Before the knocker box came into being, (Or style engine as it’s called today) players used to be able to play any song anybody wanted with no problems, whether on piano or organ, so to say you need masses of styles to play a large repertoire of songs is poppycock.
Also remember that styles are there to enhance YOUR playing not the keyboard manufacture, which is why they are secondary (And some would even say irrelevant) to the performance.
Another point of view
Bill
Bill, just an easy question...do you primarily use the style engine(or knockerbox, if you will) in your Abacus, or do you play using left hand chords (rhythmically, or arpeggios if needed) and bass pedals, perhaps along with the drum machine in your keyboard?
We used the Electone, and Hammond that way, back in the 80's before style engines were improved to have more "realistic"(for lack of a better term) accompaniments.
Using the arpeggios in the Electone organ's knockerbox also helped fill out the background, but definitely had to be used judiciously and sparingly.
You seem unimpressed by today's style engines, so that's why I'm supposing you don't use auto accompaniment, or use it very little.
Do you have any recordings (MP3's are fine) of you playing your Abacus using your most used (or favorite) method...I would love to hear them, as I've not really heard the instrument; you can send them to me privately if you don't wish to upload here (my email is in my profile).
Ian
Previous Topic
Index
