When I (we) still did gig, I always tweaked and mixed the onboard styles and some converted stuff to fit for the songs we played.
Did as best as I could to make it sound 'our own way' as duo or trio, and not the same as everybody else when play styles as is.
Never used midifiles or other playback, but only live playing with use of styles, mainly drums and bass parts.
Nowadays I'm just playing for my own peasure, and still only by use of styles.

I buy styles or packs when I feel for it, and lately I was in a German site. Price €15 each style.
Picked 19 (now it could be 20), asked for a little discount, but got 'no way' as answer, but got urged to buy less if I could not afford it.
Since I like to have a 'collection' for a 'set between breaks' when buy, but I did not buy.
I did not ask for a discount because I could not afford it, but at the high price, there should have been easy for the seller.
I don't need those, but they don't sound bad, and it would be placed in the 'nice to have' category for fun and joy.
As Donny say, it's a lot of stuff at the keyboard already, and there is zillions of Yamaha stuff at no cost to find.
And a lot of it sounds real good, even at Genos with few tweaks / adjustments.

and let's not forget with an arranger there is so many ways to create music besides using style play as a crutch as most do ...
"Mix it Up"

You're right, but let's face it.
This is 'auto arranger keyboards', and the styles is the
main thing for many of us, specially for 'non pianists' like me.
Too slow left hand, and not any good at manual bass.....

Sorry for drive a bit out off topic.

Using an instrument as it was intended is hardly a "crutch"
I agree that modern arrangers offer more than just style play as advantages, but at the core of the instrument - it's built to play styles. Useing them does not show weakness, as a crutch would imply.

What UD said!

Gary

If that were true Dave as many of us use styles, smf, etc, also,...these features wouldn't be included in an ARKB that you also Pay for on an arranger kb no need to be "STYLE DEFENSIVE"...
let's just face it call it what it really is style mode is just an operator or player, etc, controlling a auto repetitive small midi file of sorts no way around that no matter how you look at it,...nothing wrong with that, but if that's all you can use due to lack of ability and can't play any other way using an arranger that has so many other features or for example using charts, memorizing lyrics, or the sequencer multitracking songs, etc, or what have you all these thing are crutches and without them you would
"fall on the floor so to speak"....that said I enjoy playing using all methods for what they are I hope everyone will also....
take care I'll duck now.........




PS..Oh yea remember this?.. years ago before styles we played keyboards with bands for so many years not a style in sight or invented yet pre arranger
and STILL made great music every nite!!!

ok back to watching the "GREATEST SHOWMAN" on HBO...just sayin'

Donny ... One of the recent YT videos showed Willie Nelson obviously using either sheet music or a monitor for lyrics ... Would you tell Willie he was using a crutch ?!? ...

Price depends ....
Midi based style (where 1 individual can sit behind a keyboard and create a good style), ....or an audio based style (which requires a little more....like actual musicians playing on drums, bass, guitar ...etc plus a studio engineer and yes ...our computer DAW/guy to put it all together yielding to a great, more live/human style)?

Donny, using all the features on an arranger keyboard requires a significant degree of talent - no shortcuts there, no crutches. You cannot play an arranger keyboard without some semblance of music education, whether it is formal or self-education. A person must be able to learn and utilize chords, know chord structure, etc..., all the same things a piano player, guitar player, fiddle player, harmonica player and other instrument players need to know.

And, when someone played a keyboard before arrangers came to be, they were essentially playing a piano, or organ - nothing more, nothing less, especially when they played with a band. When I was with a band, I played guitar, sometimes rhythm, sometimes lead, and I was the singer. The bass guy and the drummer, contrary to your belief, were playing repetitive loops, same as a style file, but they did it manually. We all had crutches, lyrics books, fake books, and when our drummer passed away, a Roland drum machine.

An arranger keyboard is not a crutch by any means. It is a fantastic musical instrument that is incredibly versatile. If you want to use it as a crutch, and some folks do by playing SMF files with embedded lyrics, or .kar files, then plink a few keys as if you were performing every sound in the song, then yes, it would be a crutch. Same goes for performers that do the same using MP3 files.

You have often stated that you rarely use more than a dozen styles for a 3 to 4-hour performance. Now that's repetitive, IMO. No different than some of the "Have Guitar Will Travel" guys I've run across in my travels. Every song sounds the same after the second song they perform. Today's arranger keyboards have hundreds of onboard styles, most of which are very, very good and can be used to perform any number of songs. Additionally, there are lots of song specific, third party styles available, which make that song fairly close to sounding like the original backing from the original band - and that's what our audiences came to hear.

Over the years, I have encountered several incredibly creative individuals on the Internet that produced some of the most wonderful music productions anyone could possibly imagine. They did this using low and mid range arranger keyboards, often with modified third party styles, and the skills of a creative genius - not crutches, as you call them.

Me, I made a damned good living with my arranger keyboard, I used it as it was primarily designed to do, and learned every aspect of the keyboard, inside and out. It took me years to learn how to do this, and during that time, I was able to impart much of that information to others along the way who were struggling with their keyboards.

Now, I can play a piano, though not very well, a 12-string guitar, electric guitar, a mandolin and harmonica, and while I tried playing a fiddle, I was never very good at it so I gave up on that instrument. Of all the instruments I learned to play, my favorite is an arranger keyboard. It is a fantastic instrument - NOT A CRUTCH!

All the best,

Gary

But Gary you never use midi files On an arranger? Why?....