I have had a hard time justifying this for years, why, I don't know except I am self taught and people thing I am fairly good for an old hacker. Times, they are a changing. I remember playing my new B3 at lounges in the sixties, with my drummer, and dance floors were full. I started soloing at clubs and was the first to have a Rhythm Ace. Great fun.

Today I play for a crowd that is the same age, but i'm not. consequently, I need music from the 60's to 80's, at least, and I have great Tune 1000 files that are perfect on the Pa4X, as they show me the chords and melody line. I easily mute what I play, and change keys.

I guess my problem is one of conscience. My audiences really like it, but I feel I am cheating somewhat with song specific backing, even though I am fully playing.

I need to know I am not a fraud doing this. How honest is that?

Bernie your an entertainer bottom line,...nobody cares how you do it anymore,...remember this, styles are just small midi files you operate on an arranger kb,....if you played with a band you would only play YOUR PART on top of them right? and thats what you are doing playing over smf songs also,...to make it more legit if you will is customize the smf songs with some additional tracks to make the song your own and then play on top of it and sing also then it becomes "YOUR arrangement" and self pride is assured when you play, also using "MARKERS" with your smf songs is a very valuable asset to the overall arrangement too, ......Yes it's all changing in the trenches from the old days very quickly,....I saw it coming years ago and adapted accordingly eventually you will also,..the people dictate the terms,........even the old want the new these days..that said Just MIX IT UP!! open your mind and your heart and give em hell out there 150% every show... Good Luck!

Dnj. I fully agree with your answer, you beat me to the reply.

Well said Donny.
Don’t know why you would think you were cheating Bernie.
Cheating would be miming and pretending to play. ie actually contributing nothing, which is not the case..
It’s all about entertaining the audience, give them what they want.

Agree fully.
But it's also important to be honest about what we are doing.
Bernie, you take active part by play your instrument in the 'orcestra', then you don't 'cheat'.



I've seen some that use the arranger purely as a playback machine and midifile-player
to play commercial midifiles 'as is', (bought or downloaded more or less legally from net)
and pretends they are playing live at the instrument.
That is in my humble opinion cheating.

Thanks guys(and Rikki). I feel better already.

Although I prefer the flexibility of styles every once in awhile I'll come across a tune that's hard to re create using auto accompaniment.

Sometimes you need song specif bass lines, drum parts, or stops and starts that are hard to do with styles. You'd may be surprised how many songs that sound like simple 4/4 will throw in a measure of 2/4 (the quirky 2 count) Songs like "Purple Rain" and "Pretty Women" come to mind. Many Korgs and Ketron keyboards have a reset botton for instances like that so the beat doesn't get turned around.

Another thought: Although you may have more control with styles, it can actually look visually fake form an audiences perceptive. When playing with styles your left hardly has to move at all to generate full sounding accompaniment. When playing over backing tracks you are able to play full two handed piano style accompaniment that maybe be too complex for the auto-accompaniment on an arranger keyboard to recognize.

There's pro and cons to both auto-accompaniment and backing tracks. No need to limit yourself to one or the other.

A recent post by one of the most talented folks here, both on keys and as a vocalist, was done using a style intro. The player was just sitting there, while all this music was coming from the keyboard.

I had not seen that sort of presentation for a great while, and, man, did that look fake.

It's enough for me to never use ANY programmed parts, other that simple drum...maybe drum and bass parts ever again.

Incidentally, this member is GREAT, and could have easily done without the programmed intro. That was his choice, and I respect that.

It's just not for me.


R.

I agree, Paul ... and when performing one of those 'quirky' songs like "Pretty Woman" as a vocalist, you can concentrate more on the vocal performance, and not worry about hitting the 'Tempo Reset' button ...
BUT ... if one is going to 'fake' the entire instrumental performance, one might as well stand in front of the KB and just sing ...

Good point, perception is key to me, and I use active left and right hands, almost to prove I am playing. Captain Russ, I wouldn't have expected anything less from you, but then, IMO, you are in a class inhabited by few people.

Sometimes I use the KB using styles and sing, sometimes I don't bring the kb and sing to my backing tracks that I recorded many from scratch, some that I edited, deleted & added more tracks to to get the arrangement I WANT to sing with,......I can't count the times when I was performing with out my arranger kb that someone would come up to me and say Wow where did you get that arrangement of that song?, etc, etc, and where could I buy it? I just smile & say thanx for the compliment but you can't buy these they are custom recorded tracks by me using my arranger KB which always is enjoyed by many,.... there's much pride in that.
There are many ways to entertain people, don't pigeon hole yourself to just one way of doing it, versatility is the key to success. Mix it Up !

Bernie, us old B-3'ers need to stick together, we've carried the weight...paid the dues.

I'd be honored to play with you anytime!

Be well,


R.

The first one-man-band I saw had bass pedals, electric drums, and a synth on top of a grand piano. He was fantastic, everybody loved him.

1-What we are dealing with today is it possible to play the song with all the sounds and lines that identify the song with my keyboard. If not use whatever you need to sound good.

2-Everything else is based on personal need and desire. I want to be me because I like being me --- I like playing music. When I was playing out I used midi files or whatever when the extras were needed to establish the song. I did not play over any of the line dance songs; I played the original songs.

The OMB who was the most popular joined the dancers with his wireless mic and joined in the fun. Most of the people did not know he was not playing the sax, guitar or keyboard; he just fingered them. If it came to that I would stay home.

Bernie I have heard you play, you’re good so do whatever pleases you. The next day you can change and do whatever comes to mind.
John C.

Aw Jeez John, thanks.

Donny, I always think of you when thinking of bucking the norm. You have been a good entertainer for many years, and even though I am more of a musician than entertainer, I will try and not be so demanding of myself and loosen up.

Thanks all.

In my drums / keys / vocals duo we've been using homebrew / commercial midi files, and before that stuff I created on my Ensoniqs, since the late 80's. The first song I ever did was the "Pet Shop Boys" version of "Always on my Mind*, after all they are using the technology so why can't I?

All the files we use are remixed / adjusted to leave space for us to play. We have never tried to suggest that we are playing everything but equally we firmly believe we are adding to the sound and not just doing glorified karaoke.

The game changers were a number of party nights were we were doing alternating 30 minute spots with a very good DJ. We would start playing as he faded out, and we thought we were doing pretty good versions of the tunes and yet as soon as the sound changed we were faced with an empty dance floor. So we started to use backing tracks more and found that the fuller sound held the crowd on the floor. The next big changer was the PSR3000, with the on board smart media and the 'next song' ability we could chain these together without waiting for the floppy disc to catch up. No gaps, no chat, and no chance for the floor to clear whilst nothing happens.

Doing this does not detract from the fact that we are still picking songs as we go to best suit the mood of the crowd. To us this is one of the crucial skills of good entertainers (and indeed DJs) that separates the good from the so-so.

Good points John. Thanks for sharing that.

Bernie