I used to work at a library that a Yugoslavian seniors group used to attend. They set up in a huge meeting space, and got blind drunk, while a musician went absolutely off on an arranger keyboard for 2 hours straight at an alarmingly loud volume. It was some of the most intense music I’ve ever experienced.
God I was waiting for the balkan comments. Up there, the arrangers are incredibly common among the "blue collar" musicians as he mentioned and you can hear a lot of old popular tracks using just generic backing tracks from casio arrangers. Fun stuff 😅
May you just think it doesn’t concern you. I was wringing my hands deciding if I should buy this thing recently. The vocal harmonizing and the crossfader. I think though that audiences would be much less impressed , it’s hard to say . Things are different know with tech, But regardless of the music you play, would an audience be less impressed if your standing behind just a keyboard . Compared to having a huge convoluted stage setup. I know some people would be .
Korg just got the best demo they could ever hope for. A testament to Benn Jordan's talent as a content creator, not just his musicianship. I loved every bit of this piece of kit, guilty pleasure and all.
This episode should be called “Guy encounters instrument tool that does all the things that he had to figure out how to do the hard way.” This one was so fun to watch!
@@arnehurnik Those were also my thoughts on this too! If anyone could just sit with something as crazy as an arranger kbd and get in a flow right out the box, it would be this guy!
@@drumandbassonvinyl And I remember when I got my PSR-S710 (upgrading from my E323) and I was so intimidated with the featureset that I stopped practicing for a few years. Child psychology is truly stupid.
Let me give you a little background on Arranger Keyboards. You say they are for the blue collar working man, and yes, in a sense, but that's not where it started. Back in the early 1970s Baldwin came out with something called 'The Funmaker/FunMachine.' It was a three octave, single manual organ which had another octave for trigger chords. It was intended for the home user. Up until that time, if your home had a keyboard instrument in it, it was either a piano or one of the venerable Hammond Organs. You could purchase a 'drum machine' for the Hammond, but you still had to do everything else, but it did put you a step up on most other home players. Baldwin came along and added a bass pattern and strum patterns to the drum patterns, all selected by a single octave to the left side of the keyboard, and you played one finger to select the chord. I don't remember how you did minor chords or seventh chords. Anyway, the concept was to add something new and different to the home player. After that, Yamaha, Wurlitzer, Lowry, and even Hammond all started to produce organs with these 'auto accompaniment' features. They were very basic, nothing like what we have today. No sample synthesis, not even stuff like FM synthesis. All it amounted to was 'Boom chicka boom chicka boom boom.' 🤪😛 Fast forward ten years or so, and by then, both Yamaha and Casio had developed single keyboard 'slab organs.' The IC, or Integrated Circuit, was small enough to allow companies to start to put a lot of features into these keyboards, but the sound synthesis was still poor, but some of the FM synthesis trickling down from the DX-7 started to make it into some of the Yamaha organs, and they started to sound a little better. I want to clarify something else, too. These instruments were all aimed at 'the home hobbyist.' The person who enjoyed music, but was not a professional, or even semi-professional musician. This is the individual who when they get home from work wanted to pull out some sheet music, sit down and play for their enjoyment and relaxation. These weren't designed for a gigging musician In 1993, Korg introduced the original i3 Interactive Keyboard. It blew the competition away and sent a huge wake up call to Yamaha, Roland, and Casio, which by then were really the only other manufacturers of arranger keyboards (although they weren't called that back then). I remember seeing the original i3 and I wasn't able to believe what I was seeing. The sounds were 'realistic', at least compared to the FM synthesis of the other products. No built in speakers, you had to run the outputs to monitors or something to hear. You could actually go in and edit the sounds. The sounds were sampled! This was the beginning of the 'Arranger Keyboard' line and concept. With two sequencers built in, you could load a SMF via 3.5" floppy and set up a play list, or, you could create a backing sequence using the accompaniment section, and then play along, or record over top of it, something that had not been fully explored. In 1993, there was an article published that pushed both the 61 key i3 and 76 key i2 as devices for songwriters, jingle writers, etc. Use the capability of the keyboard and backing tracks to flesh out a song. This is the first time that the word 'Professional' was used with an Arranger keyboard. My first journey into these keyboards was actually selling them, mostly Yamaha and Casio, back in the 80s. The first keyboard I owned for myself was a Korg iX300, 32 notes of polyphony, 14 megs of sample ram, 104 styles. Quite a jump up from the i3 of only four years previously. The sounds had also gotten better, using the AI2 software synthesis engine that was also found in the 'pro-level synths' of the day. The two lines were coming closer. It wasn't until the early 2000s with the introduction of the PA series of keyboards that things really started to converge. The PA1X was a 76 key keyboard (a 61 key version with speakers was the PA80) and technology was used from the professional level series of synths. About this time, the sounds and the styles were good enough for that 'blue-collar' musician to start doing single player gigs or a gig with themselves and maybe a singer/guitar player. I currently own an older PA800, which is about 13 years old or such. I want to buy a PA5X, but don't have the money for it right now. The funny thing is that the price on that keyboard is about the same price as a three generation old Yamaha CVP Clavinova with 88 weighted keys. (I can buy a currently new Yamaha CVP-701 from Guitar Center for $5K) If you want to see what an Arranger Keyboard can do today, I would point you to Alois Muller in Germany and some of his videos. In Europe, these keyboards have found much more positive reception than they do here in North America, and a lot more people play them. Alois speaks German, but if you watch his UA-cam channel, you can select the Auto Translate feature to understand what he's saying, mostly. www.youtube.com/@AloisMueller These keyboards started out for the home hobbyist, and over the years have moved closer to professional grade, and are regularly used for small venues and one or two person groups. They were never intended to be 'professional' keyboards, but they could easily do the job, depending on the type of music you're playing. For me, I prefer The Great American Songbook and have no need of synths and the ability to shape my sounds, but if I did, I could with the current crop of keyboards at least to some extent. Finally, the thing about these keyboards is that I can sit down, open a song book, pick a song, pick a style, and play immediately. Do it with great sounds, great styles, and even record to something like Cakewalk and do it easily and still come up with a good product I could share with friends and family.
These arranger-type keyboards are huge in the performance (and sometimes recording) of Arabic music. Usually you'll see two stacked, and companies like Korg have regional models with all manner of distinct rhythms (Iraqi, Egyptian, etc.) and instruments and, yes, tuning switches so you can go between different maqams (modes), which you mention at around 22:00 - (Ben, if you're reading, curious what you listen to!). They have such a particular sound that's immediately recognisable, and often there are all kinds of heroics with playing wild solos at weddings (which often turn into rave-like events). Aside from the blue-collar working musician you mention, they are huge internationally and everywhere from Eastern Europe and North Africa to Southeast Asia you'll find them in almost every restaurant or event. Respect to the humble arranger keyboard.
I went to Istanbul a few years ago and one thing that stuck with me was that every restaurant and bar that was substantial enough to have a door, had a guy in the corner playing a keyboard, usually accompanied by a woman singing. There could be as little as four tables, two of wich was occupied, but there was always a band playing. Guests would join in and the microphone would get passed around as the singer took a smoking break. What a cool and fun culture that is.
6 місяців тому
Definitely seen them here and there around Europe too in restaurants and used by street musicians.
Arrangers can absolutely be used by single musician live. But what they're used a lot as well is for ARRANGING. Like for reals. You have an idea for a song, a simple structure, melody chord progression what ever, and you need to QUICKLY and easily get the flesh over the bones and TEST your ideas and what works and what doesn't. You can either start programming stuff in DAW, playing instruments in track by track instrument by instrument... or you just press few buttons on an arranger and you can very quickly get the core idea if it'll work or not. There's something to be said about creative flow wit these, they're meant to absolutely never stop you from being creative and always get what you need quickly and easily right at your fingertips. They're more powerful for someone who wants to create than any Kontakt library, because with some 1000$ library you're not usually expected to be paying it live but to PROGRAM every single note and try and replicate real instrument or orchestra and go deep into key switching and CC's to get very accurate representation without real musician. Arrangers are not that, they expect that what ever you're doing doesn't require the highest of highest fidelity or accuracy, OR that when you've done arranging, you'll spit out notation, hire some session musicians and they'll come over to realize all the instrumentation that you weren't able to do and replace all the arranger stuff with real instrument. Arranger is either the whole package, or it's the first step to speed up the process. I bought myself Kronos 2 because no matter the amount of Kontakt libraries, they're NOT for what I need, which is to be able to get the idea across fast and simple so that I can present it to real musicians and then we'll replace the tracks I did as placeholders with real ones with sensibilities of real musicians and players. I'm just a composer, arranger... I'm not there to play all the instruments or program every single note in meticulous detail... real players of said instruments can do that after I've gotten my idea across. My main instrument for composing is still piano. If it doesn't work on piano, no amount of fancy studio work or arranging is going to make it stick. But sometimes it's great to be able to do a bit more, faster, than just the piano.
Back in the eighties and nineties in the Netherlands you could find these single man ‘bands’ playing somewhat cheesy but surprisingly skillfully arranged live music on large organ like contraptions in malls and similar places. I suppose these ‘organs’ were the spiritual predecessors to this type of keyboard.
My mind was blown by this video. I never fully understood just how much of a musical Swiss Army knife these synths are. How you explained its features and utility was both easy to digest and 100% on the nose. I can well imagine a solo musician or the MD in a worship band becoming a sonic air traffic controller, directing everything from this beast. Lovely work.
This reminds me of the kind of equipment my grandfather used to gig with. He was a guitar player and had a guitorgan and then some other midi based guitar. This is back in the 80s and 90s when I was kid he would go and do one man gigs where he had printouts of the program numbers to put in his midi processing machine that did the whole backing band that would follow what he was playing. I don't know what he would be using today if he was creating the same kit from scratch.
I remember music that sounds 100% like the stuff made with the "Oriental Version" from one of my cousin's first weddings. His wife was Tunisian and VERY late in the night a guy with one of these Keyboards showed up and just blasted us all with this music. Her relatives loved it, being from Tunisia and his relatives, being Austrian and very drunk, also loved it!
I am obsessed with arrangers! Good arrangers are deep and complex.. and only limited to your own understanding of the device and your own level of creativity. They are so useful for idea generation, arranging, and even increasing your knowledge of theory and Chord structures! Also exploring mixing genres! Midi is the key!
@@shakti.rathore I tried the Genos 2 and the Korg Pa5x and I opted for the Korg, the styles are more usable for composition, the Genos 2 only has styles literally copied from existing songs...it is true that some sounds sound slightly better on the Genos 2, but nothing insurmountable or that cannot be improved with the synthesis options, plus the Korg is much more complete when it comes to programming your arpeggios, effects... it has a vocoder, a Sampler and is a thousand times better built than the Yamaha Genos2...not to mention speaking that the Genos 2 is out of price, if I had to choose based on its sounds I would not choose the Yamaha, I would go directly to the KETRON EVENT... However, I am still very happy with the Korg... creating new styles is very simple, and you have almost everything and very well done for editing... in the Genos 2 you go crazy when programming!
