A BRIEF HISTORICAL REVIEW OF TECHNICS VERSUS YAMAHA

[♔Chello]

A BRIEF HISTORICAL REVIEW OF TECHNICS VERSUS YAMAHA

I have had both Technics KN-6500 and KN-7000.
I've also had the Tyros1, which was launched around the same time as the KN-7000.

The KN-7000 looked like a spaceship by the standards of the time, but was hopelessly outdated in terms of hardware, with a lousy screen, a hopeless user interface and a very cheap keybed that was in no way commensurate with the price of the KN-7000 - it was easy to play, but very poorly constructed.

I know this because I have disassembled all three models.

Tyros1 practically liquidated the KN-7000 in all areas, and resulted in Technics having to shut down the entire production of keyboards.

[⚖whitecolin1]

All this time and never realized the kn7000 was made at the same time. Your absolutely right the keybed was pathetic, had some clever recording bits, liked the vocal voices, and the riffs. Its strange though the 7000 has somewhat of a cult following this sideof the pond.

[♔Chello]

All this time and never realized the kn7000 was made at the same time. Your absolutely right the keybed was pathetic, had some clever recording bits, liked the vocal voices, and the riffs. Its strange though the 7000 has somewhat of a cult following this sideof the pond.

Colin
The Kn-7000 had some qualities - the pads were the best I've tried, with special riffs, and there were 6 of them.
Songbook was also formidable and very good.
Some styles were also very good.

But Technics did something with the KN-7000 that infuriated me when I discovered it:
You could not edit styles that were not originally installed on the KN-7000; message came up if you tried to change drum kit - STOP! It is only possible to edit internal styles.
...what..?!

Technics must have had some twisted engineers who did this - who wants to buy the world's most expensive arranger, when it is only possible to edit internal styles..?
Jump in the ocean, Technics.

I immediately decided to sell it when I discovered this and was lucky to get paid 60% more than what I paid myself.

Oddly enough, the KN-7000 has a lot of users to this day; especially in the UK.

[✪BogdanH]

...
Tyros1 practically liquidated the KN-7000 in all areas, and resulted in Technics having to shut down the entire production of keyboards.

I think Technics (Panasonic's brand) problems started to appear in early 90's. Once a high reputable brand (in 70's till mid 80's) just lost the grip and couldn't follow the competition. But interesting enough, at that time many other well known brands disappeared as well (Akai, JVC, Sansui, etc.). Ok, some of them are still selling electric toothbrushes and shavers  

Although I miss good old all-metal hi-fi components and all those knobs we needed to use (not to mention gorgeous design)... the fact is, it's digital audio/video that made these components obsolete: no need for turntable, tape deck, cassette deck, FM tuner, equalizer, etc.
Sorry for being off-topic.. sometimes I get nostalgic

In that sense, I wish success to all existing keyboard brands -because it's the competition that pushes innovations forward.. and hopefully lowers the price.

Bogdan

[⚅Graham UK]

When I was working in the audio field the feedback we received at that time was Panasonic being overall such a large brand. 
The powers that be decided the effort required was not worth Panasonic's time with both Hi-Fi & Keyboard.
Technics did sell well but the turnover compared with other products within Panasonic was very small.