... please not a 'wish list' but of the features you currently have on your current arranger(s), which do you love and which do you use more often?

FORMAT BELOW......

Name of Arranger: XXX
Features you love best: A, B and C
Features you use most (and why [type of music, studio ... etc]): W, X and Y. Due to my preference in Latin music, feature W is used .... etc

Thanks,

AJ

Name of Arranger: PSR-3000
Features you love best:
The Recorder, Music Finder, And On/Off Mixer

I love the recorder, it works with styles, quick and easy, and I can render down to midi and work in the studio with it. I work with all kinds of music in the studio, and this is a great tool to make a scratch track or sketch track.

Music Finder is great for my live performances. I find it better than registrations because I can search, page, and get my whole repertoir of 600 songs up at the touch of a button, and I can cue up the next song for instant medleying.

On/Off mixer is great live tool as well, because I usually use only drums, bass and my pianoplaying. But with the on/off mixer I can quickly get the piano part into the mix and change my lead sound to an organ or guitar for a solo part, or to conduct my little one man band live.

I play all except Classical and Latin music.

G70

Favorite features (mostly in order)

The style and SMF editing tools (Makeup Tools). By FAR the easiest, most comprehensive set of tools for tweaking styles and sequences. Ability to offset velocity amount as well as volume. Detail drum editing, drum replacement, EQ, velocity and volume per sound, all in an easy to use graphical, touchscreen environment. Not a substitute for full sequencer, but simply a way to edit header information that 80% of the time is all the tweaking a style or sequence needs...

A comfortable 76 keyboard action. Sufficient weight to not feel disconnected from piano performance, not too heavy to make organ performance a chore, either. Full length keys (especially the black ones), but rounded off whites rather than sharp piano shape ones... makes for comfortable organ smears and glisses.

Easy to navigate registration callup, with full recall of all parameters.

Seamless sound changing, no glitches or hiccups. Sounds morph into each other without cutting off the previous one.

Cover Tools... instant one button complete revoicing of a style or SMF in a myriad of different templates. A superb way to get more mileage out of oft used or stale styles. Once 'close', Makeup Tools can be used to fine tune. Handy for when you want to do a rock style in front of a subdued crowd. Simply select the Acoustic Jazz template, and those pounding drums and rock guitars turn into brushes, jazz guitars and upright basses, on the spot!

Easy, quick slider navigation to ANY performance parameter, Vol, Pan, Rev, Chr, voice edits, etc. And as easy to navigate to all SMF or style controls, too.

Detailed, multi-velocity V-Drum kits with a certain tight ambiance sampled into them. Four samples per drum on some sounds, at least two on most. Velocity offset for the style based on how hard you play. Tied to multi sample drums, gives a VERY good sense of the drummer following your playing...

Good quality Pianostyle chord following ability. Play close to what a pianist would play, the accompaniment has little trouble figuring out what to play...

This is my almost ONLY live keyboard, for everything from solo work to playing without ANY automatic features in a live band. As a pure arranger, it lacks some things that others have. But as a live performance keyboard for ANY situation, it has few equals... Amazingly fast navigation to everything you need to create a setup with splits and layers, and all possible without setting things up in advance. Beats the pants off of ANY WS I've ever used!

Arranger: DGX-305
Favorite Features: Light weight, 76 keys, on-board drums, and split bass function

This is a weird product, it is marketed as a student piano, but it is really an entry-level PSR arranger with 76 keys. I use it for solo piano gigs, and at dance parties. It has a few sounds, but the key bread and butter sounds Piano, drums and bass are great! No other stage piano has drums and accompaniment for under $500, and light enough to carry with two fingers, this thing is a real workhorse! I wish I could add my own styles to it and organize them in folders or music finder database, then it would be my main instrument for sure!

Yamaha S910

.61 Keys
.Onboard Speakers
.Bright new display Large 5.7" TFT Color
•Super Articulation, Mega Voices
•Microphone input
•MP3 playback
•Color Screen
•128-note polyphony
•16-track sequencer
.Multipads
.Light Weight/Size
.3 Intro/Endings + A-D + Fill x 4

Careful! Don't get Ian all worked up. He's running out of emoticons!

Ditto.

Yea DITTO here.

But I will add the improved Music Finder that allows you with one touch of a button to add files to the database Not only can you save styles, but you can add midi and mp3/wav files then pull them from the USB stick where they are stored.