You should try the Sofeh Sunrise Music Studio which emulates KORG Pa - it's the most complete software arranger, but nothing compares to the real thing yet. I've tried them all. Beware - it can be buggy and confusing and needs a bit of setup. Here in the Balkans arrangers are a HUGE part of all pop-folk like in Arab countries. Musicians program custom styles and there's a big market for selling / buying styles. Arrangers have been extremely popular here since the 90s - even old models are modded to replace the floppy with a USB drive. I've been dreaming for one, but even used it's too expensive. Here the KORG Pa is most desired.
Is there any tutorial in English for it? Software seems to be really powerful but interface is somewhat confusing for people who don't used the real thing.
@@mikolasstrajt3874 I don't know. On their website there are a bunch of articles and videos, but I've learned on real arrangers from friends in my own language. Sorry I couldn't help much. On the site there are 2 versions - one for computer and another for smartphone - their piano interface is very similar so it may be useful to search about both. The interface will remain confusing though, it's just not very good, but that's the best there is currently.
Your enthusiasm with this is infectious! Highlights something that about music making that people don't point out very often, namely, how FUN it can be. Keep on keeping on!
When I was in Turkey, every restaurant had a guy behind an arranger workstation, it was a tape/sample of a song playing, and every keyboardist played along with the loudest, most annoying (after a while, like 10 seconds…) patch that was available. The patch at 23:20 was one of their favourites… got instant ptsd after hearing it again 😂😂😂
Musician content aside, the greenscreen backdrops and Benn flying atop the keyboard edits put this at a new level of hilarity. General MIDI but with param control on steroids CAN BE Fun! Loved it as always. There's an Android app called Org 24 I stumbled on a few years ago that I knew was an emulation of something deep and likely used in the Arab world I could never place its origins until this video, and now its obvious it's one of these.
Arranger keyboards have always been underrated here in the US. They’ve been very popular over seas for decades now. I remember a time when if a person wanted good acoustic sounds on a keyboard workstation, the arranger typically beat the synth workstations most of the time in this area. Arrangers are very good song writers keyboards, and this has been one of their strengths for a long time. Sure, they’re good for the “one man band” musician, but as a composition tool for more traditional styles of music, they’re still an excellent tool for it. They not only have the typical linear sequencers, but most (including mid level arrangers) have full custom style recording, and the ability to mix and match style parts to help with certain instruments (like guitar strumming) that’s difficult to emulate on any keyboard. The weakness of the arranger has always been modern music like EDM, rap, hip hop, ect. Here in the US.., the semi pro and pro arranger market has always been aimed at the 50+ crowd. The crowd that tends to have more expendable income, prefers traditional styles of music, and no real desire to do extensive programming, like voice editing. That’s why arrangers have always been coveted as the best “out of box experience”. Just plug it in and play. Korg IMO has been the best at bridging the gap between arranger and synth with the PA series. The PA series really is a hybrid keyboard. They offer extensive and deep editing like you’d find on their synth workstations. Other manufacturers can’t come close to a PA series arranger. Even the old Korg Micro Arranger has more in-depth synthesis editing than a Yamaha Genos. The original Korg PA 80/50 had Triton based sound engines and could load some Triton programs (with a few limitations). I’ve always kept an arranger in my set up because of how easy and intuitive they are for song composition. Most of my work is DAW’s using VST’s, and even though I have several synth workstations, I also own several arrangers just for the purpose of out of box playability and scratching out song ideas. I’ve taken full backing track audio from my arrangers straight into my DAW’s because of how good the arrangers are for creating quality backing tracks. You can do this because even lower budget arrangers now offer the ability to record audio via USB to a thumb drive.
Whats kind of bonkers is ive spent the last few weeks getting my head around a yamaha psr-sx900 to help someone who has one. Like you, had quite a mind melting experience when i realised how absurdly powerful they are.
This unit will actually play TWO completely different styles with all the associated instruments and effects AT THE SAME TIME layered on top of each other! You can cross fade from one to the other as well in real time. I believe you can even layer styles that are in two completely different time signatures!
In Eastern Europe arranger keyboards are the backbone of ALL folkloric wedding bands. That's also because the audience doesn't care about how the music they hear is made. Band pro's usually tailor their appearances depending on budget and stage size, the arranger keyboard can play an entire band, the keyboardist is the tech/producer/arranger/drummer/bassist/saxophonist/accordionist/tarogatoist/panfluteist/fiddler/.... of the band.
Yea, I write music for others and go to peoples homes to work on their ideas, so I bought a Medelli arranger as a "DO EVERYTHING keyboard"" that I can throw into the back seat of my car. Like you, I was extremely surprised in how useful these keyboards really are. Despite all my gear, I find myself returning to this as my starting point for so many projects. I always thought that they were just for "kids" to play in their living rooms, but the the higher quality ones are actually quite nice and ultra useful for a wide variety of professional tasks. I use mine constantly. Thank you for your superb presentation.
I’m a “blue collar” singer and guitarist working hotels, restaurants, bars, clubs e.t.c for over 30 years generally in duo’s and trios. I can attest that arranger has been our most valuable tool. I’ve followed the progression of arrangers from the mid 90s, with the likes of the Roland E-66 all the way up to the Korg PA5x, I’ve seen what can be done with these fantastic machines and I would recommend the top contenders to be ketron, Korg and Yamaha. At lest that’s what the dozen’s of keyboardist’s I work with are using. To be honest there is soo much you can do with these keyboards that most of the guys I work with don’t even use a third of it.😂
As a kid I had years of fun with my PSR8000 workstation. These devices obviously evolved a lot, but it could do many of the things shown here about 25 years ago. Was fun to watch, great idea's and creativity once again.
I have a PSR 6700 that I had as a young teen, which was pretty much the pinnacle of arranger keyboards at the time (early 90’s). It was so much fun and I composed loads of tunes and renditions of songs on it, saved to 3.5 floppy. Although I still have it, it needs some maintenance (unresponsive buttons and broken keys), I found one cheap on eBay last year and bought it. Still an incredible keyboard, and huge, and heavy (24kg/53lb). Kris Nicholson has a load of good videos of it. Prior to that I had a PSR-3500 and a PSS-470
A pro arrangement instrument is used by pro song makers and arranger professionals who demo and try out ideas before they are fully cut into a studio session. An arranger machine like that allows a songmaker to be constructive and creative at the construction phase of a song without the need for a full band of session players at the studio. Of course the ease of use makes it a natural choice for amateurs and weekend warriors as the presenter described.
FINALLY someone in the proffesional music space giving these arranger keyboards a chance! You're correct about alot of music youtubers don't really bring up or mention these keyboards and i never underatood why. These keyboards can be very powerful and can absolutely be uaed to create original and non-cheesy music if you use them correctly! Great video!
On one hand there is the question of weather it's worth buying an arranger keyboard even if you don't use auto accompanimants but on the other hand it has to be said that arranger keyboards do tend to have more emphasis on realistic sounding acoustic instruments compared to a synth/workstation which tend to be a mix bag, you might get some instruments like drums or a flute and a decent sounding piano on something like Montage but then the synth station might not have a brilliant saxophone whereas arrangers always have realistic sounding saxophones. Another advantage an arranger has are physical sliders for the drawbar organ sounds although that is also possible with synth/workstations.
@@LittleRichard1988 Yeah I forgot to mention that doing EDM on an arranger is kindof tough. It can be done with the right imported samples (if the model supports it) or even the built in synth patches if your clever with the cc parameters. But in the end arrangers aren't quite ready for modern EDM. That might change though. The newly released Yanaha Genos2 having a FM engine might show a sign of were arrangers are headed!
@@WinslowCat Now I absolutely need to hear EDM done on an arranger, preferably an old one. Or perhaps the 'point' is that I need to buckle up and make it myself since I have a passion for making things do what they shouldn't be able to do. It should be possible, even without any sample swapping shenanigans, I have gotten gut bustingly funny but working results with those sort of multi-organ-mostrosity things that I don't even know the name of, two sets of keys + foot pedal-key-things. I knew a guy with one of those like 30+ years ago when I was very young.
@@SteveinJersey1234 Sort of the point though is to have an arranger that can already somewhat do all of those things. Besides, some producers (I myself) like to use real hardware and not deal with a DAW. For me, to make an arranger more powerful I pair it with an Akai MPC Live II. And for me personally that gets the job done!
I play in a band, but I've always been an arranger keyboard kind of guy because of how the registrations, layering and splitting let me make changes while I'm playing. At the moment I'm using a Yamaha PSR-SX700, and because I can have multiple sounds across the keyboard, and I can use a footswitch to make changes, or only sustain certain parts, I can make it sound like I'm playing 3 or 4 keyboard parts at once. Occasionally I get accused of pretending to play live, because someone in the audience can play the keyboard, and they can't work out how I'm doing so much at once. I like having speakers, because if I'm practicing at home, I only need a sustain pedal and a power supply. Keeping wires to a minimum makes me happy. The auto-accompaniment side of the keyboard very rarely gets explored.
Yamaha QY 700 is a mixture between sequencer and arranger. It does 'arrange' type things but still you can program your own sequences. I think this is the reason it is still used by square pusher
@@jbognapI remember when Yamaha was on top of MIDI game with XG, both in keyboards/modules and in computers. I even bought a used SW1000XG card and used it extensively. And I also remember following the Tyros line in the early 2000s when each generation would bring in more realistic sounds, especially winds and guitars. These days it's not such a big deal but back then it was groundbreaking.
A friend of mine has a Yamaha Tyros 2 he uses as a one man band and sings along. When he demonstrated it I was sold. Would never have thought I will be into arranger keyboards but now I have a Yamaha PSR-SX600. It is an entry level keyboard but boy, what fun it is!
It can be used as a DJ device. It can play full MP3s and audio files. And it can play two of them and use the cross fader to fade from one to the other like any DJ mixer.
I picked up an old tyros 1 a few weeks ago and I can’t stop playing it- it’s getting connected to my analogue gear this week! Thanks for this and let’s hear more!
Oh man, Band in a Box brings up memories: a music teacher used to use it to help us learn improvisation on the guitar like, 10 or 15 years ago. It was easier than setting up a whole band just for it, and more versatile than just playing over mp3.
A friend shared this video with me so I could check out the arranger and what it can do, so I was really surprised when I saw a couple of my animations in the background. That was a very entertaining video and I was definitely surprised by what an arranger can do.
It’s a way to make a living! I have been working with arranger keyboards and performing for 25 years. Much better than having a DJ if the customer can’t afford a whole band. The thing is that you can’t just play. You must connect a mic and sing. It’s supposed to be used as a band! 🌹
Yes I learnt piano from the age of 4. Yes I have worked in the industry. But now I play when I can squeeze it in at home, and love improvising with a backing, casual multi-tracking - I have a Yamaha 'Arranger' Digital Piano (OK with the voice effects and brilliant speakers). Just such a joy to see someone not being a snob, being open minded and appreciating what enjoyment these can give, beyond beginners! Great video ... first of yours I've seen, now subscribed!
You did a great job of showing the potential of an arranger keyboard. I really don’t recall hearing the guitar input effects in any other video, so you may have provided a demo of a feature that no one else has. You are correct in that many of these keyboards are used by keyboardist that are either solo or in a duet and many times they are covering a large spectrum of musical styles. So the band in a box concept works great for that. The real key and where skill and talent comes in is taking the instrument beyond just a backing accompaniment and working with the sounds and the various parts of the songs. Also having a good understanding of how a real instrument sounds like when you choose that sound for your lead/solo. I started with arrangers back in the mid 90’s and have been amazed at how far they have come. Yes they are not as popular in America as they are in other countries, but there is still a following here.
