Dave Bryce

Really deep dive so far, Dr. Mike! I’ve been an owner of a Mellotron 4000D rack for many years. I picked up a copy of M-Tron Pro IV a little while back, and frankly I’m surprised at how much better I like working with the software than the hardware. So much more power and flexibility, so much more control available, so many options to choose from. It’s kind of easy to understand how M-Tron has become an industry standard for so many people. True story: I sold my 4000D on reverb.com a few weeks ago. No regrets. dB

Done! dB

I rarely use it live, but when I do, scrolling presets is easy, and I use a CC pedal for realtime control of one parameter per preset. In the studio, computer/tablet hookup is the best. SO much info, so easy to navigate and tweak. ...and the thing sounds fabulous. dB

I use an Eventide H9 Max for multi-effects. Nothing but good things to say about it, especially when it's hooked up to a computer for extended control. dB

Two sale items in the MPN Shop: The Moog MF-102S Ring Modulator just went on sale for $9.99. Cherry Audio’s ELKA-X is on sale through the end of August for $29. dB

MPN Shop has it. $499.99, with free shipping. dB

We're up to 11 hardware brands now - Apogee, Audient, Cloud Mics, Gator Cases, Ik Multimedia, Keeley Electronics, Morley Pedals, Presonus, Strymon Pedals, TASCAM and Warm Audio. We'll add one more tasty hardware line in the next day or so. We've also just started adding a few key software lines. Cherry Audio, GForce Software, Moog Software and a few other odds and ends. More to come... dB

I also just lit up some Moog software - basically, just the soft version of the MoogerFoogers. Heads up - the MF-102S Ring Modulator just went on sale today for $9.99. dB

Okay, so I created an ALL SOFTWARE category. 🤓 I was inspired because there are some software products sold by companies that also make lots of hardware, and I don’t want them to get lost. Think Syntronik Deluxe, which is sold by Ik Multimedia. dB

I know, I know... It has to be done with code, which is over my head. Jim Quinn has promised to help with this today. The menu at the very top is clickable, and contains things for which we have no logos - Anderton Collection, Bundles, MPN Merch… dB

We are way psyched to add GForce Software to the MPN Shop! Their fabulous M-Tron Pro IV is currently undergoing interactive review by our own Dr. Mike Metlay in the MPN Gearlab. Members of the GForce team are keeping an eye on the review, so if you’ve got any questions about this product for Dr. Mike or the G-Force folks, please do join us over there. dB

It’s the physics thing, of course. Real pianos are hundreds (if not thousands when it comes to the really big ones) of pounds of resonating metals and wood that radiate in all directions - including up your hands and arms and into your body - and heavily interact with the space where they reside. Putting aside the quality of a sample set, feel of the keybed and integration between said sample set in a digital piano, the physics of the way a Real Piano produces sound is exceptionally hard to duplicate, even with an expensive sound system - the directionality aspect is simply not the same coming from two PA speakers, no matter how good they are or where you put them. For me, I typically prefer digital pianos with onboard sound systems for that reason. When I was at Alesis, we briefly made a digital piano called the DG8 that had a killer sound system in the top (essentially bi-amped Monitor Ones with 100W per channel!), including transmission lines that criss-crossed under the front panel and a porting system that really opened up the bass, I loved that instrument - too bad it fell victim to Alesis’ bankruptcy two decades ago. 😒 My Casio PX-S1000 has a sound system that can be set to mono, stereo…or “surround”, which radiates all around the instrument. Sure, the speakers are small…but the physics of the way they’re mounted and placed can be surprisingly satisfying…for me, anyway. dB

Ain’t nothing like the real thing, baby. dB

Not sure i would even watch a Jets/Browns game during the regular season... dB

Enjoy! dB

Nice, Danny! dB

We are way pleased to announce that the GX-80 is now available for purchase on the MPN Shop! 🥳 dB

So, I'm happy to say that one of the lines that inspired the expansion of the MPN Shop is now live: Cherry Audio. For those of you unfamiliar with the line or those who have not had a chance to hear/try their products, you're in for a treat. These folks have an awesome selection of software instruments at extremely attractive price points...and they sound ridiculously good as well as providing interfaces that (I think) are way easy to navigate. Craig Anderton, Mike Metlay, Jerry Kovarsky and I did a Team Test in Gearlab on their flagship product, the GX-80, with a few members of Cherry Audio's staff chiming in with comments and clarifications. GX-80 is a hybrid born of folding two of Yamaha's monster synths (CS80 and GX1) into one extraordinarily powerful soft synth. To call this bad boy drool worthy is an understatement. dB

...and mine, for a mono synth - especially one without much historic appeal from its original version. I don't think I've ever seen or played an original Spirit, I don't believe I know anyone who's ever had an original Spirit, nor can I remember ever hearing anyone speak of wishing there was one in their arsenal. If I had ~$4k to spend on an analog synth, it'd be hard for me not to buy the new Oberheim OBX-8, or a (3 osc per voice) Sequential Trigon, or an actual MiniMoog.... dB

OMG…this topic… 😵‍💫 I’m inclined to agree with DaVinci. Not sure if any of my mixes are “done”, per se…it just gets to the point where I feel like they’re good enough to release and it’s time to go on to another project, leaving open the possibility that the mix in question could always be revisited….and frequently is. That being said, the process of getting one I feel is good enough to post/send around/release almost always entails multiple takes, more than a few of them finished after I’ve sent an earlier one off. I’m sure we’ve all used file names with the following after the song title: Mixed, better mix, best mix, v2, v3, Final Mix, Final Mix v2, Real Final Mix, etc. 😏 dB

Digital reverb has gotten reeeeally good over the years. Things like Bricasti’s M7 (which houses six Blackfin processors, essentially 12 SHARCs) is more about realism than effect, so it can be very difficult to tell. dB

I still have one! 😎 dB

😁 The Kawai has a ribbon mic in it to feed the PA (just a touch ☺️) and the computer interface’s inputs for recording, but that’s about it. It’s the only instrument in the room that avoids fx. dB

I have a Pod XT and FSB foot pedal in the rig as well. I route this into the ABY box in the small pedal board from my last post ( you can see it behind the acoustic), and use that to switch between/layer the Pod’s feed in with the more straight ahead signal. It’s cool to be able to bring in the phased “Breathe” Strat sound under a clean compressed acoustic with a bit of stereo chorus. Oh, no doubt. As I mentioned above, I definitely see it as a form of modular synthesis. dB

I have a couple pedal boards doing various things. This rig is for my guitars and Hammond. The bottom row (except for the H9, which is fed by the Iridium in the top row) is just for the guitars. The top row is preceded by an ABY box that combines the output from the bottom row with the output from the Leslie preamp pedal and Phase 90 that I use with my A100. This smaller board is for my electric acoustic guitar. …and my Mini gets its own delay. dB