The keyboard provides 200 'Rhythms':
these are available either just as drum rhythms, or as auto
accompaniments in a wide variety of styles. As with the Tones, they are
divided into banks and available by pressing one of six buttons then
selecting with the thumbwheel.
Each one comes with an optional
introduction
and closing, and while it's playing you can introduce a 'fill-in' -
usually a simple drum sting and perhaps an extra chord - or switch to a
variation which is more complex than the basic version.
You can set the tempo using the Tempo up and down buttons, or by
holding the Function button and tapping the Tempo up button four times
at the speed you want the beats to be.
Then when you hit the 'Synchro' button:
and the 'Intro' button if required, the accompaniment will start as
soon as you hit a left-hand key (keys from the F below middle C down
to the bottom of the keyboard control the accompaniment, those above
the melody). By playing one, two or three notes you produce the
accompaniment in the required chords: for example, C alone produces C
major, C and E flat C minor, C and B flat C7, and so on: it doesn't
matter in which octave you hit the keys, the result is the same.
When I first started doing this I instinctively played the chords
legato: but doing this can result in a note from the previous chord
hanging on for long enough to affect the next chord, with interesting
but undesirable results. You can just hit the key or keys briefly and
take your hand off them: the accompaniment will continue in that chord
until you give it another one or hit the Stop button (or the
Synchro/Ending button to get the closing phrase).
This short example shows the opening, just a few chords, and the
closing (no melody) from the 'Latin Rock' accompaniment:
The intros and closing are variable: some are good, some are frankly a
bit cheesy - I didn't use either on the Jazz Combo demonstration on
page 2 because the closing sounds like this: