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Dave Bryce

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Posts posted by Dave Bryce

    Can’t think of what to play

    in The Keyboard Corner

    Posted

    4 minutes ago, Paul Woodward said:

    I like a brief and a deadline, its ingrained into me by now so I find that for playing I need a focus like writing a track, learning an arrangement or some new software....something with a definable target.

    Without them I either just twiddle until Im bored or worse, just dont bother 😞

     

    Exactly my problem.

     

    dB

    • Like 1

    Mic purchase considerations and input?

    in Recording Magazine - The Forum

    Posted

    I’ve actually just acquired one of Royer’s R10 mics along with one of their dBoosters.  I’ve been using it on my piano, and have been surprised and delighted with the results.  Really natural and full sounding, and way easy to position.

     

    I've been A/Bing the dBooster with one of my Cloudlifters, and frankly the dBooster has a cleaner, sweeter, more coherent sound.  Been switching back and forth between the +12dB and +20 dB setting, and I think I like the +12 a bit better - feels a bit more dynamically sensitive.

     

    Also, I’ve found that the channel compression from my SSL SiX that I would normally use on my piano mic isn’t really necessary with the R10 and dBooster.

     

    dB

    • Like 2

    Can’t think of what to play

    in The Keyboard Corner

    Posted

    I’m having an odd situation occur.  Hoping I can get some help/suggestions from y’all.

     

    I’m not really playing in a band right now so I don’t really have any tunes to learn or practice, and I’m not working on any recording projects.  Consequently, when I sit down to play keyboards or pick up a guitar, I’m having difficulty choosing what to play.  I don’t feel like doing scales or exercises, and I’m not really inspired to sit and improvise (which is what I usually do when I sit down to play with no immediate goals).  I’ve even tried working with newer instruments to try and learn more about them…but I’m having trouble coming up with material to play while I’m exploring.

     

    Is this a problem any of you come across?  If so, what do you do to move past it?

     

    dB

    • Like 1

    MPN Shop/Waldorf

    in The Keyboard Corner

    Posted

    2 hours ago, felis said:

    I was surprised you attempted it. 

    Too much competition, too many people on too many sites watching like hawks for sales

     

    I was motivated by a bunch of factors.

     

    First of all, Amazon.  I couldn’t help but notice that a whole lot of people buy gear from them, and there aren’t many sales ….nor the ability to bargain on price, or talk to anyone about purchases being considered.  For the most part, I intentionally kept the product listings to affordable offerings in an attempt to make that decision even easier.  I also tried to keep the selections more towards utility-type products than things like instruments (except software, of course).  I was even able to add one of my favorite lines: Strymon - a way cool boutique brand that (as far as I can tell) never goes on sale and is only carried by a few select dealers.

     

    Another factor is that I don’t love selling banners.  I couldn't help but wonder if the folks who come here would consider buying some gear here instead to help support MPN…. 🤔

    I also figured - incorrectly - that when it came to stuff like software and the available discounts on planned dates (Black Friday, etc) that if we offered the same prices here as the software manufacturers and dealers did that it would make a difference.  It didn’t.  Neither did free shipping on the hardware stuff.

     

    Lastly, there’s a long-standing vision for this place that’s kind of like a digital town.  We have virtual bars, town halls, schools, libraries, theaters, concert venues, and a trade show hall, so it seems logical that having a local store here could be a good addition.

     

     

    2 hours ago, felis said:

    and too much busy work trying to keep up with it.

     

    Boy, do I hear ya. 😬

     

    2 hours ago, felis said:

    Essentially a thankless task, but a valiant effort nonetheless.

     

    I appreciate you saying that. ☺️


    I didn’t kid myself that pretty much everyone who comes here already has a bunch of familiar and comfortable options to buy gear already.  It was probably a better idea to find an established retail partner and figure out a way for them to open a “store” here.   I sort of tried making that happen with the Kraft folks, but that didn’t pan out.  Not sure they were the right partner… :idk:

     

    I sincerely hope that y’all don’t take any of this as any sort of complaint or guilt trip.  Hey, I made no secret of the fact that I considered this an experiment. Honestly, I feel it was worth the effort, because now I know the answer to the questions that I had about how well it would work.  I’m one of those crazy people who believe that the only way to learn is to try. 😎

     

    dB

    • Like 1
    • Thanks 1

    OT - Hard Rock vs. Country

    in The Keyboard Corner

    Posted

    5 minutes ago, AROIOS said:

    For the longest time, I've had a hard time understanding how Robert "Mutt" Lange went from producing Hard Rock for Def Leppard and Bryan Adams, stuff I absolutely love; to Country for Shania Twain, stuff I absolutely abhor.

