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tommym

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About tommym

  • Birthday 06/01/1949

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  • homepage
    https://www.tommymandel.wordpress.com
  • occupation
    musician
  • hobbies
    keyboards, my kids
  • Location
    NY,NY,USA
  1. Wow, that's an imagination-bending demonstration of some of the unusually expressive things this instrument can do. Thanks, Jerry.
  2. I really like my (StudioLogic) NumaCompact 2x. I layer a pad way behind their Stage Piano and it gets a lot of praise. Even so, I went back to my SK-1 (with Jim A's tonewheel set) for a particularly organ-heavy downtown gig, and folks loved that. For me, the weight is the thing; plus aftertouch, the convenience of speakers, mod and pb wheels.... If StudioLogic will make its overdrive more consistent over the keyrange, and bop the Leslie sim up a level, at 15lbs, even with a fantasy keyboard, it might catch on. At that price, I can't believe it hasn't already. Maybe it's the distribution. PS. the SKXPro demo had me pining for an incredible shrinking ray, sounded so good, and all the split and layering seems useful. Too heavy for me though. Never liked the Nord organ sound... Nice to hear Jim A. praise the Prophet X's piano. Like it too. Yamaha's CP-300 is another candidate for Incredible Shrinking Ray.
  3. I'm still enjoying the Numa Compact 2 a whole lot - playing it every day. Just got the TalentCell YB120006-USB battery pack for it, and it seems to work. Is it perfect? Maybe not, but it's close - there's ALWAYS a way to make it sound great and inspiring - So as far as an all-in-one solution, it's still the champ.
  4. Accessing your presets is a weakness of the board. You have to use the scroll knob. However, your presets should respond to MIDI Program Change, allowing you to also access your presets from, for example, a smartphone or maybe a second board in your rig. I wish they had supported alternately using the Sound Bank buttons as programmable buttons for calling up favorite user programs and/or some kind of numeric pad implementation. My hope is Gianni will implement a scheme like Ensoniq put on the SD-1 and TS-10 for naming patches: When in a certain mode (in the Numa's case, holding a button with the left hand) each of the 88 keys becomes a program selector. That would give nearly instantaneous access to 88 of the 100 Preset's - and easy to remember too: " ah, my Clav/Organ Splits are all in the lowest octave" for example...
  5. I know it's insane to ask at a time like this, especially considering how hard Italy has been hit, but does anyone have a clue or hunch to when the firmware update might come out? Not that we'll be going out and gigging in the next few weeks anyway, right? Still there's enough time (too much time maybe) to think about these things now. Still loving my 2x.
  6. I actually like the feel of the keyboard especially the aftertouch and the key width. Am used to the spongy-rubbery component by now. I agree with Star_Guy about more better Lesile, with a few parameters if possible, to edit like Ramp up and Low Rotor Speed, and yes the Drive - it's a crazy cool effect as is, but if it responded more evenly over the keyboard range, and maybe had a few varieties or a tone control... yeah! Maybe a Dirt component, akin to Leakage, but with some special GG sauce... A Rhodes with more bark? Why not! though I love the first one that comes up. And owning a Sledge II, it's hard to believe that the 'synth engine' in the 2x is even related to that editable PPG filter PPG wave 3 oscillator beast...but if the sliders could be dual-function with the press of a key, to allow for Envelope Amount, oscillator detune, filter key scaling, independent velocity mod of filter cutoff and amplitude envelope...maybe a cross mod parameter and an envelope mod of pitch per oscillator....
  7. Still hoping for another firmware update, we could really use even cooler Rotary and Drive effects, and maybe a few new Instrument waveforms too! Having said that, the Numa Compact 2x killed it again at tonight's 2 man gig down in the Village.
  8. The manual says the LSB can be ignored, but when I changed the LSB (in DP's event list window) it DID change the sound in the Numa. I'm wondering if the MIDI pages on the Numa are only for MIDI out, or if they are also affecting those 3rd and 4th "midi only" 'internal" Layers in the Numa?
