Daniel Heslop

I play solo piano in a high end restaurant every weekend. I do roughly 12 songs per set but it depends on the songs. I do American Pie but not all those verses because it’s instrumental. On the other hand I do Hotel California complete including guitar solo and Bohemian Rhapsody so those are both pretty long. I have over 300 songs on my iPad, and occasionally get a request I don’t have but often I can find it on MuseScore or if I know it well enough, I’ll use ultimate guitar for chords and lyrics. I’m not singing but if I haven’t heard the song in a few years the lyrics help remember the melody. I more or less structure sets based on demographic. Usually older diners are earlier so my first set is heavy in 60’s and 70’s and lighter fare. Second set is younger and some families with kids so a few current pop songs and classic Rock. I try to keep up with stuff like We Don’t Talk About Bruno or the current Bloody Mary Sped up type thing. Third set is heavier stuff, Guns n Roses, AC/DC 90’s pop like Wannabe, Baby One More Time, and slower material as I wind down. I’m in Canada so I always do a Tragically Hip tune or two. If I see some cowboy hats I do some country. If it’s very old I through in 50’s and classic movie stuff. I make up a set list each night but rarely follow it to the letter. I think you get almost a psychic ability to intuit what’s songs will go over and bring in tips. I also try to think outside the box and do songs people don’t expect a restaurant pianist to do.

Pianos might not be stereo, but human hearing is. (actually it isn't for me as I am deaf in my left ear). Last night I did a solo piano gig through a mono pa with a korg Krome. Everyone said it sounded great. I thought is sounded absolutely awful. I messed with eq all night, and came home vowing to figure out a decent mono sound. I don't even think it is an issue of if the audience is in the right place to hear stereo. For me it is purely a case of a weird boxy ill-defined sound when you run mono, and I'd honestly rather run mono, but I just hate the sound of my krome mono.

part two of the video is up. More informative, although skirted past a few things.

It's funny. I own an original Mono/Poly and have sort of been lusting for the Poly D, then I see this video this morning and get quite excited....and I'm not sure why? I think I always had a sort of wish my mono/Poly was a minimoog instead, even though in many ways the mono/poly is capable of a lot more. The Poly D pretty much addresses that, but something tugged hard on my heart strings when I saw this. For me I knew it was coming from someone, either Behringer or Korg, and I mostly was hoping it wasn't mini keys. Korg's keypads have been pretty unimpressive to me other than the weighted 88's. I"m sure the Kronos 61 has a good keyed, but its' out of my range. I've hated the feel of all their mini keys. (The reface is pretty good, though still...mini keys) But I was also hoping for a couple other tweaks: 1. Arpeggiator up/down mode always repeats the top and bottom notes. I wish there was a way to change that. 2. Portamento is polyphonic even in monophonic mode. Personally I don't like that. It's not too bad at fast speeds and I often only use two oscillators, which diminishes the effect a little. 3. Built in Delay would have been great (delay is all over the introductory video) and also that poly D chorus for those who want to do a lot of polyphonic playing. I also hope the pitch wheel isn't spring loaded. Its' nice to route it to the cutoff, and change filter settings in real time with the wheel and that would work better it you could leave it in position, like the original. I need to see the price. It is is the same as the Poly D I would probably go Poly D, because it addresses all my gripes above except I believe the Poly D has a spring loaded pitch wheel. If the monoPoly is less money, I am interested, because mine is very old, tuning is a wee bit suspect, and it might be nice to have midi (I never got the retrofit) However It has inspired me to spend more time with my original! That's always a good thing!

I find myself wanting it because it is full sized and looks and sounds like a minimoog which I've wanted for 40 years. My conundrum is, I have a mono/poly which is fine for studio. For live I have a reface CS, which is actually 8 voice polyphonic, has memory via iOS device, and honestly sounds pretty damned good, and once you get used to them the keys are fine for mono synth type playing. Also the panel is so smartly streamlined that even without patch memory, it's very useable live. So really....I just always wanted a minimoog. It's gonna be $1000 Canadian though, and since it's not on the "need" end of things, it would be a tough sell for the wife. If it had patch memory, I'd risk the argument with the wife!

