As you know, I know very little about arrangers, but since I'm sort of the "come ask any musical question" guy in my town, I've been asked to research a keyboard for a restaurant soon to be opening. They haven't given me a budget yet, but I thought I'd start preliminary research. I'm confident they desire an 88 note keyboard. Most people who play will probably not use arranger functions, but I'd like to have them in the cases where I get hired to play, or in case anyone else gets inspired to have accompaniment.
So, what 88 note arrangers are out there? How about those grand piano looking home keyboard instruments? Yamaha Clavinova, (spelling)? where to begin?

I would recomend the Kawai Digital Grand cp205, my friend has one in his Upscale Restaurant here on the Shore and it sounds & looks fantastic....
http://www.kawaius.com/cp205.htm

[This message has been edited by Dnj (edited 11-14-2004).]

If the Restaurant has the budget a Yamaha Clavinova would be a good choice. It has 88 Keys plus Style accompaniment. It also has an excellent Acoustic Grand Piano sound plus many other excellent voices in it. It's loaded with features and IMO would look good in any Restaurant from upscale on down. But they don't come cheap. A CVP 309 GP is upwards of $6,000.

Best regards,
Mike

You may also want to look at your nearest Costco Wholesale Store. There is one in Nashville btw.

They were recently selling a Baby Grand by Hammond Suzuki for $1,999. I played it at the Costco where I live in California and it sounded great. It had a nice feel to the Keys and it also has Style accompaniment plus many other features. It would probably be more in line with an upscale restaurant since it has the look of a Grand Piano.

Best regards,
Mike

Roland has some nice ones. They use a Steinway sample for the piano, for what it's worth.

They also have very good styles and is user friendly.

Starting at about $3000 you can get one with styles etc like an arranger keyboard.

Also, if anyone wants to play easy play fingering in the left hand, you play the note that is the name of the for major, the name of the chord plus the minor third for the minor, the name of the chord plus the 7th for the 7th chords and combine all the above 3 for a m7th chord.

That may not be important, but if it is, it's one of the few, if not the only digital piano that has the musically correct easy play fingering.

Scott

Roland has some nice ones. OK, I guessed they might make them. Would you know models? The Roland what?

http://www.rolandus.com/products/category.asp?catid=11

This link takes you to all the piano categories. Take your pick.

You may also want to check out the Gem Genesys Ensemble.

The pianos are great.

If their budget is a little lower, the Yamaha PF1000 sounds very good. http://www.yamaha.com/yamahavgn/CDA/ContentDetail/ModelSeriesDetail/0,6373,CNTID%253D2750%2526CTID%253D205900,00.html
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