No Keyboards In Stores!

[Motif88]

13 hours ago, o0Ampy0o said:

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.

 

  

 

 

 

Agreed, I should have been more explicit in my original post to indicate that I already live in plug-in land and would like to kick the tires again on a few keyboards.

 

Appreciate that you reply was sent with love. I just hope you're not an attorney or detective in your day job. There are 7 replies in the thread that call out midi controllers and plug-ins hence, less demand for hardware. Alas, 6-8 hour drives or flights are all that are available to facilitate that process. Otherwise, as others pointed out, Sweetwater shipping, playing, returning is the only other option.

Happy Friday and Slàinte Mhaith!

 

 

[Stephen Fortner]

Keyboards are a commodity item in a way. Someone might pay $5k for a guitar on the spot if they pick it up and connect with the feel and it hits them emotionally — even if it’s identical on paper to other units of the same model. But a Motif or Fantom or Kurzweil or Kronos really just does do what any other Motif or Fantom or Kurzweil or Kronos does. 
 

I can also tell you first hand from talking to executive management at all the major retail chains and product managers from the keyboard companies: People taking two hours of a salesperson’s time to kick tires and then buying the item online to save sales tax was a factor. Not so much anymore because most states now collect sales tax on online orders, but the damage was done. So you’re a store manager deciding what to devote floor space to, and what kind of customer. 
 

I’m not saying we all suck but I was that obnoxious little shit through a lot of my younger years. 

[o0Ampy0o]

4 hours ago, mate stubb said:

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

Thank you. I looked at his IMDB.  I have seen a lot of his work. I looked at future projects. I was looking for something to read. He is developing a film based on an Arthur C Clarke book. As I write this I had downloaded and read some of the sample but now I think I am better off waiting til after seeing the film, whenever and if it is made. 

[Justin Havu]

The two GCs in Boston had *some* stuff.  Boylston St. had plenty of Rolands: Fantom 6, Fantom 08, RD2000, and a couple of DS's, a pair of Moogs (Grandmother and Matriarch), plus a Novation Summit.  I spent more time on the Summit than anything else.  Mass Ave had a heaping of DPs and a Nord Grand.  Played the Grand for a little bit, but I wasn't that impressed with it.

[Docbop]

Weird with the economy all over I am seeing things showing some signs of getting better  now that the pandemic is in the rear view mirror.    I live about two block from a local Auto Mall and pre-covid in the mornings the street in the mall was alway full of trucks off-loading vehicles and the backlots overflowing.   Covid hit and rarely saw trucks off-loading and the backlots were a ghost town.   A couple months ago I bought a new car and no having to order what I wanted was on the lot with a choice of colors.   Mornings now there are truck unloading cars, the backlots aren't overflowing, but they don't look like a ghost town anymore.    The apartment complex where I live when I got walking I've seeing lots of new Hondas in the parking lot. 

 

The local GC is still really bare bones and they don't even staff the pro-audio/keyboard department anymore you have to go up front and ask for a person to help you in pro audio.   Maybe in small cities 'rona has sent musical instrument buying to the internet,  local is mainly lessons, accessories and beginner instruments. 

[LarsHarner2]

On 5/16/2023 at 9:22 AM, Dr Nursers said:

 

I went into a music store in NYC last October (I think it was a Sam Ash) and there were counters on both sides of the entrance. On the right was the employee, on the left, behind the counter sitting, was an NYPD officer...

I can vouch for that- I go there on 34th street when I go up to NYC as it seems to be one of the few places that has keyboards and pianos on display- (in fact the whole Privia PX 5000-700 series). BH Photo on the end of the block has a few as well.

The GC on 14th had keyboards but not plugged in- it seems like I needed to do a job interview to get assistance so walked out. About the powercords not being conencted they said "sometimes the keyboards don't ship with all the parts"/

 

Back to movie theatres- I like when I go to NYC smaller theatrers like IFC- However, I like streaming because I can pause and revisit a movie. What I didn't like about going to a theatre is the time to get there and previews.

 

[Bobby Simons]

On 5/15/2023 at 9:56 AM, GovernorSilver said:

I really appreciate having Chuck Levin's within driving distance.

 

Last year I was in the West Covina, CA area, so I took the opportunity to visit Perfect Circuit in Burbank.  They had some Sequential keyboards and other mid to high end 'boards on display but you had to bring your own headphones.   

 

Made me appreciate Chuck Levin's even more.  No diss on Perfect Circuit, it's just that Chuck's has a wider selection of... everything

So. . . we moved from NY (Long Island) to northern Maryland (Finksburg) about a year and a half ago. Today I finally made the hour+ ride to Chuck Levin's. Couldn't believe my eyes, every square inch of the back of the store crammed with keys. They had everything I was remotely interested in playing. I've been thinking about a second digital piano, wanted to check out a couple of the high-end Rolands. They had 'em, and more. Including a VPC-1, which ruined everything else for me. It was my first time laying my hands on one, and now I think I need to have it. It was wonderful.

I think maybe the only keyboard of note that I didn't see was a mellotron, though I might have missed it, lol. I also couldn't find a SL88 Grand. They even had not one but two Viscount Legend B3 clones w/ the matching wood stands on the floor. Overkill, lol.

