Be nice if the Korg lets you input the chords with the realtime method, then edit them later for storage... Step entry is such a PITA.

DITTO!

Hey Scott... do a search at Roland-arranger.com for an article in the Suggest New Features I wrote quite a while back detailing things that COULD make the CS even MORE powerful. Just having one sequence in memory at a time is only the START of what it could do...

And as 'me too' as the industry seems to be, perhaps now I can start to look forward to the day that Roland recognize the error of their ways and reintroduce the feature (and Yamaha, and Ketron, and Casio, and.....)

I'm just glad to see that Korg are still in the TOTL arranger business...it's encouraging to know that arrangers are still considered important to some companies...couldn't imagine doing without one and needing to do all "work" on an aptly named "workstation".

Hopefully Roland's TOTL arranger withdrawal is only temporary...the more in the competition mix, the merrier, and the more insurance that all these companies will continue to (or need to) do things better.

Competition benefits us all.

Good to see you back.

Ian

it's not. Step entry is only a pity for single lines and melodies, a method I don't use. I record single lines and melodies in realtime: if I make a mistake, I use Punch In.

But for chords , step entry is the best. If you have the structure of the songs and the chords ready in your mind, it's very easy. You want to write a measure with this progression?

C, F, G, G, with a drum fill on the last eight note

it's very easy on the Yamahas. You just enter 'chord track',set the 'step' to quarter notes, and play directly the chords with your hands, no matter if you get the wrong timing.Then set to 'eight note' and play a fill directly from the panel. Done.

Software like Band in a Box does exactly that. Much easier than recording the whole thing in one go and then going back to edit all the mistakes, since with Korg, Roland and Ketron, you have to edit EVERY single note of the chords!

Not so with the Yamaha. And this can only be done on the Yamaha arrangers. Roland and Korg work exactly as you mentioned above: record the chords in realtime and then you can edit them. The trouble is that you can only edit the chords one note at a time, not as a complete chords, like the Yamahas DO.

The Korgs, for example, allow everything to be editable. But this is one of these cases where 'everything is editable' really works against the musicians, not in favour of.

The Yamahas have a very simple and direct recording workflow, once it's understood.