Use the Midi outs (Or if a modern keyboard the USB Midi cable) and connect to a decent laptop, (Which a lot of you will probably already have) then purchase a decent VST bundle (Such as Komplete 10 ) and you will have synth, acoustic and effect programs that make even TOTL arrangers sound like something from the Stone Age.
NOTE: When listening to the demos make sure you read the details of the song, as some also feature real instruments.

It also works out significantly cheaper, as you don’t have to change your keyboard every 3 years or so; just to get a few more sounds.

Enjoy

Bill

or you could just use vArranger with the controller of your choice?...

http://www.varranger.com/

Yup,

Sounds nice, but won't work for Yamaha with their Mega & other enhanced midi voices. Most prob good for plain midi styles.

Henni

I agree the Mega voices can cause a problem because of additional attributes added too them; however with the quality of sounds in VSTs, Mega voice technology is not required. (Hence you will not find any professional studio using Mega voices, but they do make extensive use of VSTs)

Mega voices while good are actually a cop out for the style designers, as they do need to put so much effort into creating a style as the Mega voice does a lot for them. (All the features of a Mega voice can be programmed into most style engines without needing any special voices)

NOTE: don’t confuse articulated voices (Or SA as Yamaha likes to call them) with Mega voices, as they are 2 different things. (More sophisticated articulation voices then those featured in the Yamaha, were used in VSTs long before Yamaha started using them, but Yamaha automated the process to make them easier to play for the less experienced. (Of which a lot of home players are)

Bill

A few incorrect or misleading comments. A good percentage of arranger keyboard owners, choose a TOTL arranger for the opposite reasons. For a home studio situation, VTS voices can give you a lot more flexibility to your music creation, but I reached the point that I only wish to take my keyboard with me when playing out.

Most TOTL arrangers have expansion and custom voice creation capability, plus the most recent high quality voices and drum kits already on board. Most of these VTS libraries are available or convertible into the TOTL expansion area, plus no latency issues and a much less complex setup.

The newer TOTL keyboards are the cutting edge technology for voices, sounds, drum kits, expansion, and DSPs, ... hardly the stone age. Expansion allows us to keep our boards longer. In my home studio setup, I only use a few support PC programs, but the idea is to keep things as simple and cheap as possible, yet use the latest technology. There are some very good and certain specialized VTS libraries, but everything depends on your personal needs and requirements.

I don't own a laptop, but still a pretty good variety of apps for my iPad that are adaptable for my musical needs on both the PC and arranger keyboard with minimal fuss to use.

Regards, Marcus

Not only that, but when was the last time anyone came up and said, ''that sax/trumpet/guitar, etc. sounds like crap, you should go the VST route.''?

That just ain't gonna happen. Current arrangers have everything on board now to please all but the most critical ear. And in any given gig, the most critical ear is usually your own.

I have a set of all tyros 4 mega voices in giga sampler format, they sound actually quite good... They where once created for the lionstracs, but they never got marketed.. Anyway, megasamples are nothing but a set of velocity sepperated samples.... A mega voice could hold 5 different guitarsounds, with each their own vellocity range... Hard to play real time, but not that hard to recreate, there are enough tables available of how these mega voices are build up.

And Dan has something in Varranger that converts mega sampled sounds to normal sounds, seems to work great for the varranger community

Back on topic, VSTs as single instruments sound better then my Tyros 5... Yet, what makes tyros 5 such a great instrument is the way these sounds are ballanced with the other sounds on the Tyros...

What i like to do a lot is use one or two VST sounds in combination with or instead of a Tyros5 sound...


Another way, is using the ensemble voices that each have a sepperate midi out to controll 4 VSTs.. Gives some unique sounds when you combine 4 synth or path sounds this way..