Mo... I understand about the weight concerns....

These controllers are VERY light weight, so no problem there... I would suggest, at a store that sells the things in your area, you bring in your MIDI information about your arranger, and have a talk with the salesman there. For a fee, he might program up what you want, or show you so you can do it yourself, or suggest a MIDI 'guru' in the area that could be hired for the job.

In all fairness, for what you want to do 'live' (although they are handy for home programming sessions, the tools in your arranger WILL do the job just fine, it's live you really miss the faders, isn't it?!), it's a fairly simple task to program the faders to send volume (or expression), pan, reverb send, chorus send, etc., for each Part channel in your arranger. and Keyboard Parts.

Sys-ex is a bit more complicated, but most arrangers can be controlled fairly extensively without it, especially the Roland's (haven't dug too deep into Yamaha, but I imagine it's roughly the same), so it's no more difficult to learn than the arranger's OS anyway!

Don't pass up the chance to get back the control you want without breaking your back......

The i30 has fill to any variation and many other features that can be controlled by a 5 pedal foot controller.

I like just pushing a number or two to change styles all set up as I set them. I mostly use piano, bass, drums and jazz guitar.

The sax sounds on solo I don't use. However the big band stuff from the factory with saxes, trumpets, trombones and such sound pretty good to me.

I play sax so I don't care much for any of the sax sounds on most any keyboard for soloing.

Diki, you are very right about the controllers. I'm using one with the Midjay and I'm awaiting the release of the new Edirol PCR-800.
They aren't that hard to program. I pretty much have the PCRM-80 the way I want it. The new one will have more controls, more options, etc. Just like arrangers!!
DonM

I guess i will start looking into controller/module. it's hard when you are totally unfamiliar with anything about it..it's a new world. hope it's as exciting as it is intimidating.

thanks for the heads-up, and any and all advice is really appreciated. and Boo, i'm almost exactly on the same page as you re using my is35 as you use your i30.

right now i'm back to one foot in, one foot out on the e60.
I found a new way the HOLD button can be used to short-cut some of the nav headaches..even the pro at Roland hadn't thought of it in his own set-up, but he did give me a couple of insights on how to short-cut the harmony button to a global setting, and I've figured out a new short-cut to have those infernal one-touch buttons operate as global saves for 8 fave sounds..at least i can now put that to some use, rather than as "sound suggestions" for every style for clueless beginners. if i can
get the d-beam repaired or replaced, and the tap tempo
fixed (Diki, it's right on the first time you tap..but if you want to hit it while playing, it's totally a mess..and that also goes for if you tap to start, and change your mind to reset and tap again, it goes to any tempo at random, not the tap-in) maybe it will be a keeper. I can use the expression pedal or the volume knob for fade-outs, i can
stop/start by hand or pull the expression pedal all the way up quickly. the d-beam will just be for bass on/off and I
will dispense with the full accompaniment in/out on-the- fly totally, will just program a couple of full or semi-full accomps into the user bank (guitar/band riff) since i only use those sparingly anyway. Could be a light at the end of this tunnel, because i love the sound and feel and the 76 keys and the weight and the screen and the mixer and the menu and the factory effects ( I have no desire to change any, they seem all perfect..totally opposite of genesys pro where they cheesy over-effected every sound and i had to start from no effect and build my own on each sound)
(on the other hand, i could change my mind again..especially if I try an sd1+ and love it) all else fails,
i'm going to get my head into controllers/modules.

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Miami Mo

http://www.rolandus.com/products/productdetails.aspx?ObjectId=865&ParentId=114

Heres the PCr800 info & video demo

I'm hoping I can use some of those assignable pads as "virutal multipads", or at least drum sounds. No reason I shouldn't be able to do that.
DonM

Awaiting your review for sure Don..

Good Luck

went to the link for the roland controllers. It looks amazing but i have to be honest , i would not have the first clue where to begin with stuff like that. It seems awfully technical. I am still trying to understand the remaining 80% of what my PA1X is capable of and i have had it nearly 18 months !

My sentiments exactly. How to get a clue and how to evaluate and how to get started..never mind deciding on the module and how to use that! occurs to me someone could make some bucks starting a national home tutoring servicefor synths. I'd be first customer.
for synths

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Miami Mo

I just read the owner's manual and followed the instructions on the Edirol PCR M80. It was pretty easy, once it sunk in.
Basically, you set the midi channel on both units. The foot pedals default to sustain and expression, so I didn't set them. Then you find the sounds you want and set the program change on the controller. The program changes only apply to the current bank of sounds selected on the module, so you then can set bank change commands to access other banks of sounds.
You do the same for other commands, such as intro-ending, etc.
Not as hard as it sounds.

DonM