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The Keyboard Chronicles • Podcast

A podcast that covers the life of a keyboard player, both amateur and professional. 

 

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104 topics in this forum

  1. Interview: Steve Porcaro, Toto

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    • I have one of those as well as the one i linked to above.  Couple problems i had with this one:  A) you can't adjust it without the wrench. "where did i put the wrench?" Fine for permanent install I guess, but not so much for on-the-fly at a gig stuff. B) For mine (and others' judging by some of the reviews), even when tightened, it very slowly would sag over time with a large heavy IPAD.  By slowly I mean the next morning my IPAD is sitting on the studio console instead of up in the air. These things have one job to do, and mine fails at it. C) The large "elbow" of the thing is quite cumbersome and depending upon how you set it up kinda sticks out like a giant sore thumb.  If you can get it where you want it and aren't gonna move it at all, i guess it's ok, but i never got along with it. D) The clamp is a little wonky and only works on a right-angled "tabletop-esque" surface.  you won't be putting this on a tubular x-stand or a mic stand or a drumset. Mine lives now lives in the studio holding a tablet over my console (with the bottom edge of the tablet resting on the meter bridge so it doesn't sag)
    • Powered speakers blow, I can attest. The KC400 is the amp you need and you have it. I'd hit the gym and take some creatine if I were you because you are going to be disappointed going with powered speakers. Yeah they're lighter, but way more bulky, more trips to the car, more cables, more outlets needed, weaker sound (no body), and a pain to use with multiple keyboards.  I had the worst time of my life gigging with powered PA speakers. They just don't sound as good and aren't as flexible as having a keyboard amp with DI's to go out to FOH and the KC400 you have is excellent. I use both the 400 and 600 now depending on the gig and haven't looked back. Takes me about 10 minutes to set up and break down.   I'd look to strengthen myself up a bit and try to put some casters on it like they have on the KC600, they make a world of difference plus you can stack stuff on the amp and roll it it all in on one trip. Easy peasy.
    • “the EX Upgrade (plus any previous upgrades like multisampling and 2022’s Virtual Tone Wheel Organ) now comes standard in the new FANTOM 6 EX, FANTOM 7 EX and FANTOM 8 EX synthesizers.”   “New for 2024 is the JX-3P ACB Expansion. Similar to the plugin version but retuned for the FANTOM EX, this adds the classic ‘80s poly to the FANTOM workflow. This means that not only can you play it as a single tone but you can layer it with ZEN-Core or Multi-Sample tones. (You cannot use it V-PIANO or another ACB Expansion, unfortunately.)” - free download for EX owners.    
    • Do you have specific guitars, amps, or pedals in mind for a particular sound you're trying to achieve?
    • Just reviewing this thread because I want a better pair of earplugs after last night's rehearsal. I quoted @jazzpiano88 because the above is a killer app for noise-cancelling headphones, which (with the appropriate signal processing/EQ) could cancel the low frequencies more than the high to preserve a consistent frequency response. I'd love to see a "concert mode" on Apple Airpods Pro, or similar from Bose, Sony etc.   Cheers, Mike.
  • In MPN’s GEARLAB

    • I just bought one used two days ago.   I had in the past (a very past) the original ARP Odissey and an Avatar (the guitar version of the Odissey). They sounded quite differenti, and now I understand why: two different version of the filter. A friend of mine still have the all black one with coloured sliders, which Is again different, maybe two poles filter?   Anyway the Behringer sounds good but a bit differenti too.   My ARP had a ring modulator I used to build fabolous bell like sounds: metallic, full of harmonics.    The kind of sound you can hear on Japan Tin Drum or Oil on Canvas albums.   Until now I couldn't recreate this sound.    Neither the Avatar did. Just my ARP Odissey I sold for little Money :(
    • In V.A.S.T., be it the original V.A.S.T. or the newer vaster V.A.S.T. with Cascade and Dynamic, there are several ways you can use internal DSP sources with Samples:   1. Samples only 2. Internal DSP Oscillators only without any Sample 3. Samples mixed with internal DSP Oscillators   In the new V.A.S.T., you can certainly use a multi-sampled Keymap, alongside an internal anti-aliased DSP Osc, e.g. a 2-block SINE+ for a single Layer, or even an aliased one like the old SAW+.   For larger AA DSP Oscs, e.g. the 4-block SAW, you'd need to use Cascade Mode, a passthrough signal and a Mixer ALG.   So these aren't mutually exclusive. Instead, what the manual seems to indicate is that if you want to do a traditional analogue subtractive synth, then you'd rather not use a Keymap, which makes sense since analogue subtractive synths don't use them at all.   You can  still use a Keymap's sample Envelope if it is set to Natural, even if the Sample itself isn't sounding via the Layer, say, if you have simply a 4-block AA DSP SAW. That SAW block effectively cuts off any of the Sample signal. However, as the AMPENV mode is set to Natural, it is the factory AMPENV for that multi-Sampled Keymap that is applied to the Layer.   The Natural envelopes have more details than can be produced with a User AMPENV.   The thing that happens with setting the Keymap to Silence is that it sets each key's amplitude to the same maximum amplitude. Maybe that's what you need in a certain program, but sometimes, if you are doing an emulative program, you could be better off actually referencing the emulation's Keymaps Sample although the latter isn't heard, with the corresponding Natural Envelope, or of course, you could just go into User Mode and make your own envelope.   Hope this helps.
    • Sweetwater might accept to deliver to Canada, but you will be charged transport accordingly and as anything going USA to Canada your item will go through customs and it is always possible to end up with extra fees - sometimes very expensive. I personally had a very bad experience about 10 years ago and promised myself to never import again from the USA unless the seller confirms on paper he pays for all possible customs and duties extra fees.   Buying Kurzweil products in Canada has always been complicated. In the 1990s a few stores in the province kept a couple of them, but if you wanted something they didn't have you had to order sight unseen and wait months to get your purchase. That is how I bought my MIDIboard, K1200 and finally, around 2000, a PC2X. I hated the Fatar action on the PC2X from day one and swore to never buy a keyboard sight unseen ever again.
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