I am toying with the idea of purchasing a keyboard arranger, 61 key. I would welcome suggestions based on experience.

My main instrument is now a Yamaha CLP330 (GH3 style keyboard).

I would like to get one for less than $2000 and if possible, less than $1000.

Thanks.

Software like "One Man Band" will emulate a Yamaha arranger keyboard and even play Yamaha format "style" files using a computer and your CLP330.

I had an older Roland arranger keyboard, well I still have it in a closet. One of the things to think about is the musical taste or lack of same of the built-in accompaniment styles. My older Roland is filed with a billion patterns that must have been popular in the 1970's disco era. These instruments contain not just sounds and voices but music. Make sure you like the music.

I prefer software on the computer for this function because I think the user interface is better and gets better with each software update. And I'm spoiled by the much larger screen size.

The nice thing about an arranger kb is its portability making it very good for gigs. The auto accompaniment makes it a natural for a small 1 or 2 man band. Single performers usually sing but I can't sing so I gig with a sax player :-)

I have been very happy with my Yamaha PSR-S910 (and the PSR3000 before that). It has lots of really convenient features (like unlimited named registrations, split, layers, etc.). It goes for about $1750 but 15% off deals are readily available.

There is a very good user group, PSRtutorial.com, with lots of helpful tutorials and many forum resources for getting the most out of these kbs.

That said, I only use the arranger for gigs and a little light entertaining at home. For personal pleasure at home I prefer my acoustic piano.

Ed

I have OMB but I thought an arranger keyboard would work better because the sound would all come through my piano speakers.
Invalid ?

Also, unfortunately, I cannot always play things right "on time" and this way, the background would "wait" for me to play the chord with my left hand before continuing. This probably is not a good reason but it is my reason.
Poor idea ?

Casio just released a new arranger board--WK7500 for a street price of $499. It looks to have a lot on it for the money. It has a 16 track sequencer built in and has 800 sounds with built in accompaniment and rhythms. The keys are unweighted and it has USB MIDI which you may not care for as you can only connect to a computer. Otherwise, you can look at Korg, Yamaha, Roland. The new Juno's aren't bad for the money.

Have a look at Korg PA500.
If you want to use the piano as a Master keyboard or as a second keyboard you should be most happy with this it has the most professional MIDI configurability. It looks like a toy dont let this confuse you ....

There is also a new Roland BK-7m auto accomp compact module which looks very interesting. This could obviously be operated from another keyboard. I am due to review it for a magazine article in the near future but have not seen the product yet.

This does look very interesting. My only concern would be how to determine if it will be able to be fully usable with my Yamaha CLP330. There may be some sounds (drums, specifically) which my digital may not be able to reproduce due to technical shortcomings.

I had to look this up on Roland's web site. It appears the tones are generated inside the BK-7m. It's not for sending MIDI to your piano. Your piano would send MIDI to the unit.

I still like software but it looks like the advantage of this thing is the physical knobs and buttons that are easier to use than a mouse.

That said most MIDI software can be configured to use a "control surface". You tell it to map some of the features to the surface's physical controls.

As of this date (Saturday,12 March) Sweetwater is STILL waiting for a shipment of the WK-7500's. They're supposed to be in next week and Sweetwater reportedly has a 2x line around the block worth of pre-orders!

More features for you here:


http://www.casio.com/products/Musical_Instruments/Workstation/WK-7500/

Well, as usual, my search is uncovering some other options ... more expensive (of course)...

CASIO AP620 and KAWAI MP6

Anyone with experience with either of these ?

Any thoughts on them ?