irreconcilable with the general public's idea of it. Every once in a great while I'll make an exception and go to a weekday matinee at a small neighborhood cinema, and more often than not I end up regretting it, because that many people either don't know or don't care how their behavior affects those around them. For a movie to make me want to endure the presence of random strangers for 90 minutes, it's got to be something pretty special. 

 

 

For me I like going to movie with a good sized audience that gets into the movie it adds a lot if excitement to the experience.    Being an old guy and not as mobile as I used to be I tend to go to matinees a lot, but for a lot of new releases I know have a huge following I'll got to the first showing to be part of the event.  Sometime if I liked the movie a lot and I'll go to see it a secord time a week or so later at a matinee and small audience, very quiet, and the movie just isn't as exciting.   

 

To me that just like difference between hearing a band live and playing the record, the energy of the live band, audience, vibe in the room make the music come alive.   

[o0Ampy0o]

I am guilty of being part of chatter during a showing. I saw Born on the Fourth of July with a girlfriend who was really funny. During the scene in a Mexican brothel she turned to me with the timing and rhythm of a comedian and asked, "Do you speak Spanish?" loud enough that at least the people in the immediate surrounding seats would have heard it clearly.  It was so funny it was forgivable.

 

I can do without things like a kid who points out a cameo because he wants everyone to know he knows something special everyone else didn't and that he saw it first. He thinks no one else would recognize the cameo. No doubt he knows it before he gets to the theater and probably cares more about going to the movie so he can make that declaration than he cares about watching the movie, (i.e. "Huey Lewis!" when he appears in a camera pan of high school faculty in Back To The Future).

 

Some people don't go to theaters to watch a movie. They go to a theater so they can dork off sitting in the theater.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Outkaster]

I hope theaters never go away.

[ElmerJFudd]

With door delivery of everything - groceries and restaurant meals, all retail and all media streamed to your home, work from home… are we finding enough reasons to go out at all?  Are we speaking to other humans?  Getting enough exercise? Socializing at all, even in the most basic context?   
 

[stoken6]

21 hours ago, Ibarch said:

Birmingham is a bit of a musical backwater  😂

Yup, no impact on the musical scene whatsoever. Unless you count heavy metal. And Dexys. Moody Blues. Duran Duran. ELO. 🤣

 

Cheers, Mike.

[Dave Keys]

22 hours ago, Ibarch said:

 

Birmingham is a bit of a musical backwater  😂

 

Take it that’s irony? 🤣

[Lou Gehrig Charles]

1 hour ago, stoken6 said:

Yup, no impact on the musical scene whatsoever. Unless you count heavy metal. And Dexys. Moody Blues. Duran Duran. ELO. 🤣

 

Cheers, Mike.

Oh, come ON, Eileen!

[Ibarch]

1 hour ago, Dave Keys said:

Take it that’s irony? 🤣

 

Absolutely. The home of ELO. Nothing more needs to be said

 

[Keyboardplayer]

On 5/16/2023 at 6:21 AM, Stokely said:

You can't bring facts in!  According to all my relatives, cities are war-torn Mad Max hellscapes.  Of course, they never actually go to one, nor do they know anyone living in one to ask, so their social media "news" tells them all they need to know!

As far as Orlando goes, yeah it's one gigantic sprawling suburb with a relatively small city core, once out of that core there's few buildings more than one story.    I reckon that's what happens when a city does most of its growing in the highway age.  Huge contrast to some cities up north and especially over in Europe.
 

 

Hopefully things will get straightened out in the not too distant future. In the meantime, Sweetwater and other online musical instrument retailers will have to do for higher-end products, I reckon. You can also order online at Guitar Center dot com, and they'll ship it to one of their stores, and you can go in and pick it up at your convenience once it arrives. But the main purpose of having those products in stores and on display is to try them out to see if they meet your needs. Times they are a changin'.   

[o0Ampy0o]

1 hour ago, Keyboardplayer said:

Hopefully things will get straightened out in the not too distant future.......Times they are a changin'.   

Won't happen in the not too distant future if it happens at all no matter who you hope for out of who there is to choose from.

 

Change is constant but everything stays the same until it changes. 

[Motif88]

I guess many who replied my original "rant" didn't bother to look at my signature....outside of the recently purchased Hydrasynth Deluxe, everything has been soft synths via an RD-2000 as a master controller. It appears the U.K has more options for hardware.

 

For the record - 

Using: Roland RD-2000, Hydrasynth Deluxe, Mac Studio, Studio Display, Logic Pro, Arturia:V Collection 9/Cherry Audio:GX-80, Dreamsynth, Quadra/ G-Force: OB-E, Oddity3/VPS Avenger/Korg:MS20,Triton/Native:Komplete 14/Roland Cloud Pro/Spectrasonics:Keyscape,Omnisphere/uhe:Diva,Hive,Zebra2/HZ

 

Sold: Korg:Kronos 88,T3,MS20,Yamaha:Motif XS8,Motif ES8,Motif 8,KX88,TX7, Oberheim:Modular 8 Voice,OBXa,OB8,Prophet 5,Roland D50,Dyno-My-Rhodes,Crumar T2

[jazzpiano88]

8 hours ago, ElmerJFudd said:

With door delivery of everything - groceries and restaurant meals, all retail and all media streamed to your home, work from home… are we finding enough reasons to go out at all?  Are we speaking to other humans?  Getting enough exercise? Socializing at all, even in the most basic context?  