Regarding the chorus over delay, I think it would benefit no matter what with a delay, but I think the chorus is really only there so that when playing polyphonically with only one oscillator per voice, the chorus is needed to thicken the sound. Playing it monophonically I'm not sure how useful the chorus feature is. That said, as a mono/poly owner who always pined for a minimoog, this seems like a pretty good idea! I've heard rumours Behringer is planning a mono/poly clone, so I'm tempted to sell my original mono/poly before there is a cheaper version, and get one of these......but then I stop and realize that honestly my reface CS actually covers most of what I use an analog synth for. Also in Canadian funds I strongly suspect the poly D (a name ruined for me because my wife watches Jersey shore) is going to be over $1000.

I dunno...I mean granted I'm deaf in one ear, but I hear an organ not run through a leslie. I've always thought that was what it was. Listening to the isolated keyboards, I still think that. I never hear the detail of the wurly before though, so that's pretty cool. I've always loved this song actually.

I grew up without patch memory myself. A few years back I dug out my Korg Mono/poly. I didn't gig with it though as I don't have a proper case, and it is nearly 40 years old. It is also imho a bit too much synth for live situations. having full access to all four VCO's is great for sound making, but makes it more impractical live. (back in the day I had two of them to allow for faster changes. Sadly I let my wife sell one on ebay a few years back....a decision I will always regret!!!) When I bought the reface CS I got it because of the streamlined control panel so I could gig with it. I remember the first night I used it at a Jam I was in the host band for. It was like a time machine took me back to the 70's! I loved it! I loved tweaking as I played, and the rest of the band was kind of blown away, because you rarely hear that sort of thing these days. Of course you can have patch memory on the CS via iOS device, and I have used it, but probably 8 out of 10 gigs I did with it, I did not use patch memory. I actually kind of like that it will sound a bit different each night, and I love that if I get an idea, instead of remembering a patch number, I just patch it up on the control panel. I find I'm also far more likely to mess with it during solos and such, then I do with a preset (mine or a factories) and make it more expressive by making the panel part of the playing. I'm not anti patch memory by any means, but I do think it is great to not use it sometimes.

I would. I too still have my original Apex. The mic attachment blew up a couple years ago and all the cable holders are gone. Handle broke within a year of buying it. Still I used it for a gig on Sunday. I'm only putting my Krome 88 on it, but I discovered putting the second superclamp right under the one I'm putting the Krome on, helps stabilize everything. I can get the keyboard as high as I like it for standing, and my damper pedal actually hooks onto the stand leg so it is right where I want it. Sunday was a festival sort of gig where I needed to set up and strike fast. I do miss the mic attachment though and while I did still have the hardware, the holes don't line up with the new superclamps. I did contact Ultimate to order some new cable holders, which I never got around to doing, but I happened across my email conversation a couple days ago, so I may get on it now, as I made the decision I will still use the apex for most gigging. I'd definitely jump at one with all the bits and pieces for $80.

I've had good and bad experiences. Generally Yamaha does a good job. I have an old CS-01 which has perfectly playable mini keys, and I have a reface CS also with perfectly playable keys. I also still have a Yamaha KX-5 keytar which has short keys, but of standard width. (I have posted a few times I think the reface line should have used the same keys as the KX-5) I've had a couple Casios back in the day with little keys that were pretty terrible, and the Korg stuff with mini or 80% keys I have generally hated the feel of. For example I much prefer the reface keyboard to the minilogue keyboard, even though the reface keys are smaller. I think it depends on what you are playing on them too. Playing piano is an entirely different thing from playing organ or synth or orchestral pads. Anyway, I have no issues with the reface CS keys, but I have mostly used it as a mono synth, and a bit as a midi controller for sax, flute, that sort of thing. A bit of organ though and it was fine aside from no big palm glisses due to only three octaves. I think I would have been more impressed if for example the Moog sub-phatty had three octaves of reface keys, than two octaves of full sized keys.

