Hi all

I am about to embark on buying a new "Arranger keyboard", and I would like some advice as to which one to choose.

First, let me tell you what kind of music I play/Compose.

I like composing background music for current pop music, so styles that are of big band/waltz/rhumba/Ballroom etc would be useless for me (I know most arrangers have them anyway, but less of these the better)

I like Dance Rhythms, and "Spice girls", "S Club 7" (girl/Boy band), "Elton John", "Britney Spears" etc and modern music in general. I also want to compose "film scores", so good strings and pads are a must - very good ones that is, and good "Solo" instruments like Cello, Violin, English horn (cor Anglias) (these are "hard to create" to perfection samples I beleive.)

A good Piano would be useful as well, but not essential, as i have a 88 key weighted digital piano. An onboard sampler would be useful, if only to create the odd effect that is of a unique sound. I hear that the Yamaha 9000 has an onboard sampler, so that would help. but would a Yamaha PSR 9000 do well in all the other divisions? (solo sounds like Violin, Cello etc, and are the strings good?)

I want a keyboard with in-built speakers, and just 61 keys. Any suggestions as to what would be a good buy for my musical tastes? I hear the VA-7 is not user friendly, so I will leave that one. The kn6000 is ok - but I hear the strings/Pads/Solo sounds aren't has good has the Yamaha 9000. If someone can help me, then please do!

PS a good sound/speaker system is essential as i have no external amps/pa etc.)

Nice forum, keep it up!

08

I think the 9000 would work well. It has all the capabilities that you listed, plus many more that would be useful in composing. You can hook a computer keyboard into it for direct data entry and fast navigation. Hard drives are quite inexpensive. Video out might be helpful too.
There are four line outputs, plus easy pc connection. If the styles you need aren't there, there are literally thousands of free ones available, and the 9000 will play them directly from disk.
I'm sure there are other suitable arrangers, but of my recent experience with the Solton and Technics, the 9000 stands out for this type application, in my opinion.
Hope this helps.
DonM

Thank you Don.

I was wondering what the Acoustic piano/Rhodes piano etc was like on the psr 9000 - compared to the KN6000/Solton etc. Sound quality is more important to me than "user-friendlyness" "as such",(I don't play out, I will be using it just for home) as I like to do film scores etc, and backing tracks (as i said)

So then Don! looks like I could be getting a Yamaha. I am assuming there are no bugs etc on the yamaha, and that it is amongst the top line of arranger keyboards - even though it is a year old now.

08

dON'T RULE OUT THE va7!(damn caps lock!)
The polyphony is MUCH better than the PSR9000 and that should be important if you're composing large scores. The sounds are among the very best and the on board speakers sound wonderful. THere is a built in zip drive, so no need for a hard drive, and zip disks are plentiful and cheap. It has a terrific sampler called variphrase that takes sampling to the next level - it also has the new GM2 standard. The direct from disk playback is as good as any and WAY better than the 9000, because you can search for a new file while one is playing. The "gazzinta's & gazzoutta's" are more plentiful on the Yamaha, but if you are using it at home, you may already have some of the mic processing gear you need. Before you buy one - these are the top dogs at the moment:
VA7, PSR9000, Kn6000, X1, PA80 (soon!)and maybe even the MZ2000 (havent'd sen it yet)
Check them ALL out first - don't go on our recommendations alone - we are all very biased. (except for me - I am ALL KNOWing)
...To be honest - all I know for sure is that we all like different things about all of the top brands - it's a really tough choice if you plan to keep it a while. The technology changes at a speed that will give you whiplash. The best advice I can give you is this: Play them all, then buy whatever your budget will allow.......then STOP reading all these posts! It'll make you nuts!
Learn your instrument inside & out and be creative and productive. We all have a little too much time and advice on our hands and we (as a group)seem to go through keyboards like we change socks! THere is plenty of help here if you need us, but make a wise choice first - use your EARS, then read the manual and see if the features will suit you. There is a world of crap floating around out there mixed in with the good stuff. Be careful before you buy anything, because none of them hold their value too long. Hope I didn't discourage you - I love this stuff, but I can afford to change alot because it is my full time income, and I need the best toys all the time.(spoiled!)
From reading your post - I predict that you will like the Korg patterns the best with the VA7 second. Korg has an edge in the "pop" sounding patterns. Yamaha has great meat & potatoes rhythms, X1 has terrific Latins, and everyone seems to like the Technics for Swing/Big Band - although they all do pretty good swing. Over the years I feel that the Korg has the "hippest" Bass parts of all of them - even dating back to the earlier "i" series. Check it out for your self - the new PA80 should be in the states by the Winter NAMM show on Jan18th. I'd definatly wait to see if it fits YOUR bill. (I'm getting one no matter what)

