Auto arranger is a fantastic tool to make music,
and I'm lucky to have them all in my studio.

Arrangers are still underestimated...



If there is one video that shows that Arrangers in europe are more alive then ever, it is this one.. It shows
- Arrangers are so much fun to play
- Arrangers are still innovative, the proof is in the Yamaha Ensemble function. No professional synth workstation has this feature
- Ensemble enhance the performance of casual players, but if you watch the whole video you will realize that exactly this feature allows experienced players to shine and sound stunning.
(on top of that, the 3rd party styles show how good STyles on the Yamaha can sound)

So can we agree Arranger KBs are dying out for Pro Player use on stage and still alive for Home players use as originally intended?

I still use mine to "gig" (sorry Dave!)and the majority of my clients that use them on stage still use them. I'm not really sure how the new buyers are going with arrangers, although I've done several private tutorials with guitar players/vocalists that are using the new S950 and S750 solely as a midi file player on stage.

I also still get the occasional call or email from keyboard players (mainly piano players) with questions concerning how I went about integrating the arranger into a solo instrumental act (for restaurants etc.) but I can't really comment on the actual sales going to pro players as I am not with the company anymore and rarely go to music stores.

I suspect it has leveled off a bit.

It certainly will be interesting to see what the "big two" (Yamaha and Korg) will add to their upper end arranger line in the way of features to entice present owners to trade up to a new model.

So far, at least in my case, I haven't seen anything strong enough to make me want to upgrade. I suppose, since we can't predict the future, we will have to wait and see what these companies come up with in the future and how that will influence the pro player.

Ian

Restaurant background gigs are like playing in your living room compared to performing alone in front of a 300-400 pp high energy "dance crowd"an Arranger in that scenario alone ain't gonna cut it using just styles & vocals in today's world............

Actually, I made quite a bit of money doing restaurant gigs...usually substantially more than solo vocalist/arranger players in my area...plus, I didn't have to deal with drunks and over enthusiastic (ignorant/loud/bossy) patrons.

I like the relaxing atmosphere of the restaurant and the freedom to play pretty much whatever I want (usually stuff I already love to play) and the much easier to take lower volume level.

I've done several duo dance gigs (guitar-vocalist or vocalist only) with fairly large audiences (600-800 people), and although it was okay, it isn't for me as a steady diet. I much prefer being in the background yet still sharing my music with others. In fact, I just turned down a duo gig with an expected relatively large audience (400-500 people) as I just prefer quieter settings.

I also do quite well with studio work and making demo tunes for upcoming artists...and 99% is done with just the Tyros4 so my overhead is very low. I have a terrific Electro-Voice RE-15 vintage mic that vocalists just love to use...it's warm with lots of character and the sound is nicely detailed.

To each his own, I suppose. A few of my arranger clients play to large dance crowds but I can take or leave such gigs...I feel lucky to be retired and not need to play solely for the money...I can pick the jobs I know I will like.

Ian

Only because they refuse to add those features needed to make acceptable trance to arrangers, its not abouttechnollogy, but its about workflow...

Tough a few weeks ago i was at a huge wedding and the OMB was using a tyros 5, NI Maschine and a korg Taktile .... And he was quite able to sattisfy both the older and the younger... Everything from German schlagers, johan Straus, pop, rock dance and trance was played and of the highest quallity...


I think the guy even used his Tyros 5 midi outs to create a true synth ensemble...

I think that you will find a strong correlation between the downturn in the sales of arranger keyboards and workstations and other luxury items with the downturn in the economy. This is not because those items are less desirous than they were a few years ago. It is simply because the finance to pay for these expensive items isn't there at this moment.

However I visit numerous keyboard forums/communities and almost without exception the talk for the most part concerns the next Korg Kronos or the next Yamaha motif hardware workstation . Even those that use computers and laptops and VST s are still talking about the next hardware instrument and how it can be integrated with their software setup.

I think talk about the death of arranger keyboards is premature.

Chas touched on the fact that there is a stigma attached to arranger keyboards. And this is true. There is a lot of misinformation about arranger keyboards that exists even now. Especially amongst workstation/performance keyboard users.

Most of this misinformation concerns the perceived limitation of an arranger in producing your own customised music, it's gig readiness , it's flexibility and suitability in terms of fitting into a studio setup.

Sadly, some of this misinformation has actually been put out by the companies that sell the product themselves, in order to prevent the cannibalisation of its overall keyboard sales.

But I have no doubt that arrangers have a lot of life left in them yet .

The biggest problem in the thinkings of synth workstation users and arranger players is that they view styles as an automatic NON creative lazymans idea vs creating music "from scratch" the way the musician wants it to sound track by track ....part by part......There's nothing wrong with repetitive auto styles but lets face it "Real music" in no way sounds & is orchestrated like an arranger style. then you have the thinking of LAZINESS on the part of the arranger player vs a workstation player who has the talent to CREATE track by track a song that has certain parts that cannot be reproduced using a repetitive style variation method. Nobody is right,....no one is wrong, it's all perception in thinking and what the masses will embrace,...