New Realtime arranger software announcement

[Henni]

Installed the demo today. Everything works as stated. Some effects on some guitars are really AWESOME and inspire me to try for better effects on styles! I am having a ball with my new demo software. No harm done in trying it out as it did come for free at 63MB only.

[Henni]

Since there is no demo for vArranger, I cannot compare. What I CAN say is that there are some stunning effects added to many of the guitar voices. It seems like Groovyband is mostly about adding more effects to styles. Yamaha styles are generally known for relying heavily on effects, so these new effects do add great value to the nearly 900 supplied styles.

Pity I cannot duplicate these results direct on my arranger as I now miss those effects sorely after auditioning the Groovyband styles. (i.e. my new 220CountryStraitsRvo style is as close as I can come to theirs) It would have been wonderful to use the program to add those effects and then afterwards use the style direct on the arranger like any other style.

Also, according to the documentation they've added the same Revo drum technology that the Genos uses in that every drum note is different to the previous one.

I am having a lot of fun playing around with this free demo.

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[rodrigo.b]

Thanks Rodrigo for your feedback.

Could you please tell us what is your arranger and the computer you are using Groovyband Live! with? (Desktop, laptop, tablet, with touch screen?).

We would also like to know more details about what you liked (and why) and what you did not.

I don't like the GUI, it's very hard for me to do things.

[Henni]

I really enjoy your free demo as I love good styles.

I think your software should be good for someone doing studio work with Yamaha styles. Maybe you should add a song/style sequencer so that a complete song can be arranged from scratch. Then one can add all the effects and when done record the final song with voice direct on the Yamaha arranger.

Else you should at least include ALL of the Revo drums and all other new voices from the Genos to justify the price. This way one can upgrade to a "Genos" at a fraction of the actual cost. For this your price would be competitive as you no longer compete against other virtual arrangers but rather against other modules like i.e. the SD90.

Why I consider this to be possible is the fact that Varranger can re-produce most Yamaha Genos voices rather faithfully through a PC only - no need to use the Yamaha arranger engine for that. Hence you can leave everything as is and add only the extra non standard PSR S770 voices utilizing the PC hardware/software though the "Aux In" of the Yamaha and synchronize all of this to the rest of the style.

I myself would seriously consider purchasing such a beast!

[Al Ram]

You probably did not install it correctly (icons on desktop are created automatically by the installer). For sure you did not read the manual (the installation chapter also clearly explains how to uninstall the program). If you start it from folder you miss the right privileges and the software will NOT start, with the error message you see (course of action explained in the manual).

Do not be lazy. I suggest to do your homework again, and possibly use the support on the Web site (more infos will be required, including the log file).

Current build is 19021.

The initial post on this topic was several months ago.

I was one of the first respondents . . . asking some questions.

The vendor response to me was not what I was expecting . .  basically, i was told to read the manuals.   

Above you can see another response from the software vendor to another member of this forum . . . 'You did not read the manuals"  . . . . "do your homework" . . .  "Do not be lazy . . . . "

I do not consider these responses as good customer service.  If you see the responses from this vendor thru this post. . in my opinion, there is a negative  attitude and not good customer service.

Sorry to say this but I really do not think this vendor has well developed customer service manners and would not buy or test anything from this organization.

This is only my personal opinion, others may differ.

thanks 

[Henni]

The supplied styles are really of outstanding quality. I'll record some demos soon and post here for all to listen.

I find the interface good. Yes, it takes getting used to, but a lot of really important info are displayed on the fly and my worn eyes can at least read everything with ease.

[Henni]

Here are some Groovy Band Live style demos that I've recorded on my PSR S770:

Groovy01

Groovy02

Groovy03

Groovy04

Groovy05

Groovy06

[Henni]

Some more Groovy Band Live! demos recorded using the demo program to my PSR S770:

Groovy07

Groovy08

Groovy09

Groovy10

Groovy11

Groovy12

Groovy13

Groovy14

Groovy15

More to come...

[zofman]

I think this commercial has lastet long enough...

[Henni]

I think this commercial has lastet long enough...

Mate, I think you are rude dude - but hey, that's just me. This software is more direct Yamaha related than ANY other similar soft synth software but you would not tolerate it on a purely Yamaha forum? What do you REALLY have against these folks?