Thanks Dave - you SPOILED LITTLE CAP LOCKER!

My brother heard the VA-7 demo'd in a shop, and people have about 15 minutes listening to the Variphrase function, then go on to the more "Serious "stuff"(kn6000/yamaha 9000 etc) as my brother put it - who also plays keyboards.

Thing is with the VA-7 - is that you get a load of "backwards" technology sounds to make the 3000+ sounds up (sc88 and a few more etc) Nothing wrong with these sounds, but they are "yesterdays" sounds nevertheless - though not all of them of course.

Since my last post, i have listened to all of the MP3 demo's of the kn6000 - and they are something. I thought the kn6000 was designed for very old music, but there are very modern sounds on it - it appears. Even Rave/Dance/Trance etc!. So my thoughts about technics and the "ballroom" sound, has gone straight out the window.!

I will have an extensive look at the Yamaha and technics before deciding - the kn6000 is a little cheaaper, but the yamaha has a good sampler on it I'm told (can go up to 65 MB!) you could create a film score out of that - couldn't you?. Mind you, havinig 65 MB of sample memory, and where to store them is a different matter.

I will indeed try one out later this week if possible...

08



[This message has been edited by Octave8 (edited 01-03-2001).]

Dave, the 9000 OS has been upgraded to allow searching for the next song while one is playing. And it has a feature called Ultra Quick Start that starts the next immediately. Still no facility for playing multiple songs though.
DonM

Great news - that was a major boo boo in such an expensive piece.

sounds like we write songs the same way lets talk my email is grays4u@hotmail.com

O8 wrote "the yamaha has a good sampler on it I'm told (can go up to 65 MB!) you could create a film score out of that - couldn't you?"

Have you heard anything about the utility of the sampling capabilities on the 9000? It would be fine for special fx, if that is what you want. But I am not sure that it is that useful for supplementing the built-in sounds since there are no programmed samples available for the 9k commercially (that I know of). You can buy .wav files and loop them yourself or sample audio CD or other sources, but you might find yourself spending more time on sound design than on making music. Has anyone made good use of the sampling capability on the PSR9000?

Anyone interested in new voices for PSR9000
sampler should check out www.cd-soft.de they are selling voices using brand new waves, the site can be translated using the "alta-vista" translator, I have'nt tried any of these new voices yet, as the on-board voices manage to satisfy all my music making needs. I play all types of music, classical,
swing, latin, modern pop and compose my own newage music. As well as very authentic traditional instruments, the PSR has lots of beautiful and rich synth pad sounds and very "in your face" synth solo sounds.
The inbuilt styles are not as complex as some of the competition, but more complex styles are available on the net for free. I have a 250mb zip drive on which I have thousands of new styles, they really bring the keyboard to life. The speakers are truly amazing, the best I have heard on any arrangeur. Please be aware that the factory set up state only shows about a tenth of the ability of this keyboard, i've had mine for almost a year, and for me it still has that "wow" factor, I feel PSR9000 is quite underated and misunderstood by some musicians because of it's fairly bland factory preset state and understated but very musical styles. This keyboard will reward the musician who is willing to delve into it's sophisticated features, but don't take it at face value.
My previous keyboard was a KN6000, which I had for three months, I changed because of the better strings, synth pads and speakers on the PSR9000, but that is just my personal opinion, I know some people speak very highly of the KN6000, but please check out all it's voices very carefully, it excells in some areas but totally misses the boat in others, again my opinion, all am saying is check it extremely carefully. Whatever you choose have fun!!!!!.

Paul



[This message has been edited by Paul A Smith (edited 01-04-2001).]