Musical arrangements on the KN 6500

Hello again, all my fellow music enthusiasts! I have just installed an EW02NX Wave Expansion Board in my 6500 and now am blessed with another 186 wonderful sounds! But, being the amateur musician that I am, they cannot be positioned in any One-Touch Play setup except by removing what is set up and then replacing it (them) with one or more of the new sounds. And I am not sure enough to know what sound patterns blend with what in R1, R2 and Left. So, I am asking you experts for some suggestions on musical sound setups that go well together using either the original 6500 sound patterns or the expanded ones from the EW02NX. (I hope this doesn't come across as a dumb query!) Thanks for any suggestions and replies, either here on the board or to my e-mail address. I never cease to be amazed at the knowledge you all seem to have that I will never be able to absorb totally! Happy playing to all!

Ted Rose

[This message has been edited by Ted Rose (edited 01-28-2002).]

Hi Ted, No such thing as a dumb query! Well, not on this forum anyway !
I'm not suggesting that this is the only answer to your 'problem' but it is what I do when I want to play a new song or tune.
First I find what I think is a suitable Style - Rhythm, Tempo and enabling or disabling some of the Accompaniment voices. I then balance the various parts of the accompaniment to my liking and store in the 8 panel memories. If I wish to change the style variations, or even the particular style, as I select the panel memories, then I enable 'Rhythm' change in the Expanded section of the panel memory control, and store the rhythm style and/or variation, in the particular panel memories. So that takes care of the 'Backing'.
I then think about which voices combinations may suit the particular tune or song - for R1, R2 and if used Left. I just try all sorts of different variations and when I find one I like, I just store it in panel memory 1. Then I try another setup and when happy, store it in panel memory 2 and so on. When I've got a suitable selection of sounds, maybe all 8 panel memories or just a few, I just store the whole setup to disc naming the file as the name of the song or tune. I don't know if you have a hard disc on your KN but it makes life so easy to recover the song files. Using just floppies, it's not so easy, not only because of access time but also the limitation imposed on the number of characters in the filename.
I stand to be corrected here, but I don't think you can edit the voices or any other parameters in the 'One Touch' settings. You can however select a particular set-up from One Touch and then save it in a panel memory and having done that, then 'tweak' it to your liking and save it back into panel memory.
I'm sure you will get some more suggestions from some of our other friends in the forum.
Hope you find my suggestions useful.


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Willum

[This message has been edited by Bill Norrie (edited 01-28-2002).]

Hi Ted,
Bill has given you a very good road map to follow in building an arrangement. I know that the best way to get a feeling toward what you like is to both hear and see what various combinations do. I think I may have a project that will help. I’ve just completed mastering a CD that was recorded on the KN6000. It is based on a wide variety of music from the movies. If there appears to be sufficient interest on the subject of arranging, I might post a few thoughts about the project and make the sequences available.
Frank

Sounds very interesting to me. I'm all ears.

Hi Ted,
Like Bill said, there are no dumb questions here. The ones that are not asked are the dumb ones. I have a KN 6000 upgraded to 6500. If I understand you correctly, you want to know which instruments go with each other? If that is the case, try this set-up for strings. R-1-sympthony strings, R-2-octave strings, L-symp stgs. Go to Programs, Sounds, Part Settings. On R-1-up 1 octave, R-2-down 1 octave, L-0. Part 1-symp stgs.,Part-2-Bright Strings (EWO1 sound card),Part-3-dreamy strings, Part4-same as R-1, symp. strings. I pan all parts to center.
Go to multi and dsp and scroll down to exciter an set on exciter 2 (the exciter setting also works well with voices, choir,etc - give a breathy tone), go to Techni-cord and set on Big Band Reeds and with Techni-cord set on Part 4 instead of Conductor. Volume on part 4 - 105-110, all others 100. R-l,R-2and L adjust volumes to your likeing. Hope this is what you had in mind, if so then we can get onto other instruments and maybe set-ups that others on the forum use. Have Fun.
Best Regards,
Dave Shively
E-mail: nanshiv@aol.com

Hi Ted
1.At the end of the day, it's a matter of personal choice. You might check through your existing One Touch settings and make a note of any pairings (and balance settings) of R1 & R2 that suits your style of playing. Then pair up similar types of sound from your 'new' sounds. Also have a look at R1 & R2 settings in any commercial disks you might have.
2. By the way, did you have any success with the notation package I e-mailed you about?

