Tyros 4 Viennese Waltz

I bet even Andre Rieu (mentioned by Bachus here) would be impressed with the sound of Gilles live played OMG Tyros 4 rendition of: "Voices Of Spring" Waltz:

Well....he played it pretty well. The sounds are fine...but, I really got bored with the style.

What would the experienced players here do differently, to make it more PRO and more like the orchestra would do it?
I would like to learn something here.

Lee, it's obvious that an arranger style is no match (or even remotely close) to the sound of a real professional orchestra of live musicians playing and phrasing each measure as conducted by a LIVE musical conductor. That said, it's certainitely a LOT of fun to be able to play this without having to hire an orchestra. In addition, finding an orchestra of experienced pro players would be cost prohibitive for most all of us here. Let's not take ourselves too seriously folks. Let's not forget about the simple joy & pleasure of making music, irregardless of what instrument(s) you use.

As far as making it more PRO like the orchestra would do it, you would have to play in and record every instrument separately, of which defeats the whole purpose and immediate pleasure of arranger playing. In terms of arranger playing, it's only what you play live that could be improved, so focusing on string passage phrasing might perhaps add more life to the performance, but frankly, I felt the arranger kb performance both satisfying and entertaining.

Being pedantic about staying in arranger mode is what kills the realism, IMO.

Make the arranger version FIRST, then start to take out what you CAN play better, and leave in what you can't.

Also, as we have heard with a few really good home organ/arranger demos, using the swell pedal on different sections can add in an enormous amount of dynamics, which is one area that straight style playing can miss out on.

You can also mess around a lot more with changing sounds for different sections, counter lines (tough for an arranger to get those right), hocketing, and many other traditional orchestration techniques.

The Yamaha does a fine job of starting you on the journey, but, as already stated, you can already HEAR that there IS a difference, and carrying on down the path by using the sequencer to polish and hone will take you even further.

If you aren't computerphobic, you might take a look at something inexpensive in the way of an orchestral library like Garritan Personal Orchestra, to either double or replace certain sections of the Yamaha's orchestra. Up bow/down bow round robin triggering (that many of them do) can add quite a bit more realism to the production. And, if you can get the latency low enough, even allow you to play these sounds live from the keyboard...

The Yamaha MIGHT be about the best there is currently to 'jam' live with an orchestral sound. But there's still a LONG way to go..!

Scott,

Andre didn't do it in the bathroom and he slowed it down a bit.

Donny,

I have only just noticed 19,996 postings hells bells is there life after SZ, I do hope so.
How do you get time to play muszac?, 19,996 posts must be an err or typo, I have worked it out it
will take 19 years for me to catch up, my girls will have to take up the baton when I'm gone.
Another 6 and it will be 20,000 record by anybodies standard, I think you need to bake a cake, not with candles, you will set the house on fire.

I thought this sounds great. Sounds better than someone playing the same piece on just a piano, and much better than someone doing it on a kazoo.

I'm not floored, but I'm very impressed with Gilles version.

Beaky,

Tell us the one about the couple who bought the water bed again. Are you going to buy a T4

Another area to work on might be the tempi...

You listen to a real orchestra, the tempo is a living thing. It breathes, it flows, it helps out the music rather than just SITTING there...

One way that you can still play in arranger mode but get a bit more ebb and flow into it is to use the accel/ritardando feature, but dial it down until it makes only a BARELY noticeable difference. Then, you use it to speed up into a chorus figure, then relax back down to the 'verse' theme, and things like that. If you have a feature where hitting the style returns it instantly to the basic tempo, this can make for a nice transition where you ritardando at the end of a verse, then 'Bang!' - Straight back to the slightly higher tempo.

BTW, these tempi changes will get recorded by the sequencer, and you can edit them better to taste after the fact if they are not perfect the first time through.

I don't know if your arranger can do this (not even sure if mine will!), but try to see if the sequencer can record tempo changes coming from you tapping the Tap Tempo button. Now, put on a REAL Strauss waltz, with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra or another great waltz king, and just tap along with the record while you record this on the sequencer. Now go in and look at the tempo track... See how MUCH it goes up and down? This might give you an idea how much to set the accelerando/ritardando values to, and possibly the rate that change is going to need to come in.

Other tricks to try are, if your arranger can allow tempo offsets for different variations (or, if not, use the same style in different registrations with different tempi pre-programmed) and have it automatically bump up a couple of BPM as you go to a busier Variation.

Let the tempo BREATHE, and your music will come to life!

Dikki,
OK,,,that is the kind of thing I was looking for...very intersting.

It will never be an orchestra, but I do think lots could be done with arranger play to make it less boring in the accomanyment are...

Diki, you have a good point with the tempo thing. It does sound a little mechanical when there are no swells in tempo or volume.

I won't tell you about the couple who bought a waterbed.

I just had to get 15 stitches taken out. I should have known better than to get my wife a sewing machine for Valentine's Day.