What I find most interesting about arrangers as a composer is that you can quickly review compositions across many genres and tempos. What your original song style plan might work best completely different than that, and it could take you just minutes to find that out on the arranger. I still prefer using a workstation to create the song, but an arranger is a great tool to explore song possibilities.
I adored the little giggles you made when you discovered something new on the keyboards. You didn't want to like it, but it was fun and you couldn't hold it in. Wonderful, honest "review."
In 1969 I got hooked to music as a 12 year old. And I‘m still at it as an almost 70 year old. So far the most gigging I ever did in my life was with arranger keyboards (and I made more money with them in my spare time, than working as a doctor). I even worked on the design of the user interface and on some sounds and arranger patterns for Korg, Yamaha and Roland. The idea for the crossfader is from me. The idea for holding down a button and getting help for the selected function also came from me. There was a lot of progress for some time, and the sounds, patterns, effects, controllers and UIs really made huge jumps in usability and quality. The advent of preprogrammed MIDI-files (and their individual enhancements by the Yamaha (XG) and Roland (GS) standards really upped the game, but they also ruined the business. All of a sudden playing with such a keyboard was nothing else but karaoke with not really good sounding backing tracks. The integration of vocal harmonizers further spoiled an otherwise acceptable performance. It‘s really difficult to program a good harmony track or actually play one on a keyboard. Most performers didn‘t even bother with programming or controlling anything and just used a preset for every song. So that didn‘t really help, as the results were not that attractive - to say the least. Personally I „returned to my roots“ and I started to play all the acoustic instruments I had or could learn, like guitar, blues harps, banjo, saxophones, mandolin, pan flute, steel drums, bag pipes etc. The audiences really liked that, especially in the first half of the night. But when it came down to dancing, the arranger keyboards really didn‘t help a lot. So, apart from the crossfaders, I suggested realtime arrangers using samples (like today‘s loopers) with a touch screen. Yamaha actually came up with a sampler that could be played with the keyboard, but the samples couldn‘t be played via MIDI file. Roland realized the touch screen and expanded the MIDI capabilities. But nothing was even close to being useful. And that is where the developments of arranger keyboards stagnated to this day. No company has managed to merge arranger keyboards with loopers and advanced sampling technology. If you look at my setup with a PC, two keyboards, two loopers and tons of outboard equipment and all the instruments I learned to play over the years, you‘ll probably get the creeps. The cabelling alone is a nightmare, even though I‘ve reduced it to a minimum. So now I wonder if AI will make some things possible and how long it will take the companies with enough design power and budget to make my dream of the perfect super creative One Man Band come true. I suppose I‘m not the only one waiting. 😁
Ive put in my comments about one man band, song arranger keyboards. Theres still not a do all, please all arranger keyboard. Esp at a masses level. The masses could help sales but they get only tid bits off the top level arrangers
Actually the faders are not JUST used for beatmatching or fading between songs. They are also used for incorporating elements of two simultaneous styles and blending them together.
9:40 This is the smile of someone that is just having a blast playing an instrument, which is what making music is supposed to be about! Even the cheap ones that still look fresh out of 1995 are just so fun to muck around with.
Dude I could watch hours of you playing around with arranger keyboards, So FUN! patiently waiting for the next one with a constellation of gear to create the ultimate automatically harmonizer ochestra
I picked up an old Korg i30 (one of if not the very first arranger models they released, back in the mid 90s) for $50 at a thrift shop 9 years ago and it's still my master keyboard. It's amazing how little the workflow has changed between it and this model. Anyhow, the real magic in these things comes when you start programming your own custom arranger patterns. Even early Korg and Technics arrangers have really deep (and abusable) pattern programming that's very unlike any other kind of sequencer.
The part that really sells it for me is the lens flare when Benn plays his fretless guitar. Well, that and the bored girl in the background when he's playing Autumn Leaves.
I've used Korg's PA-series for years to 'steer' a vast array of synths, VA and actual analogs. The inbuilt synths are quite impressive, actually. Digital, yes. And.. yes.. 80% of baked-in 'arrangements' are cheesy as heck. However, when You start approaching the arranger parts like an advanced sequencer to steer actual synths, and that can be used to immediately change keys, chords and such, things get really wild. Takes a lot of initial programming, but once you 'got' the arrangement you want... the magic starts. Though, to be totally honest.. it's rather expensive as a 'sequencer' when used like that..
I agree with your last part, it's not worth buying an arranger "just for it's sounds" if you don't need auto accompaniments even though I used to think otherwise and last year I very nearly bought a Tyros 5 solely for midi sequencing but I only really considered it as a possibility if I ever had problems getting Halion 6 to work on a new computer which turned out not to be the case at all. And anyway for the rare occasions I need auto accompaniments ( for public domain songs like Christmas carols ) I have plenty of keyboards with accompaniments like my Yamah PSR-295 or Casio CT-700 plus also Chordpulse.
I always thought it was surprising that there's never been something in the same spirit as this, but with more of a focus on song composition. Like, I would love to have a keyboard with a built-in touch screen that exposes Logic, and everything is done through software but where I don't have to bring around a laptop.
First, thanks for giving arranger keyboards a fair shout. I find them fascinating (I've owned a Tyros and a Genos) and endless fun - fun, as you say in your video. The price point for the most advanced models is often (and obviously) a huge hurdle for many people who might otherwise discover a deep well of fun, creativity and inspiration just noodling and playing about with the sheer possibilities these keyboards offer. Some of the less expensive arranger keyboards (especially those from Yamaha) offer spectacular features and any one of them could easily sit at the center of anyone's DAW studio.
I used to buy arrangers in the past. Did gigs with a complete choir. These arranger keyboards are definitely fun to use. I do think that any arranger sold these days hasn’t improved in sound quality for over a decade. Therefore, I can’t justify the insane prices (I don’t use them anymore when performing live) for these instruments. But I love to fool around with these arrangers when I visit a music store. Great 👍 video, Benn.
yeah, someone was kinda hating on the Yamaha CP88 in a review I was reading recently for having the same type of sampling tech that we’ve been using since the 90s-ish. Yamaha knows a thing or two about making sampling sound good though, and I’m super jazzed with the CP88 now that I’ve got one in my living room. It might not be the last word in grand piano sound, but it definitely works well by itself or in a mix, and the keyboard feels really nice. Definitely not sad to have a CP88 plus a full PA system and mixer that I got instead of a Nord Stage 4.
@@seanp2k617 Yamaha definitely knows how to make their digital pianos and arrangers sound great. And although it’s an old technique, it sounds, feels and plays amazing. Cool that you also own a Nord Stage 4!
There is not much room for improvements. The last thing did Ketron with the Event and use audio loops for bass, guitars, phrases and found a way, that the transition is inaudible. You have to play very weird to let it sound artificial.
@@robfriedrich2822 I think you’re right about the fact that there’s not much room for improvement. They could utilize physical modeling (in real-time, for all instruments), but that requires a beefy CPU and a lot of development. Besides that, iPads these days have many physical modeling music instruments available. Like Audio Modeling SWAM instruments (cello, sax, woodwinds, brass, trumpets etcetera) and Pianoteq 8 and many others. Therefore I don’t expect a lot of hype if arrangers get this functionality. I still do like the Yamaha Tyros series and Genos arrangers. Pure entertainment!
You know, when I was a teen, I would go to local music shops and absorb all the lovely rackmount synths that I could never, ever afford. And then come home, dial up to the Internet, and download all the demo RA files. I loved 90s ROMplers so hard. Still do. And I kind of missed that classic ROMpler sound, since so many of the plugins on the market are either additive/subtractive synthesis, or super-ultra-uber pristine multi-tens-of-GB sample packs for the most real piano everrrrr, etc. There was a ROMpler-sized hole in my heart. This thing has the vibe of a lot of those old synths, just... grown up a bit, and sounding a little bit cleaner. I am pleased.
Great video about arrangers. I have been using them since 2004 as standalone instument and found your video great. I use Arabic versions many of which are exclusive to the middle eastern market and have a physical scale on the panel. There are competitors to this as Yamaha Genos(not montage) and Ketron Event which I also enourage you to check out.
I had a similar reaction after I shoehorned an old Ensoniq MR-61 into my shed-based studio about a month ago. While it's not an arranger, it can send MIDI out on 16 channels simultaneously, and the Idea Pad is a brilliant concept. It has opened up entirely new ways of interacting with the embarrassing number of synths I've accumulated.
As someone who is not that great at keyboard yet, these arrangers look like a VERY fun way to practice and improve your skill. I honestly didn't even know this product category existed -- I would have assumed it's a workstation by looking at it.
There are 2 vintage arranger modules (no keys) that may be quite interesting, the Ketron X4 and GEM WS2. Being quite old, these modules don't break the bank. What makes them interesting is the amount of user styles that can be loaded at once, 48 for the Ketron and 32 for the GEM. And the fact that you can quite easily program your own custom styles in a DAW and then play them into the arranger module. The internal sounds are not bad, but these modules work best as fully programmable midi pattern sequencers, triggering external gear. The trick is to go a bit beyond the intended use. Especially in improvised settings, styles tailored to a song can be a powerful tool. For example, the sub pattern for minor 7th chords may instead play the full chord progression of your chorus, allowing you to do other stuff. (the fill sub patterns are best for this).
Great video! This video looks like a standard Friday night for me. The Yamaha Genos community is anticipating the new release of its flagship arranger, possibly to be called the Genos 2, possibly out this month, possibly next year. I am a composer and songwriter and guitarist, but by no means a good keyboardist. For me, the Genos provides inspiration for me to write new tunes and melodies, sometimes with the “training wheels” a full accompanying band provides, controlled by simple chords using my left hand (even a single finger). I am not Yugoslavian, but am Slavic (Czech), and will often jam on my Genos - the major competitor to the Korg in the video here - in socks and Birkenstocks. Make no mistake, the samples in these top flight arrangers are often top flight, but so is the price, about $4,500 for new Genos unit. Mine is available for anyone in San Diego with a major social media channel that may want to demo it.
I started with arranger and i still got one..the Technics KN-3000. I learned a lot of things from this machines. I even made my own electronic demo back at 2000.
This arranger stuff evokes unknown peculiar layer of your musical self. Everytime I've touched this kinda keyboards! 😀 all those voices and musical patterns are all collections of most basics of music, settled in our collective mind. It has that visceral grip and I'm looking forward to seeing this instrument in the hands of some greatest musical brains. Could be a start to a nice trash which can last.
I’m so glad you made this video because I’ve similarly been thinking more about arranger workstations recently for the exact reason you showed, that even though I’m neither a professionally gigging musician or a particularly gifted pianist they just look like so much silly fun. Personally I’ve been leaning toward the Roland Fantom series so I’d love to see you do a video on one of those.
