novice question

Bear with me!! I have a nice digital piano and all I wasnt to do is play various tracks like these "one man bands" you see at bars etc. Ive asked plenty of people who supposedly know and have been given 100 different answers. I believe I need some better kind of sound generator and a sequencer. Yes....no?? Please guys...plain english!!

A digital piano does one thing and it's very good in that - giving you the feeling of a real piano without the bulk of the size and weight, and a few sounds, of which most of the attention is put towards emulating a piano as good as possible.

 

A player in a one-man-band uses something different; either an arranger or a workstation.

 

An arranger is a keyboard with a large variety of sounds that has a number of built-in rhythms in "popular" styles. While the quality of sounds is usually OK, it's usually not as focused on perfectly imitating a piano as your digital piano does. It generally doesn't have weighted keys, either - just light-weight plastic ones for the sake of portability.

 

An arranger assumes that you do not want to tweak/modify/design sounds, it assumes that you will use "bread & butter" sounds (realistic instruments opposed to synthetic instruments), and it assumes that when you record a song, you don't want to record every track of drums, bass, chords, and the other accompaniment. It is able to generate a complete melody on a single chord, or even a single or two keys. There's usually a "shortcut" system so you can play most basic chords with two-three fingers at most. Choose the root note and major/minor/7th by pressing the no key except the root, the lower black key below the root, or the lower white key below the root).

 

A workstation is similar, except that it usually allows you to tweak/modify/design sounds, it usually does not come with built-in rhythms, and it's got extras (like a sampler or virtual analog synthesizer) that you wouldn't need on an arranger. The big versions also have weighted keyboards.

 

Most of the time the arrangers are the most popular; a lot of existing songs and standards are available and you can upload 'm to the keyboard using floppy disks, flash memory cards or an USB cable.

 

It sounds like you're looking for an arranger. What's your budget?

 

Anyway, check out the Yamaha PSR-series, the Korg PA-series and the Roland E-series; pick the one you can afford.

 

Here's an example of an arranger: http://www.synthmania.com/psr-3000.htm

Here's a workstation: http://www.synthmania.com/equinox_61.htm

Finally someone who explained it! Thanks so much I will go look at the arrangers. I see Mus Friend has the Yamaha PSR3000 for 1500. I can deal with that. Ill keep the digital and have the best of both worlds. One question. Can I lay down the piano track, then the bass etc. or do I have to go with whatever the PSR gives me? Hope I made mtself clear.

I've only had 1 "flagship" arranger - a Yamaha PSR-500. It had a sequencer that allowed you to record 6 tracks, but it didn't offer editing afterwards (such as quantizing, which "pulls" the notes to the right places on a grid - so sloppy playing could be corrected). It also offered you to make your own accompaniment rhythms.

 

Since arrangers only have gotten more advanced during the years, I'm pretty certain (after studying the picture, pretty much 100%) that you can just record your stuff freely, or played over an accompaniment rhythm. http://www.arrangerworkstation.com/3000btm.html#12 confirms this - see "multi-track recording".

 

I don't know how many tracks you have, but random guess - 16 (as much as there are MIDI channels).

Originally posted by EJC Bear with me!! I have a nice digital piano and all I wasnt to do is play various tracks like these "one man bands" you see at bars etc. Ive asked plenty of people who supposedly know and have been given 100 different answers. I believe I need some better kind of sound generator and a sequencer. Yes....no?? Please guys...plain english!!

 

What digital piano model do you have?

 

Do you want to play the dig. piano in your live one man show, but also have other sounds as well - accompaniment? If so, you might consider using a laptop w/sequencing software - you bring the dig. piano and play it along to the sequences running off the laptop.

 

The "arranger workstation" method Yoozer references is also good and prob'ly allows for more spontaneity - but the actual feel of the keys of the keyboard on the arrangers will not feel as nice your dig. piano, for sure.

 

I agree, the keys on arrangerers most always feel horrid! I recommend sequencing with a laptop or getting a workstation. It's also alot more creative and fun to make your own rythms and tracks.

Yes I do like the keys and action on my dp. The laptop/sequencing software idea sounds inviting, which begs the question what s.w. does one suggest to the beginer? All I really wan to do is get some accompianment (bass,drms and maybe some strings). Thanks all for the response!

Originally posted by EJC Yes I do like the keys and action on my dp. The laptop/sequencing software idea sounds inviting, which begs the question what s.w. does one suggest to the beginer? All I really wan to do is get some accompianment (bass,drms and maybe some strings). Thanks all for the response!

 

For live accompaniment:

SoundTrek JAMMER Live 1

http://www.soundtrek.com/content/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=11

 

 

For music composition:

1# PG Music Band-in-a-Box

http://www.pgmusic.com/bandbox.htm

2# SoundTrek JAMMER Pro

http://www.soundtrek.com/content/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=25