Hi all....

1st time arranger owner, Pa4X....Fairly accomplished overall semi-professional/professional musician who is looking to get insight sooner rather than later on capabilities and usage of my arranger for worship services and other engagements as well. I am looking for your best advice/tips & tricks on what I should be doing with this board.

Eg. If on acoustic guitar at an early age if I KNEW I could tune down a whole step & Capo up life would have been so much easier playing in "F" as a young man....

There is a wealth of knowledge here from seasoned live OMB entertainers here that I want your best tip or two that you "wish you knew" when you first started playing live....

Such as what to assign to foot pedals? How do you get no drums to play in the beginning of a style while everything else is? To split, or not to split? Memory function when to use, when not to? How do you use 2 or even 3 styles together in a single performance, and how do you set it up? How & why I should set up "Registrations" (Yamaha) & "Performance" (Korg)? I am still really unsure how to do this. Anything about an arranger in today's musical arranger climate you would impart to me if I was sitting on a keyboard bench with you.

Though I use the PA series, others please chime in.....please. Though I do mostly worship I am really interested in how the veteran performers go about their craft. Whatever your venue...

Yes.....I am asking for your secrets that separate you from the pack.....

So, if we were together in my studio sitting in front of my board, and you could give me a couple of "must-have" arranger techniques, what would it be ???

Playing arranger is a very personal thing,.....this kind of question is gonna confuse the heck out of you as you will get so many different replies regarding how players use their keyboards, don't get caught up in the mess of confusion,......who's right? who's wrong?.... doesn't matter, it's what works for YOU as a player,......my advice is practice alot, ween yourself off charts, improvise, develope a good stage presence, and vocal style, and create your own style of playing thru trials and mistakes over and over again, ask questions, go see other OMB players perform and absorb what's good for you,....some of us have been playing professionally since before arrangers even were invented in the early eights,,......and then 20 years before that with out them,.....your gonna need patience and lots of love for music to achieve success,...there is NO shortcut if you want to do it right it takes years on stage experience in every situation,....
good luck to you.

http://korgforums.com/

I would advise you to get the Korg EC5 pedal. You can assign five functions to it. I have Vocal Harmony on/off, Break/fill, Intro 1 (which I use as a second break/fill), and the others for style parts.
I also use the dedicated sustain pedal slot. Still have the volume/assignable slot open if I need it.
Since I associate text files with my Songbook entries, I use the third assignable button, directly above the joystick, to scroll text files. It is just a matter of lifting a finger to use it. Or you could assign it to one of the foot switches.
You will find the Songbook function extremely important and beneficial!
I will be happy to answer any specific questions. My PA4X will arrive tomorrow, but I am quite familiar with the 3X, so it won't be much different.
You can go to Korg site and download 24 sets of free styles! Not all will be useful, but you will find some gems there.
The Korg forum here: http://www.korgforums.com/forum/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=75&sid=3213bafb8813567c4a2fecddbaa89ac3
is very useful.

Aye to all that Donny says plus, and this might seem a bit obvious, but please do read the manual - especially the first sections of the Korg manuals. You'd be amazed at how much bandwidth is used on forums by people asking questions that are readily answerable from some time spent with the manual in front of them while sat at the keyboard. You can get as deep as you want and beyond with Korg, but Rome wasn't built in a day, as the old saying goes.

Happy New Year and enjoy that Pa4x, it's da bomb!

Just edited to include Mr. Mason, also.

Don,

Really useful info. Exactly the kind of response I was looking for. I did get the pedal and thx for your technique usage.

I printed the Manual and am reading it, but this question is meant to fill in the blanks and pick the brains of those who have gone before me. There is a wealth of knowledge here, so why not utilize it. Not looking for short-cuts, but really want to fast track my learning curve. If I can learn tricks and tips here, why not? I have been a member here for well over 5 years without owning an Arranger and only visit the arranger site.....I'd be a fool not to use such a great resource.....

Gonna give you a minute to get up to speed on your Pa4X and will definitely take you up on your offer.

Thanks for replying

Steve,
To answer some of your questions...
-You can reduce the volume of the drum tracks to zero on one or more introductions (Intros), or the repeating parts (Variations) of the style. You can also play your own intro, and then start the style a few bars in.
-I find a foot controller useful for triggering fills, change in style variations. And in other cases, change to a new preset registration (simultaneously change multiple upper voices), or apply automatic harmony notes above the lead.
-Personally I always play with a split. I was never very good at two-handed piano (hence the arranger!) Although some models claim to recognize chords from two-handed playing, I imagine the results would be frustrating for someone new to arrangers.

Since you are playing worship, I understand what you mean about the drums not always being appropriate, and also cessation of the style when keys are released ("Memory.") Yamaha offers what are known as "free play" styles, which address these limitations, making some of them uniquely suitable for worship.

I made the following style for Korg, which is in fact a very simple "free play" style. From a recognized chord, it generates a triad on one channel and bass note on another. When used with organ and/or string voices you might find it suitable as a simple accompaniment for worship. It's also great for practicing, or for pieces that have a change in time signature partway through.
http://www.synthzone.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/322331#Post322331

An arranger can do AT LEAST as much as any other kind of keyboard out there. They are defined by chord recognition and real-time accompaniments in response to the played chords. The world of arrangers is one of infinite possibilities, limited only by your imagination. Welcome and enjoy!