Awesome video, usually not that into the gear videos, more into the science and business ones but this one was really awesome, had a big smile on for the duration of it :)
I came to your channel to watch video about physical modeling and after that I found this video about arrangers. I thought you will make jokes about them, because my ex teacher who introduced me synths was always making jokes about arrangers and speaking me how bad they are and that they are not for professional musicians etc, because I love arrangers and 20 for years arrangers were my main gear for gigs. But your video is so fun and it’s visible that you enjoyed arrangers, despite being a professional musician! Arrangers were my first instruments with which I was making money. I’m from Serbia and they are very popular in entire Balkans! Just here in comment sections some ppl are uninformed, they tell Casio arrangers were used to make music in Balkans, but it’s not true. Casio never had high end arrangers. In 90s when arrangers became popular, the most popular and powerful were Roland arrangers such as Roland G800 and G1000 and they were used by our popular musicians. They were really flagship keyboards at the time. But after G1000 Roland left the market with flagship arrangers to Yamaha and Korg. If you have some connections or if you know someone from Roland, I would like to know why did Roland leave the market with flagship arrangers after G1000. In Balkans some ppl still use Roland G1000 just because of nostalgia and many songs were recorded with Roland G800 and G1000. I discovered synths about 2 years ago during pandemic and they introduced me a new world of music. And I agree with what you said in the beginning of the video, arrangers and synths world should be more bounded together. BTW Yamaha Montage is not an arranger keyboard! Montage is a synth workstation. It can play accompaniment, but you don’t have intros, outros, fills and other knobs per function as arranger keyboards. Yamaha’s flagship arranger is Genos. So try it instead of Montage if you want the real arranger. Korg and Yamaha arrangers sound VERY different! So try both brands! I’m glad I didn’t listen to my ex teacher about the arrangers, but instead kept my own opinion and your video is prove that his opinion is just an opinion! You are professional sound designer and if you didn’t say even a word against the sound of the arrangers and their approach to playing music, they aren’t bad! Subscribed! :)
A tiny company called Sofeh has a virtual arranger keyboard called ORG24 which loads Korg styles and sound sets. It is available for Windows and IOS/padOS plus Android. I think it really hits the sweet spot in the iPad version.
I was in the market for a good digital piano, and the Roland Fantom 8 came into my attention when I looked into the market. The price point was about what I was looking at for dedicated pianos but of course it has all of the arranger stuff, too, so it was a no-brainer. I've barely dipped my toes into that side of it, but what I did do it's clear how fun it can be.
Benn, Thank you for posting this video and taking this journey for all of us who "Had No Idea" that these things even existed. I really enjoyed this video. It was extremely entertaining to watch.
Thankyou for your in-depth review of the Korg PA-5X. My first arranger K/B was the Yamaha PSS-680 in 1988 which was purely for fun and experimental, not to mention it was learning curve. After a series of upgrades I have stopped at the Korg PA-4X-61 oriental making it one the best middle-eastern style keyboards ever made because of its quarter note scaling temperament properties. Having played in many bands and solo performances since I yet see a smoother sounding equipped simple to use k/b then that of the Korg.
I bought a Yamaha PSS-680 in 2021 and I like it because it sounds lofi and because the digital sybnthesizer is really fun to mess around with although my Yamaha PSS-470 is arguably more fun because it's more basic but still capible of thousands of custom sounds or maybe I prefer the PSS-470 because it has sliders and it also sounds a bit more gritty. Back in the 90s my 2 main arranger keyboards were a Yamaha PSS-790 which came out 2 years after the PSS-680 but the PSS-790 uses AWM sounds which were actually fairly decent by the standards of 30 years ago. My other main arranger was a Casio CT-700 and it still works, my newest keyboard is my Yamaha PSR-295 even though I don't really use it as much now, I was going to buy a Yamaha Tyros 5 last year just before I resigned but because of that I couldn't afford to spend over a grand on a flagship keyboard, another reason I didn't buy Tyros 5 in the end was because I sequence most of my stuff by hand and don't really have any use for the auto accompaniments plus I also prefer the workflow using VST instruments like Halion 7 and Kontakt.
Most people will never spend the kind of money required to buy this Korg, or the Yamaha Genos, but for $500 to $1500 you can still get an amazing machine that is really fun, but won't overwhelm you as much with the insane amount of features. The Yamaha PSR-E473 can astound you with it's capabilities for under $400. This machine is a little over the top. Great video though. Thanks for that.
My Yamaha PSR-295 is still my newest keyboard, the styles on that are still usable for midi sequencing or playing Christmas carols. Just over a year ago I was set to buy a Tyros 5 but because a train strike prevented from being able to go to work and my boss was very unreasonable I resigned so in the end I couldn't afford to spend over a grand on a keyboard. Also another reason I didn't buy an arranger keyboard is because I had no intention of really using the auto accompaniments apart from maybe sampling some drum hits from the Tyros 5's audio styles and I would have been the proud owner of a Tyros 5 if I was still working and there wasn't a train strike preventing me from getting to work. But instead I'm using the money to buy sound modules, inexpensive drum machines and vintage Casiotone and Yamaha Porta Sound keyboards which to be honest I think are more fun than this overpriced Korg PA-5X.
I have the roland FP E50 and i have to say i like mine more. its far more simplified. I am not doing arranger work though, but let me tell you, using this at home for band practice is unreal. The roland has bluetooth and if the band sends some audio or video over, I can play that and play along. I actually bought the roland because I needed a decent piano, but wanted an 88 key to control my modwave too lol
I get your feeling. I've been playing with synths since I was a kid in the 80s, and I've always been negative towards organs and arrangers since everyone saw it as a "no-effort" fun-box where you don't need to do anything else than 1-finger play with the chords following along, like a one-man-orchestra where all the music has been pre-made for you, you just direct the changes. But who cares really? I mean - I think an arranger could be for me, yeah - I will admit to that 35 years later in my life. I have the Key 61 + Yamaha Montage (which kinda have an Arranger hidden in it, but...not super easy to use like the Genos), but I can safely say - playing on an Arranger is a heck of a lot more fun, just for the fun of it alone.
I got started as an amateur with an Atari ST, Pro-12, and a Yamaha PSS-480 back in ‘89, and upgraded through various keyboards and synths until I got to an SY-35 and realised that as much as I loved messing about with synths, I needed the ‘amateur’ performance features more than raw synth power. I dabbled with MIDI controller keyboards hooked to various PC-based softsynths, sequencers, etc. but never recaptured the joy of making music with that primitive (by todays standards) PortaSound ‘toy’ I started with. And now, here’s the Arranger Keyboard, which to my eye (and ear) looks and sounds like a PSS-480 on steroids and does EXACTLY what I want! Now all I have to do is figure out how to afford one.
Among arranger music software, one of my favorites is ChordPulse. It's not the equal of BIAB(which is old, pretty comprehensive and has the UI of something that is those things) but the interface really drives at the heart of a harmony-driven writing process and lets you set up a basic fills-and-breaks arrangement in a few clicks. There's a lot of trade-offs among arrangers, and it's not really in terms of the sound quality and sequences, but in what you want to commit to muscle memory, vs leave to a preset. And that's something that becomes clear as you work upwards from Casio's SA mini keyboards(which are, TBH, excellent) towards the higher-end stuff: you get more dedicated interfaces for things, and as with complex synths, it can cause some analysis paralysis.
I like Chordpulse because it's perfect for composing midi sequences to play through my Roland SC-88 Pro, it's similar to older versions of Band in a box in that it's midi only as Band in a box used to be midi only until they introduced the so called "real tracks" in the late 2000s but if you have no use for "real tracks" and specifically only want midi tracks then it makes sense to get Chordpulse as once you buy it you have free upgrades for life. I also still use auto accompaniments in my keyboards including my Yamaha PSR-295 as a sketching tool for midi sequencing and I have also ordered a Casio MT-500 so I can create an arrangement starting from it's raw and lofi sound then it might be cool to end up with a polished end product. The Casio SA keyboards are also fun as every kid in the 90s had one or knew someone that had one!
I bought a used Korg M3 88 in 2009 for $650 and very quickly it became obsolete as Omnisphere and Zebra and NI stuff started being my go-to stuff. Plus it’s like 150lbs. I had the M3 out again last night and the combis and sounds are just excellent, and they load up really quickly. I mean - I have Komplete 14 CE and the string, piano, brass, woodwind etc sounds are comparable on the M3. Not quite Spitfire audio quality, but pretty close. The thing with these arranger/workstation synths is - they’re fun. Like keyboards were when you were little and you had those Casiotone and Yamaha PortaSound keyboards (I still have my Yamaha PSS-480 (with midi out!) and it still gets used in midi for a laugh - I’ve had it controlling Kontakt and Maschine for example). Plus these arrangers/workstations can be a really great standalone synth and controller outside combi/song/sequencer modes. Now back to my M3. Great review!
I used to work at a library that a Yugoslavian seniors group used to attend. They set up in a huge meeting space, and got blind drunk, while a musician went absolutely off on an arranger keyboard for 2 hours straight at an alarmingly loud volume. It was some of the most intense music I’ve ever experienced.
God I was waiting for the balkan comments. Up there, the arrangers are incredibly common among the "blue collar" musicians as he mentioned and you can hear a lot of old popular tracks using just generic backing tracks from casio arrangers. Fun stuff 😅
denny's grand slam level of legend
Tbh an arranger is just an accordion on every kind of steroid to a typical yugoslavian, that must have been a wild time
ngl, sounds lit
@@pavlebn Agreed. my entire life experience with arranger keyboards has been at eastern european restaurants that have dance floors...
How does that man do things that don't directly concern me and yet captivate me with every video?
Benn is a modern version of the renaissance man: Interested in everything, making everything interesting in the process.
Passion.
He appeals to the kid in all of us that loves to explore the ________ out of everything new to us.
May you just think it doesn’t concern you. I was wringing my hands deciding if I should buy this thing recently.
The vocal harmonizing and the crossfader.
I think though that audiences would be much less impressed , it’s hard to say . Things are different know with tech,
But regardless of the music you play, would an audience be less impressed if your standing behind just a keyboard .
Compared to having a huge convoluted stage setup. I know some people would be .
He is that guy
Korg just got the best demo they could ever hope for. A testament to Benn Jordan's talent as a content creator, not just his musicianship. I loved every bit of this piece of kit, guilty pleasure and all.
*preset applause*
With that thing and it's headphone mic combo you can do telemarketing / tech support and also play the stand-by music while the customer waits.
Now that's customer service! Would call Korg everyday like in the old dial-a-song days
A man added a Korg Pa5x to his tech support. This is what happened to his career....
Yeah and don’t forget tv quizzes
That’s hilarious 😂
This episode should be called “Guy encounters instrument tool that does all the things that he had to figure out how to do the hard way.” This one was so fun to watch!
It's great that he's multitalented enough to actually show off all (most) of the things that this device can do on his own and make it easy to watch.
@@arnehurnik Those were also my thoughts on this too! If anyone could just sit with something as crazy as an arranger kbd and get in a flow right out the box, it would be this guy!
@@drumandbassonvinyl And I remember when I got my PSR-S710 (upgrading from my E323) and I was so intimidated with the featureset that I stopped practicing for a few years.
Child psychology is truly stupid.
Let me give you a little background on Arranger Keyboards. You say they are for the blue collar working man, and yes, in a sense, but that's not where it started. Back in the early 1970s Baldwin came out with something called 'The Funmaker/FunMachine.' It was a three octave, single manual organ which had another octave for trigger chords. It was intended for the home user. Up until that time, if your home had a keyboard instrument in it, it was either a piano or one of the venerable Hammond Organs. You could purchase a 'drum machine' for the Hammond, but you still had to do everything else, but it did put you a step up on most other home players. Baldwin came along and added a bass pattern and strum patterns to the drum patterns, all selected by a single octave to the left side of the keyboard, and you played one finger to select the chord. I don't remember how you did minor chords or seventh chords.
