We have all owned and tried every arranger..I thought it would be interested in mentioning what we like [pros] and what we don't like [cons], about arrangers we have experienced..
As an example..maybe a feature not found on other arrangers[pros]....or maybe a feature useless to you[cons]..Features you would have liked on your particular board...Features on other boards you wish you had....

Make the post a wide open comment post without so and so is better than so and so...Even if we think so...

I'll comment later,, I have to get ready to git.....

without being one of the few lucky guys who had several arranger along the way, i could say few words about the only two i owned: kawai fs630 and korg pa50.

kawai fs630
(i had it for about four years, old model, but pretty good sounds at the time. it was 1991 when i got it i guess)
pro: good sounds, add-lib (sort of phrase bank for every style), light weight, but quite powerful speakers.
cons: few styles, only 25. no fill in. no variation. bad buttons. bad keys. no midi at all.
of course this model was not professional instrument, but was my first normal size keys keyboard. (my very first "electric organ" was a casio mt70, small keys)

korg pa50
i got this last year may, and had it for about six months. no need to present it, since all of us know about it.
pros: the sounds, the styles, the design, the keys (not extraordinary though), large display, the way you can assign functions to pads and to keys velocity, the fact you can erase unwanted factory styles and replace them, the joystick.
cons: the operating system, the hiss coming out thru the line out, the two bad buttons, not ideal midi, the fillins stupid action, the only two fills.

was very briefly, but this is what i experienced.
now i am waiting for a new instrument. e60.

I like them all! Just like some better than others.

Gary

------------------
Travlin' Easy

I think that an astute observation made by jammam in another post is worth repeating here; -" My ears prefer Korg but my job demands Yamaha".
I’ve not played every arranger, but of the modest number that I’ve played, heard and/or owned IMHO, the T2 and PA1XPro are in a league of their own. Having said that, I just purchased a Genesys XP. It doesn’t sound as good as the Korg and it certainly doesn’t match the navigability of the Yammie. I already miss the touch screen and the USB port and because they put all those features “in that iddy bitty can”, I may need to overcome some vanity problems and wear my ‘ready readers’ on the gig. However, it has the portability and especially the versatility that I need for gigs. It has most of the features of the Midjay plus most of the features that Donny and several others noted that the Midjay lacked and it’s about 17 lbs compared to my Pro’s 45 lbs.
That’s really all I can say until I learn the machine and use it on a couple of gigs – yet another learning curve to endure.
Ciao,
Jerry

Jerry.....how about posting a few tunes using your new Genesys XP module? I for one would love to hear this unit.

Yamaha PSR3000

Pros:
-Navigation during live playing is straightforward and simple
-Guitar sounds are great especially electric ones
-Bass sounds are decent
-Drums allright

Cons:
-Vocal Harmony: I want simple VH that does not sound robotic. Often it seems that way.
-Dedicated VH button like PSR2000
-Definitely need better piano sounds/grand pianos. The electric pianos are decent
-Keybed is noot good ! Get the DGX series action and I am happy camper
-Brass can be better I think.

Good post Fran.

A feature I like on Ketron instruments that I haven't found on others is their intelligent arranger function.

You can choose to mute certain accomp voices when you play your solos. lets say you are singing a song and you have quite a busy accompaniament going. When you come to play a solo or the lead melody you can set it so that certain of the voices (ac1, ac2, ac3, Brass etc) do not play while you solo - they fade away and die out if you continue to play.

This is particularly effective for latin and pop songs where you want your lead solos to stand out. I usually choose just the brass sounds to mute. I know that you can go into the instrument page on your A/K and mute voices but this is automatic when you play the lead right hand voice and it gives much more variety to your accompaniment.

They also have the dynamic arranger feature which varies the volume of the different accomp parts (by differing amounts)depending on how hard you play the left hand - giving much more control over the dynamics of a song. You can set which parts vary and by how much

I think Technics do something similar but I cant remember as I haven't played one for a little while now.

The Roland G70 it has an intelligent arranger function that plays high string and brass parts which are common to succesive parts. (It also has a lovely playable keyboard wich I wish I had on my T2)

Anything that gives viariety to the auto accomp is good for me.

KF

[This message has been edited by KFingers (edited 06-21-2006).]

Since arrangers have Intros and Endings, a Break Feature would be Kool(wuth couple Variations like A, B, C, D) And they should be more flexible.. there are some songs that have changing time signatures...

you know what else i'd like?
... black colour arrangers.
where did this silver/gray design come from anyway?
i think... korg pa60 was the last black arranger, right?

What I like are the free styles made by MartWeeho for G70. I should like that more keyboardplayers did like he does.
It does not matter to me for which instrument from which factory.