Just wondering where you peoples preferences are when it comes to styles...

Which factory style format do you like best Yamaha, Korg, Ketron, Audya....

What 3rd party style programmer makes the best styles?

And most important, why.....

(and remeber there is no such thing as good and wrong answers, just opinions and different taste)

Favourite

Roland: as they are busy enough for those that hold the left hand, but not so busy that you can’t do your own thing.

Least favourite

Yamaha: There just too busy and force you to play along to them, rather than adding enhancement to whatever you want to play.

3rd Party Styles

No particular favourite

Bill

Ketron, Korg, Roland in that order.
DonM

I think Ketron styles are the best (at least if you like a live sound)

I like the Latin styles that Manuel Dorantes makes. Also D.O.O. styles that sound really nice.

KORG, KETRON, Roland, Yamaha in that order...

** depending on what arranger Kb I'm playing...& how some convert if needed.

1 Korg
2 Roland
3 Ketron
4 Yamaha

Don't use third party at the moment.

Hello,

I'm sure I'm prejudiced since I've been a Yamaha fan for 30+ years and have a Tyros4, but I love Yamaha styles. It's so easy to turn parts off to make them less busy. I like having all those parts available for MY choice!! -charley

I'm with Charley, and having also owned all the above mentioned brands, I'll continue to use Yamaha. And, I wish to personally thank Charlie for all the hard work he has done over the years in providing third-party styles for Yamaha users throughout the world.

Cheers,

Gary

Hi Bachus,
Factory Style Format
Korg: 6 cv's for variations ie up to 6 slightly different patterns triggered depending on chord type played. (Most factory styles don't contain 6 cv's but the option is available). Basically adds variety to the variation.

Option of different time signatures in style parts. Again not used in Factory styles, but for songs that may have a 2/4 & 4/4 time signatures in it, One of the variations or fills could be modified to suit. Also be handy if one wanted to create a medley style.

Each of the Korg style parts can be up to 32 bars long including fills. Fills , intro's/Endings if tapped twice will keep looping.

Guitar Mode Tracks. More realistic than midi tracks. Makes recording a simple guitar style track , almost idiot proof. ie Single notes record a variety of strums. Guitar Mode 2 ( PA3X)has the option of also adding midi notes on the same track as Guitar Mode notes.

Second Choice Technics KN7. NTT setting could be set for each individual chord in a stlye track if required. Ability to play some complex patterns.

Yamaha probably has my favourite TYPE of styles, though not my favourite format.

3rd Party styles. Technote. They used to create some wonderful styles for the old Technics Keyboards.

Ketron
Korg
Technics
Roland
Yamaha

So (except for the audio parts of Ketron) Korg styles are most evolved, i have never used them tough, allways been using Yamaha styles, and GEM before that..

Thank you for this elleborating response, shows again that the PA3X is the most advanced arranger on the market.


How are your experineces with converting other style brands to your PA3X format?

Hi Bachus,
basically ,pretty good. Just wish I had a a better ear as far as music goes. Getting that final tweak with balancing individual drums, or getting the right mix of volumes between the style tracks I let myself down a bit.

For conversions , where possible I don't use EMC, prefer to convert manually from a style saved as a midifile.
Normally I run a style thru EMC first, if it sounds quite good, I'll edit to best of my ability, if not, I'll do it from the midifile ( if possible)

Yamaha is basically the easiest. Usually I try & avoid mega voice styles, if I can't, I either remove those strange ,mega notes, or Korg has RX voices , which if I transpose those mega notes, the RX voices have a sort of equivalent for some of the sounds. Put it this way, it would want to be a style I really need, to go to that trouble.

I have 2 options. Using the arranger window in One Man Band, ie type in the cmaj&min chords for intro's/endings & the cmaj7th chord I use for variations & fills then save as midifile.
Or, change the styles extension from .sty or .prs to .mid, automatic midifile of style.

One I've got the midifile , I load it into pc sequencer, Yamaha already has MARKERS, so all I need to do is change them to suit Korg.
I swap the midi channels 11 & 9, Yamaha & Korg have bass & percussion on opposite channels, rest are identical.
For the PA800 I used to have to manually convert some of the XG drums to suit Korg Mapping, fortunately PA3X now has some XG Mapped Kits, saves me a heap of work.
I remove mega notes if I have to.
Save midifile & import it into Korg for further editing.
Once I've got it in the Korg , I do the NTT settings,, make sure the instruments are ok or find new ones, just a basic check over & I've got a style.
For PA3X takes me 2 to 3hours. But , an emc conversion could take me nearly as long just to edit, & I still probably wouldn't end up with as good a result.

For Ketron, I can now do the same using VArranger song chord function. ie create midifile.
Ketron is more difficult because of the Live Drums. I do have an sd2 I could midi to the PA3X, but instead I'm slowly building up some Live Drum Kits using soundfonts I convertd to wav for my PA3X. I've really only done one so far Ketron's SlowOrch style which I really luv.

Other alternative would be to find a similar type of drum track from the korg & replace Ketron track with Korg track. Not that easy with Intro's/endings.

3rd alternative would be to use audio loops or record loops using VArranger&SD2.

Roland I may eventually be able to do when Dan includes Roland in VArranger. Moment, EMC is my only option.

Technics , I have no choice but thru EMC.

Actually found a great way to cheat & create guitar mode tracks by simply editing existing midi tracks.
Some of the guitar tracks in my psr1500 styles are really basic. Bascically I just study the chords to see if they're a strum up or down, slow strum or quick etc etc . Then under event list I just keep 1 note from each of the chords in the track ( delete the rest) transpose these notes to suit the guitar mode note to give me the type of strum I want. Instant guitar mode track with correct timing and proper guitar voicing.
Takes a few minutes per track.



So (except for the audio parts of Ketron) Korg styles are most evolved, i have never used them tough, allways been using Yamaha styles, and GEM before that..

Thank you for this elleborating response, shows again that the PA3X is the most advanced arranger on the market.


How are your experineces with converting other style brands to your PA3X format? [/quote]