I know this is less of an Arranger issue, since most Arrangers do this well... however ...

... in doing some research on various synths/keyboards of interest out there, I'm amazed that SO many otherwise great/powerful synths, have only "up/down" buttons and a knob to select patches.

I'm talking about synths that have the ability to store presets/patches. For example, looked recently at a DSI Prophet X, Prophet 12, Rev2, and Behringer DeepMind (and others) ... and I want to be able to hit a button at a gig to quickly call up a patch in need. I'm mainly thinking of gig situations. I know that pure old-school analog synths aren't likely to have this - but today's modern digital or partial digital should.

Having to spin a knob, or hit "+/-" (increment/decrement) buttons just isn't fast and sure enough ... I wish every synth had at least 8-10 buttons (plus the ability to do banks) for instant recall of desired patches. Yamaha's new CP73/88 have 5 buttons so at least that's something.

All the arrangers out there have this one covered very well of course!

The DSI OB-6 and Sequential Prophet 6 do it well - 10 buttons and 10 banks. 100 patches I can get at very quickly. Some synths (and non-synths like stage pianos and "all-around workstations" have 4 or 5 such buttons - better than none, but 4 or 5 seems like not enough.

Comments?
Jim
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Genos / Tyros5 / HK Lucas Nano 600 / FTB Maxx 40a / EV ZX1A / Rock'n'Roller cart / Hauptwerk virtual pipe organ / misc other audio & music toys