[bfields]

I've been visiting family in suburban MD more often, I need to make it to Chuck Levin's one of these days.

 

Question for people who shop when they travel: are stores generally willing to ship an instrument home for you?  Would you expect an extra charge for that?

[GovernorSilver]

1 hour ago, bfields said:

I've been visiting family in suburban MD more often, I need to make it to Chuck Levin's one of these days.

 

Question for people who shop when they travel: are stores generally willing to ship an instrument home for you?  Would you expect an extra charge for that?

 

I just read a post on social media - FB or Insta - from someone who bought a guitar from a store while traveling and chose to send the guitar home by shipping instead of taking it with him on the flight home.   This was in response to yet another story of some touring guitarist having their instrument destroyed by the baggage handling crew on a flight.

 

So check with the store because each store has its own policy on that.

[Stokely]

On 5/19/2023 at 3:44 PM, o0Ampy0o said:

Thank you. I looked at his IMDB.  I have seen a lot of his work. I looked at future projects. I was looking for something to read. He is developing a film based on an Arthur C Clarke book. As I write this I had downloaded and read some of the sample but now I think I am better off waiting til after seeing the film, whenever and if it is made. 

I just looked up which novel that might be, as I've read a lot of Arthur C Clarke, and...that is an odd choice.  He kept very close to the Dune novel (so far) which is very hard to do, but Rendezvous with Rama I can't see making a popular movie as-is.  I won't say why I think that, as it would be spoilery.    We'll see though, the guy hasn't made a bad movie for me so far (although I have no wish to ever see Prisoners again, that was a tough one to watch.)

[Doerfler]

2 hours ago, bfields said:

Question for people who shop when they travel: are stores generally willing to ship an instrument home for you?  Would you expect an extra charge for that?

My quick response would be yes and yes

[CraigT]

19 hours ago, bfields said:

I've been visiting family in suburban MD more often, I need to make it to Chuck Levin's one of these days.

 

Question for people who shop when they travel: are stores generally willing to ship an instrument home for you?  Would you expect an extra charge for that?

I bought a guitar in person at Wildwood (Colorado) while in the area for a training class.  They did a setup and shipped to my house in AZ for no charge.  Many stores that have an online presence will offer free shipping.

[Doerfler]

26 minutes ago, CraigT said:

  Many stores that have an online presence will offer free shipping.

Shipping costs are built into the sale price (usually) while shopping online. Large , heavy, and or bulky items usually have an free shipping exception labeled with that particular product.

 

In person sales are often negotiated to be lower priced than on line shopping. At this point the sales establishment has to determine who is going to pay, them or the customer.

 

Shipping costs have risen drastically over the last three years

[CHarrell]

I woke up today to find an E-Mail from American Musical Supply blacklisting me because of the returns. 😔 I get why, they do a bunch of in house financing and they take a hit on every return, and I do feel crummy about it. But with this issue that's the thread topic, I don't know what other alternatives there are except to use an online retailer's return policy as a means to try out like 98% of the keyboards out there.

[AnotherScott]

On 5/17/2023 at 12:13 AM, Nathanael_I said:

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. 

It's true that direct-to-streaming does not have (at least to me) the negative connotation direct-to-video used to have. And I'm not sure the quality-to-crap ratio is any worse than anything else. But I've seen a recurring problem of stuff that's too padded, too slow. It's a new version of an old problem. TV stories had to fit into exactly w minutes, leading the makers to cut good stuff that would have made it too long, or add unnecessary stuff if it were too short. The flexible lengths of movies were much better, but there were still constraints of effective minimum and maximum lengths (though someone with enough clout could bend the rules). And now I see streaming series where, having watched it, I get the distinct sense that maybe they "had" to produce some number of episodes... it's what the buyer wanted, it's what justified the budget they needed, whatever... but I feel they'd have been better if they were, say, 30% shorter.

[CHarrell]

46 minutes ago, AnotherScott said:

It's true that direct-to-streaming does not have (at least to me) the negative connotation direct-to-video used to have. And I'm not sure the quality-to-crap ratio is any worse than anything else. But I've seen a recurring problem of stuff that's too padded, too slow. It's a new version of an old problem. TV stories had to fit into exactly w minutes, leading the makers to cut good stuff that would have made it too long, or add unnecessary stuff if it were too short. The flexible lengths of movies were much better, but there were still constraints of effective minimum and maximum lengths (though someone with enough clout could bend the rules). And now I see streaming series where, having watched it, I get the distinct sense that maybe they "had" to produce some number of episodes... it's what the buyer wanted, it's what justified the budget they needed, whatever... but I feel they'd have been better if they were, say, 30% shorter.

 

Absolutely, short-form narratives have their place and can be a very powerful experience that would be diminished were they longer. Look at the short stories of Ray Bradbury, for example, or take a movie like Raiders of the Lost Ark. I don't see how extending it 3 times over and going into each characters' backstories in depth or prolonging the search for the Ark etc. would make it any better. "Brevity is the soul of wit", or as my boy Iggy Strav once said, "Too many pieces of music finish too long after the end."