Ted...... I'm not sure what type of music you prefer. I have a pretty eclectic range myself, falling short of the popular stuff they give out "music" awards for nowadays, but depending on the venue, or when I'm taking some 'quiet' time at home, I prefer jazz ballads or great American standards played in a jazz style. One of the settings I particularly like is R1=grand piano, R2= Vibes&Guitar, with technichord set to 'Block'. I generally have piano or a lite organ voice on the left hand (using 'Fingered'). Use this with Alec's 'Shearing Ballad' (I think that's the correct name, Alec?) or the jazz ballad style (I haven't heard the kn65, so I'm not sure of the name). I really like the full, rich sound this provides. Used it one night with a sax player I worked with regularly a number of years ago, and he was blown away by it..... but again, all a matter of taste ......
t.
PS: Alec's styles can be found at Gunnar's site, or Walt Tenay's site.....
Keep making beautiful music....
t.

WOW!!! All these great suggestions (and I'll bet more will be forthcoming!) Thanks to all of you who took the time to respond to my query. I am having a wonderful time combining sounds in a variety of ways. I found a wonderful disk that I bought that has loads of combinations to feed into the keyboard and a list of suggested songs for each style and musical arrangement. Between that, the one-touch play button, your suggestions, and my experimenting, there are not enough hours in the day to try them all. What a blast I am having; my life has become so much richer with music and with the fun forum topics you have all been sharing. Thanks to all my musical friends for everything. You know you will be hearing from me again (and again) on this Forum!

Ted Rose

Thanks, Bill. I sure will try your suggestions! Thanks a lot.

Ted

Thanks so much, Frank. Keep us informed on your CD, OK?

Ted

Great suggestions, Dave. Thanks a lot!

Ted

Hi Ted and Frank (and others interested in this topic)

Ted, thank you for initiating this topic because I am a beginning keyboard player at 72 years of age and like you, I need help setting up voices/rhythms for individual songs.

Frank, please do share your orchestration (arranger) know-how with us. All of us would appreciate having the benefit of your expertise.

To those who have replied to Ted's plea and shared arrangements I say "thank you". You can rest assured I will use them and learn from them.

I will monitor this topic regularly looking for new arrangement suggestions. I am hoping that one day I will be able to contribute something meaningful to this topic.

Warm Regards to All, Chuck Piper

This is for Dave, Tony, and Bill. I'm a very happy camper right now. Had to break away from the keyboard to write this but I wanted to tell you that I tried your string setup, Dave, and your Shearing sound, Tony, and they sound great as far as I am concerned. I learned a great deal about part setting, multi, and DSP from your instructions, Dave. Bill, your suggested approach for selecting rhythms/voices when arranging a song makes a lot of sense and I will adopt it as my way forward from now on. Gonna run now. Gotta get back to the keyboard and play some tunes using the new sound setups (and experiment with some of my own!)My thanks to all three of you.

Warm Regards, Chuck Piper

Hi Chuck, Pleased to help - that's the name of the game on the forum. I too hope to get back to my KN6000 this weekend after 'Forced abstinence' due to work - Roll on June!

Have Fun. . .

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Willum

Hello all of you who took the time to reply to my query! Your suggestions have been fabulous and I most appreciate all the great instrumental setups, etc. I have been having the time of my life playing, composing and otherwise becoming more and more proficient at the keyboard. Again, thanks to you all! This Forum is truly great!!!

Best wishes and happy playing to all.

Ted Rose

I find the best way is to learn to play the song really well, if you have a piano score it is good to play the piano accomp pattern into the composer (remembering to transpose into Cmajor if it is in another key)
From then on the skies the limit.
good luck