Anyway, the concept was to add something new and different to the home player.
After that, Yamaha, Wurlitzer, Lowry, and even Hammond all started to produce organs with these 'auto accompaniment' features. They were very basic, nothing like what we have today. No sample synthesis, not even stuff like FM synthesis. All it amounted to was 'Boom chicka boom chicka boom boom.' 🤪😛
Fast forward ten years or so, and by then, both Yamaha and Casio had developed single keyboard 'slab organs.' The IC, or Integrated Circuit, was small enough to allow companies to start to put a lot of features into these keyboards, but the sound synthesis was still poor, but some of the FM synthesis trickling down from the DX-7 started to make it into some of the Yamaha organs, and they started to sound a little better.
I want to clarify something else, too. These instruments were all aimed at 'the home hobbyist.' The person who enjoyed music, but was not a professional, or even semi-professional musician. This is the individual who when they get home from work wanted to pull out some sheet music, sit down and play for their enjoyment and relaxation. These weren't designed for a gigging musician
In 1993, Korg introduced the original i3 Interactive Keyboard. It blew the competition away and sent a huge wake up call to Yamaha, Roland, and Casio, which by then were really the only other manufacturers of arranger keyboards (although they weren't called that back then). I remember seeing the original i3 and I wasn't able to believe what I was seeing. The sounds were 'realistic', at least compared to the FM synthesis of the other products. No built in speakers, you had to run the outputs to monitors or something to hear. You could actually go in and edit the sounds. The sounds were sampled! This was the beginning of the 'Arranger Keyboard' line and concept. With two sequencers built in, you could load a SMF via 3.5" floppy and set up a play list, or, you could create a backing sequence using the accompaniment section, and then play along, or record over top of it, something that had not been fully explored. In 1993, there was an article published that pushed both the 61 key i3 and 76 key i2 as devices for songwriters, jingle writers, etc. Use the capability of the keyboard and backing tracks to flesh out a song. This is the first time that the word 'Professional' was used with an Arranger keyboard.
My first journey into these keyboards was actually selling them, mostly Yamaha and Casio, back in the 80s. The first keyboard I owned for myself was a Korg iX300, 32 notes of polyphony, 14 megs of sample ram, 104 styles. Quite a jump up from the i3 of only four years previously. The sounds had also gotten better, using the AI2 software synthesis engine that was also found in the 'pro-level synths' of the day. The two lines were coming closer.
It wasn't until the early 2000s with the introduction of the PA series of keyboards that things really started to converge. The PA1X was a 76 key keyboard (a 61 key version with speakers was the PA80) and technology was used from the professional level series of synths. About this time, the sounds and the styles were good enough for that 'blue-collar' musician to start doing single player gigs or a gig with themselves and maybe a singer/guitar player.
I currently own an older PA800, which is about 13 years old or such. I want to buy a PA5X, but don't have the money for it right now. The funny thing is that the price on that keyboard is about the same price as a three generation old Yamaha CVP Clavinova with 88 weighted keys. (I can buy a currently new Yamaha CVP-701 from Guitar Center for $5K)
If you want to see what an Arranger Keyboard can do today, I would point you to Alois Muller in Germany and some of his videos. In Europe, these keyboards have found much more positive reception than they do here in North America, and a lot more people play them. Alois speaks German, but if you watch his UA-cam channel, you can select the Auto Translate feature to understand what he's saying, mostly.
www.youtube.com/@AloisMueller
These keyboards started out for the home hobbyist, and over the years have moved closer to professional grade, and are regularly used for small venues and one or two person groups. They were never intended to be 'professional' keyboards, but they could easily do the job, depending on the type of music you're playing. For me, I prefer The Great American Songbook and have no need of synths and the ability to shape my sounds, but if I did, I could with the current crop of keyboards at least to some extent.
Finally, the thing about these keyboards is that I can sit down, open a song book, pick a song, pick a style, and play immediately. Do it with great sounds, great styles, and even record to something like Cakewalk and do it easily and still come up with a good product I could share with friends and family.
This is super interesting, thank you!
These arranger-type keyboards are huge in the performance (and sometimes recording) of Arabic music. Usually you'll see two stacked, and companies like Korg have regional models with all manner of distinct rhythms (Iraqi, Egyptian, etc.) and instruments and, yes, tuning switches so you can go between different maqams (modes), which you mention at around 22:00 - (Ben, if you're reading, curious what you listen to!). They have such a particular sound that's immediately recognisable, and often there are all kinds of heroics with playing wild solos at weddings (which often turn into rave-like events). Aside from the blue-collar working musician you mention, they are huge internationally and everywhere from Eastern Europe and North Africa to Southeast Asia you'll find them in almost every restaurant or event. Respect to the humble arranger keyboard.
I went to Istanbul a few years ago and one thing that stuck with me was that every restaurant and bar that was substantial enough to have a door, had a guy in the corner playing a keyboard, usually accompanied by a woman singing. There could be as little as four tables, two of wich was occupied, but there was always a band playing.
Guests would join in and the microphone would get passed around as the singer took a smoking break.
What a cool and fun culture that is.
Definitely seen them here and there around Europe too in restaurants and used by street musicians.
Yeah they SHRED on those things at weddings
Arrangers can absolutely be used by single musician live. But what they're used a lot as well is for ARRANGING. Like for reals. You have an idea for a song, a simple structure, melody chord progression what ever, and you need to QUICKLY and easily get the flesh over the bones and TEST your ideas and what works and what doesn't.
You can either start programming stuff in DAW, playing instruments in track by track instrument by instrument... or you just press few buttons on an arranger and you can very quickly get the core idea if it'll work or not.
There's something to be said about creative flow wit these, they're meant to absolutely never stop you from being creative and always get what you need quickly and easily right at your fingertips.
They're more powerful for someone who wants to create than any Kontakt library, because with some 1000$ library you're not usually expected to be paying it live but to PROGRAM every single note and try and replicate real instrument or orchestra and go deep into key switching and CC's to get very accurate representation without real musician.
Arrangers are not that, they expect that what ever you're doing doesn't require the highest of highest fidelity or accuracy, OR that when you've done arranging, you'll spit out notation, hire some session musicians and they'll come over to realize all the instrumentation that you weren't able to do and replace all the arranger stuff with real instrument.
Arranger is either the whole package, or it's the first step to speed up the process.
I bought myself Kronos 2 because no matter the amount of Kontakt libraries, they're NOT for what I need, which is to be able to get the idea across fast and simple so that I can present it to real musicians and then we'll replace the tracks I did as placeholders with real ones with sensibilities of real musicians and players. I'm just a composer, arranger... I'm not there to play all the instruments or program every single note in meticulous detail... real players of said instruments can do that after I've gotten my idea across.
My main instrument for composing is still piano. If it doesn't work on piano, no amount of fancy studio work or arranging is going to make it stick. But sometimes it's great to be able to do a bit more, faster, than just the piano.
Literally all of that can be done by any workstation. Arranger keyboards are for LIVE arrangements.
Back in the eighties and nineties in the Netherlands you could find these single man ‘bands’ playing somewhat cheesy but surprisingly skillfully arranged live music on large organ like contraptions in malls and similar places. I suppose these ‘organs’ were the spiritual predecessors to this type of keyboard.
the way true organists can work their feet on the bass pedals is something else though, very tricky
My mind was blown by this video. I never fully understood just how much of a musical Swiss Army knife these synths are. How you explained its features and utility was both easy to digest and 100% on the nose. I can well imagine a solo musician or the MD in a worship band becoming a sonic air traffic controller, directing everything from this beast.
Lovely work.
This reminds me of the kind of equipment my grandfather used to gig with. He was a guitar player and had a guitorgan and then some other midi based guitar. This is back in the 80s and 90s when I was kid he would go and do one man gigs where he had printouts of the program numbers to put in his midi processing machine that did the whole backing band that would follow what he was playing. I don't know what he would be using today if he was creating the same kit from scratch.
I enjoyed you enjoying the game show sounds more than you should have more than I should have. This was a fun one!
Brain hurty juice
I enjoyed this comment more than I should have.
Enjoymentception?
I remember music that sounds 100% like the stuff made with the "Oriental Version" from one of my cousin's first weddings. His wife was Tunisian and VERY late in the night a guy with one of these Keyboards showed up and just blasted us all with this music. Her relatives loved it, being from Tunisia and his relatives, being Austrian and very drunk, also loved it!
I am obsessed with arrangers! Good arrangers are deep and complex.. and only limited to your own understanding of the device and your own level of creativity. They are so useful for idea generation, arranging, and even increasing your knowledge of theory and Chord structures! Also exploring mixing genres! Midi is the key!
Buy a Yamaha Genos. It's miles better. 🎉🎉❤
Yes! A good arranger can be mind blowing! The Technics line were amazing! Yamaha Tyros is also cool, but way overpriced. Roland has some too.
@@lorencarlin2087yes! Some older instruments like GEM. Also excellent!
I agree. Yamaha Genos is far better. Specially with sounds.
@@shakti.rathore I tried the Genos 2 and the Korg Pa5x and I opted for the Korg, the styles are more usable for composition, the Genos 2 only has styles literally copied from existing songs...it is true that some sounds sound slightly better on the Genos 2, but nothing insurmountable or that cannot be improved with the synthesis options, plus the Korg is much more complete when it comes to programming your arpeggios, effects... it has a vocoder, a Sampler and is a thousand times better built than the Yamaha Genos2...not to mention speaking that the Genos 2 is out of price, if I had to choose based on its sounds I would not choose the Yamaha, I would go directly to the KETRON EVENT... However, I am still very happy with the Korg... creating new styles is very simple, and you have almost everything and very well done for editing... in the Genos 2 you go crazy when programming!
Arrangers are for the "dark matter" professional musicians. You don't see them, but they make up 85% of the mass of the universe.
You should try the Sofeh Sunrise Music Studio which emulates KORG Pa - it's the most complete software arranger, but nothing compares to the real thing yet. I've tried them all. Beware - it can be buggy and confusing and needs a bit of setup.
Here in the Balkans arrangers are a HUGE part of all pop-folk like in Arab countries. Musicians program custom styles and there's a big market for selling / buying styles. Arrangers have been extremely popular here since the 90s - even old models are modded to replace the floppy with a USB drive. I've been dreaming for one, but even used it's too expensive. Here the KORG Pa is most desired.
Is there any tutorial in English for it? Software seems to be really powerful but interface is somewhat confusing for people who don't used the real thing.
@@mikolasstrajt3874 I don't know. On their website there are a bunch of articles and videos, but I've learned on real arrangers from friends in my own language. Sorry I couldn't help much. On the site there are 2 versions - one for computer and another for smartphone - their piano interface is very similar so it may be useful to search about both. The interface will remain confusing though, it's just not very good, but that's the best there is currently.
Your enthusiasm with this is infectious! Highlights something that about music making that people don't point out very often, namely, how FUN it can be. Keep on keeping on!
