Hi all, it's been quite some time since I've been in here. I have a rather unique issue, and I'm hoping with all the collective talent in here, someone has an idea or two on this.
I was contacted by a 1960's band called "The Casinos". They had a fairly large hit in 1967 called "Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye". At any rate, they've had to terminate their keyboard player, and would like me to join them. They do nothing but late 50's and early 60's tunes, and my problem is that they want me to be totally live, no sequences or backing tracks. The live playing is no problem at all, however, I'm finding that the available rhythm's in the 7000 may not "fit" the song selections, especially on the fast tunes. Their former keyboardist used 2 keyboards, one was a Korg, no idea on the other one. Here's a promotional video that they did on YouTube, and their other keyboardist was playing. I'm looking for ideas on how I overcome the possible lack of suitable rhythms. Any ideas would be great. Here's the YouTube link, and I also have the songlist that they sent me if anyone would like to see it. Thanks...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lu2Ymu0xCXE

Hi Jim - If it were me I would download all the songs as midis and convert them to style files using EMC Styleworks Universal...then at least I'd know that I had the right sounding rhythms for each of their songs. Even better if the previous keyboard player would let you have his Korg etc styles which again you could convert using the same software. What's the playlist as a matter of interest.
Rog

Jim

I have EMC Universal, although I have never used the Midi to Style converter. I agree that it probably is the best way to go, providing we can get the SMF's.

As Rog says, conversion from Korg to Technics would be the best if you can get ahold of the files.

I had your playlist, but not now.

Bernie

The battle of the Kn7000 covering all types of music still continues. I loved my Kn7000 -- even if you managed to convert styles to your Kn7000 it will not do the same job as a newer keyboard. If the man before you was using a Korg you will have a problem competing.

I am not putting Korg over the Kn7000 but they are different keyboards designed to do different jobs.

Jim, you did say they want you to play live – so why worry about styles? If you are using the drums and basses Roland, Yamaha and Korg keyboards are a better choice.

My opinion; I believe you can cover what I heard on You Tube link with styles with the Kn7000– most live players out there have no idea what a good arranger keyboard can really do; their experience has been with Casios and cheap Yamahas.

Up to the end of 2010 I did my best to edit and convert styles to fit 50’s, 60’s and 70’s music on my Kn7000. I was successful in coming close. The same job on my Korg Pa800 was no job at all; the sounds and styles were there – and so was the rock feel. The tradeoff was that I lost Kn7000’s Big Band sound.

Too many times we try to rate keyboards without selecting the criteria to base our opinions on.
1-How much programing and editing do I want to do?
2-In the coming years what type of music will I be favoring?
3-Do I want to lose the great sound of the Kn7000 in order to achieve a more contemporary sound?
Many who have sold their Kn7000 miss it -- The tradeoff is they are keeping up with today’s music demands.
4-Have I played a new Korg? Without doing that there are no basses for a keyboard decision.

I hope this helps, John C.

On that basis, I would use a Korg Micro and the KN7000. I used nothing but the Korg into my Bose, and had great response.

The week before, I took the KN7000 and Korg Micro. They played well together.

Sure, a PA800 or PA3x might be better, but at what cost ? Certainly more than $499

Hello Jim,

I would suggest you visit www.psrtutorial.com site where you will find lots of styles and voices for almost all makes of keyboards, including Korg, Roland, Ketron, Technics and Yamaha, which are free to download and most have been converted by very professional members of the site and are ready to play on almost any keyboard, including Yamaha.

There is also a wealth of information available on the site too and the people are friendly and extremely helpful if you get into trouble or need advice such as you're after now.

I would also look at Bill Norrie's site. He has all the past Technics styles and voices on there again, completely free to download, plus many that he has composed himself. I know he is a great fan of the Technics KN7000 and I also know some of his styles are better than the originals, particularly when it comes to dannce numbers.

Hope this helps - good luck!

Audrey

Thanks all. I've been noodling around on the 7000, and have found several rhythms that may work. The rhythms that their former keyboard player used were basic, but also were true to the original recording. The rehearsal that I was supposed to have tomorrow with them has been cancelled due to an emergency, so I have more time to come up with something. I admit that I'm nowhere near as involved with the programming end of things as I probably should be...I just play 'em using what's in it, lol. Let me find a way to put the emailed songlist into a format accepted here and I'll post it.

Jim ... sounds like a fun gig ... I would imagine that if you are using the kn7000 you would have Panel Memory's set up to change styles, tempos, voices, etc at the 'push of a button' ...
I've done that several times for various types of shows and it works great for transitioning from one song to another ...
Best of Luck ...

Just an update. The Casinos and I had our first rehearsal yesterday (5-22). Things went very well, so I guess I'm an official "Casino" now. There were 3 - 4 songs that I do have to change the rhythms on. One thing that I'm finding is that the most basic of styles can be the hardest to find. I do have a 128 MB SD card that has all of Bill N's styles on it, from the KN2000 all the way up to the 7000..that has been very helpful for some songs. I'll keep you posted on how things go, but this looks like it'll be a lot of fun. Ken Brady (group leader) had someone do charts for all the songs, and we found that in 4 of them, the chart simply wasn't correct, so he's having those re-done. Their former k-bd player never used the charts (no idea why) so this was the 1st time anyone used them. The charts themselves are basic chord charts, but at least I know what's happening, and when it's supposed to happen.