     

    IIRC, Mr. Lange was married to Ms. Twain when he produced her record.

     

    dB

    • Like 2

    MPN Shop/Waldorf

    in The Keyboard Corner

    Posted

    So, Waldorf is offering the MPN Shop their software products to add to our lineup; however based on the extremely low sales of the other software (and hardware) lines we currently carry, I’m not inclined to take the the time to add this line….or any other lines, for that matter.  Truth be told, I’ve already turned a couple of the lines off.

     

    As far as I can tell, we’ve managed to keep up with the specials and discounts offered…but for all intents and purposes it does appear that the MPN Shop in general has not been a desirable addition to the community.

     

    Any comments or feedback would be welcome.

     

    dB

    • Like 1

    *Sunday Bashing* Jordan Rudess hears Alicia Keys for the first time

    in The Keyboard Corner

    Posted

    48 minutes ago, lightbg said:

    I think Steve Fortner said it best at the top of the forum:

     

    On-line Citizenship

     

    To sum up policies we've explained in numerous threads over the years...

     

    1. Please refrain from ad hominem attacks. This is when someone attacks another person's character, personality, politics, religion, sock mismatch, etc, instead of simply offering reasons against the truth of their claim. Simple example: Premise: Martha Stewart is a notoriously demanding, ruthless person to work for, routinely reducing assistants to tears. Conclusion: Of course she was guilty of stock trading fraud. With ad hominem, it doesn't matter if the premise is possibly true: Martha's personality is not sufficient factual reason to conclude anything about her guilt or innocence.

    2. Charlie Brown said it best: Three things its best not to discuss are politics, religion, and the Great Pumpkin. We don't want to be too restrictive, so please feel free to discuss the Great Pumpkin!  Seriously, it may come up that people want to talk about a certain news event, and do so with their fellow keyboarders. If it turns into a Democrats vs Republicans (or any other "vs") thing, though, we reserve the right to delete it. Things just get too uncivil too quickly.

    3. Profanity. Please use common sense to keep this forum as work-friendly and kid-friendly as possible. Many corporate and school firewalls automatically block sites based on scanning for cuss words, and we all want to evangelize keyboard-playing to as many people as we can. If you link to something that has explicit content but musical or informational value relative to what this forum is about, that's OK, but please preface your link with something like "WARNING: Not work-safe!" One parent perceiving that their kid learned the F-word "because of" this site is all it takes to start a big sh-, excuse me, doodie-storm.

     

    Thanks for your understanding.

     

    :yeahthat:

     

    dB

    • Like 3

    Holy hell — Korg reissue PS-3300!

    in The Keyboard Corner

    Posted

    Jerry K, Michael Whalen and I got a demo of this bad boy and had a chance to play with it for a while.  Lotta fun to be sure…but the $13k price tag is out of my price range. 

     

    Korg sez they’re gonna build these to order.  They also said they weren’t limiting how many they could build.

     

    dB

    • Like 2
    • Cool 1

    NAMM 2024

    in Trade Shows

    Posted

    9 hours ago, The Real MC said:

     

    More booths than last year?

    Yes.  Better booths too.

     

    2 hours ago, Bobadohshe said:

    Was supposed to go today but tested positive for Covid.

    I have a feeling more than a few attendees may come away from the show with it.  Both days so far have been quite busy. I was in several booths today that were packed, and very few people were wearing masks.

     

    dB

    NAMM 2024

    in Trade Shows

    Posted

    Okay, so it actually does look like a NAMM show.  

     

    Clearly more people in attendance than were at any of the Anaheim NAMMs during COVID.  I didn't even have time to take very many pics yesterday because I kept bumping into friends and colleagues.  

     

    A pleasant surprise, to be sure.

     

    dB

    • Like 2

    Studio monitors?

    in The Keyboard Corner

    Posted

    13 hours ago, TJ Cornish said:

    I have used the JBL 305ps that Max mentioned and I agree for the money they sound good.

    The JBL 305s were designed by Charles Sprinkle, who left JBL to start Kali Audio.

     

    dB

    • Like 3
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