DEMO

very tasty !! looks like a lot of fun. the dance club/DJ market must be salivating over this . But it does noty in any way compete with a keyboard instrucmnet in terns of creating orginal non dance music. I would love to see how comnplex chortds could be played fluently on something like this :-)

but still for the right price I would buy one.

That's my point,.... let's be honest ... "KIDS" today don't have a need for what an Arranger KB offers,......the DEMO is whats happening out there in the real world for the younger crowds..& don't forget the talent it takes to create those beats & put it all together song after song on a gig.. I Know the "Elders" here will scoff at the thought .........but we had our time,.....now it's theirs..

Sorry Donny, but I'm a big time scoffer. This so called club music is nothing but rehashed "trance music". The one chord based bassline goes no where musically. If this is the future of music we' in trouble big time. Us old guys will have to soldier on and keep playing decent music with chord structures and interesting melodies.

Chords, rhythm and melody are the rudiments of any style of music whether it's pop, country, jazz, classical or any of the many great genres of music. This machine and what it produces is only one part of the equation, RHYTHM. This box is just a glorified beat box to produce bump and grind music for hedonistic young people.

Although I'd love to be young again. Heaven forbid I should have grown up in this modern generation. This technology is great but it is based on the fact that music can only be enjoyed by dancing. What about the awesome power of music to soothe your soul? Listening to music occurs far more often than dancing to it.

If this is the future of music I can't help but think of the line in Don McLean's "American Pie"..............
"THE DAY THE MUSIC DIED".
Sorry for the rant but music is so important to me that I had to add my 50 cents worth.

God Bless,
Don

I have been telling everyone for years now, that if they recreate the arranger in an ableton like fashion, and add some knobs ( how they are missing ) kids will love the new version of arrangers...

Tell that to the designers...


I am a big fan of ableton myself, and it would work very well together with the main feature of arrangers.... Mellody lines following realtime chord choices...

Playing mellodies on these pads is just a thing of fashion, keys with aftertouch allow offcourse for much more expression..

Don I respect your opinion,......but it's a bit late to worry about it, it's ain't gonna change. Every generation has their own music,..what your hearing in the demo and in every dance club in the world......you may not agree with it or enjoy listening to it, but its here to stay, they are just expressing their feelings thru music as we did years ago. They have technology we did't have also to create with, Best part about it we can easily Zone it out by changing the channel.....or listening to our own music on so many devices, CD's, Mp3's, in any customized playlist we desire. maybe we don't quite understand when the message is.....but believe me millions of kids who buy hundreds of millions of songs every day surly do. Now where's my iPOD & Earphones ....

I wonder if your concern, Donny, might be borne out of a fear that, as time goes by, your bread and butter market is dwindling. Well, it is. Not to worry, though, we all dwindle at the same rate, 24 hours per diem. So, that's you - and your audience, the whole 'bracket' moves along together. That includes tastes in music.

The kids will have fun in their own way, just as we did in our own way. No big deal. We'll carry on till we're done and enjoy it all. We can't concern ourselves with what the scene will be years down the road, we're not going to be part of it, anyway.

Keep smiling.

Dwindle? no way can't keep up at this point, and I like it like that,.......I planned way ahead for changing times, saw it happening many years ago when I went solo OMB 18 years ago after 25+ years with a 7 PC show band.... there is plenty of people ready for your musical Niche`,......just go find them and cater to their musical wishes, but you better have the "Goods" is all I can tell you now if you wanna make a living playing music. Change is fun embrace it.


PS: My Quote of the day:

"A Buffet with all the "SAME FOOD" isn't going to bring people back to eat".............

We know all this, Donny.

It just seems to be a recurring theme with you in various threads about how some perceived danger exists that somehow threatens the existence of arrangers. Not sure why that bothers you . . .

So "Kids don't want arranger KB's". I'm cool with that.

In my many years of selling and doing clinics with arrangers, very, very few young people bought them back then, and not much more buy the instruments today.

At one time, cheap Casio and Yamaha PSS keyboards were bought for youngsters (20 and under), but were mainly considered toys or at least, most never took them too seriously.

In my experience it has always been the older (over 30 ) player that usually invested in an arranger keyboard and it's the same today.

I didn't really start using one till I was around 30...before that, they weren't flexible or powerful enough to use as a performance keyboard.

I think the Karaoke/keyboard/SMF/MP3 and/or DJ'ing is the future as far as performers making any money for solo acts...other than the traditional singer/guitarist.

I'm just glad I retired and don't have to deal with all that silliness.

Now, I can just sit and play (or record) what I want on my Tyros4 and leave all that juggling to those who either like it, or need to do it, although I still take the occasional gig or recording job if the price is right.

Ian

I don't consider anything "SILLY" about musicians making a damm good living for themselves and their families with Karaoke/ keyboard/SMF/MP3 and/or DJ'ing as you put it.
Why not just respect their choices and respect what they do & how they do it? One part of what I do includes playing live arranger KB,...I'm glad I have the ability to utilize that tool as a backup to my Singing amongst all the others tools I have..

I don’t suppose creating beat grooves requires much in the way of music theory, or playing a traditional instrument. So, these kids make it to their 25th or 50th class reunion. Wonder what they would prefer to listen to, then, over dinner, with all the grey hair around?

Here's why.

