Making a half a dozen or so special keyboards with chord sequencers for the interested people on this site, hardly seems profitable.

Then again, you may know something the manufacturers do not.

Using the philosophy,"if something doesn't move, use a bigger hammer", will hardly work in this case, considering the lack of interest shown so far.

I commend you on your diligent, but rather futile, quest.

Perhaps your persistance will pay off, and some independent company will make a chord sequencer module,(like some of the gizmos Anantek used to make) that can be retrofitted to an existing or new arranger of the individual's choice(Roland, Yamaha, Korg, or whatever).

In any case, good luck with your petition.

All the best,

Ian

Ian, perhaps the reason the lack of interest in this feature (by manufacterers & players alike) has more to do with the lack of awareness (knowledge) of what this feature offers. I'm first to admit that until Dikki brought this to my attention, that this feature (which was apparently available on my Roland RA800) was even available to me. Only after reading his explaination of the 'way it works' do I now see it's terrific benefit while performing, allowing you to switch back and forth between auto-accomp arranger mode playing, and traditional piano style playing during the solo section of a song. For this reason, I think it's a terrific feature to add to arranger keyboards, Roland, Yamaha, and other arranger brands as well, and hope it gets re-instituted on Roland arrangers, and offered on Yamaha and other competing brands as well. If Roland re-introduces this on its future models as well as jazz chord type recognition, I'd certainly seriously re-consider a Roland arranger again. - Scott

I agree, wholeheartedly, Scott.

It would be nice to see the return of the chord sequencer, but I believe it would take a far greater number of requests than seen on this forum for a manufacturer to take notice and add such a feature.

It is not something I would use very often, and it's inclusion on a Roland arranger would hardly be enough to overcome the other shortcomings that have made me feel my choice of Yamaha was the right one for me.

Ian

i don't imagie it would be too difficult, assuming the keyboard has some sort of writeable memory area (hdd, or ssd or RAM or whatever) it would just a matter of someone programming it into the operating system( although thats easier said than done , BUT it can be done!!)..its not like the old days when it was all on hardware ROM chips....

Hi All

Although it does not have a 'chord sequencer' per se, the Roland EXR-7 (note only the 7 not EXR-3 or EXR-5) has a full piano mode for playing arranger styles. This allows you to play the 76 keys in a piano style and have the arranger follow you with correct backing chords. This feature is the reason I bought the EXR-7. It also allows chord inversions to be voiced properly.

It is available also on the Korg PA-80 but needs to be set up properly. I have not seen a lot of other makes of arranger other than Yamaha and Casio but have never seen this feature on other keyboards.

Cheers

Kevin

Kevin.... the pianostyle mode is completely different to the Chord Sequencer (although you CAN use pianostyle to record the changes the first time around, then keep playing the second time in full piano mode without worrying about having to play full chords and inversions just to keep the chord recognition correct)

I guess my problem is, other than piano or organ, I can't play any solo sound without wanting to 'bend it like Beckham'!....... I just can't...... A solo without inflection is just too machine-like for me, and how the hell do you use the bender if your left hand is always playing chords??

Back to the front, you slacker..........!

Who knows, maybe Roland will surf in and read this one day......?

Diki,

Both of my current arrangers ( PA80 and MZ2000 ) have this feature. I never really gave much thought to it being useful to a live performer, at least not for live arranger play, but now I can also see where you're coming from with this and why it might be useful to a live performer as well.

Instead, I thought of the songwriter who wants to "scratch pad" new ideas or songs, or perhaps who wants to build a quick tune to turn into a sequence ( that might later be used in a live performance ). Now though, we see the live player who can also use this feature. Personally, I like apps like Band in A Box and Jammer that allow me to step enter chords with patterns when playing around with new ideas.

Unfortunately, on this one Roland owners are out in the cold. Why don't I include Yamaha ? Because One Man Band and XG works exist, ( although I think at this point XG works is now just a distant memory ). Both of these apps have the capability of step entering chords. You can simply transfer the finished product to your arranger.

There was a time when I lamented a bit that this forum seemed to gravitate mainly toward the live player. Two things have changed for me since then. One- I've become more of a live player myself. Two- I came to realize that for me at least, workstations ( hardware or soft ) and software apps like FL, Orion, and the like are perhaps preferable choices for writing or making new music.

AJ

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

This is the reason for me. I've never been introduced to it. I can see this being very useful in several applications. The funnest one that comes to mind is jammin' with other musicians. Set up a basic set of chord progressions using the arranger, then loop those back while playing live. Then you would be free to really have more fun using the whole keyboard and not worring about making all the chord changes with the left hand.

I for one like the idea of what this particular feature would add to my keyboard.

I want it!

Regards,

Dennis L. Almond
aka...TwoNuts


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

My i30 sequences allows me to change tempos, variations, fills, fade in fade out, ritard, change instruments, styles etc on the fly. That's why I bought it. I needed to have this feature for playing my sax so as not to get bored to death playing every song the same exact way every time.(ie SMF) That would drive me to the top of the wall and I'm more than 75% of the way up already.

I was just thinking of playing the sax only when I started, but that's all changed. I do vocals and play the keyboard mostly now.

I have a few sequences that I sing with and do sax solos also.

Some of the PaX owners are disapointed also because it doesn't have this feature either.