Its a sad state of affairs concerning arranger KB's.....

Scott...If your not a pro playing solo ..why would you use a Arr Kb if your playing with a band? There are so many more quality non Arr Kb's out there to choose from...?

Elton John used a Yamaha Clavinova at his show here. All the backing was midi and/or MP3. Maybe a small sign of things to come?
DonM

Yamaha can get away with poor quality key feel and smaller keys IMO because other keyboard mfgs cannot match the voices and features. In the lower end market, I suspect that Yamaha just got beat by Casio. (Hey Squeak) a reviewer on Harmony Central said the Acc Piano on the Casio beats the PSR550!!! Another said the piano voice is better then the Yamaha P60. I suspect the organs are better than the PSR2100. Did Yamaha have advance knowledge of this? All of a sudden the PSR3000 has organ modeling!!
Casio can do this with a 76 note, good key feel, and full size keys. Yamaha will have to do something now. To bad Casio isn't willing to take on the PSR2100. Hoping to try out a Casio WK3500 on Thursday. Will I be selling my PSR550?
Starkeeper

[This message has been edited by Starkeeper (edited 01-06-2004).]

Yamaha,
Read what a reviewer said, "I hate to compare with the Yamaha, which everyone is doing. I will just say this. I had a Yamaha dgx300, which I thought had an outstanding piano. When I heard the wk-3000 at Sam's, I bought it on sight (rare for me), and put the yamaha on e-bay. There, got it out of my system."
Starkeeper

Donny, if you re-read my post, I refered to it as a 'group', not a band. There are a number of 'small' group combo situations where the arranger keyboard is idea. I occasionally (when budget permits) bring on a female vocalist and/or solo horn/guitar player, or even a bass player, on arranger gigs. This brings added visual appeal as well as providing a kind of live musician interaction spark that's just not possibly when playing solo on the arranger alone. I appreciate the arranger for providing this kind of performance flex-bility. - Scott

I cant agree I have never seen or heard a good combo playing other instruments trying to follow an aranger KB accmp.....its man agains machine and most times it don't mix too well to my ear.... versus a trio, quartet etc etc....all playing solo instruments IMO. A solo singer is the exception.

Donny: I guess you just haven't heard or seen me perform (on the Arr KB) with my acoustic instrumentalist musicians yet. I only hire competant pro musicians and they 'never' have any problems keeping in time with the arr accomp & interacting with my live arranger keyboard playing & singing.



Of course a full band of all live 'professionally competant' musicians is what I'm sure we'd 'all' prefer, but the 'next best' thing imo is to bring on 1 or 2 live acoustic instrumentalists and/or female vocalist, in addition to the arranger keyboard. A solo only arranger keyboard performance (as impressive as it might be) just can't match the added 'spontaneous magic' that happens when additional 'competant' live musicians can (if possible) be brought in as well. - Scott

I can’t agree more.
An arranger gives one some much versatility it is surprising to me why I have experience belittling of arranger keyboards when I go to some music stores.
An arranger gives one the ability to perform solo, perform with a live bass, drums or other instruments. If you have a live bass, you can mute the bass on the keyboard. This gives more energy to the performance. The same thing can be said for drums. You can have a live drummer while the arranger plays the other parts and a percussion track. Also on an arranger you can make your own styles if you want to fit your playing style or the small group needs.
An arranger with one or two more instruments would and does sound good provided it is done properly.

Scott.....believe me after 35 years on stage I have just about seen it all....
including very bad Arranger Kb w/other player combo acts...but I respect your opinion and thoughts on the subject.

Jam On

After playing my PSR2000 for a year... I don't think I have the strength to play the kind of keyboard you folks like,.. Real key feel and all… Remember in the old days how your PC keyboard was sturdy and well manufactured as the years pass the PC keyboards become cheesier. I don't think I'd have the strength to use a typewriter..
DJ