 

In the public service of expanding this thread even further  (one of the funniest bits I've seen in years):

 

 

[ElmerJFudd]

5 minutes ago, JazzPiano88 said:

 

In the public service of expanding this thread even further  (one of the funniest bits I've seen in years):

 

 

He's very funny, and spot on with how things were, and how things are.

[jazzpiano88]

1 hour ago, ElmerJFudd said:

He's very funny, and spot on with how things were, and how things are.

 No kidding!   This was my house growing up!   Down to the Sanka.

 

People drove around and just dropped in on their friends.   We had people drop by that would be driving through on a road trip.

 

Back then, there was so little stimulation, we'd love someone showing up to talk to.  

 

Now we're overstimulated and can't deal with a nanometer of unpredictability.

[jazzpiano88]

1 hour ago, ElmerJFudd said:

He's very funny, and spot on with how things were, and how things are.

Today

 

[ElmerJFudd]

18 minutes ago, JazzPiano88 said:

Today

 

 

[jazzpiano88]

11 minutes ago, ElmerJFudd said:

 

 

Is that in theaters or streaming? 

[ElmerJFudd]

3 minutes ago, JazzPiano88 said:

 

Is that in theaters or streaming? 

I think it will hit theaters first.  

[o0Ampy0o]

3 hours ago, Motif88 said:

I guess many who replied my original "rant" didn't bother to look at my signature....outside of the recently purchased Hydrasynth Deluxe, everything has been soft synths via an RD-2000 as a master controller. It appears the U.K has more options for hardware.

 

For the record - 

Using: Roland RD-2000, Hydrasynth Deluxe, Mac Studio, Studio Display, Logic Pro, Arturia:V Collection 9/Cherry Audio:GX-80, Dreamsynth, Quadra/ G-Force: OB-E, Oddity3/VPS Avenger/Korg:MS20,Triton/Native:Komplete 14/Roland Cloud Pro/Spectrasonics:Keyscape,Omnisphere/uhe:Diva,Hive,Zebra2/HZ

 

Sold: Korg:Kronos 88,T3,MS20,Yamaha:Motif XS8,Motif ES8,Motif 8,KX88,TX7, Oberheim:Modular 8 Voice,OBXa,OB8,Prophet 5,Roland D50,Dyno-My-Rhodes,Crumar T2

The following is said with ❤️ 😍 ❤️

 

"Did not bother to read" is implying laziness or carelessness. I suspect neither is the case. Unless you are curious about everyone's gear in general or a signature is something like a noteworthy quote or joke no one looks at a signature unless there is a specific reason to. How many signatures are kept up to date? This isn't the technical support section of a hardware or software forum. If you consider your signature required reading regarding the content of your post you should reference it.

 

Also, you may be the OP but the way things go the thread title tends to define the direction the discussion goes, most of the time (see a few recent threads).  "No Keyboards In Stores!" is pretty impersonal and specific. I don't see anything in your initial post in which reading your signature would make any difference.

 

  

On 5/14/2023 at 2:54 PM, Motif88 said:

OK, this a rant. I used to be able to go to at least 2 if not 3 music retailers to try new gear. While I used to live in NY, even if I fly to NY I can’t find any top end keyboards in a single store for demo.

 

So now, we are all using Sweetwater with shipping 88 key boards all over damn place just to try the damn action!

 

I can’t seem to find anywhere in the U.S. where I could actually play a Fantom 8, K2700, Stage 4, OB-X8, etc…yet it seems, Bonners and Anderton’s in the U.K. are able to provide such experiences. 

 

Please don’t provide answers regarding supply chain, economy, rent, labor, carrying costs, etc.

 

“Times may change, standards must remain” seems to have gone out the window.

.

 

 

[mate stubb]

Literally, the only person who has motivated me to put my butt in a theatre seat in at least 10 years is Denis Villeneuve.

[Stokely]

That is me as well.  I did go see Avatar 2 this year, not for the amazing storytelling or deep characters but for the 3d, which was the most astounding visual thing I've experienced.  It was literally like floating just above and outside the set of a play for most scenes.  It's hard to even describe.

Dune in 2021 was the previous movie I saw and the only one I saw in 2021; none in 2022 though I did watch Sandman and a few other streaming shows.

Personally, I work from home now and it's taken so much stress out of my work life.   Not to mention given me back about an hour of my time each day that I spent in bad (and dangerous) traffic.   I get out and about for my gigs, and taking kids to soccer and going to the gym--that's more than enough driving around for me.

It's a catch 22--if stores had better selection or bothered to hook everything up, I'd go more.  But I and others don't go, so they probably don't feel motivated to get more stock in or worry about it being actually able to be played.