Topic: How Many Styles Do We Need ?

[Graham UK]

Over the years many of us enjoy downloading and testing styles.
But how many styles do we really require ?
I have select two banks of 10 giving me 20 styles, these have been adjusted with Volume  DSP before resaving.
Many of the styles variation fours can be too busy, so style parts can be muted and resaved with a new name.

I have many of my favourite Voice RGT banks (STY not ticked) that can be played with any style selected.

Apart from muting style parts, my DGX670 with it’s very good voice samples has a button named SIMPLE which just leaves Bass & Drums.
Myself I no longer need all the bells and whistles from a top end arranger and I have find my playing has improved.

Or was it just changing to a different Whisky Brand responsible !!!

[Divemaster]

I tend to go through style lists which I keep on my PC. Many thousands of them.
But then I only keep the ones I play on a regular basis on a USB stick.
I have several sticks depending on what I'm playing.
But I never download styles directly to the keyboard.

[DrakeM]

You need as many as it takes to get the job done.

Lucky you’re a happy with so few. When I am playing my guitar, I only need “one”, and I am happy.

I started collecting with my S950. First I added any old Yamaha named styles that were not on my keyboard from the older models. Then as each new keyboard comes out, I add any new style names that each keyboard has to my collection.

Then when Yamaha began giving away free the style packs and I was able to learn how they can be converted to use in my older keyboard, I collected all those styles but only converted the categories I feel I would really use. The other packs of styles I keep in case someone else may need them and I pass them along to them.

I have just 4 other style collections that members have shared that are original (not just Yamaha altered) styles made by them.

I do have thousands more that are Song Named. I used to use them years ago as a starting point when I first began creating my own custom song styles. I don’t use them anymore. I now start by searching for the correct drummer and bass patterns for the style and then the correct break needed for the particular song I am creating.

Well, that’s my reason for collecting so many and how I use them at some point.

Regards
Drake

[Amwilburn]

Agree with Drake, as many as you need; but I'm in a unique position, not only do I need one for each song, but also one for each platform I'm demoing on, if possible (e.g. a Tyros 1/PSR3000 version, a T2 version, an s950/CVP605 version, a T3/CVP509 version, an s970/CVP705/sx700 version, a T4/CVP609 version, an sx900/CVP805/905 version, A T5/CVP709 version, a G1/CVP809/909 version, and now a G2 version.

So as many song styles as you need, but also as many versions as you'd need. For example, in most cases I wouldn't need a T4 *and* an s970 version if I just use the voices and drums common to both.

Because ask Charley (Rattly) said: while all these styles sound great on G2, if they're not *optimized* for G2, they don't sound as great as they should. Same goes for styles optimized for G1. One of my G1 customers requested a style, I made several versions, and let him try them, and unsurprisingly he liked the one designed for his G1 the best; the other versions were *similar* but really *not* identical.

Even my latest Final Fantasy Youtube video I have  T1, T2, T3, T4 T5 and now Genos version (there was literally *no* difference between the T4, T5 and G1 versions so I skipped those; because all 3 have *identical* choir voices and use the same symphony drum kit, which in turn has been in use since the T1. (but there are huge voice differences between the T1, T2, and T3 regarding the accompaniment voices used).

Mark

[pjd]

Apart from muting style parts, my DGX670 with it’s very good voice samples has a button named SIMPLE which just leaves Bass & Drums.

Myself, I no longer need all the bells and whistles from a top end arranger and I have find my playing has improved.

Gotta agree and I'm off the sauce. 

Yamaha seems to have a "less is more" philosophy for auto-accompaniment in its piano line(s) making drum+bass the default. I'm all in -- it leaves more space for the player and interpretation. On Genos, I tend to build demos from simple drum and bass. OK, guitar, maybe, cuz I can't play gitter.

I agree with Drake -- enough to git'er done. 

Keep having fun -- pj

[Mike Brotherton]

The problem I have with Styles with my Tyros 3 is not which style to include on playing a selected song, but the sheer volume of information available

I have 8 of the 101 Buskers Books, half a dozen album collections such as Frank Sinatra, Cole Porter, Barbera Streisand, Plus downloaded sheet music some of the songs I know some I have never heard of.  This is well over a thousand songs.    My daily practice session starts with.  “Now what shall I play today?”  I require the music. I learnt my music as a chorister and a duty was to page turn for the organist.  At random I will select a Buskers Book (different one each day) run through the index yes know that one, that one etc but will always come across ones "oh don’t know that one" and give it a whirl.  Let's say Book 3 page 3 a song called “Again” written by Lionel Newman.  That’s not bad after a few attempts it sounds vaguely familiar, who’s recorded it?  Quite a few.  Tommy Dorsey, Nicki Parrot, Etta James, Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, Doris Day, Vera Lynn, Beegie Adair (who?) that’s 9 versions on You Tube, Wikipedia gave a few more .  Nat King Coles version probably the most popular but, what was in Lionel Newman’s head when he wrote it in 1947.  Tommy Dorsey played it in the film Road House 1948 which I am assuming is was in Lionel Newman’s head when he wrote it in 1947.  But the version I really like is Errol Garner.  Nat King Coles version is similar to Glen Miller’s "At Last" which will do for now till I can find a Tommy Dorsey sound alike.  But there are hundreds of styles to go through. Charleys recent inclusion on this site has 39 styles for  my Tyros maybe it is one of those who knows?  This is the joy of playing a music arranger.  To make life easier I am working on a set of linking spread sheets starting with a 8 song Gig list 8 x 4 mins gives half an hour linked to the Busker books which then links to info on registrations from downloads or usb memory sticks.  A work in Progress

[J. Larry]

I’m covered up, as well, with fakebooks, sheet music downloads, and styles on top of styles.  The fakebooks are kept mainly as resources for finding/learning requested tunes.  For styles, I use onboard styles primarily.  Most of the time I can find something that fits and don’t have to spend a lot of time tinkering and editing third-party styles.  Onboard styles, to my ear, always sound better. 

