Originally Posted By: Tonewheeldude
At least Yamaha have paid attention to the Gauntlet Ketron have thrown down instead of continuing to insist sequenced Midi Drum Kits are better.

At the moment Ketron still hold the Leather studded Gauntlet whilst Yamaha has slapped them gently across the cheek with a blue Latex disposable - but its a step in the right direction.

Although its a move forward they are still missing the point, the idea of Audio style integration. It is so much more than audio drums.


Maybe MIDI kits aren't 'better', but they can be VERY close, and FAR more useful. Let's face it, for most of us, legacy styles are probably the majority of our style library. If the pitiful few audio styles that Yamaha provide, or the comparatively small Ketron ROM library and what few 3rd party styles aimed at the US/UK market available are sufficient for you and your audience, you are good to go.

But for what I would predict is the majority of us, being able to play MIDI based styles without a noticeable drop in quality is a primary need. To this end, having MIDI kits that display this 'almost as good' quality (listen to any of the VSTi MIDI drum kits to realize just how close - almost indistinguishable - to live audio is possible with a 'mere' MIDI kit) is by far the more useful alternative.

Better MIDI kits, your ENTIRE library sounds better. Audio styles, ONLY those audio styles sound better.

I've posted again and again about the differences. Editing an audio style to be a different beat, or a different kit is utterly impossible. Want to change the swing percentage on an audio style? Utterly impossible. Easy as pie on a MIDI style. Prefer a different kit playing the drum part? Utterly impossible on an audio style. Easy as pie on a MIDI style. Want to alter the fill on an audio style to be something more appropriate for a certain song? Utterly impossible on an audio style. Easy as pie on a MIDI style. And so on and so forth.

I hate to say this, but my BK7m's drumkits and patterns rivals the Ketron audio style drums, and my G70 comes quite close. They really are very live, very dynamic. At least to the point where the SLIGHT increase in realism of the audio drums is FAR outweighed by the increase in usefulness of the MIDI kits.

What's better... a few killer styles you can't do anything with, or your ENTIRE style library brought up to a hair's breadth as good? And all the control you could ever wish for.

I'm sorry. Even right now, I feel that audio styles are a dead end. And, if VSTi quality kits get added to arrangers, even more so.
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An arranger is just a tool. What matters is what you build with it..!