Sadly I think you're right Mike, but a sort of hybrid keyboard with half arranger, half synth wouldn't appeal to me for many reasons.
Take the new E475, that's close to what I'm thinking of. I've had one.....Yes it's a significantly cheaper keyboard and pretty dire quality in my opinion, but it has tried to conbine synth and arranger, and it simply doesn't pull it off. But read on...
It's just worlds apart from the Genos and SX models, but it's not pretending to be those .
Music for the younger generations has changed and this garage, rave, rap, grunge and other stuff with flashing strobes, deep booming bass lines, and computer produced midi tracks via mini midi keyboards seems to be all the rage now. To me it's not music, just endless noise, and you would all do well to take note of Eileens comment about hearing issues...It's a serious matter. Keep banging out the bass, and you'll suffer for it in later years.
So my own projection is that the next TOTL keyboard from Yamaha will be a very much uprated and certainly heavier duty quality version of something along the style of the E475 with a correspondingly lower price than the Genos...we'll see.
Arrangers, I agree have probably reached pretty well peak, but it's still a popular instrument for home players like me, or gigging keyboasd players......I can't see anyone hauling Yamaha stage pianos around for very long.
Same with organs....They're old hat now. Houses are smaller, people generally just aren't interested in them, they weigh a ton, they take up loads of room etc etc. It's a shame. I see on a local website this morning Lowrey Symphony and Prestige organs going for a song. A beautiful old Technics SXG100C going for £1699....a fraction of what it would have cost new. I was tempted !
Unfortunately though, spares are almost non existent, and technology waits for no man. It's a risk to buy them.
I think there will always be a demand for a good PORTABLE TOTL keyboard. It's what it does that will determine its success or otherwise.
Me....I've got my trusty SX700 which I play daily, and another one in it's box, brand new, to future proof me for however many days I have left on Planet Earth. It does everything I need it to do. A fabulous keyboard.
I've said it before here...Personally I think that the SX Models are amazing, and my advice would be to buy them before they disappear for good. They are realistically priced, hugely versatile, absolutely perfect for transporting if you gig, and produce very very good music.
I like to MAKE music.....Otherwise you may as well go buy a radio.