I posted some of this in the PA3X Demo thread but wanted to post under a more appropriate topic. First let me say that I think all arrangers from Yamaha, Korg, Roland and Audya are excellent keyboards. Each in their own right provide a different and musically interesting approach to music creation.I also believe that each can be used to play and create more contemporary music. However most demos of these boards focus on styles of the past, 60's, 80's, Big band, etc. Rightly so as these boards do an excellent job on all of those and the buyers are typically those who value styles of that nature.

I do think this short changes their capability and categorizes them as something only for older types of music. Modern arrangers can offer the same type of musical experience as most workstations and with a lot less work.

I often wondered what would be the acceptance if Yamaha introduced a Tyros-like keyboard, with a different name, and with hundreds of modern styles only ( similar to their performances on the Motif). No big band, easy listening, etc. Plus add some of the editing and sampling found in the Motif.

In any case I have found it easy to create compositions with a more contemporary feel by just modifying existing styles. Here are 2 of my compositions that I believe will show what a Tyros 3 can do. It would be just as easy to do also on any of the other arrangers. I actually use converted styles from Roland and Korg.

http://www.box.net/shared/ytlh5b4khhd1a1x5zve3

http://www.box.net/shared/84ezyhgbhuvtgdf2pdca

Excellent work, Joe, and two very nice compositions/arrangements.

Ian

Hey Joe, very nice relaxing sound.

I see no reason why arrangers can't be used for music of our 21 centurary. I get frustrated trying to find current Latin styles.

This is where your better off with a workstaion so you can CREATE all the styles you want instead of being a slave to factory styles.

i dont agree DNJ. Its just about whether you know what you are doing creating a style. Th arranger allows you to have different chordvariations when programming a style . I dont think any workstation has an equivalent. If you cant create great styles on an arranger you definately wont be able to create great styles on a workstation.

Donny,

I am confused,getting old, can you explain to me what your handle is on the difference between a WS and an arrange , Spalding doesn't agree with your slant. Give it your best shots please, my man at my KB shop said there is no difference but what the hell does he know, your da man!

Donny,

I am confused,getting old, can you explain to me what your handle is on the difference between a WS and an arrange , Spalding doesn't agree with your slant. Give it your best shots please, my man at my KB shop said there is no difference but what the hell does he know, your da man! [/quote]

Tony, I'm with you. What's the difference between a style on an arranger and an arpegeator on a work station? I always thought workstation were better for sequencing a whole song and arranger were more for style play. Now I'm getting more confussed! Maybe this is a good topic for another thread: Arranger vs Workstation.

Hi Tony

WORKSTATION
Have great sounds, massive editing facilities, but no pre-set content (Songbooks etc.) so you pretty much have to create what you want from scratch, thus an initial heavy workload. (Chord recognition and programming does come as standard in most boards these days though)

ARRANGER
Is full of easy play features (They were after all originally designed the home market) and are great for knocking up something quick, however very limited when you want to customise.

A combination of the 2 boards (T4 and Kronos for instance) gives you the best of both worlds.

ALTERNATIVES
Add a computer and software to an arranger, as this make even hardware workstations look limited; however the downside is that it requires a good midi implementation on the arranger to get the best out of it. (Not forgetting an initial steep learning curve)

Hope this helps

Bill

I sincerely believe the arranger keyboard can do just about anything a work station can do, plus has lots of added features that make creations such as the excellent example posted above a much easier task.

Gary

you are right gary .
listen to this produced on a yammy PSR just like you would create a track on a workstation. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0ADrJ7Tgzs

I really don't see the problem ....just before the 1980's I played workstations in bands for over 20 years..there was no such thing as a GOOD arranger KB and the early ones really sucked. Programming multitrack songs was fun and not too hard...but the one thing it gave me was "Cretivity" to make the song sound just like I wanted track by track especially with original tunes..... especially the drums & bass lines. Arranger playing has made people a bit lazy....what? create your own music tracks? WTF is that? listen back to your recorded arranger songs and tell me style parts are not "repetitious"?

hey, I'm done with this topic, the argument will never end Workstation VS Arranger KB...so play what you like and enjoy.
Oh yeah did I mention the Yankees are winning?..:)

The answer is simple donny. Use the other functions of your arranger . it has other button on it than start and stop play :-)

You know i am only teasing you Donny. Try some of the editing functions on your instrument and be amazed.

"Amazed" is something you hear a magician say......
both Arrangers & WS sound good for now....many changes will happen in the coming years.....and so we wait & wait....meanwhile make music however you wish to make yourself happy.

You know, Spalding, many people use less than 75% of their arranger, and to some it is mainly a SMF player to sing over, not that there's anything wrong with that.

The sound editing functions on the PSR-S910/Tyros4 are fairly extensive, and the Korg arrangers have even more capabilities.

For most, basic editing is fine; in fact very few use it, but, you can do a lot even with basic editing.

Same for styles...most people do not program from scratch, but edit an existing style, either by re-voicing or swapping parts in from another style. I teach style editing at my followup clinics...it's actually quite easy, as is sound editing.

Ian