Tell me in ALL HONESTY, what have YOU! contributed to this forum that is constantly being used by others? MMmmmm... I thought as much-

In any case, I pondered all day about this software. Here are my thoughts in words for those who care to know:

1. a Chord sequencer is a MUST have - every studio utilizing any Yamaha styles should have this software.
2. Limiting styles between the different versions is a serious put-off.
3. If more people purchased this, I would have loved to create/modify more high quality styles for them.
4. The existing styles really are of outstanding quality - ready for recordings as is.
5. The extra variations, breaks, OTS's & fills can mean a lot for detailed recordings.
6. I like the registration function.
7. It would be nice if voices from installed packs could also be used in styles.
8. That way I could add real Revo drums which would boost the styles tremendously.
9. That way I could add human choir voices which would boost some styles also.
10. If I had the funds, I would have purchased a copy.
11. I could do a LOT with the free demo program if used for recordings only. I could create extremely high quality backtrax with it as is plus the demo version comes with ALL the styles.

Henni

[Henni]

I downloaded a 63MB demo version of Groovy Band Live! for free. It runs for around 10 minutes at a time forever. Yes, I cannot save, but I received ALL the styles and it is FULLY functional. I can use this demo to make studio quality recordings of any song I fancy should I wish to do so.

The least I could do is give my feedback/evaluation on this program. Everyone criticized the GHENOS pack when it was discussed here, yet to this day I am so glad I purchased it. I utilize it EVERY single day and I have not spent better value for money on my Yamaha as yet.

To this day I simply cannot understand the animosity displayed by some on other things of value direct Yamaha related. No one is forced to read here. I love good styles. Well, I've found some VERY good ones in this package and I love to demo them to those interested.

Rest assured they are not going to swindle you out of your hard earned cash. And they are also not stealing from Yamaha. They've found a way to add more effects to styles and are utilizing it to the fullest in a totally legal way. And they did a GREAT job of it to should you at all care to properly investigate before voicing your opinion.

[terryB]

Well said Henni  , and thanks for taking the time to post some demo s of the styles.
Cheers Terry

[panos]

Hi Henni,
sometimes we may be negative about something not because we don't like it but because they give us not enough demo's and answers to like it or not.
Sometimes not answering questions make us even more cautious whether to buy something or not.
And if someone is taking part in a project and pretends that he is a "happy customer" who bought the pack and feels excited about it,then is where I get.... excited too

Anyway....
Listening to the above demos I could hear and recognize styles that they are presets on our keyboards.
If they are exactly the same?
No they are not, at least not on my s750.
The same way as I can hear the same styles to have different and better voicing and to be differently and better equalized on the Genos and on the SX900 for example.

I will give just some examples from the dance category on my s750 and how these styles are called in there.
Groovy009.mp3
time
00:01 6-8 Trance
00:28 70's Disco1
00:37 70's Discofun
00:47 Discophilly
01:26 80's Disco
The list could go on but you can understand that time is.... life 

So lets say that if I have bought this program in which percentage those styles would already have been installed on my keyboard as presets even if they weren't that good revoiced and equalized that those on that program.

I hope that everybody can understand why we are asking for demos to listen to something before we try or buy it.

Please don't get me wrong I don't have any problem with any style pack or program or a style maker or a developer.

[Henni]

Hi Panos,

Yes, of course most are the same styles from PSR, SX & Genos series(they never stated different), but with different effects and sometimes better voices added to them. Makes for a HUGE difference as these effects are not at all possible using the Yamaha default style engine.

Now, you can edit these styles freely with this program: add, delete & modify effects. Change voices. Change style parts. Add eight OTS settings. And many, many more. I can copy/paste some of their comments from another forum should you wish.

No need for demos - the demo program IS!!! the demo. Hook to your PSR, set up the midi parameters and play to your heart's content with the supplied styles. (850!)

I like the program more & more with every moment I use it. Right now I think it IS!!! possible to play live with it. Left hand ONLY used for chords, right hand free for all the touch screen selections. 8 Variations, 8 Fills, 2 Breaks, 8 OTS settings! If I can afford it, I'll definitely upgrade my unit with something that has a touch pad to run this software.

It upgrades a PSR immediately! As soon as you connect, you arranger sounds much, much improved.

Download the demo & play with it. It is the ONLY way to find out what this program is all about.

Henni

[zofman]

Well well, Henni,
Talking about rude....
You probably got a free license of the software.
No bother to reply. I asked Joe to delete my account.
I dont want to be a part of a forum that replies only to incrowd and that prohibbits commercial posts ecxept for......
By
Jan

[Henni]

You probably got a free license of the software.

I did not expect anything else coming from you - & cheers on your way out.

What Groovyband Live! DID offer me yesterday was to upgrade my demo to allow using the voices from my GHENOS pack to be used in styles. Now I am REALLY looking forward to this. I would like to hear how exceptional styles would sound if I add real Revo drums and human choirs to it & you can bet that I will post some of my achievements here.