[Mike Brotherton]

I agree as I did with your previous posted comments on this subject.
I watched the film Road House (1948) today.  Not the best of films to watch, standard boy meets girl boy loses girl boy gets girl back.  The music “Again” plays very faintly in the beginning and then we hear Ida Lupino sing it behind a piano but we do not see the keys.  Does she play or does she not?  I was wrong about the Tommy Dorsey suggestion.   Problem one only hears passages of her performance as it plays through running of the plot.  I managed to hear the full recording on YouTube, surprised at the slow tempo and have to take this version as what was in Lionel Newman’s head at time of writing the score.  Still prefer the Errol Garner version and the Tommy Dorsey is a good runner up.

[Graham UK]

Over my 50+ years owning keyboards. No keyboard sounds it's best out of the box.
Manufactures set a middle ground for Style Part Balance and OTS volumes & DSP & Reverb/Effects.
This is to allow the user to make adjustments to his/her preferences.

Attending keyboard demonstrations you often hear people saying they have the same model at home but it does not sound as good as the demonstrators keyboard.
Nothing to do with professional playing we are TALKING JUST ABOUT SOUND QUALITY.
We all hear differently but I was privileged to work in Sound & Audio for a large part of my working life and was paid for doing something I loved.
If you are happy with standard factory settings then that's fine but you are missing out how good a keyboard can sound with a few adjustments.

[mikf]

Like most I was fascinated by styles to begin with, but over time I have really become a bit bored with them. I have gone back to piano playing on my CVP using only very basic styles to add to the playing. Drums, bass maybe some strings.  So I don’t need a lot of styles. 
Mike

[SciNote]

I probably play somewhat differently than most on here, probably due to learning to play keyboard on Classic home organs.  I only use the style for the drums, and on my PSR-E433, I usually rotate through about a dozen or so styles for all the different songs I play.  I then play as much as I can for bass with my left hand, and use both hands to fill in background accompaniment.  Because of this, I have searched and found a few sounds that give me the best "bang for the buck" as a left hand bass and accompaniment sound -- sounds that have enough punch for the bass, but are not too overwhelming when playing 2-3 notes with the left hand, and that will not fade out too quickly so that I can hold down notes for a measure or two.  Additionally, I do use a second keyboard -- a Roland Gaia SH-01 synth -- along with my E433, allowing me to jump to that keyboard for various fill-ins and orchestral changes without having to mess with any buttons.

[andyg]

Attending keyboard demonstrations you often hear people saying they have the same model at home but it does not sound as good as the demonstrators keyboard.
Nothing to do with professional playing

Having heard that comment for around the same time as you, starting with organ demonstrations long before keyboards came about, I'd say that it actually has an awful lot to do with the playing skills, as well as the abilities of the demonstrators to get the best out of the instrument. They usually know it inside out, upside down and backwards. Do we (and I have to include myself) adjust from the 'stock' settings? Of course we do, though I'd usually make a point of showing some things 'out of the box' as well. Did we use extra speakers/amplification? Depended on the venue. 1500 seater theatre - of course. In-store party? Hardly ever, again dependent on the size of the dealer's shop.

The first Hammond organ show I went to was presented by the UK's "Mr Hammond", Keith Beckingham. I can't quote him exactly from memory but it went something like this. "You know, some people tell me that they'd give their right arm to make their Hammond sound like this. I tell them that's not a practical solution!"

[MadrasGiaguari]

My final target are Song/Styles. Presently I made with Genos more than 450 Song/Styles.

They are based on Preset and downloaded Styles, also from past arrangers and new arrangers, as Genos2. For each Song/Styles I work intensively to taylor the original Style to the mood of the song I want to play.

By using (almost) a single Style for one Style/Song only , the final repertory results very variated and not monotonous.

That's way I like to have a wide choice of Styles for selecting the one that would fit to the target Style/Song. In this respect it is basic to listen to many, many Styles and briefly play that  song, until you get a real good one.

Ciao,

Angelo

[porterma]

Hi Angelo,
I like your answer to this question and it sounds like you have a great collection of song/styles for your Genos 1.
I was just wondering if you had shared these styles with anyone or had posted then any where on the Forum?
I have a Genos 1 and I would love to try your style collection on my keyboard if you are willing to share.

Thanks for your post.

Mark

[travlin-easy]

From my perspective, you cannot have too many styles. Each style has it's own song, many are song specific, and each time I download a new batch of styles, they bring to mind a new song to learn to play and sing. Learning to play and sing new songs is what kept me in business for more than 4 decades. If someone requested a song I didn't know, I would tell them I don't know that song, but the next time I am here, I will perform it for JUST for YOU! It was rare that I didn't keep those promises to my clients.

Gary