there are far more similarities between workstattions and arrangers than most keyboard players actually realise and the clip does not make the buying decision any more clear unless they had absolutely no clue about arrangers and workstations. The differences highlighted in the video by Richie really only points to the features that the workstation does not have compared to an arranger rather than the features the arranger keyboard does not have compared to a Workstation. Contrary to how the difference were explained in the clip , Sound design/creation ,Editing, layering, Effects processing, sequencing and mastering are all features that the Arranger has to a lesser degree than a fully fledged workstation, granted , but more than sufficient for most keyboard musicians and would cover pretty much all bases for most workstastinattion users needs. He pointed to the ability to shift octave on a arranger to ilustrate i guess the ease of transposing a sound and then compared that to "deeper tweaks as you play " on a worksattion steering musiicians down the worksattion route for greater sound editing , filters modulation etc when clearly arrangers can do this too. By steering musicians down two distinct paths, it only serves to make money for the manufacturer but in reality, one board (the arranger) would meet most of the needs of anyone making music through a keyboard.
I have yet to hear any music composed on keyboard where you could tell with your (eyes shut) whetehr it emanated from a dedicated workstation or an arranger workstation.
Good points however it’s not as simple as that.
If you’re working in a professional production environment (Where time is money) ease of use is required, (In particular building up sequences) now with a workstation it is a piece of cake to put a sequence together (Once you understand how it works) whereas to do the same in an arranger is slow and convoluted. (The results come out the same but the arranger takes a lot lot longer)
As far as layers go the workstation leaves all arrangers for dead, as they can easily layer 16 or more with splits and crossover layers, (Required for heavy production work) and there is no arranger built that comes anywhere close.
Sounds
Depends on the Workstation, however the Korg Kronos in the demo has real synth and effect engines built in (No samples required) that operate like the original synths that created them (FM, Wavetable, Analogue etc.) which gives a realism and control that no hardware arranger can even come close to.
As to the sampled sounds then they are of a much greater size (More samples per voice) than arrangers (In the Korg for example the piano alone is about 4 times the size of the entire PA3x sample memory) thus really standing out for realism. (Assuming you know how to play it that is)
Real time controls.
Virtually every parameter can be assigned to a knob or slider in a Workstation (Thus allowing the player to modify to his heart’s content with the twist of a knob) whereas the assignable controls and parameters in an arranger are more limited. (Nothing wrong with that as their designed for a type of player that just wants to press a button and everything is setup for them)
If you just need to stick something together quick (Like a demo) the arranger blows the Workstation out of the water, but when it comes the final mix then the arranger is too slow and limited to be of much use.
There is no reason why both could not be incorporated into one instrument, but no pro player will pay arranger prices for a keyboard, and arranger players will probably not use 95% of the features on-board, so having 2 keyboards targeted at the 2 different markets is quite logical.
The raw deal is for the arranger players, as they are charged over the odds for antiquated technology. (For example the T5 has sounds and features that are at least 5 years old in the pro world, but because Yamaha has put them together in an easy play format (Press a button and everything is done for you) home players (the primary target of arranger manufactures) absolutely love it, and don’t mind (Or don’t realise) their paying through the nose)
Bill
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