Bottom line about programming your own styles is, can you actually play everything on keyboards well? I mean, good drum parts with dynamics and feel, bass parts with swing and snap, guitar parts that sound like guitar players, horn lines that would fool a horn player?
If the answer is no, don't waste too much time (unless you are having fun anyway!) on it.
If you are from the old school, and used to do your own sequencing of whole songs, played all the parts, did the drum programming, and they came out pretty well, then probably yes... it's doable.
My answer is yes, this is doable for me.
Let me say it this way...I might not be any different than any of you other than I haven't lost the desire to create new styles, songs, harmonies, melodies, lyrical phrases, solos and etc. I will continue to play even if I never sold a record, album, CD, MP3 or whatnot. Music is so vast and wide, there is always something to learn or a new way of doing things in music.
Right now I mostly use sequencers for new music creation but I am not as proficient with it as I would like to be. I use arranger keyboards both with other musicians and by myself in live settings. There is no good substitute for playing with other good musicians...but in the past my arrangers would manage the job. Making more of my own styles would help fill that void...and my own styles don't show up late, call in sick, or demand more money than they previously agreed to.
While growing more and more familiar with arranger keyboards, I don't want to settle for just playing someone else's styles or music . In the past I have played drums, guitar, bass guitar, and a few other instruments. Even some of the best styles leave something to be desired. Whether you want to further customize a style or create a new style, arranger keyboards have the functionality to perform the job. BUT...For whatever reason, each of the "Big 3" have gone out of their way to make programming/creating a style a little more difficult than it should be IMHO.
Bert's demo made me believe that maybe Yamaha was adapting to a new way of thinking. I have already created many drums loops and fills with a keyboard or my Roland TD4 midi'ed into the CPU or an arranger. I am also looking to purchase a USB guitar just to further spice up some previously created styles. I just see the arranger keyboard as the best of both worlds in that I can play live and create new music without being stuck to record in a "linear" sequencer fashion.
Years back I thought about getting the EMC styles program but something made me feel uneasy about it. I don't want to spend $4000-$5000 on a Tyros or PA3x when the PSR S-950 can do most of what I need. Although I was impressed with the PA500, it never left the house. The PA600 seems impressive but will it remind me of the PA500?
Many of you prove that MOTL arrangers can be used in a live setting but I am not reading where many of you are creating original styles or new music on your arrangers...and it might not be your fault.
Maybe if making styles were easier, perhaps we'd all feel 10 years younger...
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