Great topic!

I guess as with any spec on an arranger, us arranger players have been adapting to what ever the manufactures throw at us.

I mean 76 keys would make life much easier for an OMB entertainer. It is a compromise between 61 and 88 keys. A 76 key arranger would eliminate the need to constantly having to press the octave up or down button to get a few extra notes. Also, if your keyboard allows for 2 or 3 right hand splits, you can do that so you have 2 sounds in the right hand. 76 keys will give you more room to play with when playing chords in the left hand in arranger mode. Playing full piano mode or with left hand bass is more inspiring and easier with a 76 keyboard.

A 76 key keyboard gives the player more flexibility and reduces the number of button presses one would have to do while playing a song.

But compromising is what we do as OMB entertainers. Since the manufacturers throw at us 61 keys we have to adapt to it. We would do the same if it were 49 keys.

76 keys is the ideal OMB arranger keyboard.


[This message has been edited by to the genesys (edited 09-17-2006).]

If you came from a piano background I can understand wanting more than 61 keys. My choice is 61 keys for the job and 88 keys for my home. I like trying to play piano – and I am using the correct words, “Trying to play piano”, I’m not much good at it.

The high end popular organs had 61 keys, two levels. Although they did have bass pedals. With a arranger keyboard I have no need for bass pedals or the extra 15 notes. I would properly never use them.

Again, Just my opinion, John C.

I bought a Tyros a few months ago and I love it. I do miss the 76 keys, as that's what I had for many years. I had to revoice my right hand solos as I was frequently reaching past the last key. The portability makes a huge difference to me since I do close to 300 gigs a year. I still have my G 1000 and still love it, however, the Tyros more than does the job even with only 61 keys.

Joe

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Songman55
Joe Ayala

Actually I prefer 73 keys because it's a neat C-C layout surrounded by the white keys.The 76 layout just isn't "neat".
But it's also right in the middle of a 61 and an 88.For my purposes I can go as low or as high as I want.

Hi Gar: As one who also owns & plays an 88 note acoustic piano (Steinway Grand) as well, I for one believe 'arranger mode' playing requires only 61 keys, and rarely necessitates using the octave +/- buttons either.

Auto accomp mode simply put, requires an entirely different playing approach than solo piano/keyboard. Solo playing necessitates more keyboard real estate (additional octaves) for left-hand arpegios, octave strides, bass lines, etc. In contrast, with auto accomp mode performance, the auto accomp rhythm section (specifically auto accomp bass part) provides that, with the LH's job to trigger the chords, plus rhythmic comping and/or (smooth) chord transition changes. In split keyboard mode, with the split point set at F#2, I find 1-1/2 octaves quite sufficient to handle this task, leaving 3-1/2 octaves (G2-C6) available for everything played with my RH. Hey, this is only a 1/2 octave less than available on an 88 note piano above middle "C".

The only time I need more keys is for traditional 'solo piano' style playing. For 'some' piano works, even a 76 note keyboard isn't sufficient. For those situations when I want to play solo piano style, I simply midi my Roland A-33 76 note controller to my T2, giving me the flexibility of only having to drag along a longer 76 note board when required, while enjoying the benefit of transporting a more compact 61 keyboard the rest of the time..

Scott

76 notes is only enough when I want to play an unweighted-action second/upper-tier keyboard now. I'm an 88-note man.

One of the best moves I made this year was to buy a graded-action 88-note controller to go with my 9000 Pro, and a graded-action digital piano for use when I am playing with MP3 backing. Now the leap to grand piano doesn't take as much effort and my playing is more consistant.

Gary, great topic.



Don, Exactly my sentiments.

In a perfect world I would prefer 88 semiweighted keys for an arranger board. I drooled a bit seeing that Casio has 88 keys on it's new WK8000 but it's not for me. I use the PSR3000, but prior to that when I first started gigging in 2004 I purchased a DGX505, that was short lived and bought a Casio Privia to use as a controller for the 3000. Too much work to transport both boards. When I play nursing home gigs that have a grand piano, I inevitably set up next to the grand and play a number of piano solo ragtime numbers at the grand. It would be nice to be able to do that with an arranger for those venues that don't have an acoustic piano.



Esh I'm with you on being an 88 keyman. This Saturday I'm playing a cocktail hour at a wedding reception. The bride and her mom
(have worked for them in the past)specifically said no arranger please play the piano that's at the hotel. So the last few weeks I've sat and spent some time working at the piano because my left hand has a tendency to get lazy when I just play chords at the arranger. As Esh has said the leap to the grand piano takes more effort when you've just been playing a synth action vs. weighted.




Just love those 88 keys. I'd like to be able to take my Clavinova CVP 307 to gigs.

Agree with this that 73 beats 76, but would prefer 66
with keys down to G on low end. More of what i need most
without increasing size or weight all that much.

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Miami Mo

I've seen the Budesa Bothers several times since my 4/5/'06 post and continue to marvel at what he does with a short keyboard. Here is part of that post: "I just came from seeing the Budesa brothers. Rich Budesa played a Roland AX7 – 45 keys. He played the bass line all night on what I would guess was a 2 octave split, which left him with about 21 keys and he did some pretty amazing stuff with that short board. Half of the audience members were musicians who were really digging this guy..."
Ciao,
Jerry

My take on this is, if you ONLY use your arranger in LH chord, RH solo mode, yes, you can probably get away with 61 notes, But arrangers are capable of so much more that just this, and for that, 76 is just about right..... Less weight than an 88, and bottom E for the left hand bass players, although 73 C-C is OK, as long as you have the Upper parts shifted up an octave. Enough range to play pretty pianistically on top of an SMF or in a band situation, and just about enough notes to squeeze in a third part in a pinch.

Just don't forget, many, many users of arrangers don't want to be restricted to HAVING to use them in arranger mode ONLY..........