Quote:
Originally posted by Diki:
...And, of course, when you are talking pedals with arrangers, how can you walk with the LH (supported by pedals, a la B3) and still trigger the chords? For perhaps adding a slash root to a chord input, they might be handy, but that's a lot of money to do something you can do just with an inversion change or Pianostyle chord input...


Actually I know of at least one instrument that can pull that off. The GEM Genesys has several keyboard modes besides 'fingered' and 'single finger'. There is Manual Bass which give you a live bass sound to the left of the split and the chordal accompaniment (minus the auto bass part) is triggered to the right of the split. Then there is the Piano Style Mode where the entire keyboard is active for chordal triggering. This one is cool because the accompaniment chord won't change until it sees at least a triad played so you can walk you left hand/bass pedals and solo with the right, When you want a chord change you can either comp with your left hand while kicking bass or interject a right hand chord. And even though you are in Piano Style mode, you can still have a split with a live bass sound on the left end of the keyboard. Another neat mode is called Pro Split that triggers the chordal accompaniment via the right hand and the automatic bass line form the left hand (slash/root as you put it). Or there is the Bass Inversion mode that will keep the bass note playing the lowest key of the chord; handy for songs like Green Dolphin Street where there is a 'pedal C' over the CMaj7 - Cm7 - D - Db chords.

I am sure other brands have similar features by now. GEM had some of these over 10 years ago.

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Wm. David McMahan
LearnMyKeyboard
JazzItUp Band

*Edited for spelling*

[This message has been edited by WDMcM (edited 05-20-2009).]