It seems to me that this is a big function of the arranger keyboard which is not talked about that much. I remember before the introduction of "interbreeding" with different keyboards via style conversion you were stuck with what you had in a KB or buy a new one. But now we have the ability to make our own or customize factory styles, yet I don't see this happening too often or is it talked about much. Are we getting lazy to create our own styles with our units?
I always wonder about this when I read a post saying "I can't find any good Waltzes, or Rock styles etc. etc. "
Try making your own sometime you might be surprised at what turns up!




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www.donnypesce.com

Donny,
I do quite a bit of style morphing and adding to create new styles.

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jam on,
Terry
http://imjazzed.homestead.com/Index.html

Donny,

I would be clueless about how to create a style on my X1. I have customized some styles. The X1 lets you mix and match parts by cutting and pasting. The Technics salesman once showed me how to make a style by playing it in. This looked like a nice feature. I'm not lazy but my time is limited. I have a full time job and at times three part time jobs all in the same week. When I do get time to practice I want to play not program. I don't have the time or desire to edit sounds, create sequences, or develop my own styles. I'm like Uncle Dave, I want the perfect keyboard that I can take out of the box and spend my time making music not programming.

Tom

Tom,

I see your point, But... how many times have you looked for that "Special Style" and couldn't find it? I know many Big Band styles especialy on Yamaha KB's that have that changing bass line in the 4th variations which disrupts the flow.
I always had to rerecord the bass line into the style. I used to love the Bass Lock & Drum Lock features on the Ketron units, it would let you mix and match to a degree.
I have some friends that make unbelivable styles for themselves that really sound great if you follow the procedure in the manuals. Its not easy, but it's very well worth the effort to have that "Perfect Style" no one else has.


Terry,

I love that Roland VA feature of Style Morphing. If only all this stuff could be in one Keyboard ......Dream.........dream....

Jam on...



[This message has been edited by Dnj (edited 02-28-2003).]

I think the true reason we don't make our own styles from scratch is that we can not better the Factory Styles.
I find that making PADS 8 to 16 bar riffs loops in BIAB are much more productive. You can then just mute all ACC parts apart from Drums & Bass from a preset Style and then add up to 4 PAD Riffs as required.

Graham UK

Donny

I made some bossas and jazz with a mix of Tyros,Cvp209 and 9000Pro styles .
For ex: The tyros modern jazz with some 9000Pro Scat voices ( Tyros do not have)runs very very well.
At last, this is a job of patience...
Regards,
Chico

I have done quite a bit of style writing / morphing.. etc. In the end though, it is easier and faster to actually play the parts that I want for my own songs in real time than it is to create an entire style from scratch. I do mix and match quite a bit though. Also, I'll change a guitar part here, a bass line there, add or subtract from the existing drum tracks, etc.

For live play, as long as the drum and bass lines match the song I want to play, I pretty much can do the rest in real time. If I need to add a rythym part or two to customize a style because there are too many parts to play in real time or the rythym patterns don't sound right, I just do it. Example: I did not find any styles acceptable for Jim Croce's " I got a name" , so I customized one of the imternal PA80 styles until it sounded right to me.

It helps to have additional sequencing software and style creator programs to use, although I rely less and less on them as time goes on and employ more real time playing, even on drum tracks. Midi drum playing had been my achilles heel in the past, but I've worked very hard to improve in this area, because it's always faster when I can lay these tracks down in real time, even if I have to edit them a little later on.

It's tough to do on some heavy jazz / jazz fusion pieces ( and get the style to sound right to me ) , but what I will do is create just a drum style or a drum and bass style and then lay the rest of the tracks down in real time.

AJ

I used to make a lot of my own styles, on the Technics and Yamahas.
All I needed was drums, bass line, guitar strum and piano rhythm. Now, it has become more and more time-consuming, because now you have 4 variations, several fills, severals intros and several endings. Also the factory styles and converted styles are better than they used to be and it is no longer necessary.
A few years ago, I had to make almost ALL the Country/Western styles I needed. In fact last year with the Korg PA80 I had to make a couple. There was no style available to play "Good-hearted Woman" or "Blue Eyes Cryin' In The Rain" - type songs. Everything was too busy, too hokey, or too "rock n' rolly". Hope it's o.k. if I make my my own adjectives.
DonM

Donny,
The Tyros and the PA 80 both have very good style morphing capabilities.

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jam on,
Terry
http://imjazzed.homestead.com/Index.html

Don,
Lets hope you make better styles than adjectives. Making all the country styles a person NEEDS should be easy. How long does it take to make one style?

I heard this song today on a country station. It was something about how things were better before I quit drinking or something like that. I'd give it an 8.

Tom