All of the recent tunes we have been sharing were either using a Roland Fantom or VST's for all of the sounds. At some point, we mentioned that on VERY RARE occasions we actually do load a style, hit "Intro" and play.
The Roland is at my son's house but we do still have a Tyros 5 stashed away in our toy box. Here are two tunes played on the Yamaha and yes, we actually used a style for the percussion track! That was recorded into Logic as an audio track and then we added additional tracks to it to make it a little more of our arrangement. We even used use some of the accompaniment tracks from the styles.

The first one - It Came Upon a Midnight Clear:
https://soundcloud.com/immusic/it-came-upon-a-midnight-clear

The second one, also done on the Tyros using a style vs. versions of the tune we posted a few days ago which were 100% sequenced - O Come All Ye Faithful:
https://soundcloud.com/immusic/o-come-all-ye-faithful-2

Nice....but, I liked the non-arranger ones better. I always feel very defensive on this forum when expressing any opinion that might be construed as 'anti-arranger'. Probably just my imagination since I'm sure everyone here prefers honesty to fake praise.

I too, multi-track everything I record. I use REAPER which serves my meager recording needs just fine. I also use 'canned' drum tracks when a live drummer is not available (which is most of the time). My drum tracks come from one of four sources: Live, Arranger drum track, drum loop library, or cobbled together with a (free) drum program which allows you to chose Intros, Chorus, Fills, and endings to form a track. All are pretty simple, really. It's more a case of choosing the right pattern, kit, tempo, etc. IMO, good taste is the most important skill.

My problem with all-arranger tunes is that they (with a few exceptions) SOUND like arranger (style based) tunes. SOME skilled players can minimize this by playing good extra material within or over or in addition to, the arranger parts. This tones down the 'perfection' effect that arrangers can impart. IOW, it humanizes it. IMO, arrangers are better at accompaniment duties for vocals or (played) solo instruments than for style-based orchestrations. Obviously, there are notable exceptions and many have been presented on this forum. But, as in real life, I'd always opt to see a 'live' performance over even a very good style-based arranger performance. But that's just me.

We often wonder why young people never took to arrangers. I think the answer is simple. I think they know that although the 'tech' is fascinating for about 15 minutes (young people have short attention spans ), that an arranger keyboard is never going to give them what they want music wise. For one thing, trends in music change much to fast these days.

Okay, I've wandered WAY off course (as usual), so I'll conclude by saying (in all honesty) that except for the old Vince Guaraldi xmas album, I'm not a big fan of xmas jazz. I think it's more the concept than the actual music that I have a hard time warming up to (and I'm not even religious). Ah well....

chas

Chas maybe a 5k Genos Xmas present will change your mind about style based playing and recording..?

Donny, one approach doesn't have be the right solution for everybody. You should do what works for you (and allow others to do the same). I've heard YOU argue on both sides of this issue a dozen times....sometimes it seems like you just take the position that is most likely to 'stir the pot'. At least I'm consistent in my views.

In any case, a 5k Genos is not going to make me play any better....in fact, over time it would probably make me play worse. In flying, some guys love exercising their 'stick & rudder' skills and others are real autopilot babies; I fall into the latter category because flying requires PRECISION, not creativity. Different situation, different approach. Sure, the autopilot is the 'arranger' in flying but when the risk is more than just a bad chord, that repetitiveness, that predictability, that precision, is exactly what you want.

As far as recording, I don't want someone to say "oh yeah, I recognize that...that's Boogie Woogie Boo Boo Style, variation 2 from the Tyros 2 1/2". I'd actually rather hear them say "What the hell was THAT?".

So what are YOU getting for xmas?

chas

Agreed All good points....
Definitely to each their own....
I hope more players chime in on this topic.

Merry Christmas

Well, I agree with Chas as far as the recording aspect is concerned. You are not going to beat the flexibility of a DAW where you can use unlimited virtual instruments, MIDI and audio recording (and yes even your arranger) all blended together. But an arranger is primarily a tool for live performance. Granted, the best performers such as Don M. and Donny (and others) can make a very good recording with an arranger, even doing multiple takes and mixing things to get it good if they prefer. But a DAW with all of the tools will give you more versatility for recording.

Curt... this is a beautiful blend and well done as usual.

For the "O Come All Ye Faithful", caan you guys now take a similar KETRON SD40 style such as Funk (leave the manual tracks used) and simply replace the Yamaha "style" parts with the KETRON style parts ... let's see how we now can add more 'life' to the song?