JoeToGo

I tested out a friend's Hydrasynth, as he was not convinced it was something he really wanted to keep. My goal wasn't to find out how deep it could be programmed, but 1. to hear how musically useful it could be, and 2. how useful the poly AT might be in performance. The result is essentially a series of mini song ideas. I was only interested in seeing how useful a given sound might be, so no patch is used for more than a couple minutes. Occasionally I lingered on a final note to alter the aftertouch, and hear how it might be used. My process was simply to scroll through presets, press a key, and follow what ideas were suggested by what I heard. Sometimes the name of the preset gave me some direction. Sometimes my fingers stumbled to find the next note. Most of it -- all of it, probably -- is pretty languid, because that's what the sounds seemed to want. Hydrasynth Sampler 1.mp3 [[Template core/global/editor/attachedAudio is throwing an error. This theme may be out of date. Run the support tool in the AdminCP to restore the default theme.]] Edit: well, never mind I guess; this page will not let me attach a 10MB mp3. [[Template core/global/editor/attachedAudio is throwing an error. This theme may be out of date. Run the support tool in the AdminCP to restore the default theme.]]

As a long-standing guitarist/bassist/singer, bored of playing in classic rock bands, I turned to synths for some new direction. And why not: as a teen I was fond of Pink Floyd, which easily segued to Jarre and other synthy music, and I had never become bored with that. Not to denigrate other styles: every musician should be willing/able to tackle whatever comes their way, within their technical range (e.g., Hargus Robbins' piano behind Patsy Cline is truly lovely). And any music that seems initially uninteresting usually just needs to be experienced in the right environment, whether its mariachi music at a quinceanera or a lonely spike violin down a stairwell at Pike Place Market. I enjoy coming here to read the wisdom, follies and inquiries of real musicians. Real musicians are always inspiring -- for work ethic, for hints/clues/tips to musical life, for references I have to look up (Ethel Smith?? -wow!). For humor. I don't expect to be a working musician ever, as I've watched that life dwindle over the last four decades. Reading the advice thread (in the key threads forum), I found Keep Your Day Job to be key. For me that's been yard work lately, though I still get to claim to be a musician (watch me improvise this next lawn-mowing ...) Best part is, I get to listen to music while I work, as long as it's something I can accurately hear while running a leaf-blower. Sure, I *could* listen to Eno's Ambient series, but only if I want to hear it augmented by a leaf-blower solo that goes on and on, monotonously ... which of course does work, to some extent. Actually, that isn't the best part. Even better is when the ipod is dead, and I have to 'hear' music for myself -- running over an unfinished track, niggling out a better meter for a lyric, thinking up a bridge for a good but otherwise repetitive song. There's a Beatles song I heard recorded before the bridge was added (was it "I'm Looking Through You"?). It's funny to hear the earlier version: it sounds right, it's the same song ... but not quite. The bridge made all the difference. Gotta love that. Anyway, I'm off to leaf-blow another solo. Thanks for all the tips/ideas/stories.

We could ... and yet, it's guitarists who are notorious for being too loud, on instruments that have volume knobs. I too play guitar -- as often as keyboards if not more -- and recently made it my policy to not even audition for two-guitar bands, unless one of them was me. My theory is this: the guitarists I've known have typically developed their skill by playing along with recordings, and consequently get used to sounding as loud as the rest of the band combined. So when there's two of them, it gets muddy; they can't hear their SOUND. Solution? Turn up. Of course then the other guitarist does likewise, and -- well .... More to the point, perhaps, is the number of times I have had other players' guitar amps pointed straight at me. The last band I played in, the singer/rhythm guitarist had his amp up on a chair directly next to (and facing) where I had to be. He was literally louder to me than to anyone else in the room, including himself. When I turned it slightly away he said "don't touch my amp man" and then turned it back. He had that same Katana, which was always turned up to the top amp setting, and it buzzed pretty loudly. Later we figured it was the amp setting; any other one was quieter, and the buzz was gone entirely on the Fender setting. But y'know, that wasn't his SOUND. To be honest, it wasn't that big a deal ... except it was directly pointed at me, making it harder to hear my own setup. Since I often play bass, I have even waited to see how the guitarist set up his rig, then chose a location out of the line of fire ... only to have him re-orient his amp toward me (I kid you not). At that point, I start to question my own sanity. After all that, I'm glad to say there is a local guitarist who is FANTASTIC and doesn't play very loud -- I always want to turn him up, just a tch. And he plays a half stack! His name is Travis Kent; if you're in the Seattle area, he's worth seeking out. Holdsworth-ish but not so Holdsworth-ish. Oh, I guess there's me. But I was dropped from a blues band for playing guitar as loud as the bandleader. Shoulda known better I guess.