Thus I have 10 minutes to change the style voices (non savable) and record a demo with it before the program shuts down. I am still looking forward to it in great anticipation though...

I tell you something - this package would revolutionize my style project even more than the GHENOS pack did. Unfortunately it won't work in real life as:

1. It can only be applied to others that has the same package installed.
2. I do not think you can share styles with it as the styles are directly linked to the version of the software purchased (basic to most advance version)
3. Groovyband Live! already sent me a style that they've modified for me and the initial version would not work on my demo - I suspect as a direct result of this style copy protection.
4. As others gig for an income, I create/modify styles. Everything I do with my Yamaha is geared towards this. I do not think that this software would allow me to continue with it which is a huge put-off for me.
5. I will post some demos from time to time though to highlight what I've achieved with it. I have a passion for tampering with styles and will not be able to totally put this demo away in future.
6. When me & Monica start with recordings again, I would like to record a few live worship songs utilizing this demo version using my left hand for chords and my right hand and mouse manipulating the software on my desktop PC. This would really highlight the effective use of the program.

[groovyband.live]

We would like to clarify 2 things:

1.

Groovyband Live! styles are NOT copy protected. User modified styles can be freely shared and played back on the demo too! The only think you have to take into consideration is that the style does not contain the actual pattern data (= the notes), but simply contains a reference to it. The actual data is stored within the program on the user's hard disk (and does not travel with the style).
So if the user modded style references pattern data that is available only on a given edition (i.e: Pro, Platinum), and not on a lesser edition (i.e: Standard), that user modded style will NOT play on the lesser edition.
Every edition contains every style of the edition immediately below it, and adds more content. The demo has the same content of the top of the line Platinum edition, and hence can always play ALL the user modded styles. Here (https://www.groovyband.live/#styles_download) you can download a list of styles that shows what is shipped with every edition.


2.

We gave NOTHING to Henni. He just downloaded the free demo (https://www.groovyband.live/#demo_download) as everybody can do. He used just the free demo to test the program and produce all the audio demos he posted here.
Since there was NOTHING he had to thank us for, what he wrote is only his completely FREE thought.

We know that there are companies that give away synth and arranger units to bloggers and youtubers for them to make "review" posts and videos to share among their followers on the net. Some of these videos have been posted on this forum too. We do not remember anybody saying that those reviews were not trustworthy since the reviewers got for free a product worth thousands of euros.

We also see some posters that every time a well known company launches a new arranger, always praise it as extremely good no matter what. Much better than the previous model, it never has defects (it is the user that does not understand how to use it properly), etc, etc ..... blah, blah, blah.
We do not remember anybody telling them that maybe they have received a free unit or something else.

[Henni]

Tx for clarifying the style copy protection issue as this software would be a FANTASTIC tool to modify styles with. I have ALWAYS wanted to be able to play around with the effects, especially on the guitar voices. Now I can do so to my heart's content & believe me I WILL!!!

I am sorry for all the flak you received over here - I honestly wonder how many of those even bothered to try out your demo before airing their opinions so eagerly - and some of them members I highly respect too.

Your's is now the 2nd software so severely criticized that I've found to be so AMAZING in the end - it seems the more the criticism the better the product.

Please do keep on developing this product even more - in my opinion you have a serious winner in it.

[rikkisbears]

Hi,
can't quite understand the negativity in this thread. If the product doesn't interest someone, just ignore the post and move on.
Rather rude suggesting Henni could be bribed. He is obviously enjoying testing the product. Styles are his passion as far as I'm aware.
I also downloaded the software, haven't really had a chance to try it yet, don't really know if I want to get distracted again fiddling round with software arrangers, no doubt they've improved in the last fifteen years from the old version of One Man Band and xg soundfont days. 
Dan's VArranger program is brilliant, but  from what I've been reading Groovyband is something different again.

Anyway Henni, enjoy.

[Henni]

Decided to do some side by side style comparisons. First version is the ABSOLUTE best version I have of the style on my PSR S770. Second version is the standard Groovyband Live! style. Judge for yourself:

Country

Ballad

[Henni]

Some personal demos as promised:

CountryStraitsHenni

Mor16BeatHenni

50sRock&RollHenni

[panos]

Hi Hennie,
I have an older model so I cannot test the program myself that's why I wanted to listen to some demos to hear the styles of the groovyband.live software.

Not to be misunderstood, the things I have written about "happy customers" were not about Henni or groovy band live.
I know that Henni is working with his own style remix/modification.

As for the publicity of a software or a pack or anything related to our keyboards,
from what I have read from other posts,the developers get the permission by the forum administrator to post their work so I don't see any harm on this.

