Am I barking up the wrong tree?

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. ...

You are 100% a candidate for a quality arranger.
Your timing is great, too because 2 of the "big boys" (Yamaha and Korg) just introduced new models that are making some very attractive pieces drop in price.
Start by looking at our "for sale" section here on synthzone. There's always some tasty treats there!
Good choices:
Korg
PA-900, PA3x, PA4x, PA-1000(new model)
Yamaha
PSR ... anything above the 910 series, really. If you use your Roland as a control surface, the pianos will sound fantastic. The keys on the Yamaha are very light, with minimal throw - lots of us hate the action, lots don't.

Good luck, and welcome to the Zone!

Sounds like you are ready to explore an arranger or at least an 88 key controller. Keep in mind, other than Yamaha’s Clavinova piano/arranger series, not for gigs, arrangers are organ touch.

The fun thing about anything arranger is that, unlike gigging with just a piano, your audience(as you did),gets to enjoy a bigger band sound without hiring the bigger band.

Hi Uncle Dave,

Thanks so much for the helpful advice. I'll spend some of the upcoming long weekend (for us Kiwis) researching what's about. I've already picked up that the latest Korg and Yammy are proving popular topics with the lists of threads to read growing rapidly by the day.


Cheers and thanks again,

Hi guitpic1,

I'm hoping to use my Nord Stage2 as an external controller for some parts, but being a piano player, I suspect It'll take me some time to get used to the "organ touch" keys.



Cheers