When I was in Turkey, every restaurant had a guy behind an arranger workstation, it was a tape/sample of a song playing, and every keyboardist played along with the loudest, most annoying (after a while, like 10 seconds…) patch that was available. The patch at 23:20 was one of their favourites… got instant ptsd after hearing it again 😂😂😂
Musician content aside, the greenscreen backdrops and Benn flying atop the keyboard edits put this at a new level of hilarity. General MIDI but with param control on steroids CAN BE Fun! Loved it as always.
There's an Android app called Org 24 I stumbled on a few years ago that I knew was an emulation of something deep and likely used in the Arab world I could never place its origins until this video, and now its obvious it's one of these.
Thanks for sharing the little rabbithole that is Org24 - Sofeh Sunrise LessGoo, lol!
Arranger keyboards have always been underrated here in the US. They’ve been very popular over seas for decades now. I remember a time when if a person wanted good acoustic sounds on a keyboard workstation, the arranger typically beat the synth workstations most of the time in this area. Arrangers are very good song writers keyboards, and this has been one of their strengths for a long time. Sure, they’re good for the “one man band” musician, but as a composition tool for more traditional styles of music, they’re still an excellent tool for it. They not only have the typical linear sequencers, but most (including mid level arrangers) have full custom style recording, and the ability to mix and match style parts to help with certain instruments (like guitar strumming) that’s difficult to emulate on any keyboard. The weakness of the arranger has always been modern music like EDM, rap, hip hop, ect. Here in the US.., the semi pro and pro arranger market has always been aimed at the 50+ crowd. The crowd that tends to have more expendable income, prefers traditional styles of music, and no real desire to do extensive programming, like voice editing. That’s why arrangers have always been coveted as the best “out of box experience”. Just plug it in and play. Korg IMO has been the best at bridging the gap between arranger and synth with the PA series. The PA series really is a hybrid keyboard. They offer extensive and deep editing like you’d find on their synth workstations. Other manufacturers can’t come close to a PA series arranger. Even the old Korg Micro Arranger has more in-depth synthesis editing than a Yamaha Genos. The original Korg PA 80/50 had Triton based sound engines and could load some Triton programs (with a few limitations). I’ve always kept an arranger in my set up because of how easy and intuitive they are for song composition. Most of my work is DAW’s using VST’s, and even though I have several synth workstations, I also own several arrangers just for the purpose of out of box playability and scratching out song ideas. I’ve taken full backing track audio from my arrangers straight into my DAW’s because of how good the arrangers are for creating quality backing tracks. You can do this because even lower budget arrangers now offer the ability to record audio via USB to a thumb drive.
Whats kind of bonkers is ive spent the last few weeks getting my head around a yamaha psr-sx900 to help someone who has one. Like you, had quite a mind melting experience when i realised how absurdly powerful they are.
This unit will actually play TWO completely different styles with all the associated instruments and effects AT THE SAME TIME layered on top of each other! You can cross fade from one to the other as well in real time. I believe you can even layer styles that are in two completely different time signatures!
In Eastern Europe arranger keyboards are the backbone of ALL folkloric wedding bands. That's also because the audience doesn't care about how the music they hear is made. Band pro's usually tailor their appearances depending on budget and stage size, the arranger keyboard can play an entire band, the keyboardist is the tech/producer/arranger/drummer/bassist/saxophonist/accordionist/tarogatoist/panfluteist/fiddler/.... of the band.
Yea, I write music for others and go to peoples homes to work on their ideas, so I bought a Medelli arranger as a "DO EVERYTHING keyboard"" that I can throw into the back seat of my car. Like you, I was extremely surprised in how useful these keyboards really are. Despite all my gear, I find myself returning to this as my starting point for so many projects. I always thought that they were just for "kids" to play in their living rooms, but the the higher quality ones are actually quite nice and ultra useful for a wide variety of professional tasks. I use mine constantly. Thank you for your superb presentation.
Thanks for giving the Medeli some credit… mostly bad reviews by Yamaha snobs out there
I’m a “blue collar” singer and guitarist working hotels, restaurants, bars, clubs e.t.c for over 30 years generally in duo’s and trios. I can attest that arranger has been our most valuable tool.
I’ve followed the progression of arrangers from the mid 90s, with the likes of the Roland E-66 all the way up to the Korg PA5x, I’ve seen what can be done with these fantastic machines and I would recommend the top contenders to be ketron, Korg and Yamaha.
At lest that’s what the dozen’s of keyboardist’s I work with are using.
To be honest there is soo much you can do with these keyboards that most of the guys I work with don’t even use a third of it.😂
I wouldn't mind a Roland E-66, if I found one in a second hand shop I would buy it.
As a kid I had years of fun with my PSR8000 workstation. These devices obviously evolved a lot, but it could do many of the things shown here about 25 years ago.
Was fun to watch, great idea's and creativity once again.
I have a PSR 6700 that I had as a young teen, which was pretty much the pinnacle of arranger keyboards at the time (early 90’s). It was so much fun and I composed loads of tunes and renditions of songs on it, saved to 3.5 floppy. Although I still have it, it needs some maintenance (unresponsive buttons and broken keys), I found one cheap on eBay last year and bought it. Still an incredible keyboard, and huge, and heavy (24kg/53lb). Kris Nicholson has a load of good videos of it.
Prior to that I had a PSR-3500 and a PSS-470
Wow Benn! I’ve been playing arrangers for 30 years and this is the most fun yet informative demo I’ve ever seen. Thank you.
A pro arrangement instrument is used by pro song makers and arranger professionals who demo and try out ideas before they are fully cut into a studio session. An arranger machine like that allows a songmaker to be constructive and creative at the construction phase of a song without the need for a full band of session players at the studio. Of course the ease of use makes it a natural choice for amateurs and weekend warriors as the presenter described.
FINALLY someone in the proffesional music space giving these arranger keyboards a chance! You're correct about alot of music youtubers don't really bring up or mention these keyboards and i never underatood why. These keyboards can be very powerful and can absolutely be uaed to create original and non-cheesy music if you use them correctly! Great video!
On one hand there is the question of weather it's worth buying an arranger keyboard even if you don't use auto accompanimants but on the other
hand it has to be said that arranger keyboards do tend to have more emphasis on realistic sounding acoustic instruments compared to a synth/workstation
which tend to be a mix bag, you might get some instruments like drums or a flute and a decent sounding piano on something like Montage but then the synth
station might not have a brilliant saxophone whereas arrangers always have realistic sounding saxophones. Another advantage an arranger has are physical
sliders for the drawbar organ sounds although that is also possible with synth/workstations.
@@LittleRichard1988 Yeah I forgot to mention that doing EDM on an arranger is kindof tough. It can be done with the right imported samples (if the model supports it) or even the built in synth patches if your clever with the cc parameters. But in the end arrangers aren't quite ready for modern EDM. That might change though. The newly released Yanaha Genos2 having a FM engine might show a sign of were arrangers are headed!
@@WinslowCat Now I absolutely need to hear EDM done on an arranger, preferably an old one. Or perhaps the 'point' is that I need to buckle up and make it myself since I have a passion for making things do what they shouldn't be able to do. It should be possible, even without any sample swapping shenanigans, I have gotten gut bustingly funny but working results with those sort of multi-organ-mostrosity things that I don't even know the name of, two sets of keys + foot pedal-key-things. I knew a guy with one of those like 30+ years ago when I was very young.
@@WinslowCat Couldn't you just hook the PA5X up to a computer and access the huge range of VSTs like Omnisphere, Serum etc to accomplish that?
@@SteveinJersey1234 Sort of the point though is to have an arranger that can already somewhat do all of those things. Besides, some producers (I myself) like to use real hardware and not deal with a DAW. For me, to make an arranger more powerful I pair it with an Akai MPC Live II. And for me personally that gets the job done!
I play in a band, but I've always been an arranger keyboard kind of guy because of how the registrations, layering and splitting let me make changes while I'm playing.
At the moment I'm using a Yamaha PSR-SX700, and because I can have multiple sounds across the keyboard, and I can use a footswitch to make changes, or only sustain certain parts, I can make it sound like I'm playing 3 or 4 keyboard parts at once. Occasionally I get accused of pretending to play live, because someone in the audience can play the keyboard, and they can't work out how I'm doing so much at once.
I like having speakers, because if I'm practicing at home, I only need a sustain pedal and a power supply. Keeping wires to a minimum makes me happy.
The auto-accompaniment side of the keyboard very rarely gets explored.
Yamaha QY 700 is a mixture between sequencer and arranger. It does 'arrange' type things but still you can program your own sequences. I think this is the reason it is still used by square pusher
Yamaha is the best company in this musical space - QY, Motif/Montage and of course, their arranger boards.
These arrangers have come a long way. I gigged with them for years. The Yamaha Genos is the king of them all, but $$$$
Such a beast. Great machine, a bit like all the QY series. Although, of a different era.
Squarepusher is also just one of those people who finds a system that works and sticks with it regarding music tech
@@jbognapI remember when Yamaha was on top of MIDI game with XG, both in keyboards/modules and in computers. I even bought a used SW1000XG card and used it extensively. And I also remember following the Tyros line in the early 2000s when each generation would bring in more realistic sounds, especially winds and guitars. These days it's not such a big deal but back then it was groundbreaking.
A friend of mine has a Yamaha Tyros 2 he uses as a one man band and sings along. When he demonstrated it I was sold. Would never have thought I will be into arranger keyboards but now I have a Yamaha PSR-SX600. It is an entry level keyboard but boy, what fun it is!
It can be used as a DJ device. It can play full MP3s and audio files. And it can play two of them and use the cross fader to fade from one to the other like any DJ mixer.
I loved the sound of that fretless guitar :)
i love your channel!
I picked up an old tyros 1 a few weeks ago and I can’t stop playing it- it’s getting connected to my analogue gear this week! Thanks for this and let’s hear more!
Watching Benn have so much fun with this was great. The video backgrounds were the cherry on top.
Oh man, Band in a Box brings up memories: a music teacher used to use it to help us learn improvisation on the guitar like, 10 or 15 years ago. It was easier than setting up a whole band just for it, and more versatile than just playing over mp3.
I love BIAB, been doing goofy stuff with it for years. But it's too clumsy for live performance. An arranger keyboard can bridge that gap.
I have an old Yamaha psr530 the sequencer has "virtual arranger" which is kind of quantised randomisation...from 30+ years ago.
I never have seen anything like this. Not a clue these amazing machines even existed. Thanks for educating me once again Benn!
A friend shared this video with me so I could check out the arranger and what it can do, so I was really surprised when I saw a couple of my animations in the background. That was a very entertaining video and I was definitely surprised by what an arranger can do.
It’s a way to make a living! I have been working with arranger keyboards and performing for 25 years. Much better than having a DJ if the customer can’t afford a whole band.
The thing is that you can’t just play. You must connect a mic and sing. It’s supposed to be used as a band! 🌹
I had a rough day and this made me smile constantly. Ben is such a gift. What a fun, weird episode!
Yes I learnt piano from the age of 4. Yes I have worked in the industry. But now I play when I can squeeze it in at home, and love improvising with a backing, casual multi-tracking - I have a Yamaha 'Arranger' Digital Piano (OK with the voice effects and brilliant speakers). Just such a joy to see someone not being a snob, being open minded and appreciating what enjoyment these can give, beyond beginners!
Great video ... first of yours I've seen, now subscribed!
Hey Benn, where can I book you for a wedding? 😂 Also I'm looking forward to the 12 hour Loopop video covering all of its functions.
