After listening to Donny Pesce's impressive MicroArranger demo,
I thought it would be interesting now to hear what Korg's Offical Audio MicroArranger Demos sound like: click here

then click on "sound demos" which appears in the FEATURES section at the left side of the window. This then brings up a new window of 7 demo songs.
Click on the song titles to play them.

Disco
Film Score
NY Long Tr
Organ Swg
Prgress
7898
Bold Piano

Korg chose to showcase more contemporary (smooth jazz?) song styles vs Donny's more traditional song style approach, which has given me the opportunity to finally hear how adaptably suited Korg keyboards appear to be for a wider range of songs and styles than I previously thought. - Scott

Great find, Scott...now, these really showcase the sonic power of this tiny arranger...obviously one of Korg's pro demonstrators at the keys...sounds "BIG" and very clean...a bit synthetic in some instances, but overall, a really great sound.

I'm looking forward to your valued professional opinion on this unit.

Ian

Very cool demos.

Re. this business of 10 or 12 year old technology, I think the market this micro is aimed at, (i.e. not necessarily the 'pros'), won't care about that. It's what it sounds like that counts, especially at the price. Korg's got a winner here. Yamaha would do well to take notice.

I agree the age of the technology generally isn't important; consider the Hammond organ.

It is simply how Korg was able to keep the costs down on this arranger...nothing more, nothing less.

However, there is nothing wrong about making buyers aware of the origin of the microArranger's tone generation system.

If this was about a new Yamaha or Roland arranger, the discussion would be very similar and touch on the same points.

Ian

Donny,

I have listened to your demo and it's amazing, it's a seamless professional piece, your right hand fingering is amazing too, your fingers never missed the target on those little keys, can you tell us how and what you recorded it on, I think it's better than the Korg Demo, granted it's old gits music so what, that's why I liked it so much, it's mine and your era Donny. Why you need to do DJ to those dancers when you can play like that beats me, rock on Donny, you’ve brightened SZ up again, it was begin to lack lustre, stay with it and us. BTW HNY.

Regards

For recording into my computer via an EDIROl USB Audio Interface UA-1ex ...& using a very affordable program Fran Carango turned me on to Acoustica MIXCRAFT 5 which really does a nice job & is so easy to use.

http://www.acoustica.com/mixcraft/

http://www.roland.com/products/en/UA-1EX/


To answer your other question Tony...I perform for so many types of audiences from older NH, Ballroom dancer venues to young 21yr old weddings, clubs, theme dances, etc, & beyond...believe me an arranger KB no matter how good you play & sing is not going to cut it for many of these events.....so I have a full tool box and the talent to execute it with playing KB, Singing, and DJ'ing all in one or separately...ready for whatever I need in a nights work...just good business practice in today's diverse gigging world if you want to be a professional entertainer and make my clients happy..at 59 and after 45 years performing on stage, I have no intention of stopping anytime soon God willing & good health, in fact it's getting busier every year.A very religious man came up to me on stage years ago and said. "Donny God gave you a great talent..........do you know why?..." when I said no he replied..."So you could share your music with the world"
And I think I'm very blessed to be able to do that for a living night after night..

take care

DP

Tony, let me interject here to say that nowadays very few arrangers players can (or want to) do a whole gig on arranger alone. Most resort to their own or commercial SMF and/or MP3 along with the arranger stuff. It takes a lot of very hard work (and planning) making an evening played solely on an arranger to be both danceable and entertaining.

But, it is possible.

There are several arranger players in my area, and only two of us still play the entire gig solely with the arranger keyboard, and we still manage to get asked back and/or get other equally lucrative gigs because of our performances.

And of course, we have Deane (Hammer) who is a SZ member who plays arranger (a Tyros4, I believe) for the entire gig...there may be a few more....I think Gary Diamond does, most, if not all, his gigs entirely with the arranger (in arranger mode). I believe Scott Yee and Scott Langholff do as well.

But, as has been said many times here on SZ...you use what you need to get the job done....that's the most important part, I suppose...and, it may depend on the type of gig, audience age, etc.

Are you thinking of getting one of these great little Korg microArrangers?

Ian

As far as I know, I'm the only one remaining around here that entertains as a one-man-band exclusively with styles and real-time playing and singing.
There are several people using arrangers but all of them that I know of use at least as much midi, mp3 and kar stuff as styles.
Semilive could do a show with just styles, but he usually doesn't because he prefers guitar jobs.
My friend Dickie T has a new Tyros 4 and uses styles, but he also uses a lot of midi and CDG files. Our friend Henry L. uses Roland BK7m and uses styles, but relies heavily on CDG as well.
Vince Ramos down in Houston uses Ketron SD1 and plays mostly styles. I'm sure there are others in the general area that I'm overlooking, but I don't think so. Some of the others use midi or recorded music and even act like they are playing keyboard.
However, as DNJ says, whatever it takes to please the people is o.k.
DonM

Don't feel alone DonM, I'm an arranger styles only kinda guy, too. Mainly because I'm lazy and just like to play. We don't suffer for shortage of work because of the styles-only approach. It's all good.

Quote:
Tony, let me interject here to say that nowadays very few arrangers players can (or want to) do a whole gig on arranger alone. Most resort to their own or commercial SMF and/or MP3 along with the arranger stuff. It takes a lot of very hard work (and planning) making an evening played solely on an arranger to be both danceable and entertaining.

A lot of hard work is a joy for those who love to organize and perform; there is a satisfaction that comes that makes it all worth it. I play this New Years and used one Mp3, The Electric Slide.

