Style-O-Mat
With todays arranger keyboards the auto-generated sequences played by the instruments in order to make up for a missing band don't sound as static and stubborn as they used to do in the early days. Despite that they can quickly become tiresome and overused which leads to a bad reputation nevertheless. This article introduces many short tips and tricks which helps you to enhance your performance and to make the style-o-mat sound more dynamic. (Note all information given is based on Yamaha instruments but should transfer quite easily to other brands).
So with the Tyros 3 being released now you might with "recent instruments" I'm talking about the Tyros area of arranger keyboards. IN fact those are great instruments with many advanced features. But there's quite a lot to explore even with older instruments like my PSR-2000. (Built arouund 2001) and most tricks should work on even older instruments like the PSR-9000 or PSR-740, too.
Note, this article is based on a series of postings I made to the Yamaha-PSR-Styles Yahoo group in October 2008.
You most probably did know this already. Intro 1 of most styles contains a simple count-in. In case it's a one-bar count-in (just 1, 2, 3, 4) it can be used instead of the Break Fill pattern. Just hit Intro 1 as fast as you can at the first beat of a bar and either wait for it to finish or press Fill In during the second half of the bar for even more variations.
This is a particular nice trick which is not so obvious. With many styles you can use Ending 2 to replace the Fill Self pattern. (Fill In from one variation to the same). Just press Ending 2 instead of Fill Self and press Fill In during the second half of the first bar to interrupt it again. With a little practice this makes for very different Fill Ins which greatly widen the dynamics of the performance.
I remember the PSR-9000 which only featured some pre-sequenced demo songs which were quite obviously recorded using some sort of sequencer software. But starting around the PSR-2000 Yamaha also included style demos built into the instruments which show off the style-o-mat's capabilities.
If you listen closely to those demos and watch panel LEDs you'll notice that sometimes they change variations without Fill-Ins. The trick is to create some sort of crescendo (or decrescendo) just by selecting the right style variation for a given part. (Sometimes it's just two or four bars before they silently go back to previous variation)
With just a little practice this is a totally new way of creating dynamics. Because not only are you able to emphasize a given part (switching to another variation and then quickly switching back, both without Fill-In) you can also increase the power step-by-step. Listen how powerful Main D can sound although it's often a slight variation of Main C when you're coming from Main B. A quick sequence like Main B -> Main C -> Main D without Fill-Ins can sound much more powerful as with Fill-Ins.
On most instruments there are two possibilities in order the surpass the automatic Fill-Ins. You can turn off "Auto Fill". This makes the variations change on full bars (just like before, you see the variation LEDs blinking in the meantime) but without Fill-Ins. Or you can leave "Auto Fill" on and double-press the variation buttons. This makes for an immediate change with a slight drum fill.
Many should know that already. There are two ways (again) two achieve a half-bar Fill-In and thus to enhance the performance.
The easier one is to delay the Fill-In. Don't push the button an beat 1 of a bar but wait for beat 3 or even beat 4. This makes the Fill In begin later and thus sound more decent and less obvious or static.
Another possibility is to interrupt the Fill-In in between. Just press the Fill Button anytime after the Fill-In begun. Or quickly change to another variation (double press the Main button for immediate change). That way you get some "odd" timing which can make the missing part of the Fill-In sound like a short break.
That's one of my favorites. The Yamaha style machine is able to respond in a very dynamic and very musical manner to quick changes. (Though this might surprise some of you ;). This means you can basically assemble your own Fill-Ins during the performance.
Don't wait for a started Fill-In to just finish. Play with the remaining Fill buttons and listen how the instrument responds. Try something like this (all within one bar):
Fill D -> Fill C
Fill D -> Fill B -> Fill D
Fill A -> Fill B
Fill D -> Fill B -> Ending 1 (at the end of a song)
Each time the instrument tries to blend-over the drums (as well as the other parts). As a result you get completely new Fill-Ins with a great variety.
