marino

At first, I thought that this was a complaint about not having MORE than two envelopes. So I'll take the trouble to voice that cause. Today, most envelopes and lfos are digital, even on analog synths. And today's digital envelopes are fast enough for pratically every task. So it's totally inexcusable to have synths with just two envelopes. I'd say that five envelopes and five lfos are the right amount for serious programming. The Matrix-12 from 1985 had that. (yes, *those* envelopes were a bit slow - but that was 1985) And please make sure to have loopable envelopes and "one-shot" mode for lfos - so they can act as simple additional envelopes.

If it's any comfort, one of my close friends had the same surgery, and after a period of adaptation, he's now back to complete normality... he can eat just everything, of course without going to extremes.

Ha ha, I love porchetta but as I said, so many choices... plus, many plates from Rome and the surrounding zone tend to be quite heavy, and I'm not getting younger... 😳 Have you ever tried Code alla Vaccinara? Great taste, but it takes a week to digest it...

There are so many choices... it's like asking for "5 favorite synthesizers". Anyway: Cuttlefish with peas (a Roman speciality) Amatriciana - a pasta sauce from central Italy Roast potatoes Curry chicken Of course, all of the above have to be prepared and cooked right. Then I would include a sauce that I came up with 30 years ago, and that I still use to impress my friends... actually, it's one of the few things that I have invented, and that I can prepare decently. (I'm a terrible cook by Italian standards) It includes tomato, zucchini, mushrooms, carrots, a few herbs and other little things. It can be used on both pasta and meat.

Great news, Mike. An humble suggestion: A pitch bend wheel and *two* assignable mod wheels. On the few instruments that I have played with this configuration, I have always found it incredibly useful: With some practice, all the wheels can be controlled at once with the left hand. As an alternative, one mod wheel and a touch slider, as on the Sequential Pro 3.

I'm in the process of shrinking my synth rig, and when it's completed, probably there will be space for a new analog poly. I have tried the T5 (I talked about it here a while ago) and I absolutely loved it. I realize that its sonic range is limited, but what the hell, it sounds good to my ears and that's what counts. Otoh I have the Poly Evolver Rack - and the Mono Evolver Keyboard to program it. They sound *kind of* similar: The T5 sounds richer and more detailed, while the PER has a wilder character and more programming features. And 500 of my own sounds inside... Btw I'm in no hurry, I can wait and also see if other interesting instruments come out in the meantime - and no, I can't afford a Trigon, or an OBX8. On the matter of praticality: To my ears, nothing can replace the sound of two or three real VCOs into a real, good VCF. In several cases a digital replica or a sample can be useful, but it's like playing a real piano vs. a good digital or software piano. It sounds ok, but it's just not the same experience.

Good luck finding one! Also, several of the instrument's own players have described its sound as "irritating". (thinking about it, maybe an irritating sound would have more chances to wake you up... )

Personally, I like the new funk direction of this project. IIRC, Hiromi did something similar at the beginning. It's a lot of fun to listen to, and maybe having fun is something the world needs at this point in history. I enjoy it for sure!

Gosh, 95% of these jokes are the same ones that I have first heard in the 80s..!! Sometimes in slightly different versions, but basically it's the same stuff. And like in the old times, there are very few jokes about piano and keyboard players. My theory, just like in these times, is that keyboard players are the ones who come up with all the jokes about the others! I myself have created a couple...

Wow, thank you. What a master! Also, having such a detailed angle to watch his phrasing, bass lines and registrations is wonderful.

An original approach, especially suitable for swirling pads. For the price, it looks like a lot of fun.

Hey, it's not just the American customers. The multi-stage envelopes in my TG77 have level values and rate values on separate pages. I guess that has something to do with the fact that I have never bought a Yamaha instruments after that. I know, that's ancient, but judging from the Motif XF that I use at school, they haven't improved much in more recent years.

An old problem with Yamaha. As an example among many, I recall the AN1x having portamento switch, portamento time and portamento mode placed in three different sections of the instrument.

Being in Europe I can't buy instruments - which is actually a good thing as it prevents impulsive GAS attacks... but regardless, what you're doing looks absolutely great to me.

