Roland VA7 and EM2000 Owners:

*(Uncle Dave,Tony W: are you guys listening?)



As you may have already read (on a previous post), I am currently conducting a survey on this board to determine the "advanced chord recognition capabilities" for all current 'top of the line' arranger keyboard brands/models. I have received responses for nearly all brands/models "except" the Roland VA7 and EM2000.

"Please" help me out and check if the Roland VA7 and EM2000 keyboards are able to recognize the following three note 'rootless' style chord voicings in both 'full keyboard' and 'split keyboard' modes. Please report back on how the VA7 & EM2000 recognize the following:

Notes played as a chord
(lowest,middle,top): Chord:

(F - C - E): Dm7(9)

(F - B - E): G7(13)

(E - A - D): C6(9)

(B - F - A): G7(9)

Please also check if the VA7 & EM2000 are able to recognize the following "two hand chord voicing" in "full keyboard" mode:

(left hand) (right hand) Desired Chord

(Eb - A - D) (G - C - F): F7(13)

Your feedback results would help to provide a "complete overview" of the advanced chord recognition capabilities of all the major keyboard brands/models out there and possibly help to determine the future trend of "arranger chord recognition" features in new models to come.

I really believe that arranger keyboards have a lot of exciting advancement potential in the area of 'chord recognition'. This includes the increased ability to recognize a larger palette of both chords 'types' and 'voicings' and ultimately, the ability to allow "us" to create our own 'custom chord recognition' palette based on our personal playing style and needs.

I look forward to receiving feedback re: 'chord recognition' on the VA7 and EM2000 soon.

Thanks,

- Scott



Chord Recognition Results of other arranger keyboard brands/models can be found here: http://www.synthworld.com/ubbs/Forum37/HTML/000802.html

Hi Scott
I quickly checked your chord recognition request on my EM2000. It DOES NOT recognize any of the chords you have specified as such. Each of the tests returns a chord different than your intended result. I checked the keyboard in all 3 modes, Standard, PianoStyle & Intelligent. Sorry I don't have time now to write down the actual results, but they were not what you were looking for.
Tom

Hi Scott

I too have tried the chords requested on the EM2000, as above in all three modes. They are not recognised. I will do them again tonight and post what the fingered chords are recognised as if this helps.

Also I have a korg i40m hooked up through my dig piano. Do you want me to try on this or do you have results for that?

TTFN
Tony

Hi Tony,

Thanks so much for taking your time to perform the "chord recognition" test on your Roland EM2000. Yes, I think it would be valuable to find out which (if any)"rootless chord voicing fingerings" are recognized by the EM2000.

If it isn't too much additional trouble, it might be interesting to find out what your Korg i40m recognizes as well. Paul Ip submitted chord recognition results of his i30 and I assume that the i40 will produce similar results.

I realize that for many of you out there, playing the arranger keyboard (full keyboard mode) in the "rootless chord' comping style of jazz pianists like Bill Evans, Dave Brubeck, Kenny Barron etc. may not be your thing (at least not yet), but the fact remains that the potential for this is available right now as "both" the Yamaha PSR9000 and Technics KN5000/6000 already have this capability. I can only hope that Roland, Solton, Korg, and others will follow Yamaha and Technics lead in this area. Better yet is the possibility that future arranger boards may include a feature where we can customize the keyboard to recognize chords which meet our personal playing style.
I realize that I've spent a lot of time on this subject but "hey", the whole purpose of an arranger keyboard vs a regular keyboard is in its' ability to provide realistic auto-accompaniment backup to your playing. I just think it is time for arranger keyboards to expand it's capabilities to recognize higher levels of keyboard playing styles.

Thanks again for everyones help and input on this subject.

Still waiting to get 'chord recognition' results on the Roland VA7.



Scott

California (SF Bay Area), USA


[This message has been edited by Scottyee (edited 10-11-2000).]

Hi Scott,
Well here goes....
EM 2000 St= Standard mode P= Piano Style I= Intelligent (The three chord recognition types)

(F-C-E) St= F Maj7 (3) P= F (3,5) I= F Maj7

(F-B-E) St= F Maj7 5b (3) P= SAME I= E 9b

(E-A-D) St= A sus P= SAME I= SAME

(B-F-A) St= F 5b P= SAME I= SAME

Two hand chord voicing full mode=
(Eb-A-D) (G-C-F)
All three modes come back as (wait for it...)
Eb Maj7 5b,6,9

Now for the Korg i40m

(F-C-E) = F maj7
(F-B-E) = F maj7 b5
(E-A-D) = E7 sus4
(B-F-A) = B7 b5

Two handed chords
(Eb-A-D) (G-C-F) = Eb Maj7 b5 9,13

Hope this helps tho I think from the evidence above and the noise my board made when trying them out these were most definately not the results you were after :-)

Bye for now
Tony

Tony,

Thanks for your 'full' report on the Roland and i40 chord recognition. In the meantime I just got through chatting with Uncle Dave and he came up with the same chord recognition results on his VA7.

Yeah, to my extreme disappointment, the Roland, Solton, GEM, and Korg boards do not recognize the chord voicing recognition I'm looking for. It seems like only Yamaha and Technics (so far) are able to recognize the more advanced 'jazz' chord voicings.

I am really impressed with Solton and Roland styles,GEM's WK8(SE) acoustic piano patch, and Korgs great overall sounds. It's just too bad that thesse manufacter's couldn't use the chord voicing map that Yamaha and Technics employ. Afterall, "how many" of you use my type of "chord voicings" to trigger the chords that Solton, Roland, Korg, & GEM seems to associate with them? I somehow can't figure how anyone would play a (F-C-E) chord to trigger a Fmaj7. I always thought it was imperative to include the 3rd of the chord when playing a chord voicing as that is the key to the overall quality (maj/min/aug) of the chord. The reason the root can be omitted in a jazz "comping" style is because the arranger triggers the auto accompaniment bass instrument to play the root. Yikes, Maybe I'm suffering from too much college "music theory" training".

Scott



[This message has been edited by Scottyee (edited 10-11-2000).]