Well said Ian...I too see a lot of people miming to SMF's, Diki's observation that Styles are just short SMF's is one way of looking at it BUT performing with stlyes does mean you have to know the structure, keys and chords of every song you perform which means you have to be a fairly competant musician, using SMF'S means you dont have to be.

A SMF is a pre-orchestrated digtal playback of MIDI data, a Style is a basic loop of a drum, bass and additional instruments that have little meaning until the player manipulates them into a whatever he / she needs to play.

I personlly would never use SMF's as esentially its not me playing, me manipulating Styles into a well known song or instrumental is an art in itself and requires a certain amount of musicianship to do it...I like you am sticking to styles.

Rgds
Noel

Quote:
Originally posted by ianmcnll:
Of course, Donny, I always read Diki's posts.

Everyone has their own opinion, and Diki's is as valid as the next guy's.

Personally, the "phony" starts for me when I see someone singing, and then walking away from the keyboard as it is still playing.

That's Karaoke, baby, plain and simple, and all the so called showmanship, ducky hats, top hats and smarmy charmy singing on this green earth can't hide how utterly amateurish and phony it appears, and one of the major reasons why arranger players get a bad rap.

I've also known "one-handed keyboard players" who play more with one hand than the two handed players, so I guess it's all relative.

I don't use SMF at all...if styles are SMF snippets, then maybe I do, but I still prefer to play my arrangements the way I do...with style.

Ian