I feel as if I am not doing enough when I sing and whatever, I am so use to backing myself in a live band with my guitar.

I do understand those who are using SMF/MP3 for back up, feel they concentrate on the job being done and that is their satisfaction.

IMHO, John C.

Yes John, that why I put "But, as has been said many times here on SZ...you use what you need to get the job done....that's the most important part, I suppose...and, it may depend on the type of gig, audience age, etc." in my post.

There are many possibilities of deriving satisfaction from how we perform (or prepare)...as many as there are varied personalities on this forum.

Fortunately I am in the position to turn down gigs that require the use of MP3's or commercial midi files, as these aren't part of what I want to include in my performance.

Ian

Don't use MP3s at all, and once in a blue moon I'll use a GM midi file, but that's pretty rare these days. Pretty much use nothing but the onboard arranger styles, a fair number of third-party styles, and my vocals. In comparison, my right hand sucks, but I manage to get by.

The main differences between DonM and myself is I'm older, better looking, and I only play restaurants and bars about once a month. The rest of the jobs are at upscale retirement communities, nursing homes, assisted living centers and of course, some private parties. DonM plays restaurants and bars most of the time, a fair number of large, private parties, he's a lot more talented than myself, lives where it's relatively warm during winter, but he ain't purdy.

Cheers,

Gary

As a Pro who can do both ,and also play guitar as well i found when i mixed in midi files and some styles my business has gone thru the Roof , I am a good Voc and when i use midi files i ether play the keyboard with a full sound and a layer or play my Guitiar it give me a much fuller sound and with todays keyboards and jump points you can keep your audience going all night .

we should not look down at peaple who use midi files , playing a guitar or piano ect to a midi file take just as much skill as playing just styles singing 40 plus songs a night and keeping your audience involved is where the skill comes in, my audience has grown 10 fold and selling CD's like crazy i think being able to do both with all the skill you have is a great way to offer a different look to your audience.

those have been on Korgs we site for around 6 mo .

Those are good demo's. I am always AMAZED at what one can do with an arranger. The little Korg has my attention, and sheesh, I just bought a Yamaha NP-31 so I could make myself learn piano only. Help me!

I do enjoy an arranger in many ways. And I've always been impressed with Korg styles. So, hmmm...

I have one question, and I think I asked it once before during a similar thread ... how many players here are playing 3 to 4 hour gigs of 'Top 40' music for 20 and 30 year olds using ONLY kb styles?
I have to doubt that there are many - if ANY ... ???

Sheeesh Tony...why would anyone (especially an arranger player) want to do that?

Would you?

I can't think of anything more unpleasant.


Ian

Ian ... ABSOLUTELY NOT ... the point I am trying to make - perhaps using a poor comparison - is that I think the use of midi files and mp3s comes in to 'play' more depending on the audience - OR - if the performer wants a song to sound more like the record than a style can achieve ... I probably have 150 to 200 midi files on my kb hard drive and I use styles 95% of the time - or more ... BUT, they are there if I feel the necessity to use them ...
As has been said - SATISFY THE AUDIENCE, HOWEVER YOU CHOOSE TO DO IT ...

I play in a live rock band but there are few songs we play where the electronica instrumentation is provided using MIDI files and the band plays to a click track. They are songs by Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Pink and Gwen Stephanie. We aren't cheating but just augmenting our playing with parts we just can't perform with our lineup. And you can bet that these artists also use some pre-recorded parts when playing live.

The audience loves that we can deliver convincing covers of these songs.

Gary, I think what I read could be easily misunderstood. When I said "around here", I meant in my geographic area, not Synthzone.
BTW, I have send you a mirror overnight via UPS. Of course it will be broken when it arrives, but, trust me, that's a blessing!

DonM

I'm with you Don. I play ONE midi file, which I massaged through the sequencer and that's New York. Other than that, years of arranging the songs via style play. I think the kybd sounds its best that way and I like to present my own arrangements. Nothing worse that hearing entertainer after entertainer singing to a stupid computer - how difficult is that? BTW, too bad you got a lemon 800 in the past. The PA80 is light years behind the 800 IMO.

Well, it really wasn't a lemon, it was technically the FIRST one in the U.S. I got it directly from a Korg rep, who didn't know anything about it. He had only had it for a couple of days and it had not been taken out of the box.
I had it for about a month, and it sounded really bad. I sold it, and THEN they issued a complete OS update that supposedly addressed most of the issues I had with it.
I use midi files on two or three songs when they are requested, which isn't often. Sometimes I do NY, NY, that way, but sometimes do it with styles. I generally do Suspicious Minds with a midi file. I'm too lazy to set up styles for most songs with tempo changes. Actually I had a great Suspicious Minds style, but I don't remember if it was for a Yamaha or Ketron kb.
DonM

The Suspicious Minds style (with tempo change) was initially available for the Yamaha Tyros and compatible instruments (including the PSR-9000)...it possibly was a MidiSpot style.

I'm sure there must be conversions for Ketron, Roland, and Korg arrangers being passed around.

Ian

I'm almost certain there are too, just haven't looked yet. Also, I'm told the Korg can convert midi files to styles, as the old Technics did. Haven't gotten into that either.
Thanks,
DonM

Well, I'm arranger all the way, too. I'm retired 5 years, now, working a supper club 5 nights a week solo. Some nights I'm on guitar with BIAB, but most of the time on the S910, with occasional sit-in horn players. Life's good.