Let's see here... my name is Jeff Donnici, I'm 31 and started with music lessons at about 7 years. The common theme for me has been piano/keyboards, though I played trumpet, baritone, mellophone, and trombone at various times while I was in school. I picked up guitar for a while there... just enough to strum out some chords and have a new respect for great guitarists.
A couple years ago, I got the itch to learn how to play drums. I've been taking lessons for a year and a half or so and am finally starting to "feel comfortable" behind the set with a pair of sticks... I've got a *long* way to go still, especially the whole 4-way independence thing, but I'm enjoying the challenges a lot. Since I read music well already, I get frustrated in that I can easily read what I should play, but the hands and feet don't cooperate -- learning to walk all over again. http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/smile.gif
Gear... like most here, I enjoy the hunt for that new piece of gear that will make all the difference. I've tapered off on the G.A.S. since last year when our daughter was born (though she loves to sit on my lap and bang on the piano).
I've played around in various bands at different times, with different instruments. That's always fun for a while if everyone is on the same page. I've really got no desire to pursue the rock star thing at all... I'm quite content to hang out in my home studio and do the solo "mad scientist" thing with friends stopping by occasionally to make noise with me.
My closet desire, however, is to score films. If paying the mortgage and putting food on the table weren't so difficult to do in that line of work, I'd be all over it. I just love anything having to do with music in the movies. If I were to win the lotto or something, I'd love to just go to a local film school and offer to score student projects for nothing.
On to the gear....
Synths
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Alesis QS8 (w/ the Euro card and a loaded up SRAM card for patches), Emu Proteus 2000, Roland JV-2080 (Orch, Orch II, Vocal, World, and Techno expansion ROMs), Kawai K1 (gathering dust in a corner)
Not quite a synth, but another major sound source is the Roland V-Drums Pro Set... that's the ONLY kind of drum set my wife and daughter would share the house with. http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/smile.gif
Recording
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Roland VS-1680 w/ FX, Mackie HR842 Active Monitors, Mackie 1642 Mixer, miscellaneous patch bays, etc., Alesis Wedge, Alesis 1630 (?) Stereo Compressor/Limiter, A.R.T. Tube Preamp/Compressor (model no. is escaping me)
Misc/Computer
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I work on a Dell PC, 80GB hdd, 256MB RAM, Win98se
Echo Gina audio interface, Opcode Studio 128x MIDI interface
Cakewalk Pro Audio (Sonar got installed this weekend)
Acid Pro 2.0, Sound Forge 5.0, GigaSampler, Rebirth 2.0
Current wishlist items are a Triton Rack (or the Pro-X, I'm not picky), the Roland VP-9000, and a digital mixer. Pipe dream items would have to be the new Mackie 24-track recorder, a Mackie D8B, maybe a Pro Tools rig, the Kurzweil 2600... heck, I could go on forever. http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/smile.gif
There ya go... if I can be of any help to anyone, just holler. Oh, and I've got a little web site I set up a while ago for the Emu Proteus 2000. You can reach it at http://www.donnici.com/p2k/p2k_main.asp. There's also a free mailing list for people to talk about Proteus 2000 issues.
-- jeff
This message has been edited by jdonnici on 04-12-2001 at 01:25 PM