"Provocateur definition, a person who provokes trouble, causes dissension, or the like; agitator"

-also-

"One who creates controversy for it's own sake"

One way to combat this is to simply not respond. They depend on you getting riled up to keep the pot stirred, boost their post count, and maintain there 'imagined' relevance.

chas

Well said, Chas...I noticed the recent increase in topics, that were discussed ad nauseam long ago.

The Karaoke/keyboard/singer performers are a dying breed...they have to resort to DJ'ing to manage to stay on stage.

As I said earlier, I'm glad to be away from needing to perform beyond how I want to play.

It's becoming a circus act on stage...and actual keyboard playing seems to be less and less important to some.

Ian

I can see an entertainer who doesn't know better and the public calling this CHIT music, but a supposedly real musician referring to this CHIT as music really baffles me. I can only assume they are an entertainer and no where near a true musician. Oh Rap is called music too. Ha ha. I'm throwing my hands in the air. I give up! What's the use.

" Ha ha. I'm throwing my hands in the air. ....."

And wave them like you just don't care ! 😉

I'm just going to practise beat boxing now and we have the makings of another rap song 😄 .

I think that these new forms of instrument certainly require a different discipline and quite possibly you could make quite extensive types of music other than just beats and loops. I think you could play some interesting chords and lead lines although they would lack the expression ordinary keyboards would facilitate. But there has always been a market for this kind of music and that has never been the one man band market and probably never will be. So for most of the people on this board there is nothing to worry about carry on as usual 😉

Agreed, Chas and Ian. The 'this-is-dying-gotta-adapt' merry-go-round has gotten really tired on here. Abstention on the subject from now on.

I am happy to say that while all 4 of my grandchildren listen to today's "top 40", two of them are seriously studying music - one has played trumpet and is studying piano, the second has played stand up bass, and is studying alto sax ... and both are interested in JAZZ !!! ... so in OUR family at least, what I consider REAL music lives ... and the music programs in both their schools - one in NY and the other in RI - are EXCELLENT ...

Yes, there's plenty of kids that still play traditional instruments and enjoy a variety of music. Electronic dance music is just one of many styles popular today. There is nothing wrong with these one chord ,non melodic, rhythm driven songs. I guess they are fun for kids to dance to. But I think there will always be a audience for music the has pretty melodies and harmonies.

I love playing the American songbook but in todays world there are more choice than ever in music.

To a young up and coming entertainer that looks like a lot more fun than sittng down and learning scales and chords for a few years. Then trying to play to a young crowd with limitied Styles.
Kids toady have short attention spans and its got to be immediate satisfaction.
Its their way of expression as much as a sax player in a big band ripping off a hot solo. Times change.

A few weeks ago, I was anchored at Fairlee Creek, located in Chesapeake Bay. There's a resort/restaurant/marina there called Great Oaks, which is strictly for the younger generation. Nearly 1,000 boats were anchored in the Creek on Labor Day weekend, nearly all of which were occupied by people 45 years old and younger. Lots of 20 somethings were on the beach listening and dancing to the music provided by local bands. Ironically, much of the music they performed was 70s to 90s stuff, and a fair number of Jimmy Buffett songs were included. During one of their many breaks, (those bands tent to take lots of breaks) I asked the lead guitar player and singer why they played so many Buffett tunes for what was obviously a very young crowd. He said "Because that's what they want to hear. If we didn't play lots of Buffett songs, we wouldn't be asked to come back every week. It's that simple."

As Donny always says "Nuff Said',

Gary

Don't underestimate young kids' love for good music. Listen to Igor ( 12 yr ) and Kamil ( 11 yr ) pumping out a Billy Cobham cover. What a great rhythm section.

A few years ago I did a double gig with the "Micro Machines" at an outdoor picnic function, these young kids can really Rock .........
now they are headlining at the Famous STONE PONEY in Asbury Park NJ where Bruce Springsteen and so many other Big Acts always stop in.

You have to get out more often

These guys would be just average in my area...

BTW: I didn't understand a word the vocalist sang or yelled..

Drummer and bass player worked well together...the other guy must have started the band

Fran, I agree - I couldn't understand a single word he sang or screamed other than "anyway."

Nigel, those kids were great.

Gary

They are just young kids, the girl bass player is terrific as well,.....and very talented. They are opening for some very big acts all over now, guess they are doing something right ..

Well the other one was "ALL" about the drummer and the rest of the band did not exist, if there was a band.

Maybe it was a drum solo song????

Gary ... summer and marinas and Jimmy Buffett go together like lime juice and tequila and ice ... that crowd could have been from the age of 20 something to sixty something and they all would have been rockin' to Buffett ... it's a fact of life ...
On the other side of the coin however, I know a few duos and trios that are playing 'early evening hours' - 5 or 6 PM to 9 PM at some local establishments for the 60s to 80s age group, playing 40s and 50s big band and American Songbook tunes, and they do quite nicely ... the establishments love it because it brings in people during what might otherwise be a quite time before the 'younger' crowd comes in ... wish I could crack that ring ...

Tony, I fill in for an ailing friend with the 60s to 80s crowd at a restaurant job on Monday nights. About 35 to 50 people show up every Monday night, I play from 6 till 8 p.m., they have dinner, dance for a few hours, then the crowd of younger drunks come in to watch Monday Night football and get bombed out of their minds. It's a neat gig, but they tend to be few and far between here these days.

Gary

maybe a little OT:

It came to me that arrangers need A/B tempo and style buttons. Think of what you could do with that. I know some of that can be accomplished with presets and such, but again, I'm a 'live' player; on the fly by the seat of my pants...