HI All

Right com on you guys lets have it for once and for all, what is the difference,in your eyes.

Ian you don't need to answer this one, you know!

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

In regards to drums alone, a workstation does not offer fill in's, intro's or endings etc... everything is based off of arpeggio's. To me this is a huge difference.

Bravo Tone Nice picture...see we're a nice bunch here

Workstations:

Have performances, Combinations or whatever the manufacturer calls them. They are much simpler in instrumentation than Styles. They do not have intros, fills, variations and endings. Motif lets you vary the arps. Korg has Karma which provides variations.

If you want to sit down and quickly start playing with an accompaniment you can do it with both. However you will find that the workstation will be heavily oriented toward modern backing tracks. Plus the number of performances/Combis are limited so you will need to make your own and that's where the workstations require a steep learning curve and a lot of work. The upside is you can create very original tracks.

With Arrangers creating new styles is a lot easier to do than using workstations to create new performances/Combis.

Summary:

Arrangers have many styles that can be changed and with their OS it is easier to create new ones. Styles cover a wide variety of generes.

Workstations have a limited number of performances/Combis. They can be changed fairly easily, however it takes a lot of learning and work to know how to create new ones and even more work to create style-like backing tracks with intros, variations and endings. Plus backing tracks are oriented to more modern accompaniment.

In the end you can accomplish the same objective with both but the workstation requires more work. That's why TOTL arrangers cost less than TOTL workstations.

I still would like to add a Motif or MOX to my Tyros 3 for the different sound world it would bring.

Let's not forget that when you mention an arranger to a working pro musician they cringe! & that's why you don't see them on major acts stages, all you see are Fanthom, Motif, Triton, etc, etc, ....because the workstation lets you create track by track, and with combi, prog, & arpeggiators, smf, mp3,& create songs the way YOU want them to sound ...not the typical REPETIOUN of the style parts on arranger KB...like bass lines, drums, and many style parts...then you can play on top using the best sounds there is. All the complaint you constantly read about on here about what arrangers DON'T have can be done with a good workstation if you know how or have the will to learn..is it fun? YES,.....is it intimidating at first? YES....but like anything else once you get into it it will get easier and easier and more gratifying each time you play it...I also think you will be proud of yourself also once you start to be a music "CREATOR" vs a "style operator"......these new workstations, Mo xf, Kronos, Jupiter, etc,.. are becoming more & more exciting with so many great features as arrangers dwindle down year after year...the mighty workstation will rise to the occasion every time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wD8cdxxEJkI&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0kpiMUOQqw&feature=related


This will give you and idea what you can do..

I'm still glad I traded in my MO8 for the Tyros 2. For a working stiff like me, I just want to sit down and play some music not read through manuals that make no sense. It would have been cool to keep both but I'm too poor...

Another point of confussion, my Tyros 2 is billed as a digital workstation. Not true? Did they just paint that on the keyboard so the pros wouldn't cringe as much? Well it didn't work. My pro friends still kind of cringe when I tell I have a T2:)

Exactly,... just a marketing strategy they came up with...like I said if you not willing to put in the time to learn the WS features and are satisfied with the repetitiveness sound of arranger styles no problem,...that's why we have choices...

here's a sample Orchestration WS Demo on Kronos...if you want to play in the style of Thelmo using a WS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GHHrp51zx4&feature=related

Ian,

Are these guys right with all this.

Tony