Keyboard Madness

JimBeta

The King of the Sofa
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I play on arranger keyboards, which are musical instruments featuring 200 to 400 or more styles.

These styles are essentially music patterns.

With the left hand, one can alter the tone of the music patterns, thus creating a sort of melody.

The right hand is typically used to play a melody, but I choose not to.


I am captivated by the styles and their impressive sound quality, so much so that I focus on creating chord progressions with my left hand and develop tracks in this manner.

I endeavor to find a melody within the style itself, despite it inherently lacking one, by paying attention to the instruments and the pattern provided.

My goal is to craft a musical piece using the chord progressions and the array of variations available on the keyboards.


Currently, I own six arranger keyboards: a Casio CT-X 5000, a Korg EK-50L, a Roland BK 3, a Yamaha PSR E 473, Yamaha PSR SX 700, and a vintage Roland E600.


My aim is to utilize all of them, exploring as many styles as possible and discovering compatible chord progressions.


I have three rounds of purchases that are quite certain to occur.

Round 1 includes the arranger keyboard Casio CT-X 5000, which I already own, and the Thomann AK-X1100, which I plan to buy next month. Additionally, there's a vintage Roland E600 keyboard that, despite being over 20 years old, has remarkably good styles.

Round 2 comprises the Korg EK 50L and the Roland BK 3, both of which I own, as well as the Yamaha PSR SX 700, which I also possess.

Round 3 involves the Yamaha PSR E473, which I've ordered, a medium-priced keyboard in the 500-800 € range that I still need to select, and the Roland E A7, which I unfortunately also need to buy.

This will take some time as I plan to purchase a bag for each from Thomann for easier storage.
This is part of a multi-year plan.

I began with the first round, using the Casio CT-X5000, which cost me 399€ and is considered by me to be an affordable keyboard.
I've created several tracks and plan to release them gradually as I develop new ones.

My goal is to include at least one track from each genre section on the keyboard. While it may not be feasible to cover every style, I strive to come as close as possible.

Considering the substantial costs associated with this creative process, I've decided to charge a minimum of 1€ for a round of genre selections. If a genre section contains only five buttons, I'll offer two rounds for the same price.

Albums will typically feature 5-10 tracks, but regardless of the number, the price will always be 1€.

This nominal fee serves as a way to support my work.

I also have a website, check it out: https://www.jimmyeyckmansmusicroom.be/

I have released the first album, with chord progressions from the Casio CT-X5000 on bandcamp
https://kingofthesofa.bandcamp.com/album/keyboard-madness

To just listen to the latest album, check out my Soundcloud
https://soundcloud.com/jimthekingofthesofa%2Fsets%2Fkeyboard-madness
I will add a track from the album daily to this topic.
 
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For even more variety, you could trigger multipads with your right hand, or just play riffs of notes matching the current chord.

Two great additions to your hardware collection (for not a ton of money) would be the Yamaha QY-70 and Roland PMA-5. These portable "walkstations" are like hand-held MIDI sequencers packed with musical patterns (phrases.) They were designed to facilitate exactly what you're trying to do with your keyboards, except you can take them anywhere! In the park, on an airplane, etc. Both of the ones I mentioned date to the last Century. As the industry got away from MIDI and moved toward launching audio clips, they were never replaced. As a MIDI guy myself, I think of them as under-appreciated gems that are still amazing for their intended purpose.

As a bonus feature, the QY-70 has a MIDI "in." If you feed it with a chord of at least 3 notes on an external controller, the patterns will transpose like an arranger! Yamaha never made a true arranger module, but the QY-series are pretty close.
 

happyrat1

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Personally my choice for sequencers is the Arturia Keystep Pro. 4 channel real time sequencer with motion recording and 256 empty patterns per channel to program.
 

JimBeta

The King of the Sofa
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I may share up to 2 tracks a day to be able to share the album within a week, would like to release 1 album a week as long as I can. Since there are ten tracks, 1 song every day would come every 10 days, which is a bit long since I have a lot of work and will therefore have to be able to release more to catch up.

The first track today is an 8/16 beat song, it reminded me of kids playing carefree with each other, don't ask me why
https://soundcloud.com/jimthekingofthesofa%2Fthe-joy-of-children
 

JimBeta

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Be sure to check the website out, I have created a blog section too and will try to give regular updates on the progression of things
 

JimBeta

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Good chord progression which fits the style perfectly. Slower track but good build up in my opinion.
I believe I used a latin style for this one. Named the track When the Light Comes Through.
You can find listening and buying options on my website:

https://soundcloud.com/jimthekingofthesofa%2Fwhen-the-light-comes-through
 

JimBeta

The King of the Sofa
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As mentioned in my blog, I acquired the Yamaha PSR E437 today, and while I'm not disappointed, I am somewhat disheartened.

I will eventually appreciate this keyboard, despite its flaws, but it has prompted me to reconsider my entire approach.
I had planned to complete this keyboard in round two, but I must confess that listening to all its styles might become monotonous due to the quality not being exceptional.
Thus, I am faced with the reality, which is normal but previously unconsidered, of possessing keyboards that aren't outstanding but are capable of producing pleasant sounds.
I realized I needed more variety.

It dawned on me that I don't need to release all styles simultaneously, as I currently do, intending to create all possible styles with the Casio CT-X 5000 and then move on to the next keyboard.
Instead, if I release tracks from different keyboards each time, it won't matter if one is of lesser quality, because the subsequent one will likely be a bit better.
This approach will introduce more variation, and if a keyboard isn't as good as the others, you won't have to endure the entire set, but just one genre round, which I'll now explain.
Each keyboard has genre buttons for various genres. I will complete one genre round and release that. If the content falls below five due to some genres having fewer styles than others, I will do two rounds to ensure at least five tracks are always available.

I'm considering featuring an album next from the Roland E600 since I've already created many chord progressions with that keyboard.
I will now take some time to explore the Yamaha PSR E473 and decide my next steps with it. Perhaps I'll begin creating an album with it to follow the Roland E600 album.

Follow my blog to always stay updated about things.
https://www.jimmyeyckmansmusicroom.be/
 

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