That pretty much says it all. Everyone has different needs and ways of working (thinking) and one person hears things a little different than the next person. That's a plus for instruments like the Lionstracs that run soft-instruments, although that can be fairly expensive and then you're still stuck with whatever the manufacturer thinks sounds good.

To me, I would rather have a huge assortment of ROM waveforms to work with consisting of acoustic samples as well as a good number of synthetic waveforms and an extensive programmable sound section in order to create the sounds that appeal to me.

Something else I forgot to mention-
Space on the manufacturer's website for instrument owner's to register and gain access to an ftp sharing area. Sounds, styles, smf's, tips and tricks, gig photos, etc. could be shared there. And a company rep that monitors the space on a daily basis to offer help when needed. Not trying to take away from this and other forums, but having one specific place to go for these types of things would be far more convenient than the way it is now, i.e. currently members upload data to a variety of file sharing websites, some of which you have to register to get the file. I avoid this like the plague. Plus it is easier and more realistic to ask a manufacturer's rep to monitor a single site rather than jumping all over the place and never quite catching up.

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Wm. David McMahan
LearnMyKeyboard
JazzItUp Band
The Modulators

[This message has been edited by WDMcM (edited 07-02-2009).]

I think in general these arrangers today are pretty darn good when you take into consideration what each offers..., and what each model offers to its intended market.

I'd love to see more arrangers actually sound like they were made TODAY rather than 30 years ago in regards to the preset styles. Even the traditional styles today have changed quite a bit over the years.., but arrangers don't seem to do a very good job at covering that IMO.

What I'd also like to see is the PRICE MATCH THE QUALITY. Arrangers are just too freakin expensive when compared to their cousins on the other side of the fence. At the price these things sell for there is NO reason they can't be built better... The price is always going to be higher on them as long as the older generation (the intended market) keeps shelling out that dough for them. Hopefully one day consumers send a message to the makers (all of the keyboard makers) by simply NOT upgrading to the next model. Force them to either price them properly or BUILD them to the level of their pricing.



[This message has been edited by squeak_D (edited 07-02-2009).]

Dave ..that sounds like the MediaStation...

Hi Fran,

Why yes it does. Although with one big difference. I'm not talking about something that runs virtual instruments. I'm referring to a dedicated instrument like most other workstations out there. The difference would be in that the manufacturer would offer a choice of operating systems based on the feature set desired. This is nothing new. One company I worked for used the same mainboard in several different instruments and it was the operating system that turned the instrument into a particular model. The trick is designing the necessary I/O's into the board layout in order to allow access from various front panel designs, different displays, audio ins and outs, etc.

The idea of the MediaStation, and the Open Labs instruments is very cool. But as seen in a multitude of posts throughout this forum, the average arranger player is not going to spend the time installing and configuring the necessary software to make one of these instruments suit their needs. No, these type of instruments lend themselves more to the tech-heads, tinkerers and pro studio types. I certainly don't mean that as a slam, I happen to consider myself as at least two of those types. And a few other words that I shouldn't say in public.

I really think dedicated hardware with a choice of O/S's would be a great idea. Maybe I just need to start my own keyboard company and do it the right way. Yeah, I'll get right on that.

Dave

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Wm. David McMahan
LearnMyKeyboard
JazzItUp Band
The Modulators

AJ ... What I want most is quite simple .....
A arranger that has a USA style library!!
No Schlager styles no world styles that I would not need in a "Million" years!
Good Old American Blues, Jazz, Rock and Pop!!! Why is that so hard. I am not asking for a different design! Not asking for the black keys to be white and the white to be black!! Just styles that apply to an audience that live here in the USA.

love the bread and butter styles and sounds of AUDYA,
the "old" styles and "acoustic" instruments are great...

BUT

add LOTS of modern styles and modern sounds, analog stuff, which would work for Pop, Dance, Techno, House, Hip-Hop, R&B, you know the stuff you actually hear on mainstream radio,

the stuff that's popular and stuff people want to hear

Everything written here says it all. It also made me stop to think of the many needs of so many different players. It’s impossible to get a “one size fits all” keyboard, no matter how accommodating a manufacture is.

My thoughts:

Why can’t we get all the “action” in a computer program? And then change “arranger software programs” as we see fit according to our own performance needs? Styles, sounds, fills, etc I can see sitting in front of a laptop computer controlled by a semi-weighted 76 note keyboard and a hardware interface for whatever buttons need to be pressed.

Or…..why not build an arranger keyboard in modules and let the customer order what he wants in his own personal unit? Not unlike building your own computer and deciding how much memory you want, how big a hard drive, what styles you want to purchase, what sounds you want included, semi-weighted or full weighted keyboard, 61, 76 81 keys, pitch and modulation wheels, popcorn machine, nail trimmer, etc.

I personally like the idea of modules as I would go for the Korg M3 instrumental sounds, the G-70 looks, the versatility and realism of the Audya, the complexity of the PA2xPro.

Lucky

Not what I don't like, but what I would like:

Put the Technics' composer, panelmemories and userfriendly operating system into Audya.
Build it like a tank as i.e. Roland G-70, and also try keep it more close to the price
level that compete to the other top of the range arrangerkeyboards, (not twice as much
like Audya does in our area).
To me that would be a WINNER!

Cheers and Happy Playing
GJ

The ultimate TOTL arranger would be called:

KoRoYaKe

Absolutely. After all, don't Yamaha and Korg make Oriental versions of some boards, don't they?