Just got the April 07 issue of Keyboard Magazine. Cover story is "Arranger Keyboards - Tools or Toys". 17 different boards are reviewed/compared from Yamaha, Roland, Korg, Ketron, Casio, and General Music.

Steven Fortner wrote the article. Bottom line, he sees things on the Tools side. Nice to see such an article (11 pages)from Keyboard Magazine. Maybe it will help change some opinions and increase the interest in higher-end arrangers in the states.

The Yamaha MM6 is also reviewed.

what did he have to say ?

With 11 pages, it's probably best to buy the edition

zuki

Hi
Keyboard Magazine is American. So for the rest of the world can you give us a round up of what was said about arrangers, (Warts and all) and also what boards were featured? (Had a look on the web site but nothing showing yet)
Enjoy whatever you play

Bill

Keyboard Magazine typically posts articles to its web site a few weeks after the print edition hits the streets as to not canabalize sales. You will probably find this article on-line in mid to late April.

If you are looking for in-depth professionally written reviews I recommend that you get articles from the UK magazine Keyboard Player as they are first on the block with well written details. This Keyboard Magazine article was more of a survey of what is available for US players who are not familiar with or excepting of arrangers.


Without writing a blow-by-blow on an 11 page article here are a few highlights that I saw.

Good things like the Roland guitar strum mode or some specific sounds on one keyboard or another were found on all the arrangers reviewed. The typical "warts" were there too. As example, the keyboard action on the Casio was not great but that is OK given its price point. No new ground was broken beyond articles and reviews already written about the currently available arrangers.


In general, he found arrangers to be very capable live performance tools with many high quality styles and sounds. The PA-800 was looked at favorably. He really liked the piano sound. The most comparison was done between the Roland E-80 and the Yamaha Tyros 2. The reviewer found the same thing that has been espoused on Synthzone in excruciating debate. Roland has more live sounding styles. Tyros 2 superarticulation voices sure are cool. Both are good instruments. Furthermore, the lower-priced offerings by the companies are good choices too at their price points.

The author gave an analogy for comparing workstation synths like Triton, Motif, etc. to arrangers that was interesting. Using a synth was like being a studio producer. Tweak this sound, come in at time mark 3:02.493, and other rather technical points of music production. It gives you great control over the sound, yet it requires very detailed work. Using an arranger was like being a band leader. Bring out the horns on the way to the outro. I thought this was a great way to describe the difference. For me it explains why I like to play music on an arranger workstation versus sculpt and program music on a synth workstation.

With new stuff on the way soon from Ketron and the expectations of more info on the Yamaha S900 this article will quickly become dated as a comparison of what is currently available. That being said it was a good overview of what's available today and will hopefully increase interest in arrangers in the US.

Arrangers are definitely toys. Just look at the numerous threads 'mine is better than yours'.

They're all toys! Synths, and arrangers... Some are just more expensive.

Squeak