Thanks again!
Regarding the Brandenburg demo, I am really surprised it is so close to a Baroque ensemble, and very well played with the right hand of course. I don't like the strings, but as they don't dominate here and the harpsichord and other voices play a great role, the overall sound is close to original.
The only thing I noticed is, from 1:20 onwards, there are counter melodies (such as an oboe counter movement simultaneous to the trumpet voice) which the player does not play live and which cannot be part of the style either (as they don't "jump" with harmony changes), so they have to have been pre-recorded/programmed.

Thank you, Ian. I'm glad you like it.

I wonder if other arrangers have Baroque or Classical styles like the Yamahas. I don't recall hearing anything like this on a Roland BK-7m, or a Korg Pa series.

Does anyone know?

Yes, BK-7m has some similar styles, I remember there is a symphonic musical style which is used for Webber's "That's all I ask of you" in the Music Asssistant. But I normally detest using styles for baroque/classical music, if possible I prefer fully using both hands to play voices myself. But in the demo of Brandenburg #2 it really works well up to 1:20 (as I said, from then I hear additional voices dubbed over or pre-recorded).

Thanks for the info, Rosetree.

It makes sense to use both hands yourself to play baroque, however not everyone can do this (like me), that's why I'd love to get an arranger to supplement my Motif XF.

I'll look into these kinds of styles in arrangers.

I would love to hear demos of arrangers playing Baroque/Classical music. They're hard to find.

That is a terrific style, and as far as I know the player did no overdubs...he might have been using a multipad, but in Variation D of the style there are both trumpet (in PHR1) and orchestral oboe (in PHR2) playing counter melodies.

What impressed me most, Mike, was that the performer was doing the tune basically "live", although style play does provide much of the background, and the skill involved, more or less, consists of hitting the proper chords at exactly the right time whilst changing registration and adding or turning off style parts. So it's a definite skill set.

And, for a mid-range arranger, the S910 sounded very good, indeed. Sometimes people get caught up in the quality (or not) of the actual sounds...I'm more impressed by an overall performance.

Ian

Yes, Ian, the performer is very good, and he makes it look easy.

As far as quality sounds go, most would agree that the Tyros series is tops with its Super Articulation voices, but I've heard many demos where the performers did not have a good ear for music, hence making the Tyros sound awful.

No doubt he is both skilled in playing and perfectly managing all the buttons at the right point of time.
What I stumbled over was the slow oboe counter melody from 1:23 on (and later again), not the fast counter movements, which are part of the style and based on the chords played. After watching it again more closely, I see him playing both trumpet and counter melody oboe with the right hand. To realize this, it is necessary to set the oboe to only sound for the lower of two keys pressed and the trumpet to only sound for the upper of two keys pressed simultaneously. Is this possible with the S910?

Rosetree, perhaps you could contact the performer for that video clip of the S910 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvRDxVLogHRDaQMlKQAoplA and he could give you the details?

I don't have access to an S910 to experiment with the RH keyboard section being split into two sections, although I'm pretty sure that it is possible...it's also possible to set each RH voice to mono individually with different portamento rates/octaves/effects etc., but I'm sure the competitor's arrangers also have similar features..

I very nearly bought my demo S910 (I liked it more than the subsequent model, the S950), but I was offered a great deal on a Tyros4 upon my retirement, so, of course, I took it immediately. The S910 is a very powerful arranger, which, unfortunately (through my experience as a former clinician) is rarely used to its full potential by most users.

Of course, we might say that about arranger users of all brands, not just Yamaha. In any case, it pays to dig in and learn the instrument's full potential, rather than trading up every two to three years just for a few new features and perhaps some newer styles.

Ian

Ian, I'm curious to know why you preferred the PSR-S910 more than the PSR-S950?

Here's a very beautiful and inspiring demo of Handel's Largo played with a Kurzweil PC88.