Interesting reviews on most major arrangers.

While we know most of this,it might raise our image with other musicians. It attempts to dispel the cheese factor. http://cp20.com/Tracking/t.c?B9j-MJQ-1F7..._arranger_intro

Hi Bernie. You are a little bit late with this post mate. someone beat you to it about a week ago but thanks for looking out for us !!

Cheers mate

I'm afraid that Keyboard mag using a guy that obviously had never used an arranger before being given the onerous task of 'reviewing' what he obviously considers beneath him, just once again reinforces the stereotypes most keyboard players already have.

How hard would it have been for Keyboard Mag to hire an actual arranger PLAYER to do this?

Kind of like getting someone who has only played clone-wheels to review a REAL Hammond....

The "guy" is Stephen Fortner, technical editor of Keyboard Magazine and very respected by the readers of that magazine. He has written several very insigthful articles in Keyboard Magazine about arrangers in the recent years. He is probably the main reason that Keyboard Magazine is finally recognizing arranger keyboards.

Kind regards,
Tommy

Hi Diki,

I had the same reaction, or the target was to keep a very low profile so that the traditional synth remains anyway a step "higher". We know that the actual level of arranger is much higher of what presented like "wow we have also the incredible possibility of layering two sounds!".

Other things I did not like:
- presenting models of very different price and of course specs,
- the audio is catched directly from the camera mic - that means that the original sound quality is lost "by design",
- the whole presentation looks a little like "come in, we are showing a rare (endangered ??) specie of keyboard ....".

I'm curios to read the magazine article where hopefully there is more to learn about.

Just my thought

Regards


[This message has been edited by Booby (edited 04-18-2007).]

You can read the accompanying article here:

Arrangers Un-Cheesed

And here is an older review of the G70:

Roland G-70

I also remember Stephen Fortner doing a very positive review of the Tyros 2 and the SA technology, but I can't find a link to this.

Kind regards,
Tommy

I found it:

Yamaha Tyros2

Kind regards,
Tommy

But it still irks me to think that our tools of choice get reviewed by a person that never uses them...

Kind of like a top F1 car driver reviewing a motorbike. Sure, he knows a BIT about bikes, but why not get a top bike rider for the review?

Diki, I tend to agree, but then we should probably read more specialized magazines like the UK based Keyboard Player (www.keyboardplayer.com), the German Tastenwelt (www.tastenwelt.de), or another German one Okey! (www.okey-online.com). These magazines write about arranger keyboards in every issue and have editors with a more in-depth knowledge of our favorite instrument. Hopefully we can soon add OMB Magazine to the list

Kind regards,
Tommy

Yes, I know those magazines. But I think it was more about getting an EXPERT to review arrangers for those players that don't already know much about them. Keyboard's main readership is far more workstation oriented, so the need for experienced opinion, rather than the gloss they got, would help open up some eyes.

Reviews in Keyboard Player and Tastenwelt is kind of preaching to the choir. Keyboard needs to preach to the sinners.....!