Support
Looper's Delight
|
Support |
|
|
>>"A professional does for money what an amateur does for the love of it."<<
as far as people go, that's pretty much what it says in the dictionary, carefully avoiding any mention of the relative commitment or skill levels of the two.
when it comes to equipment, it's down to the commitment one can expect from the manufacturer & their agents. naturally, this figures in the /initial/ experience of the product, whatever it is- it's design & build quality. there's a danger here that quality of hardware or appearance will falsely identify a piece of kit as being better or worse thatn it's peers, when what really separates the men from the boys here is how the customer is treated a long time after the product has been delivered.
the example was made of the mighty yamaha cs80 polysynth against the korg polysix or the roland juno series.... I have some direct experience of this area.
it's not just about the build quality or the design of the instruments as originally sold; though it's fair to say that the cs80 could only be afforded by the wealthier musicians of the late 70s, this doesn't infer that they were amateurs or professionals that bought the thing, nor that yamaha set out to exclude anyone by their marketing. in fact, the cs80 was part of a range that included more modestly priced polysynths that just weren't quite as famous, aswell as much more expensive instruments like the gx-1. the prophet 5 wasn't far behind & the cost of polysynths began to tumble until it was possible for anyone with a few hundred dollars to get hold of a juno-60 or polysix. both of these were well-constructed & well-designed instruments, with many features borrowed & lessons learned from the cs80.
but fast-forward to 1999, a mere 20 years or less after these things were designed & built. & try to buy voice chips, or any of the control surface components for the roland or the korg. not happening. in 1996, I waited over six months for a CPU for a juno-106. it came by boat from japan, & when it arrived, it didn't work. it took me over a year to get that synth working again. thanks, roland. & a korg polysix I was fixing for a friend in 1998- I was told that the caps for the switchgear were no longer available & that I was being supplied with the last one the guy had.
whereas yamaha-UK supplied me /from stock/, a whole raft of obscure parts to restore a 1978 cs30, including voice ICs, & just a few months ago, again /from stock/ the service sheets for a 1975 cs50.
if we're going to continue to misuse "professional" & "amateur" as epithets for good & bad behaviour by either manufacturers or musicians, then surely it ought to be on the basis of their treatment of their customers /after/ the money has changed hands.
duncan.
***************************************************************************
CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE
The contents of this e-mail are confidential to the ordinary user
of the e-mail address to which it was addressed, and may also
be privileged. If you are not the addressee of this e-mail you may
not copy, forward, disclose or otherwise use it or any part of it
in any form whatsoever.If you have received this e-mail in error,
please e-mail the sender by replying to this message.
It is your responsibility to carry out appropriate virus and other
checks to ensure that this message and any attachments do not
affect your systems / data. Any views or opinions expressed in this
e-mail are solely those of the author and do not necessarily
represent those of MTV Networks Europe unless specifically stated,
nor does this message form any part of any contract unless so stated.
MTV reserves the right to monitor e-mail communications from
external/internal sources for the purposes of ensuring correct
and appropriate use of MTV communication equipment.
MTV Networks Europe
***************************************************************************