I use this case, which I picked up somewhere ... evidently it's made for (and used by) accountants. Basically a box with two flaps on top that lie over each other, with handle poking through. Cords, pedals, wall warts, even a small mixer -- all goes in the box, in order. Packing takes a little thought to get things oriented, but it's an easy one-hand carry

Oh wait, I do have one, sorta: We were playing as an acoustic trio, when the (rhythm guitar/voc) bandleader permitted a Joplinesque singer join us mid-set. She'd been drinking before she arrived and wasn't about to slow that down, and launched into whatever she felt like singing w/out even asking if we knew it. Fortunately I was quick enough to jump on and so was the drummer; the bandleader was sorta left pretending to play along, unless I could tell him real quick "what the chords are". And the audience LOVED her, so why not? We backed her up like that had been the plan. But she was still drinking between and during songs; the drunker she got, the farther the mike drifted from her face (I guess her arm got tired?), and she had to practically scream to make herself heard. I made the mistake of suggesting that she wouldn't have to sing so hard if she held the mike a little closer to her mouth. As her drunken eyes leveled at me, the words filtered out of her haze: "You don't like me, do you?"

By this point, my own experience hardly seems noteworthy, but FWIW: the gig was down an alley, at a bar that had no sign outside. Upon entering, we found everything inside was spray-painted black. As we set up our gear, we couldn't help noticing the bar's one patron was passed out in front of the men's-room door. I don't recall anyone else showing up for the entire gig, but we debuted two new songs.

"Won't work" hilarious Haven't seen this in so long, it's like new all over again. Of course, this is clearly scripted, and (deliberately) akin to first-gen SNL: a truly meaningless "interview" that highlights the frustration of "new guy" status. Nice to remember Brent, whose performance and songs I appreciated from the get-go. Some time ago I put together my own imagining of the 1983 album the Dead failed to make, and used three songs from each singer. Well, I cheated a bit: "I Don't Need Love" didn't debut until March '84, but I didn't want to leave it out, so I guess it's the 1984 album they didn't make. Pretty good stuff!

In some ways I'm at the opposite end of Paul's dilemma -- two years ago, having become bored with playing in classic rock bands, I decided to go big into synths, with no real idea what there was or what I needed -- so I bought anything that seemed interesting and wasn't too expensive.** - Now I have no room for more ... and yet, I almost bought another one today (look, an *Amaze-a-tron XYZ-100* at a reasonable price! Who knows when that will happen again??!) And yet, I totally support the attitude of 'no more synths' simplicity -- any time I sit down with just one synth and focus on discovering more of what it can do, it's like getting it new all over again. If I couldn't afford that synth I didn't buy today, I'd be more motivated to figure out how to get its sounds from something I already have. Or at least different sounds than I got from it before. Meanwhile, 95% of my practicing is just piano, because it's embarrassing to be seen playing keys, and then demur when someone asks me to play piano. **Just a word of warning for those thinking of doing the same -- there is really no such thing as "not really expensive", unless you stockpile them in a closet. If they're actually going to be hooked up and ready to use, every item requires physical support (table / shelf / rack space), electrical support (power outlet / conditioner / etc), sundry connections (cables for sound and/or MIDI), a channel or two on the mixer (which also requires power), maybe a sustain pedal, and some kind of dust cover ... which means approx $150 - $200 in ancillary cost for each additional synth -- not counting repairs ...

