10 days till musik messe
I am expecting lots of news this week..

not in arrangeres departments,its a dead world. maybe in the lowest arrangeres.

All depends on what you are looking for..

I expect a new korg pa5x later this year, musik messe might be to early
Also a New Havian could be announced
Same goes for Yamaha, a psr-s series update is due somewhere this year
Same goes for the cvp-700 series which are fullfledged arrangers inside a piano boddy
And ketron allways has a new prototype of some sorts to show..
Roland also should show something new to the arranger market if they plan to stay a serious contender in this segment

Also i think this might be the moment for arranger technollogy to make their way to more products, like workstation/synths and digital piano’s.. most likely trough further ipad integration..

Kurzweil that started to produce arrangers in recent years might actually have something serious up their sleeves..

Personally i am most interested to see if any other companies will show something akin to ketrons launchpads? Altough i think its still early for that... the only company that might do something like this could be Korg with a new pro arranger..

BACHUS ,those who are using synths ,workstations, pianos , hammond , are not interesting in arranger , they say its unproffesinal , and those of us that came from arranger world , are few ,and most of us do not work anymore , so why a company should develop and work hard for selling a few arrangeres ?

Many of those who are using synths, workstations, piano's... are interested in creating backings.. and arrangers are a perfect tool for doing this..

Did you ever have a look at a Yamaha montage/modx musicians trying to use arps to create backings... quite a lot of them are trying to mimic arrangers when they do so... most of them don't even realise..

IF they wrap the arranger in another package, something like Ketron's launchpad. Then i predict all those @pro@ players will love the arranger backings..

What many of them are not looking for is the simple system of 4 variations, 3 fills, intro and endings.. but the actuall arranger backing of patterns following chords (either played live or created by a chord sequence) now thats something different.


Yes, these people are not interested in the current arrangers with pre-created styles. But when you turn those arrangers into a creative tool, then i predict they will love it.

If manufactures thought they would sell more Workstations etc. (And make more money) by adding arranger features (Omitting the next door to useless pre-set styles and static style operation) they would have done so, however the fact that they haven’t means their research shows that demand for them is not there.

Bill

Actually both Korg as well as Yamaha allready did..
They made Karma and ARP's that can function as semi/arrangers.

Personally i think they are up for the next step.
We haven't seen any new features in this market for years.
They need something new that sells more workstations and prevents the exodus to full software based setups.
Combining Arranger features with a scene matrix. (thats what Ketron does with their launchpads) Might be exactly what the hardware market needs to pull people back.


Now even when i am right, there is one comapny i don't expect to follow this path
And thats Yamaha, they are spreading their technology over as mny different types of instruments as they possibly can.. yet never really crossbreed their instruments

So in the end... this needs to come from Korg.. They are desperately looking to create a new instrument that is refreshing and advanced enough to replace the Kronos..

For decades, I have performed as a keyboardist in the accompaniment bands of famous singers in my country, including recordings by these best singers, and I am in close contact to this day with musicians from the field, even though I have been playing private parties for the last 10 years. I do not know one of my fellow keyboarders to make a musical sketch of an automatic organ. They refer to an automatic organ as a non-serious instrument in which the player does not use his creativity but rather the creativity of Keyboard manufacturer and therefore do not use an automatic organ, although you can create an entire rhythm out of personal creativity, but why do so? When it is possible to perform simple playback on the internal sequencer of the instrument, or in a simple computer program?

Not heard of the term " automatic organ" ever but if you mean an arranger keyboard, then yes I have been told off for using them as " not a real keyboard".
But these days are NOT those days! Like everything keyboards have progressed a long way and can do more and more. They become more useful the more WE learn to use them. If we do not get into them and dig deep we fail at our chosen instrument, in my opinion.

Anyway, today's music if you listen to it is either just rhythmic beats rearranged in different ways ( not music to me) or it is rehashed music from yesterday's hits. People are looking back to the older songs to redo them, because they either like them or they are not talented enough to make up their own originals; or both.

To me that is where the modern arranger workstation comes in, because it complements both the older standards through to the modern hi-hop, electronica style music. Place a synth and an arranger on the same stand and you will be surprised that no one can tell the difference from the dance floor; they won't care. It is only other keyboard players who have their own opinion- and that is all it is.

Only people who ever criticized what I was doing was from out of work musicians in the audience who wanted my job! I rarely get that anymore, as most are amazed how good it sounds. They don't know what the arranger is, and most think I'm using "tracks" because that's all they know to do.
On the occasions where I have worked with bands in recent years, they wouldn't know an arranger from a kazoo; they only know I can make the sounds they are used to hearing.