I am just wondering....are arranger keyboards used outside of the "one-man-band" world? Are they used often in performance with groups (bands)? Or do bands usually use synthesizers? I am just very curious as to know who uses arranger keyboards other than those who use them at home for fun or to compose music.

Also, are all of the posters in this rofum "one-man-bands?" If so, where do one-man-bands get hired?

These are just a few questions I had and figured the people here could help me answer. I am very curious about this area of the music world.

Thanks,
MagicRoy

Personally, I have always hated the term "One Man Band"...but I guess, in reality, that is what many of us here are considered to be. Just don't confuse us with the "K" guys. Not that there's anything wrong with Karaoke...geez I am sounding like Seinfeld.

To play an arranger requires musician skills beyond loading discs. Most all the forum members I know here have varying degrees of accoustic piano skills and own and play arrangers because it adds full band dimensions you can not achieve on an accoustic.

Can an arranger be used in a band with other players? Sure! I worked in an oldies rock group two summers ago that relied on me for all the piano, organ, horn and string parts. The group consisted of two guitars, bass, drum, two singers and me. Not once did I turn the accomp on with them. (Incidentally, I used the PSR 9000 for those jobs -- but that was before I had the 2000.)

Who hires arranger players? You want names and phone numbers? J/K.

I can't speak for others here, but the people and places who hire me are the same as those that used to hire bigger bands I was in...but have found the difference in price and benefits between a 4-7 pc group and an arranger single or duo greatly favors the arranger guy.

I went arranger to survive. In our market, the 7 pc oldies group I mentioned could not get enough work to pay for groceries. And that doesn't even include other challenges of egos, logistics, rehearsals, etc.

Nigel, Tom C, Glenn and some others here do work with multi piece groups...and I enjoy that to. But, I make my living at this and never came close to working as steady (in the Florida season) or for as much $ as I can as a single or sometimes duo.

What prompts your interest Roy? Are you a player? Are you in a group or considering playing as a single? This forum doesn't discriminate. If you have an interest in arrangers..any make or model...and how to use them... this is the place to bookmark.
Eddie

Thanks for replying.

I play several instruments, but I focus on vocal and guitar.

I am also a magician; I use an arranger keyboard to compose and create music for my magic routines. This way, I do not have to pay royalties for commercial music, and I do not have to use cheesy royalty-free music offered to magicians. I create all my own high points and low points where I want them.

Anyway, a few friends of mine and I are starting a band, and our "keyboardist" is actually a regular pianist. We are wondering if we should get an arranger keyboard or a synthesizer. Can't a synthesizer also creat many, many sounds of many, many different instruments? But are the sounds more realistic on an arranger keyboard? As I am not really familiar with regular synthesizers (or most other electronic instruments), What are the benefits of each?

-Roy

[This message has been edited by MagicRoy (edited 12-06-2003).]

With arranger you have all your rythms to use for playing live or composing your own songs instead of relying on the drummers, etc. If one does not use this feature then I do not see any reason of owning arrangers. Rythms, fill-ins (drum fills) are what distinguish arranger and the strongest reason of choosing it. If a person always plays in a band (group of people that plays rythms such as bass and drums), it's probably better to use non-arranger like synthesizer that solely focus on sound quality and sequencing.

Some arrangers (high ends mostly) also have built in synthesizer capability where you can modify the sounds to your heart content like in KORG PA80 for example. I personally never had time fiddling around with those. I just use the preset sounds from the factory.

I used a PSR-550 a number of times with a live band but not with accompaniment because we have plenty of that already. I now use a Yamaha Motif only because I prefer its sound and keyboard feel. If the PSR-2000 keyboard was more solid then I could have been tempted to try that instead. The big advantage for me of the Motif over the PSR-2000/2100 is the integrated sampling which is more useful in a band than are arranger features. But any keyboard ( arranger or not ) that has the right sound can be used with a band. The 9000 Pro for example would be a good band keyboard.

I've been using an arranger in my rig for over a year now. I use a Korg Triton and a Tyros (which replaced a psr9000 this year). I find the setup (registrations) and quick voice access on the Tyros so convenient during live performances, I hesitate to replace it with something like the Motif ES which is more road worthy.

The Tyros is used for it's Drawbars, acoustic voices like Flute, Sax, Brass, and the strings.

In my home the Tyros does double duty entertaining friends and family, composing, and rehearsing.

Al

Well Nigel, it looks like you bit the bullet and got yourself a Motif. I noticed you didn't add an 'ES' to your statement so I'm assuming you got the Motif Classic instead of the ES. If you got the Classic beware of Polyphony dropoff because it can be a common occurence. But you can add more Polyphony with the Add-On Boards. But then again even if you use an Add-On Board the added Polyphony will NOT be 'True' Polyphony, ie., (good across the whole Board) like the Motif ES Polyphony is.

A little clarification as to your new Motif would be helpful Nigel. So is it the Classic or ES?

Either way, congratulations on your new Board! The sounds on the Motif/ES are outstanding, the ES even more so IMO but they're both great Boards.

Best regards,
Mike

Thank you for all of your responses. We will probably use an arranger as some songs we write may require more than one rythm/drum set (which we do not have).

-Roy

Mike, I bought a Motif 6 Classic at a good price from Bluezplayer on this forum who was upgrading to the Motif ES. Because I was only interested in a keyboard for live use the polyphony wasn't as much of a concern to me as someone who was looking to produce complete arrangements on the Motif. Though am I thinking about adding some plugin boards to expand the sound palette. I just couldn't justify spending an extra $1000 for the ES features even though I was tempted to.

I admire one man bands. Playing and singing solo is a skill and lots of people have that. I myself play at home only and now and then entertain relatives when they visit. I LOVE being in control of everything...I think all one man band musicians will agree. About synthesizers vs arrangers.... Arrangers thesedays sound extremely good and the top end arrangers have atleast a thousand sounds or more. My VA5 has over 3500....I'll never run out of voices and always find something. When I watch a guy playing a keyboard as part of a band and then watch a guy playing solo on his arranger...I really admire the one man artist more cos he has to control the chords,play the keyboard and sing all almost at the same time...Arrangers rule.