Hi Folks,

Bit of a long time lurker, but first-time poster so please don’t go too hard on my just yet. It's been great to read through these forums and I'm grateful to have stumbled over it.

I had always assumed arranger keyboards were for 70’s home-organ players who dared to venture out in public with their canned drum beats and backing tracks (think Electone and Baldwin domestic instruments) to assault the ear-drums of a captive audience - eg - tetraplegics and detainees. I’d also tell myself I’m far too young for such an instrument and I hadn’t really heard many performances on arrangers that altered my existing point of view - until very recently when I heard what I thought was a 5-piece playing a venue and discovered instead a OMB absolutely rocking the place!

I was intrigued enough that I was able to forget for a while that this guy was still really only using a drum machine and some form of automated backing. It sounded bloody good and the realism of the instruments was incredible. So this really got me thinking……..Wow, an arranger? Could I play one? Would I actually want to own one? let alone be seen in public with one?

I’m historically a Piano player - trained for years in classical, dabbled in jazz, done weddings, church services, events etc, either solo or with other players, mostly only ever with piano until I bought my first digital stage piano (Roland RD700SX). When playing solo, I tended to play a bit of left-hand bass and did as much as I could with my remaining digits - but there was always something missing - realism for any part that wasn’t a piano.

Fast-forward a number of years and keyboards, and I’m relatively happy. The range of sounds at my disposal from my Nord and my VAX-77 connected iPad keep me reasonably satisfied. But I’m not actively gigging, I enjoy writing my own music, and tend to be somewhat disappointed at having to use a computer to bring everything together.

I”ve been lurking around the web and discover that Korg and Yamaha have these fancy keyboards that actually make pretty damned realistic instrument sounds - and I’m now seriously curious. The more I read here, the more I realise my original thoughts on “Arranger keyboards and their players” have been somewhat tarred by tunnel vision and bad youtube videos - of which I have experiences of both.

So, I’m looking for another keyboard and I now realise I’m left with more choices than when I first started to look around….

I don’t gig much - although that can always change
I don’t enjoy using my computer to record music - I can do it, but I don’t enjoy it
I need to use 88 weighted keys when playing piano parts (MIDI might help this)
I want instrument realism without having to resort to Sample libraries
A sequencer / event recorder would be nice
I want to be able to edit the sounds, but not too deeply - I’m lazy
I love to make music, including adding in multiple tracks, but I don’t want to worry about creating a soundscape from scratch.
I need a keyboard with a very good display (bigger / bright is better) as I have a visual impairment which makes menu diving a real chore.

Does this sound like an Arranger keyboard could possibly meet my needs, or am I barking up the wrong tree?

I see that many of you are extremely talented and experienced musicians and I’d really value your advice and/or opinions.

Apologies for length. ...