Hi Mike,

Pads are an excellent way to insert a sequence of a single instrument at any point in a song. My 2000 and the PA80 both have user pad functions. In combination with using registration memories, there are many ways you could set up a song and although registrations don't help in making any actual adjustments to the notes in a style, the registrations will recall multipad settings ( user or otherwise ) any instrument patch / effect changes, additions or subtractions of parts to a style, the voices ( patches ) you actually play in real time, and the actual style or variation itself. There are many other parameters that can be set up as well in the registration memories ( effects, mixer settings, etc ). There are many ways to set your song up in a modern arranger with registrations, so if you do know what you want to do ahead of time, you can set it up through different registrations and change everything on the fly.

In reality, when I play jazz stuff ( which by no means is all that I play ), I often only use the styles to help me with ideas, chord progressions, and things like that. But it is also nice to have the drums and other parts set the way you'd like them first, and then have these elements as styles to play around with chord progressions later. I have completed whole songs in this manner as well. If I need to compose more complex midi backing, particularly drums because I am so inept at playing / recording them in real time, I more often than not use either Jammer Pro software ( which allows me to totally edit its' styles in great detail or make new ones from scratch and play them back instantly ) or I use the Jazz sequencer. I have created styles both from scratch and with the help of jammer pro and used them as Jazz backings in the PA80. Jammer ( and Jazz seq also to an extent ) will create some of the most abstract and complex drum and bass lines that I could ever imagine ( and that I would find next to impossible to do myself ). By using the PA80's midi to style tool, I have inserted theses sequences into my PA80 as style variations. Now that there is a similar freeware tool for the PSR series ( and at first glance more detailed control from within the software), I want to try in on my PSR 2000 as well. The reason I don't always compose this way is that often I require so many variations for one song and it just adds extra steps for me to make styles or variations. It is just sometimes easier to sequence a whole song out from scratch for me, particularly with help from Jammer or Jazz seq. Also, I make styles in Jammer but they aren't rigid in the way that they are in an arranger, meaning that each bar, depending on what elements I use in a style, can vary from a little to quite a bit from the preceding bar within the same "style variation" , which of course reduces the need to have so many style variations.
What you said to Terry is exactly why I require so many variations in my styles for one piece and that is where registration memory really helps. Rather than trying to change parameters in real time or add, alter, or delete instrument parts when I'm playing, when I do make or alter styles I tend to set that stuff up right into the style and / or registration memory itself, so that all I have to do is go from one registration or style variation to the next. In my style, Var A and B might have almost the exact same drum or bass line progression, but a piano backing might change from A to B, or a Horn might appear in B where there was none in A, etc. It definitely can be done Mike, no doubt, it's just for me that I might require 3 entire styles or even more to compose 1 jazz fusion piece. Also changes in timing, key signature etc are doable too, at least by going from style to style in the same song. For me, sometimes going from one variation to another or even one style to the next because the second style is just a continuation of the first (..ie the need for 8 or 10 variations..etc) often beats trying to change a bunch of parameters on the fly, especially when the part I am playing in real time is a bit challenging to begin with.
Again this is where the right settings in my registration memories really helps a ton.


AJ




[This message has been edited by Bluezplayer (edited 11-16-2001).]