I'm looking forward catching Benn's next set at the Holiday Inn by the airport.
You did a great job of showing the potential of an arranger keyboard. I really don’t recall hearing the guitar input effects in any other video, so you may have provided a demo of a feature that no one else has. You are correct in that many of these keyboards are used by keyboardist that are either solo or in a duet and many times they are covering a large spectrum of musical styles. So the band in a box concept works great for that. The real key and where skill and talent comes in is taking the instrument beyond just a backing accompaniment and working with the sounds and the various parts of the songs. Also having a good understanding of how a real instrument sounds like when you choose that sound for your lead/solo. I started with arrangers back in the mid 90’s and have been amazed at how far they have come. Yes they are not as popular in America as they are in other countries, but there is still a following here.
What I find most interesting about arrangers as a composer is that you can quickly review compositions across many genres and tempos. What your original song style plan might work best completely different than that, and it could take you just minutes to find that out on the arranger. I still prefer using a workstation to create the song, but an arranger is a great tool to explore song possibilities.
I adored the little giggles you made when you discovered something new on the keyboards. You didn't want to like it, but it was fun and you couldn't hold it in. Wonderful, honest "review."
In 1969 I got hooked to music as a 12 year old. And I‘m still at it as an almost 70 year old.
So far the most gigging I ever did in my life was with arranger keyboards (and I made more money with them in my spare time, than working as a doctor).
I even worked on the design of the user interface and on some sounds and arranger patterns for Korg, Yamaha and Roland. The idea for the crossfader is from me. The idea for holding down a button and getting help for the selected function also came from me.
There was a lot of progress for some time, and the sounds, patterns, effects, controllers and UIs really made huge jumps in usability and quality. The advent of preprogrammed MIDI-files (and their individual enhancements by the Yamaha (XG) and Roland (GS) standards really upped the game, but they also ruined the business. All of a sudden playing with such a keyboard was nothing else but karaoke with not really good sounding backing tracks. The integration of vocal harmonizers further spoiled an otherwise acceptable performance. It‘s really difficult to program a good harmony track or actually play one on a keyboard. Most performers didn‘t even bother with programming or controlling anything and just used a preset for every song. So that didn‘t really help, as the results were not that attractive - to say the least.
Personally I „returned to my roots“ and I started to play all the acoustic instruments I had or could learn, like guitar, blues harps, banjo, saxophones, mandolin, pan flute, steel drums, bag pipes etc. The audiences really liked that, especially in the first half of the night. But when it came down to dancing, the arranger keyboards really didn‘t help a lot. So, apart from the crossfaders, I suggested realtime arrangers using samples (like today‘s loopers) with a touch screen.
Yamaha actually came up with a sampler that could be played with the keyboard, but the samples couldn‘t be played via MIDI file. Roland realized the touch screen and expanded the MIDI capabilities. But nothing was even close to being useful. And that is where the developments of arranger keyboards stagnated to this day. No company has managed to merge arranger keyboards with loopers and advanced sampling technology. If you look at my setup with a PC, two keyboards, two loopers and tons of outboard equipment and all the instruments I learned to play over the years, you‘ll probably get the creeps. The cabelling alone is a nightmare, even though I‘ve reduced it to a minimum.
So now I wonder if AI will make some things possible and how long it will take the companies with enough design power and budget to make my dream of the perfect super creative One Man Band come true. I suppose I‘m not the only one waiting. 😁
Ive put in my comments about one man band, song arranger keyboards. Theres still not a do all, please all arranger keyboard. Esp at a masses level. The masses could help sales but they get only tid bits off the top level arrangers
Some people just want to play music without thinking deeply about equipment. It's the opposite of the gear nerd who never practices.
Actually the faders are not JUST used for beatmatching or fading between songs. They are also used for incorporating elements of two simultaneous styles and blending them together.
9:40 This is the smile of someone that is just having a blast playing an instrument, which is what making music is supposed to be about! Even the cheap ones that still look fresh out of 1995 are just so fun to muck around with.
Dude I could watch hours of you playing around with arranger keyboards, So FUN! patiently waiting for the next one with a constellation of gear to create the ultimate automatically harmonizer ochestra
Just loved seeing how much fun and giggles you had with this thing even if it's not what either of us want or need it just looks hilarious fun
This is cool. I’ve never paid attention to arrangers and never really understood the point. I don’t think it’s for me, but I now feel like I “get it”.
I picked up an old Korg i30 (one of if not the very first arranger models they released, back in the mid 90s) for $50 at a thrift shop 9 years ago and it's still my master keyboard. It's amazing how little the workflow has changed between it and this model.
Anyhow, the real magic in these things comes when you start programming your own custom arranger patterns. Even early Korg and Technics arrangers have really deep (and abusable) pattern programming that's very unlike any other kind of sequencer.
Arrangers have always been great fun, and a great way to lay down ideas on the spot.
The part that really sells it for me is the lens flare when Benn plays his fretless guitar. Well, that and the bored girl in the background when he's playing Autumn Leaves.
The best part of this video is the pure joy the device brought to Benn.
love to see it
I've used Korg's PA-series for years to 'steer' a vast array of synths, VA and actual analogs. The inbuilt synths are quite impressive, actually. Digital, yes. And.. yes.. 80% of baked-in 'arrangements' are cheesy as heck. However, when You start approaching the arranger parts like an advanced sequencer to steer actual synths, and that can be used to immediately change keys, chords and such, things get really wild. Takes a lot of initial programming, but once you 'got' the arrangement you want... the magic starts.
Though, to be totally honest.. it's rather expensive as a 'sequencer' when used like that..
I agree with your last part, it's not worth buying an arranger "just for it's sounds" if you don't need auto accompaniments even though I used to think otherwise
and last year I very nearly bought a Tyros 5 solely for midi sequencing but I only really considered it as a possibility if I ever had problems getting Halion 6 to
work on a new computer which turned out not to be the case at all. And anyway for the rare occasions I need auto accompaniments ( for public domain songs
like Christmas carols ) I have plenty of keyboards with accompaniments like my Yamah PSR-295 or Casio CT-700 plus also Chordpulse.
I always thought it was surprising that there's never been something in the same spirit as this, but with more of a focus on song composition. Like, I would love to have a keyboard with a built-in touch screen that exposes Logic, and everything is done through software but where I don't have to bring around a laptop.
Isn’t that a workstation keyboard?
First, thanks for giving arranger keyboards a fair shout. I find them fascinating (I've owned a Tyros and a Genos) and endless fun - fun, as you say in your video. The price point for the most advanced models is often (and obviously) a huge hurdle for many people who might otherwise discover a deep well of fun, creativity and inspiration just noodling and playing about with the sheer possibilities these keyboards offer. Some of the less expensive arranger keyboards (especially those from Yamaha) offer spectacular features and any one of them could easily sit at the center of anyone's DAW studio.
Nicely said :)
I used to buy arrangers in the past. Did gigs with a complete choir. These arranger keyboards are definitely fun to use. I do think that any arranger sold these days hasn’t improved in sound quality for over a decade. Therefore, I can’t justify the insane prices (I don’t use them anymore when performing live) for these instruments. But I love to fool around with these arrangers when I visit a music store. Great 👍 video, Benn.
yeah, someone was kinda hating on the Yamaha CP88 in a review I was reading recently for having the same type of sampling tech that we’ve been using since the 90s-ish. Yamaha knows a thing or two about making sampling sound good though, and I’m super jazzed with the CP88 now that I’ve got one in my living room. It might not be the last word in grand piano sound, but it definitely works well by itself or in a mix, and the keyboard feels really nice. Definitely not sad to have a CP88 plus a full PA system and mixer that I got instead of a Nord Stage 4.
@@seanp2k617 Yamaha definitely knows how to make their digital pianos and arrangers sound great. And although it’s an old technique, it sounds, feels and plays amazing. Cool that you also own a Nord Stage 4!
There is not much room for improvements.
The last thing did Ketron with the Event and use audio loops for bass, guitars, phrases and found a way, that the transition is inaudible. You have to play very weird to let it sound artificial.
@@robfriedrich2822 I think you’re right about the fact that there’s not much room for improvement. They could utilize physical modeling (in real-time, for all instruments), but that requires a beefy CPU and a lot of development. Besides that, iPads these days have many physical modeling music instruments available. Like Audio Modeling SWAM instruments (cello, sax, woodwinds, brass, trumpets etcetera) and Pianoteq 8 and many others. Therefore I don’t expect a lot of hype if arrangers get this functionality. I still do like the Yamaha Tyros series and Genos arrangers. Pure entertainment!
You know, when I was a teen, I would go to local music shops and absorb all the lovely rackmount synths that I could never, ever afford. And then come home, dial up to the Internet, and download all the demo RA files. I loved 90s ROMplers so hard. Still do. And I kind of missed that classic ROMpler sound, since so many of the plugins on the market are either additive/subtractive synthesis, or super-ultra-uber pristine multi-tens-of-GB sample packs for the most real piano everrrrr, etc. There was a ROMpler-sized hole in my heart.
This thing has the vibe of a lot of those old synths, just... grown up a bit, and sounding a little bit cleaner.
I am pleased.
Great video about arrangers. I have been using them since 2004 as standalone instument and found your video great. I use Arabic versions many of which are exclusive to the middle eastern market and have a physical scale on the panel. There are competitors to this as Yamaha Genos(not montage) and Ketron Event which I also enourage you to check out.
I had a similar reaction after I shoehorned an old Ensoniq MR-61 into my shed-based studio about a month ago. While it's not an arranger, it can send MIDI out on 16 channels simultaneously, and the Idea Pad is a brilliant concept. It has opened up entirely new ways of interacting with the embarrassing number of synths I've accumulated.
The vocal harmonized seems to be better than all the plugins I’ve tried .
As someone who is not that great at keyboard yet, these arrangers look like a VERY fun way to practice and improve your skill. I honestly didn't even know this product category existed -- I would have assumed it's a workstation by looking at it.
Benn is making psyop videos so we buy all the 4k$ keyboard arrangers and he keeps all the cool synths to himself smh
True
Cool is the enemy though.
There are 2 vintage arranger modules (no keys) that may be quite interesting, the Ketron X4 and GEM WS2. Being quite old, these modules don't break the bank.
What makes them interesting is the amount of user styles that can be loaded at once, 48 for the Ketron and 32 for the GEM. And the fact that you can quite easily program your own custom styles in a DAW and then play them into the arranger module.
The internal sounds are not bad, but these modules work best as fully programmable midi pattern sequencers, triggering external gear.
The trick is to go a bit beyond the intended use. Especially in improvised settings, styles tailored to a song can be a powerful tool. For example, the sub pattern for minor 7th chords may instead play the full chord progression of your chorus, allowing you to do other stuff. (the fill sub patterns are best for this).
0:05 - nobody makes fun of modular synth nerds more than modular synth nerds
It really cracks me up how happy you look playing around with this thing.
I have a Yamaha DGX670 and it feels amazing. The versatility of styles gave me an instant polish to my playing. Killer keybed.
Thank you! Great “cheese factor” in this one ❤I enjoyed the shameless playing with sounds and videos on many levels.
if music isn’t just fun once in a while, what’s the point?
