Just FYI: Roland styles have always been programmed by an italian team, since the days of the E20. I remember that at that time Roland rep. here in Italy used to boast: "We have the best of two worlds: japanese technology and italian creativity".

Hi Dreamer,

Could be. One sure thing in those days, Roland patterns were the reference, and today, they're not. The absence of a new flagship model from Roland is something that really amazes me, considering the size and reputation of the company. And their last attempt (VA series) was disappointing.
But it seems, coming from a Roland rep at the last NAMM Show, that many very good products are ready to be manufactured
in their future Chinese factory. Good news, competition is always good.

Interestingly enough...
no-one has brought up Korg styles ???

IMHO - and I'm not in the business, but I DO research a great deal...BEFORE I buy, and I found the Korg styles to be better put together over all. That's why I bought a PA80 at the time. (and yes the PA1X is Italian too !)

That's not to say that the other major arranger vendors don't have good styles - they do. That's not an issue and I'm not saying this to extend the "mine is better than yours" debate... but factoring in the entire set of factory styles that arrive with a new arranger, I found Korg's to be the best. Period !

I will happily admit that Korg has some crappy styles too, but then so does everyone else. I will not however, rush out and plunk down for a PA1X because of it's styles or it's "sounds". I will NEVER spend for a PA1X because of some outstanding issues I have with Korg Italy (but that's another story).

In all sincerity - I agree with Donny - you got to try them yourself. With the huge aray of styles one gets on an arranger, most are good. One simply has to find the arranger that YOU think have the best styles that fit what YOU need to play. I personally have ne need of "Hollywood" or "Big Band" or "Ragtime" type styles, but you may !

It doesn't matter anyway. Whatever you buy is OBSELETE when you buy it. It WILL be superceeded as soon as they can bring out a 'newer' model. It's ALL marketing. They are in the business of making money first, you happy second. First the Tyros was hailed as breathing 'life' into the arranger market - now go read some of the posts here from people that own it. Then along came the PA1X - again, a breath of fresh air into the arranger market [has ALL you could ever need on an arranger]. Oh, I'm sure the stlyes are great -as were those on the Tyros - but the PA1X is VASTLY overpriced, half-finished (the current OS does NOT support half the features the unit is supposed to have) and it's made by Korg Italy. 'Nuf said.

Tracknet... go play 'em ALL !! make your own decision....
Regards,
Steve

Have Any one of you guys heard or used the styles on the Kawai ACR 20...(much outdated) Really Good !!

I have the module that I do not use anymore but I want to take the styles out... any suggestions ? Also I'd Like to share them all b'coz they are really good. I dont want to go through the trouble of redoing all 120 styles on the Y2100 manually. Please find out if the styles can be copied to a disc and converted ?

Michael

Hi Steve,

Believe me, I don't wanna start any debate on "mine is better than yours". And your advice on playing them all is perfectly accurate, which I also did in a previous post.
Korg styles are very good. But just for fun, try this on a Korg PA arranger. Pick a pattern where you'll find a strings pad on one of the APC parts. Play a basic C chord C-E-G. What you'll hear will be the strings playing C-E-G. Now play an F chord F-A-C, and you'll hear the strings playing F-A-C, when in fact, any "orchestra" would go to the closest interval C-F-A, and not "jump" to F-A-C. In most cases, any musician will try to play the closest interval, to allow smooth musical chords transitions. This is what Ketron products do. Even when you play basic chords, the phrasing is what it should be, and this is why I was talking about their styles being natural.
Another example: I tried a PA80 a few weeks ago. Intros and endings are the same whenever you play a major or minor chord. (Of course, the PA recognizes the mode difference). But on a Ketron, the intros and endings are completely different musically, whenever you play a major and minor chord, which adds more variety to the very same pattern.

Regards,

Free Agent

Hi,
I've always wondered whether a singer requires a fuller ( more complex type of style (I'm not a singer) as opposed to a player who uses an arranger to play melody and backing.

I've had many arrangers over the years. Personally ( for my taste in music( latin , bigband etc rather than more modern stuff like rock , pop etc) I used to find some of the Korg & Roland styles over orchestrated for playing along to, wheras, I would imagine, if I'd been singing along to the style rather than playing along, they would have been wonderful.

I think the point I'm trying to make is that you have to identify what type of music you prefer to play, and whether you sing or mainly play. Each keyboard has it's pluses and minuses when it comes to styles, some sound great for the more modern stuff, others are better for jazz, latin etc.
Some people find Yamaha styles too simplistic whereas I never had a problem trying to find a style to go with a song on my 9000 pro, I couldn't say the same for my korg or roland keyboards.

best wishes
Rikki