AJ, and brickboo........ correct me if I am wrong, but doesn't the Korg make you enter the chords in advance, NOT record them in real-time, while you are playing?

This live interactivity is the backbone of the Roland system........ at any time, during a song, you can hit 'Record' and it will remember whatever changes you play until you hit 'Play', upon which it will immediately start to loop those changes until you either hit 'Stop' in the Chord Seq section (upon which it will vamp on the last chord received until you start playing changes again) or hit 'STOP' for arranger stop.

So this loop can be ANYTHING your imagination wants it to be at the time you think it up........ It can be whole verses and choruses, it can be little one chord vamps, it can be extended changes for soloing over, ANYTHING.

AFAIK, there is NOTHING other than older Roland arrangers (I think the G1000 was the last) that have this ability, and the only people that don't miss it are people who have never used it. Once you get into it, it is hard to do without.

Personally, I blame Roland's demonstrators and salesmen for not educating the buyers about what is the most revolutionary feature an arranger ever had. It was light years ahead of any other Chord memory implementation, and they failed to capitalize on it, and make it a proud 'feature', and now it is gone......... lost in the fog of neglect and ignorance.

Shame, Roland, SHAME ON YOU..........

Diki,
Both the PA80 and MZ2000 allow me to either step enter chords or record them in real time ( and later edit if I wish to make changes ) using each one's respective pattern sequencer. What I did not know and am somewhat surprised to learn is that this feature is no longer available on the PA1x series boards.

On a happier note, I just converted some G70 styles for use on the MZ2000. Even untweaked, they pretty much sound better on the MZ than it's own internal styles do. The MZ has a function built in that allows the user to auto convert both Roland and Technics styles to MZ format right inside of the board.

Years ago, I replaced my first MZ with the PA80 since I felt the major weakness of the MZ were it's styles and the lack of a harmonizer. I've pretty much learned to do without the harmonizer ( until of course I get my next board ), as the one on the PA80 isn't all that great to begin with. The G70 and maybe to a lesser extent the KN7000 styles have given it a whole new life for me, and it now sounds good enough that when I do decide to purchase my next arranger, either a G70 or perhaps a T2, I'm pretty much thinking of keeping the MZ as my backup hardware and putting the "for sale" sign on the PA80 ( although it will in reality be a 3rd stringer since my software arranger will be my actual backup ).

In reality, I like the MZ's lead piano, guitar and sax voices much better than the corresponding ones on the PA80, and the MZ is just more fun to play and mess with... for me anyway. Who'd have thunk it ?

AJ


[This message has been edited by Bluezplayer (edited 08-06-2006).]

AJ, are you telling me that the PA80 does exactly the same as the Roland system - interactivity, starting and stopping seamlessly with arranger play? (the WHOLE point of it you can start and stop using this feature without interrupting regular arranger usage). Is the PA80 really the same..........?

And if it is, is there some kind of conspiracy? I mean. if ONE company drops it, it's just happenstance. If TWO.......... conspiracy?

Just fricken' unbelievable that no-one 'gets' it, not even Korg AND Roland?

Just tell me to STFU........

(Or sell me a used RA800)!

Diki.....9 out of 10 people didn't even know what the Chord sequencer was on the G1000, G800, RA800 (the one Scott owned? ).......so its no wonder that Roland deemed it useless & not necessary for the masses ......apparently the only good pros that used it were Diki & Fran.....other Uhmmmmmm pros like Scott didn't even know it existed on his instrument its amazing that such a great useful features can go unnoticed & now years later in 2006 it mysteriously re-appears as a great idea?

The Korg does not work like the Roland G's..Casio had a model in 1987[I think it was a CT6500 or a CT7000] that worked real time..It was not as flexible as the advanced design Roland Chord sequencer..I do not recall if the MZ2000 works like the old 87 Casio model...

AJ have you tried the MZ ..recording say the 1st verse into the sequencer live and immediately looping it while you play over it...The old Casio did this but the fills and variations were not available and you could not change the styles while playing back..like the Roland...

I looked at it as a "sample and hold" function on the Casio..

Yep, I'm first to admit that I'd over looked that (hidden?) feature on my R800. If I'd known about it, perhaps I might still be (like Fran with his G1000) playing the R800 today (not!) . I'm in full support with Dikki that not only does this feature need to be incorporated on all arrangers, but benefits promoted to potential arranger keyboard buyers as well. Before I'm getting a Roland arranger again though, Roland needs to first to join the other major arranger keyboard manufacterers (Korg, Yamaha & Ketron) and incorporate jazz (rootless style) chord voicings in their auto accomp chord recognition.

Scott