Great video! This video looks like a standard Friday night for me. The Yamaha Genos community is anticipating the new release of its flagship arranger, possibly to be called the Genos 2, possibly out this month, possibly next year. I am a composer and songwriter and guitarist, but by no means a good keyboardist. For me, the Genos provides inspiration for me to write new tunes and melodies, sometimes with the “training wheels” a full accompanying band provides, controlled by simple chords using my left hand (even a single finger). I am not Yugoslavian, but am Slavic (Czech), and will often jam on my Genos - the major competitor to the Korg in the video here - in socks and Birkenstocks. Make no mistake, the samples in these top flight arrangers are often top flight, but so is the price, about $4,500 for new Genos unit. Mine is available for anyone in San Diego with a major social media channel that may want to demo it.
"Pan Flute on the beach" is the soundtrack for every small obscure resort ever.
I started with arranger and i still got one..the Technics KN-3000.
I learned a lot of things from this machines.
I even made my own electronic demo back at 2000.
This arranger stuff evokes unknown peculiar layer of your musical self. Everytime I've touched this kinda keyboards! 😀 all those voices and musical patterns are all collections of most basics of music, settled in our collective mind. It has that visceral grip and I'm looking forward to seeing this instrument in the hands of some greatest musical brains. Could be a start to a nice trash which can last.
13:25 You managed to plug it in with only 2 tries! I'm impressed.
little known fact: Vangelis helped design this
I’m so glad you made this video because I’ve similarly been thinking more about arranger workstations recently for the exact reason you showed, that even though I’m neither a professionally gigging musician or a particularly gifted pianist they just look like so much silly fun. Personally I’ve been leaning toward the Roland Fantom series so I’d love to see you do a video on one of those.
Misread as “not a professionally giggling musician”
I think people are starting to realize they actually like romplers
Roland FA-08 has been my mainstay for ages now, these things are beasts tbh
This genre of instruments feels like people played with an Optigan in the 1970s and just decided to spend the next 50 years iterating on the idea.
Awesome video, usually not that into the gear videos, more into the science and business ones but this one was really awesome, had a big smile on for the duration of it :)
Just realised I built my moulder synth to be an arranger keyboard
I came to your channel to watch video about physical modeling and after that I found this video about arrangers. I thought you will make jokes about them, because my ex teacher who introduced me synths was always making jokes about arrangers and speaking me how bad they are and that they are not for professional musicians etc, because I love arrangers and 20 for years arrangers were my main gear for gigs. But your video is so fun and it’s visible that you enjoyed arrangers, despite being a professional musician! Arrangers were my first instruments with which I was making money. I’m from Serbia and they are very popular in entire Balkans! Just here in comment sections some ppl are uninformed, they tell Casio arrangers were used to make music in Balkans, but it’s not true. Casio never had high end arrangers. In 90s when arrangers became popular, the most popular and powerful were Roland arrangers such as Roland G800 and G1000 and they were used by our popular musicians. They were really flagship keyboards at the time. But after G1000 Roland left the market with flagship arrangers to Yamaha and Korg. If you have some connections or if you know someone from Roland, I would like to know why did Roland leave the market with flagship arrangers after G1000. In Balkans some ppl still use Roland G1000 just because of nostalgia and many songs were recorded with Roland G800 and G1000.
I discovered synths about 2 years ago during pandemic and they introduced me a new world of music. And I agree with what you said in the beginning of the video, arrangers and synths world should be more bounded together.
BTW Yamaha Montage is not an arranger keyboard! Montage is a synth workstation. It can play accompaniment, but you don’t have intros, outros, fills and other knobs per function as arranger keyboards. Yamaha’s flagship arranger is Genos. So try it instead of Montage if you want the real arranger. Korg and Yamaha arrangers sound VERY different! So try both brands!
I’m glad I didn’t listen to my ex teacher about the arrangers, but instead kept my own opinion and your video is prove that his opinion is just an opinion! You are professional sound designer and if you didn’t say even a word against the sound of the arrangers and their approach to playing music, they aren’t bad!
Subscribed! :)
A tiny company called Sofeh has a virtual arranger keyboard called ORG24 which loads Korg styles and sound sets. It is available for Windows and IOS/padOS plus Android. I think it really hits the sweet spot in the iPad version.
If you run a €300-400 keyboard (Korg Yamaha) via outs into mixer and monitors it does sound pretty good. Let alone >€3000 keyboard/arrangers.
I know a few musicians that gig with arrangers. These instruments have come a long way in past decade.
I was in the market for a good digital piano, and the Roland Fantom 8 came into my attention when I looked into the market. The price point was about what I was looking at for dedicated pianos but of course it has all of the arranger stuff, too, so it was a no-brainer.
I've barely dipped my toes into that side of it, but what I did do it's clear how fun it can be.
Benn, Thank you for posting this video and taking this journey for all of us who "Had No Idea" that these things even existed. I really enjoyed this video. It was extremely entertaining to watch.
Thankyou for your in-depth review of the Korg PA-5X. My first arranger K/B was the Yamaha PSS-680 in 1988 which was purely for fun and experimental, not to mention it was learning curve. After a series of upgrades I have stopped at the Korg PA-4X-61 oriental making it one the best middle-eastern style keyboards ever made because of its quarter note scaling temperament properties. Having played in many bands and solo performances since I yet see a smoother sounding equipped simple to use k/b then that of the Korg.
I bought a Yamaha PSS-680 in 2021 and I like it because it sounds lofi and because the digital sybnthesizer is really fun to mess around with although my Yamaha
PSS-470 is arguably more fun because it's more basic but still capible of thousands of custom sounds or maybe I prefer the PSS-470 because it has sliders and
it also sounds a bit more gritty. Back in the 90s my 2 main arranger keyboards were a Yamaha PSS-790 which came out 2 years after the PSS-680 but the PSS-790
uses AWM sounds which were actually fairly decent by the standards of 30 years ago. My other main arranger was a Casio CT-700 and it still works, my newest
keyboard is my Yamaha PSR-295 even though I don't really use it as much now, I was going to buy a Yamaha Tyros 5 last year just before I resigned but because
of that I couldn't afford to spend over a grand on a flagship keyboard, another reason I didn't buy Tyros 5 in the end was because I sequence most of my stuff by hand
and don't really have any use for the auto accompaniments plus I also prefer the workflow using VST instruments like Halion 7 and Kontakt.
@@LittleRichard1988 and it was certainly a way ahead of its time, fun little unit to play around with.
Most people will never spend the kind of money required to buy this Korg, or the Yamaha Genos, but for $500 to $1500 you can still get an amazing machine that is really fun, but won't overwhelm you as much with the insane amount of features. The Yamaha PSR-E473 can astound you with it's capabilities for under $400. This machine is a little over the top. Great video though. Thanks for that.
My Yamaha PSR-295 is still my newest keyboard, the styles on that are still usable for midi sequencing or playing Christmas carols. Just over a year ago
I was set to buy a Tyros 5 but because a train strike prevented from being able to go to work and my boss was very unreasonable I resigned so in the end
I couldn't afford to spend over a grand on a keyboard. Also another reason I didn't buy an arranger keyboard is because I had no intention of really using
the auto accompaniments apart from maybe sampling some drum hits from the Tyros 5's audio styles and I would have been the proud owner of a Tyros
5 if I was still working and there wasn't a train strike preventing me from getting to work. But instead I'm using the money to buy sound modules, inexpensive
drum machines and vintage Casiotone and Yamaha Porta Sound keyboards which to be honest I think are more fun than this overpriced Korg PA-5X.
I have the roland FP E50 and i have to say i like mine more. its far more simplified. I am not doing arranger work though, but let me tell you, using this at home for band practice is unreal. The roland has bluetooth and if the band sends some audio or video over, I can play that and play along. I actually bought the roland because I needed a decent piano, but wanted an 88 key to control my modwave too lol
I get your feeling. I've been playing with synths since I was a kid in the 80s, and I've always been negative towards organs and arrangers since everyone saw it as a "no-effort" fun-box where you don't need to do anything else than 1-finger play with the chords following along, like a one-man-orchestra where all the music has been pre-made for you, you just direct the changes.
But who cares really? I mean - I think an arranger could be for me, yeah - I will admit to that 35 years later in my life. I have the Key 61 + Yamaha Montage (which kinda have an Arranger hidden in it, but...not super easy to use like the Genos), but I can safely say - playing on an Arranger is a heck of a lot more fun, just for the fun of it alone.
Okay the over head CAM plus face view is amazing! Much appreciated.
I got started as an amateur with an Atari ST, Pro-12, and a Yamaha PSS-480 back in ‘89, and upgraded through various keyboards and synths until I got to an SY-35 and realised that as much as I loved messing about with synths, I needed the ‘amateur’ performance features more than raw synth power. I dabbled with MIDI controller keyboards hooked to various PC-based softsynths, sequencers, etc. but never recaptured the joy of making music with that primitive (by todays standards) PortaSound ‘toy’ I started with. And now, here’s the Arranger Keyboard, which to my eye (and ear) looks and sounds like a PSS-480 on steroids and does EXACTLY what I want! Now all I have to do is figure out how to afford one.
I'm gonna need a full 3+ minute version of that first jam. This whole thing was a blast. Thanks Benn!
Among arranger music software, one of my favorites is ChordPulse. It's not the equal of BIAB(which is old, pretty comprehensive and has the UI of something that is those things) but the interface really drives at the heart of a harmony-driven writing process and lets you set up a basic fills-and-breaks arrangement in a few clicks.
There's a lot of trade-offs among arrangers, and it's not really in terms of the sound quality and sequences, but in what you want to commit to muscle memory, vs leave to a preset. And that's something that becomes clear as you work upwards from Casio's SA mini keyboards(which are, TBH, excellent) towards the higher-end stuff: you get more dedicated interfaces for things, and as with complex synths, it can cause some analysis paralysis.
I like Chordpulse because it's perfect for composing midi sequences to play through my Roland SC-88 Pro, it's similar to older versions of Band in a box in that it's
midi only as Band in a box used to be midi only until they introduced the so called "real tracks" in the late 2000s but if you have no use for "real tracks" and specifically
only want midi tracks then it makes sense to get Chordpulse as once you buy it you have free upgrades for life. I also still use auto accompaniments in my keyboards
including my Yamaha PSR-295 as a sketching tool for midi sequencing and I have also ordered a Casio MT-500 so I can create an arrangement starting from it's raw
and lofi sound then it might be cool to end up with a polished end product. The Casio SA keyboards are also fun as every kid in the 90s had one or knew someone
that had one!
I bought a used Korg M3 88 in 2009 for $650 and very quickly it became obsolete as Omnisphere and Zebra and NI stuff started being my go-to stuff. Plus it’s like 150lbs. I had the M3 out again last night and the combis and sounds are just excellent, and they load up really quickly. I mean - I have Komplete 14 CE and the string, piano, brass, woodwind etc sounds are comparable on the M3. Not quite Spitfire audio quality, but pretty close. The thing with these arranger/workstation synths is - they’re fun. Like keyboards were when you were little and you had those Casiotone and Yamaha PortaSound keyboards (I still have my Yamaha PSS-480 (with midi out!) and it still gets used in midi for a laugh - I’ve had it controlling Kontakt and Maschine for example). Plus these arrangers/workstations can be a really great standalone synth and controller outside combi/song/sequencer modes. Now back to my M3. Great review!