LOL, well if you can mention GC, it seems you could mention the other .... maybe just by initials? I'm guessing MF because I get so many emails from them telling me to call if I don't see the deal I want ... and because I bought a 'blemished' synth from them that was indistinguishable from brand-spankin-new (over the past 18 months, I've yet to figure out what the blem is supposed to be). Alternatively PAS who people accuse so often of passing off returned/used items as new that there's a web site devoted only to complaining about them (just add 'sucks' to the end of their name, and search on Google). Never bought from them myself so I don't know. I suppose the best way to find out would be to just call them all up and ask Getting back to the this thread's topic: it is not at all rare that I've seen something listed locally on CL, and then found it cheaper on ebay -- with the added bonus of being delivered to my door. On the other hand, sometimes CL comes through. Checking my records I see 4 of my last 20 synth purchases were via CL, vs 6 from ebay, and 4 from FB's Market place -- the remainder being major online dealers (GC, SW, MF). So clearly it's been worth the CL headaches sometimes ...

Is nobody else going to mention the CPS Spacestation? I thought that was the go-to keyboard amp ....

There are only so many people one can 'meet' at one time. But still: real face time with the very real Rick Wakeman. I expect the results could well be a bit more than "hello" but necessarily less than "a real hang" simply because everybody there is in competition to meet/talk to the same person.

Good for you. At the risk of being accused of just being inflammatory, I suspect GAS is in fact a cop-out. I don't exempt myself, so let me explain via this story: Yesterday, I bought an SUV. This was much like buying a synth: I already had a car, but wanted just a bit more. I did my research, and watched the market. I didn't pull the trigger on several choices for a variety of reasons ... Then on Sunday, vehicle #1 completely died, mid-travel. I immediately tested out my three best candidates, and was just about to go buy one of them -- when a new listing came up that fulfilled every criteria of my search. Today, I drove it to work. Everyone else was congratulating me on my "new car" (actually it's old enough to vote, though it looks new) ... but I felt nothing. Sure, I like it, but I didn't buy it to thrill me -- I bought it to get me around, and my gear as well. The old car did that mostly, but this does it a little more, and a little easier to get my gear in and out of. The other candidates would have served just as well. Oh, they had some minor objections -- but if any of them had been the only choice, I would have bought it and had my needs met. Nothing's perfect -- not even this one (the door sticks, and it burns a bit rich). If the old car hadn't died, I might still be hesitating. I totally understand the excitement of this or that new announcement, and the possibilities of what new technology might do. But what do I actually need? If I had only my MX61 and a TR-8, I could manage everything I've really ever had to do. My main excuse (and it's a good one!) is that I decided to try doing an all-synth album, so that had me trying/buying a lot of new things. But really: I could probably get enough sounds out of the MX alone. It just wouldn't be as sexy/exciting. What really is the reason for acquiring "just one more"? Well, it is pretty exciting to get onto whatever others are buzzing about, isn't it? But at some point, there's a reward for saying "I already have what I need", which is a richer fulfillment than "just one more" (unless, of course, that "one more" is just what you need)

I have my own list of "Band don'ts" -- noodling at full volume during rehearsal, inebriation etc. But those have been covered above, so I'll mention a different aspect: Lack of listening. A few years back, I was in four bands (which was GREAT), generally performing different instrumental functions: keyboards, bass, guitar, bg vox. Eventually I left all four, because none of the bands were really 'alive' -- each participant played their parts without real regard for what anyone else was doing. They did it all at the same time, and they were copying what they'd heard in the source recording, so it appeared to be a band playing, but really it was everyone playing karaoke to the songs in their memory. Of course this works fine -- until something goes awry, not according to plan -- and then they're lost: drummer stops dead, guitarist stops playing. Or worse, become out of sync with each other (and then *hopefully* stop dead). I'm no genius improviser, but just regurgitating parts isn't all music can be.

Y'all make good points, but essentially assume competence and experience. Not everybody is. FB made itself based on this awareness (in essence, Barnum again). "Is this available?" is actually the first important question; look how many times people put up an ad then don't take it down when the item is sold. Is that dumb? Yes it is. But then, dumb sellers is where bargains may be. So, it ain't all bad

Damn. And just when I hoped he might get out one last album -- eight years was his longest gap, and the last two were pretty strong (Nexterday and the Cars reunion album). I guess he'd done all he needed to do. Meanwhile, the Beatutude CDs on ebay have quadrupled in price.