I've done quite a bit of LH bass over the last couple years being in a band that was myself, a drummer and a singer. However because I was trying to sound like a band, I layered the bass over my piano. I was using a Kross, now using a Krome 88. I created a monophonic bass with low note priority, and layer it with my piano. I can play fairly pianistically and the bass takes the low note. Also if I'm soloing and need a chord and bass behind it I can do it (though sometimes the chord was a I,V,VIII) The downside is I cannot let the damper work on the bass or I'd get notes jumping around based on releasing the keys in the right order. I left that band for multiple reasons (not the least of them being the drummer simply didn't learn songs...just made stuff up, consequently they were different every time. He also couldn't count them in..the singer has mental issues and is stoned 24/7...but I digress) but as it turns out I have a gig coming up with the same instrumentation (different musicians though) except the singer plays rhythm guitar and mandolin. So I'm using my mono bass layer again and it sounds quite nice. I would definitely prefer the bass on my lowest keyboard when using multiple boards. I definitely prefer having a bass player, but it did improve my left hand, and my hand independence!

My 25 year old Ultimate Apex stand kind of exploded 2 weeks ago. Really it was just an old clamp, but it had a mic stand attachment, and unfortunately the new clamps have a different screw hole placement, making it impossible to use the old mic stand attachment. I like to keep everything self-contained, so I got a new Ultimate deltex stand, which has a mic stand attachment on top. I have a mixed review on it. The cap actually broke off (and the mic stand attachment is on the top of it. The cap attaches with bolts that are sunken on the plastic cap, and it appears the plastic is pretty thin at the bottom of that sunken in section. It was easily fixed by putting metal washers over the sunken holes, but it was frustrating to happen within two weeks of owning it! I think it is a design flaw they should address. The case that comes with it is more trouble than it is worth. It is way too tight of a fit, and is poorly stitched. Fortunately I have another case with it much roomier which works well. (I didn't use a case for my Apex since everything fit inside the column.) Set up and tear down is more involved because the arms and legs don't store in the column like the Apex, and the base has to be screwed in place. (actually it doesn't...the cross bar fits into the back bar holding it in place quite securely, but it is possible the cross bar could be bumped out of place, though unlikely...still, not worth the risk) It is lighter than the old Apex, which I like, but overall I feel like build quality is not what it used to be. It was also overpriced up here at Long and McQuade. Canadian prices are typically higher, but I feel $260 was too much now that I have it. However it was either that or simply replace the clamp on my old stand and carry a separate mic stand. The old Apex actually has a few other things broken and missing, and I think it has done it's time. If I ever put my Mono/poly into the stage rig I'll use it for that. I also have 2 of the older model deltex stands, but they have very different clamps that are discontinued, and 2 our of 4 clamps are now stripped and unusable and I didn't trust the ones that still work to last much longer. However in the end I have a fairly light stand that sets up and tears down fairly fast and easy, and holds three keyboards and has a mic stand attached. I also have room for my iPad if I'm using charts, so it is ok. I suspect my next purchase will be a Behringer D, though I may go for an 88 key midi controller first. (I'd rather a 73 key but I don't know of any)

I switched from guitar to keyboards as my primary instrument as a teenager, and subscribed to "Contemporary Keyboard". I was a massive Beatles fan along with their solo work...especially McCartney at that time though not I"m more into George Harrison...but I digress. I was quite into Deep Purple, Machine Head, and Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon. I kept seeing the names Emerson and Wakeman and Banks in "CK" (as the cool kids called it) so for my 16th birthday I asked for a record by either Yes Genesis or ELP. I got Tales from Topographic Oceans by Yes and Second's out by Gensis. I was more interested in Yes, so I intended to put on side one, but accidentally put on side three...arguably the weirdest thing Yes ever recorded. I was amused. I phoned the bass player ans drummer in my band and told them of this wierd band with a singer who sounded like Mickey mouse. I suggested they come over with whatever herbal things they might have and we give it a listen for a laugh. They did and this time I actually put on side one. We were all memorized. My musical life was changed forever and Yes became as big as the Beatles for me.

My Mom had one of those. They were fun! Get Mom playing that and me on a kazoo and the results were hysterical! I had one too. They had a tuning knob on the bottom, so it was my first "synth" with a pitch bender!

I of course agree with your "home run" assessment. I've decided to get a YC soon, and a CP soon after. As for the performance, awesome! I wish my hand independence was that good. That was also one of the best non line-in sounds I've heard for this sort of YouTube video.