  9. Yes, I did that, even plugged its midi out into its midi In and accessed parts 3 and 4 for a 4-way split. But I thought I smelled something burning, and it wasn't playing to the Numa Compact 2x's main strength, which, IMHO is real quick and responsive live playing with great live sounds, so I never tried that again. As far as bank and program info in the manual, YES, i Tried that - it said Bank 5 Program 14 or something. But it didn't give drums. I'm going to go back and see if it's one of those 0=1 in the implementation things. They also said that either the LSB or MSB didn't matter, but I'm not sure I entered the command correctly in DP. Still loving the axe though. Don't need a sequencer, but I'd love a tweak to the Drive, without losing what it has, make it more even over the whole keyboard, instead of heavier on the low notes, and also I think they'll probably remove that dead zone in the Drive knob near the beginning...
  10. I'm trying to get my DAW to play drums on Part 4 (or 3) of the Numa Compact 2x, but can't seem to send it the correct Bank and Program Change Number. I'm using DP. The only way I can get drums to play via external Midi is to send on MIDI Ch 16, and send Program Change 50 or something (I forget) but that plays one of the two INTERNAL parts, not the 3rd or 4th part. I CAN get parts 3 and 4 to play, (on channels 3 and 4) but can't make them select a Drum Patch. Thanks for any help. and Hi Another, long time no see.
  11. I'm holding on to mine too! It's 'love/hate" because it does so much, but that makes me wish it did everything the way we imagine it could.... We're waiting eagerly for the next software (firmware) update, which promises an improved DRIVE effect. I find that the lower notes on the keyboard Drive harder, and also what sounds great when you're playing one note, becomes unusable when you go to a chord. (Making a split with 2 organs and less Drive on the lower side is a workaround.) So the updated OS is going to make that better Since I own a Sledge, hearing them say that it's the Sledge Engine inside this multi-purpose Dream Keyboard makes me laugh. It's like calling Spaghetti-O's a fine Italian meal. I wonder if there's any room on their 'chip' to improve that Numa 2x engine? But for the price, and the weight, this thing is an amazing product, and a fun Instrument that is Soulful and inspiring. Thank you, Studiologic!
  12. I am staying away from Catalina for now. Perhaps the "plug-and-play" driver(s)
  13. I haven't tried this yet (afraid to, LOL!) but has anybody tried plugging the MIDI OUT from their 2x into its MIDI IN, in order to access the 3rd and 4th 'Layers' in a stand-alone manner? I'm sure there's a reason why this would not work, but don't know what that would be (midi-loop? - shouldn't be, as MIDI only access Parts 3 and 4...) I JUST DID IT, and IT WORKS. There's a Pipe Organ, a B3, Strings, and a Piano all playing from the keyboard. Not sure why someone would ever want to do that, but.... There does seem to be some limit to Polyphony this way, understandably. Actually, maybe for 4 Zones it would make sense, and not tax Polyphony that way either. Probably my imagination, but I just thought I smelled something burning, so I disconnected the MIDI OUT to the MIDI IN.
  14. Just a tip to those who find the 2x's Leslie disappointing. In many situations, adding the Cho1 at the same time that you switch the Leslie from slow to fast with Stick 2 really helps. I've been accused of 'roller rink' or 'ball park' organ sounds in the past, but do have a B3 and 3 clone wheels, (4 counting MainStage which I use a lot) so take my suggestion with a grain of salt. I grew up on The Young Rascals, Traffic and Procol Harum, with Garth Hudson, Vanilla Fudge and Michael Ratledge looming further out but still extremely influential, just for context. I got my B3 in the Summer of '69, ironically, because that's me playing on the song. I've had the same one ever since, but a different B3's on that record.
  15. As you probably know (since it's months since your post, sorry) the drawbars can all send midi, which is 9 new sources. But if you're controlling MainStage's cool b3 from the 2x, then they're already used up I guess. I couldn't find a way to try one out here in NYC without buying one either! So I've got mine here, still trying to decide whether to keep it, or not, because I couldn't make that decision in a store... every time I decide: 'eh, craigslist here i come!' - it makes this gorgeous sound, and I'm like. . . 'oh well...'
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