PA2XPRO

A) 76 keys so I can do Piano pretty well, and have plenty of room for 2 sounds on upper (3 if I like). Great action as well. AND plenty of room for chords so I don't have to JAM them in. And with plenty of rom on LH...I can use sounds better as I have good range for instruments.

A,1) Great realistic sounds. powerful drums & percussions.

B) The songbook is super..saving almost everything, and plenty of room for user entry's

C) MIDI implemtation is good...allowing me to EASILY do user sounds with exteral sound modules or VSTi's on my PC. You can just assign bank and PC to any user voice. Call them up in OTS (1-4) or performances.

D) Full function 16 track sequencer

E) Recording audio to disk

F) Sound and style editing top notch

G) Superb programmability to do what I want.

H) DNC sounds and ability to create your own full DNC caable sounds.

I) Touch screen that is easy to use..andMANY short cuts to get where I want fast...without lots of menu levels.

J) Great build quality...metal cabinet.

All this helps me play better and sound better with the music I like...ballads, love songs, musical theatre, show songs, olds standards, orchestral stuff.

Lee S.

[This message has been edited by leeboy (edited 09-24-2010).]

[This message has been edited by leeboy (edited 09-24-2010).]

[This message has been edited by leeboy (edited 09-24-2010).]

Wersi Abacus (Single keyboard version)

Great sounds (Main priority)
Not being dictated to by the manufacture (Brilliant)
Use of VSTi and Akai samples on-board (Couldn’t be without this)
Large touch screen (Easy to press the button you want)
Easy to operate (Many real time controls, and minimal sub menus)
Great Key feel (61 is fine with me)
No longer have to keep changing boards (Cost savings)
Flexibility (Does everything I need and more)
Simple backings (Yamaha type styles drive me up the wall)

Fairly flexible with music (Hip Hop and Rap are out though)
Home use only (When I get the time)
Rock (I’m a 70s guy)
Classical (Just love the intricacies)
MOR (Great to chill out)
European (It’s infectious)

Bill

Ok so now we know less then before as EVERYONES keyboard is GREAT!!!!!!
Don't tell me the EGO genie is sticking his nose in here also?


[This message has been edited by Dnj (edited 09-24-2010).]

I believe Beaky's cute reply on another thread says it all...



No EGO involved in that statement.

No Ian your right just ***** envey

Add to PA series:

1. Toggle feature on the variations, fills, etc - couldn't live without it now
2. TC Helicon is good
3. Break fill
4. "On time" pads
5. Built in speakers (800)
6. Easy access sliders that allow volume, mic and mic reverb
7. I really love where everything is placed on this board for live play

Tyros 3

A. Acoustic Voices
B. Ease of use
c. Yamaha Support and a ton of content available immediately through the LAN connection

1. Used as a generator of backing tracks minus one (keyboard or Guitar for MP3 creation on Netbook for live use where an 88 weighted board is carried and a guitar with Bose Mod II System.

2. Used to create specialized (ie Hoe-friggin-down) backing tracks for video producers where music budget is low IE internet content, local commercials

3. and as a sketch pad for Original pop material which gets sent to DAW via MIDI for production

Feature most wanted: Direct to USB audio recording

Used exclusively in Home Studio. Never left home LOL..

.


[This message has been edited by Kingfrog (edited 09-25-2010).]

I mainly use the Midjay Plus. I especially like the small footprint, light weight, 80 gig HD - I have a lot of stuff in there. I like being able to add, subtract, organize via USB connection. I use it with several different controllers; mostly midi accordion and frequently Yamaha KX5 or Master MK4. I like the live sound of the midi file playback and of the styles.
I often use it in conjunction with a Korg PA800 as I like a lot of the PA sounds, and they are easier to access during gigs (easier than the Midjay), In addition to the features already listed for the PA boards, I like a lot of the styles and when used in together with the MJ Plus, I have a good variety of sounds and styles.
I use the Midjay only for gigs. When I have to make a sequence, I use the Korg. For many of my gigs, especially weddings, I play cocktail hour then dinner music, and for the dance portion I DJ with the Midjay (WAV files) with a live tune thrown in here and there.
Ciao,
Jerry

AJ, Hopefully, your next post will inculde a request for a 'wishlist

Kingfrog, What a neat and tidy workspace. It would take me months to unclutter my space to look like that.