Thanks the compliment. I had to admit that I was extremely surprised how well the video turned out, especially considering the fact that for a good portion of my performance, I could'nt even hear myself playing, as those LOUD incessantly banging drums (as evidenced in clip segment 2) kept overpowering the stage monitors. Believe it or not, what was picked up by the video camera's mic was probably better than what I could hear while performing



Hi Jim, I agree that, especially for instrumentals, that 'arranger mode only' playing can quickly become limiting, not allowing you to stretch out and play the full keyboard in the way a true acoustic pianist can and does. But then again, unless you have 88 (or at least 76) notes of real estate at your disposal, it's not easily possible with just 61 keys. As far as styles sounding repetitive, that somehow is never an issue for me. The trick to convincingly live sounding arranger playing is making sure that you are always playing or doing something (ei: singing) LIVE all the time, and always interacting (in some way) with the auto-accompaniment. I don't know how much (or often) you other guys utilize the 'self fill' feature, but I use it at least every 8 measures, and occasionally every 4 measures. This to me reallly adds a LOT of spontaneous realism to the auto accompaniment. The other thing that takes away the feeling of style repetition is adding a drum hit, or triggering an instrumental fill or pattern via the multi-pad keys. For whatever reason, I've noticed there is little interest or discussion about the technique (art) of arranger keyboard playing. I feel there is a lot to be said about how to utilize the arrranger's unique buttons and features to create and maximize the uniquely impressive 'LIVE' performance that arranger keyboards provide. I hope we all continue to challenge ourselves to further develop & hone our arranger playing skills to take our arranger keyboard performance to the next level. Perhaps I start a new thread to discuss auto accompaniment arranger keyboard playing 'techniques' and see if there's any renewed interest.

Scott