Listening on how styles sound on older models and how styles sound on newer ones,
either as presets either by a program like this one either by Henni's modifications etc,
I have to say that there is a nice improvement on equalization and sound in general.
A much better improvement than the voice samples were I think it is really hard to make them sound even more like real musical instruments.

[Henni]

Tx Panos,

I am in LOVE!!! with this AMAZING!!! software & the results say it all. The following was created LIVE!!! using My PSR S770, a Desktop PC and a mouse:

WeExaltThee

Thus you CAN!!! play live with this as a touch screen tablet mounted slightly higher than the keyboard will make things much less complicated. Also, I've discovered that you can link certain things to any key/s on the arranger - So I've linked FILL UP, FILL DOWN, INTRO3 & ENDING3 to the very end keys. This makes things much, much easier.

Tell me that everything does not sound much more real with the 8 variations & 8 OTS's? The interface is absolutely BRILLIANT!!! - much thought & care went into it. You have to play with it to discover it's real power. I learn something new every few minutes that makes things much easier. Just see how quickly I am able to record with it and the results get exponentially better with each recording.

Never before could I create such beautiful styles with such ease...

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[Henni]

Made some more recordings of modified styles today:

70sScatLegendHenni

ChoirSoundtrackHenni

[mikf]

Henni
You are obviously quite impressed with the system. In an earlier post I said that the system would appeal to people (like you) who are heavily into style creation and editing. The problem is I doubt there are enough of them.  And even to use styles that you or others might create on this system, people have to buy the system and have it as a permanent add-on to the arranger with all the downsides that has, like no access to other tools like registrations etc.  And what is the upside  - some more styles. Mmmmm

Mike

[Henni]

Hi Mike,

Groovyband Live! comes complete with it's own registrations, EXACTLY like Yamaha has. You can have as many as your HDD can cope with too. Re-callable at a mere push of a button on your Ipad or whatever you use.

The upside is that my PSR S770 now sounds much more like a SX900 or Genos at a mere fraction of the cost. I'd like you to equal the quality of the demos I've posted so far on another standard PSR S770 please. If you CAN, please post here for all to take note and to prove your point and your statement and then come debate this topic some more with me if you would.

If you cannot then there is absolutely no logic in your current reasoning. There are two recent adons that changed the quality of what comes out of the output jack of my arranger TREMENDOUSLY:

1. The new GHENOS sound pack.
2. The new Groovyband Live software.

Already others purchased the GHENOS pack to be able to play my new styles as they were that much impressed by the new quality of it. Rest assured that same will happen with Groovyband Live! I absolutely guarantee it!

And if it is too expensive for them for now, they can always use the Demo for ten minutes at a time as it will flawlessly re-produce everything that I could create with it. Another thing I guarantee is that after playing the new styles with the Demo version, they will either upgrade to a SX900, a Genos or Groovybrand Live! as they have now been spoiled by the extreme high quality sounds coming from their unit and nothing less will do in future.

Please note that I've only just started with creating new styles for Groovyband Live! I am on a steep learning curve. Another thing that I guarantee is that the demos I post over here will keep on getting better as time progress and as I become more fluent in using this software.

Please come listen over here from time to time to keep me to my word. I stated "guarantee" quite often in my reply to you here - I hate loose talk. Please come make me swallow my statement at a later stage if you can prove me wrong.

This situation reminds me of the guy driving his Bentley severely criticizing the guy driving his VW Golf for constantly doing everything he can to make it perform better.


Cheers,

Henni

[Henni]

Live play becoming easier & more natural with every attempt:

LiveImprovision01

Another nice feature - you can select the split point to be shifted continuously to just above the chords you play, making room for your right hand performance. Play chords lower and split point moves lower also!

[groovyband.live]

Hat off! Henni you are a very talented guy.

Your 70sScatLegend and ChoirSoundtrack customised styles are absolutely amazing and breath taking. We are really impressed of what you could achieve in only a couple of days of using our software!
Even your last live improvisation could fearlessly stand in a great Opera Theater!!

And to put things in perspective: all the sound we hear comes from a PSR S770 !!!!!!!!

We can not even imagine what you will achieve as soon as you become more fluent with the software.

With much respect.

Groovyband Live! Team

[mikf]

Henni
I don't disagree that the styles may be better, although mostly they just sound busier to me. The point is how many people will actually care, because the styles on the Yamaha keyboards are already pretty good.
You are obviously enthusiastic - but will decent numbers of arranger players be enthusiastic enough to invest, or live with the inconvenience of having to use a plugged in computer to control the keyboard?
Time will tell.
Mike

[Toril S]

I am only interested in styles that I can use on my keyboard, but others may see this as a great program. Each to their own.