Endings as mid-song pauses...

To continue with my goal of providing at least a SMALL amount of non-partisan, helpful general arranger tips, here's another re-task you may find useful...

Ever get a song with a pause in the middle? New York, New York comes to mind,, or maybe '5 O'clock Somewhere', things like that. Quite a pain to pull off live. You find yourself pushing buttons like crazy, when you really ought to be playing!

Well... Once again, I rarely have a need for more than one Ending in a style, if that (I usually put the Fill/Rit on, play a fill, and as it slows to the 'one', stop on the 'one').

So, how about re-tasking those unused Endings as the mid-song pause..?

This one can get a hair trickier than the Break/Fill idea, so bear with me. This one usually needs a sequencer. Make a short sequence in your arranger of the section with the pause, but don't slow down, don't stop, just plow through. Now import this SMF into your computer sequencer. I use Cubase, but most good sequencers can do this trick.

OK, your pause sequence is imported... now either play, or edit the SMF so that it makes the break. Don't worry about the slow down yet. Got it all the way you want? OK. The next bit depends on your arranger.

Some arrangers, if you program a tempo change in the Ending, the arranger will perform it. Some, they don't. If your arranger handles tempo changes as part of the Ending, simply draw (in the Tempo editor) a line that slows the tempo over the length you need it. Your sequence should now slow down just right up to the point of the pause.

But, if you have an arranger that wants to keep a constant tempo through the ending (or won't reset the tempo to the Performance tempo afterwards - we'll get to that), you have one more step. Most good sequencers allow for a 'Tempo Lock' to be put on a track. This locks the MIDI notes to their position in time, rather than their position in the bar (so if the tempo changes, the notes don't move).

Here's the clever part. Lock ALL the sequence's tracks to the tempo lock. Now, go back to the tempo editor, and erase that ritardando you did. When you return to the main arranger page, you will now see that all the notes in the rit got moved, and now the sequence pays the rit, but the tempo remains constant. It's a tricky edit, but really useful, as you will see.

OK, so now you have this all programmed the way you want it. Re-import into the Ending4 slot (or whatever). You now, when you hit that ending, have the mid-song pause. It will play it, then the arranger will stop, ready to go (if Auto start on) as soon as you start playing again.

Here's what you need to look for, to decide if you need to use the 'tempo lock' trick in the DAW...

If, at the end of the pause, the arranger's tempo springs back to the Performance's initial tempo, you are good to go. Some of them, if the tempo winds down in the Ending, on stop, it stays there. If the latter, you really don't want to go through the hassle of loading the Performance again to get the tempo back (it may come up with an Intro ready to go and the wrong variation for you). If this is the case, you need to go through those extra steps, and get a steady tempo ritardando (sounds wrong, doesn't it?!), so that when the Ending finishes, the tempo remains the same.

Yes, I know this is a fair bit more complicated than the Intros as Break/Fills tip, but sometimes, if you are determined to stay in arranger mode, and not use an SMF or even a karaoke MP3 (the horror!), this is how to pull off something that gives most arrangers fits getting it right!

OK... so that's it.

Maybe some of you guys have got tips along the same lines, to radically increase the capabilities of our arrangers, to make them more flexible, musical, and responsive to OUR wishes..?

This forum doesn't have to ALL be 'mine is better than yours'!

Diki,

Thanks much for this great info +++

Ron, Port St. Lucie, FL

A note . . . Yamaha endings automatically retard if you hit the button twice. This might be useful in setting up what you describe. It's too early for me to think that deeply, as far as applying it to Diki's great tip.
DonM

I used everything imaginable in a style to use as intro, endings, fills, bridges to another song, etc - exactly what you're saying. Imagination is everything, if you want your own playing style.

I'm not sure if the newer Yamaha keyboards have it, but my 3000 has a "Snyc Stop" button. Just lift your fingers from the keys and the keyboard stops until you touch the keys again. Problem solved.

Good information, though, Diki,

Gary

I think they all have that, but the Korg has a couple of options on how to use it, if I remember correctly. I never found it useful on Yamaha. Seems too awkward.
I'm thinking about how to do the tempo change section of Suspicious Minds. The style I have for it has it on var four, but doesn't slow down enough.
As far as the thread topic, I use the quick ending at least 90 percent of the time, and the others are mostly wasted. Maybe time to do a little creative thinking, inspired by the Brit from Florida.
DonM

Thing about sync stop is, for one thing, you had better not accidentally lift all your fingers before you need it (a chord change at the same time as a note change, for instance)! Talk about an awkward moment..!

The other thing is, most of these mid-song pauses include ritardandos, so the simple sync stop doesn't really cut it. I'd rather use the stop button (on a footswitch, preferably) than sync stop...

Mind you, if you don't mind doing Performance changes mid-song, there IS a much easier solution...

Simply record your mid-song pause as one of the Endings. Then, when you get to the pause's end, hit the button for the next Performance, set up to carry on the tune...

But if you are determined to make one style do all the work, the Endings can be used as mid-song pauses.

Gary.....I agree !

If you need a dead stop, no need for anything fancy... just hit STOP! Leave Sync START on, and away you go. This article was about songs with far more complicated pauses, including rits and pauses on beats other than the 'one', etc..

lets face it TOO MANY intricate stops, starts, and a host of navigational oddities performed during a performance playing an arranger keyboard by a human being always seems clunky & glitchy IMO....using a pedal included vs fingers....
this is why sometimes a SMF is a better route for that special song to get it exactly the way it is needed. There are many ways to skin a cat with an arranger KB.

I can't honestly agree with the 'clunky' nature of footpedals. You have to use THREE of them just to play a piano..! And don't get me started about the 24 of them (and a swell pedal) lurking under a B3..!

And, if the things you go through in arranger mode end up with you being able to do the song the same as the SMF (but with all the extra control and options that arranger mode allows), what's the difference..?

Perhaps you are basing it being 'clunky' because you haven't tried some of these workarounds? As I said originally, trying to pull off a mid-song pause without this tip IS a nightmare of button pushes and playing. Clunky as hell! But program this, and it's a piece of cake.

Let's also throw in Lead singing the song while playing also, being a back up player is a bit different....
we all play different, I'm just not a pedal guy never was....

I sure wish I could have at least three pedals available for the 950. I have looked at foot controllers, but the only one I know will work is Yamaha's, and it is too big, heavy and expensive.
I could get by with just three pedals if needed, but two is not quite enough since I got spoiled by Roland and Korg.
DonM

I perform several songs with mid song breaks, Run Around Sue, Margarettaville, and others. Some, such as Old Time Rock $ Roll, Hot Hot Hot, etc...,have a segment where nothing other than the drums are playing, while you continue to sing. The style's default break usually works fine for the first group, while the second group merely requires hitting a single button, the Accompaniment On/Off. The secret is to hit this button twice. Then, when you want to get out of that mode, hit a fill and press a chord with your left hand. Piece of cake.

Cheers,

Gary

. . . or just hit 3 adjacent notes and everything stops but drums.
But you have to be playing in fingered chord mode, not single finger.
DonM

Can't do it in multi-finger either.

Gary

Learn the chords!!

DonM

All THREE of them?