Vagabond Synth Nerd’s Journal Vol. 196 - Tried the difficult J-pop song “Ainokatachi” on the YC61! Synth Nerd’s Live Equipment Report Part 3: Final Part

■ I Never Thought I would perform MISIA's “Ainokatachi”!

One day, out of the blue, a high school girl who is a vocalist in the JK Electric Jazz Band suggested that we play MISIA's “Ainokatachi.
Ainokatachi” sounds like a typical pop song when you hear it for the first time. It is a very good song. I remembered hearing it before on a TV show. I am not a particular fan of MISIA, so I just kind of tuned out. But as I listened to it for the performance, I realized that it is not a simple song.

First of all, the song has a grand orchestration backing the vocals and is not in a form that can be played with four rhythms: guitar, bass, piano, and drums. A perfect copy is far from possible.
From the intro, through the verse, to the beginning of the chorus, there is piano and bass, and from the chorus, drums, guitars, bells, etc., but beautiful strings are in the background. The orchestration of the MISIA band features a large string section.

In addition to the fact that four people would have had a tough time tackling this song, there were other major obstacles standing in my way.

The key of “Ainokatachi” is G-flat major with six flats. I did not recall playing this six-flat key very often (unless you are a classical piano student, perhaps). I think the modulation part in the middle of “Can't Take My Eyes Off You” was in this key, but I couldn't play it right away when I saw the chord chart.

Moreover, many fractional chords are included in the song. Fractional chords are a common musical technique used today, and were a favorite of David Foster, a keyboardist who broke through in the early 80's with his airplay.
For example, the voicing of a D chord is D, F#, and A, and the bass note is played on the D. However, fractional chords play a different bass note than the root note, such as F# or C. This makes it sound very stylish. This fractional chord is used a lot. The bass note in response to the fractional chord has a wonderful effect on the development of the music.

There are many other tricks and kimes at points, the composition is complicated, etc. ...... There were a lot of reasons why we couldn't do it.

When I saw the credits for the music arrangement, it became clear to me. The arranger was Seiji Kameda. That couldn't be normal (lol). Kameda is well known in the J-pop world as a bass player who has arranged and performed for artists such as Ringo Shiina, and this was the first time he had arranged a song for MISIA, so the amount of effort he put into it was extraordinary.

■ Introduced music: “Ainokatachi feat. HIDE (GReeeeN)” by MISIA (2018)

This song is the theme song for the TBS Tuesday drama “Stepmother and daughter's Blues,” a collaboration between MISIA and GReeeeN.
In a recent interview with Mr. Kameda at a certain station, I was surprised by the content of the interview. Kameda, who looks up to Osamu Dazai as his mentor, said, “Dazai's novels are brilliantly constructed works. I was influenced by the power of his design”. With this comment in mind, when you listen to “Ainokatachi,” you will realize that Mr. Kameda “designed” this music arrangement.

■ The sound made by the YC61 is...

There was no way a high school girl could understand the arrangement of the music or the ensemble, so I turned my head to somehow get closer to the image of the music as a completely different arrangement.
The YC61 has many usable preset sounds, even piano-based sampled sounds. The actual “Ainokatachi” has a wonderful string ensemble playing in the background.
I looked for a preset sound with strings behind the piano sound.

The YC61 does not use a piano-touch keyboard, but rather a waterfall keyboard originally developed for organ use. Playing acoustic piano sounds on this keyboard creates a certain discomfort on the player's side. For some reason, the nuances of an acoustic piano do not come out. I think this is due to the different touch of the keyboard from that of the piano.

Therefore, I imagined a different piano sound from the acoustic piano, and decided to layer the preset CP80 Stage (Yamaha Electric Grand) sound with Piano Synth, which simultaneously sounds the acoustic piano sound and the string sound. The sampled sound of the electric grand is exactly “that sound,” and I decided to use the sound of the electric grand as the axis. The electric grand sound was less discomforting than the acoustic piano sound on the waterfall keyboard. I think I was able to fill in the sound gaps a bit with the strings in the background as well.

The YC61 has quality sounds preset for a wide range of genres. The sounds I created for “Ainokatachi” are also very smooth, and my rejection of sampled sounds has lessened.

Piano + string sounds created for “Ainokatachi”

■ YC61 is the best organ-based simulator!

This YC61 is the best keyboard, at least among the organ simulators I have purchased. The reason for this is that the Hammond sound was good! It boils down to this.

The YC61 has a high level of tone quality among the Hammond organ simulators I have purchased so far, with a wide range of usable sounds, including not only organ sounds, but also acoustic piano, electric piano, synthesizer, and FM sound sources. The sound is also very good, and I can say at this stage that it is a very useful piece of equipment. The light weight is also a plus.

Of course, there are also options such as the YC73 and YC88 hammer actions, which are weighted keyboards. In fact, if you are a performer who mainly plays piano, this would be your choice.
For someone like me, who brings a piano, an organ, and two synths (reed) to the studio or a live performance venue, the YC61 is the perfect choice. The rest is up to you...

Although this may be a bit too much praise, I believe it is also a great advantage to be able to purchase equipment at a lower price than that of foreign equipment, which is affected by the weak yen.
I will report irregularly on any new discoveries or recommended features of my equipment.

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