by Hugh-AR » 12 Oct 2017 00:11
I have an observation about the AR80/AR100 (they are both the same as far as STYLES are concerned) and a question to ask about STYLES on other keyboards.
When I play a chord with a STYLE (with no voices allocated to notes, so you just hear the Style Backing) I had thought that once the chord was recognised (and you could play any inversion of the chord anywhere on the left of the keyboard split) the resulting 'pattern' of the backing would be the same whatever chord you played. So if you played a C chord, the notes of the backing would be based on C; then if you changed to an F chord the notes of the backing would be based on F .. but the backing pattern would be the same.
But I realised that with my AR this is not the case. To illustrate this I have chosen two STYLES, one called Slow Foxtrot, from Ballroom; and the other called Dixieland, from Swing/Jazz. In this Demo I am just playing the Style 'straight', and in each case I am playing four bars of F, followed by four bars of G, then Bb, then C7 .. and back to F. The second STYLE follows on from the first one.
If you listen carefully to the first Style, there appears to be three 'patterns'. When it starts (F chord) there is a sort of 'skip' in the bass, and a 'skip' in the guitar on the off-beat. G sounds the same. Then for Bb, the bass has lost it's 'skip', but the off-beat chord remains the same. Finally, for C, both the bass and the guitar have lost their 'skip', and the off-beat chord has suddenly gone quieter!
On the second Style, F and G are the same. Bb and C are the same, but are completely different to F and G .. apart from the banjo, which seems to carry on regardless. For Bb and C you have a very busy backing of trumpets and a sliding trombone.
All I can say is that I have never noticed this before. I reckon it's Yamaha doing some clever stuff with their backings. If you had the same 'pattern' whatever chord you played the backing would get very boring very quickly. But by changing the pattern when you change the chord you play you get a different overall sound. Listening to the second Style, you wouldn't want that 'busy' pattern for Bb and C to go on right through the whole piece. It would drive you nutty! So a 'quieter' pattern when you play F or G is good.
To be honest, I can hardly believe that you get a different backing on these two STYLES depending on the chord you play! This means that the overall sound of the piece you are playing is dependent on the key you are playing it in!
Just an observation. I was wondering if other keyboards did something similar. Please let me know!
By the way, when I program a backing of my own into a 'Style', the 'pattern' remains the same whatever chord I play .. my pattern.
Hugh
It's all about the music ♫ ♪ ♫ Organ: Yamaha AR80 & Keyboard: Tyros 4
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