Thanks for the headsup on the Samson. I have a couple of Roland M120s on the shelf and they still work, but I'm not sure I can rely on them on stage. I searched a bit and the closest thing seems to be the Behringer RX1602 V2, but I have had bad experiences with Behringer mixers in the past... the Samson seems to be equivalent, plus XLR outs and a couple of mic preamps. It's almost twice the cost of the Behringer, but still quite cheap. (The Radial stuff looks great, but their prices are beyond my scope.) However, I have a couple of Samson controller keyboards, and they perform well, but not great. Glitchy and sometimes unstable. Can I ask how's your experience with the SM10 regarding sound quality, reliability and noise floor?

I use the full version of NCH VideoPad. I opted for the subscription, it has very reasonable rates; actually, it's the only software for which I chose to subscribe. It more or less satisfies my (rather limited) needs, it's a bit confusing in certain functions but I have learned my way around that. Premiere is much more complete, but a bit overkill for me. When I need complex video editing, I sometimes go to a friend who uses Premiere, and I see that even he gets confused sometimes... I've tried DaVinci Resolve briefly, but my impression is that it's more or less equivalent to VideoPad, so I thought that it wasn't worth learning another program with very similar functions.

Can I ask which keyboard is it? Because I have a Samson Graphite 49 which I have used very little, with the same problem.

I was rather brave as a kid: I started my adventure with synthesizer by building a very simple one when I was about 15, with the help of a friend who was an electronic little genius. It was a project from a magazine, modified by ourselves (mostly him). But later, when I started investing a lot of my earnings in expensive instruments, I become a coward when it came to put my hands into them. It was the time of the big analogs of the 80s, and just looking at the innards of my Rhodes Chroma, for example, sent blasts of fear down my spine. But I loved to watch the tech in action, always learning something. Today, I have opened most of my gear, but when it comes to soldering, I just don't trust myself, especially modern stuff that's so miniaturized. So I can have a look, reset cables, clean, changing a few things, maybe solder something in the power supply department... but for soldering in critical places, I usually go to a pro.

Well, the Uno Pro had pretty decent presets in my opinion, more concrete and down-to-earth... the Pro X seems to contain more abstract stuff, noisy and over-effected - and most demonstrators seem content with playing sequences... but I'm sure that new banks will appear very soon, given the improved UI and all. I believe that I could easily obtain one to demo myself, but I don't even have the time to breathe atm... probably in the coming months

The preset patches don't sound so outstanding to me...

I hate you...

Most Italian retailers have the Pro X between 599 and 609 Euros... bizarre, considering that it's made in Italy. To further confuse things, the IK site reports both the price excluding VAT (499) and the whole price (609).

Seriously? You think that 600 Euro/Dollars is too much for this synth? With those features and sound, it approaches Sequential Pro 3 level - not quite, but almost - which has a keyboard, but costs *three times* as much. Sigh - I think this is the "Behringer effect" in action. People are getting used to see desktop monosynths for 300 Euros or so, and I won't go into detail of why Behringer are able to make them so cheap, or even that most of them are copies of other instruments... I'll only say that this thing has *three* (great) oscillators, *two* (great) filters with serial/parallel, three envelopes, two lfos, a mod matrix, patch memory, a great sequencer, triple digital effects, a software editor, and all the RD to make all this work. Personally, I believe that the Pro X has a *very* reasonable price. And to my ears, it sounds absolutely great. Powerful and versatile. At the moment, I need another monosynth like a hole in the forehead, but I'll keep an eye - and both ears - on it for sure. I think that it's going to sell very well. And no, I'm NOT affiliated with IK in any way. I can sympathize. I have programmed a whole bank of sounds on the Pro using just the panel controls... only masochists could appreciate that

Well, along the years I have learned that Yamaha pianos with the same code tend to vary quite a bit, especially when built in different periods. For example, I have played several C3s, wildly different from each other.

This is interesting. In Italy, and I think in other parts of Europe as well, we use this nomenclature: "Codino" (short tail) is from 150 to 165 cm, approximately; "Mezza Coda" (half tail) is from 170 to 185/190; and "Coda Intera" (whole tail, also sometimes simply Coda) is the proper concert grand. I have always identified the term "Baby Grand", as used in the USA, with the "Codino" - a very short piano. But I may have been wrong for my entire life...