CyberGene

Glad you downloaded it and please, don't donate me 😀 I really don't need that anymore, I'm not even sure why I put the donation link in the first place, I did the transcription for fun and to learn scoring software (MuseScore). That was so long ago, have't made any other transcriptions, it's too exhausting...

I’m probably missing some context, so my opinion might come as rude (?) but I know J3PO from synth demos for Sequential and Oberheim and he’s a fine player. What I’m seeing here is also a fine Rhodes playing which confirms that he’s a fine player. But I don’t see anything extraordinary. Am I missing something? P.S. I think I see it. It’s rare to see a popular synth guy actually being able to play (jazz) so well. Most of them are only demoing filter swells with resonance and can’t play keyboards at all. Indeed, J3PO is multi-talented 👍🏻 I can’t think of many keyboard players who are equally as good in straight ahead jazz and synth programming 👏🏻

@jerrythek the irony is life has been so much better after we joined the EU in 2007, the living standards have consistently improved and I’ve been having a great career in IT and can afford many things now. And finding music has never been easier, it’s just a click away. With technology I can easily slow down music and transcribe it more easily myself and there’s even AI based piano transcription that is better than even the best human. Yet I had more fun in those poor days as a teenager with hard earned achievements. Go figure… but that’s for another thread. Here’s another of my Grusin favorites:

When I first heard the soundtrack for The Firm, I was so obsessed with it I just couldn’t sleep without finding it both on audio and sheet music. Unfortunately my family was very poor at the time (must have been around 1997 when Bulgaria was in one of its deepest financial troubles ever. My mom lost her job and my father’s salary depreciated to the equivalent of 2 original imported CD-s). So, purchasing the original CD or cassette was entirely out of question. I managed to record it track by track from different radio broadcasts by basically just staying glued to the radio during the Tuesday’s Jazz evenings on the National Radio and hoping they may play it… It was even more difficult finding the sheet music. However around 2000, when I started using the Internet and some of the first forums appeared, I found someone on a Bulgarian forum who worked as a musician on cruise ships abroad and who happened to own it and he promised to give it to me (to xerox it of course) once he was back which happened after 6 months. That was one of my most valuable treasures at the time 😀 I learned to play Memphis Stomp of course, it is probably the catchiest track but also very tricky to play well. Sweet memories!

Have you by any chance downloaded my transcription? 🙂 I transcribed it in 2010 and published the PDF for free with an optional donation and I’ve been having a steady donation “income” of about $20-30 a year on average 😀 Here’s the YouTube video of me playing it with a link to the PDF in the video description:

Thanks, he's been one of my favorite composers and pianists and many of my compositions and jazzy arrangements in the past were influenced by his harmonic progressions and voicings.

Amen to that! 🤝

I love DM and I’m glad they’re still active ❤️ That being said, the latest album is probably the least memorable I’ve heard from them ever. I went through it once and even forgot they had a new release. I just miss Alan Wilder so much. Without his magic DM have been on a downward slope IMO 😕

Well, a "complaint" might be a strong word but some people felt the YC-line, being the more expensive one compared to the CP-line should include the same acoustic piano samples. And the CP-line already had the Bösendorfer Imperial and more recently the Hamburg (Steinway) and the Felt Piano. I doubt many people really thought they couldn't live without the Hamburg and the Felt but it's about feeling good, right 😀 But they still haven't been completely satisfied though, the Bösendrofer is still only in the CP-series.

I agree with that and as I said, I feel I'm more of a minority in being rather indifferent to WR because in my jazz/fusion years when we tried to play similar music, all musicians around me were mad about WR and it was only me, the keyboard player (🤣) who was not so much. Go figure. Having mentioned Miles Davis, I can listen to his (theirs? because so many of the greats were on those records) all day long too. Well, admittedly that's true too and I could never understand why 🧐 I have one friend/musician/past-bandmate who once told me he didn't like CCEB because he found Eric Marienthal's sax too smooth and Keeny G-like which I find outrageous 🤬 I mean, yeah, the guy also had his own smooth records that were rather cheesy but his playing in CCEB was nothing like being smooth or cheesy. But it's music after all, we're biased, opinionated, subjective, irrational 😉 With that in mind, it's important to note that I was introduced to jazz by a friend who gave me the solo piano albums by Chick Corea ("Expressions" and "Children's Songs"), he's my all time jazz hero, so I'm biased too 😀 Besides, for the most part of my life I've been mainly a classical (acoustic) pianist, that's my music, that's my instrument. And Chick is much closer to being called an acoustic (and even classical, yeah!) pianist than Joe Zawinul, so there's another bias here too.

When I said "they" I didn't mean Yamaha, I meant "they" (the piano makers of Hamburg) are known for Steinway. See what I was replying to. When a digital piano manufacturer names a piano a "Hamburg piano" they almost always mean a Hamburg Steinway and the person I was replying to thought it meant Bösendorfer. Yamaha own Bösendorfer and they can use the brand name in the voice list of their keyboards without having to pay to the actual piano manufacturer. Not the case with Steinway, which is why they (Yamaha and also many other digital piano manufacturers) obfuscate the actual piano brand by using the country or city name, hence Hamburg piano. That Hamburg voice was already added a year ago in the CP-series and it is well known it's a Hamburg Steinway. And the CP already includes a Bösendorfer piano voice which is named Imperial.

Nope. In Hamburg they make Steinways. Bösendorfer is made in Vienna.

Hmm, I've seen many people who are huge fans of Weather Report and especially "Heavy Weather". It's actually the opposite for me: I have to often explain why I don't like them. Although in reality I don't "dislike" them. I've often found myself enjoying their music genuinely but there's always something too directionless in it, starts off great but then never develops and doesn't go in any particular way, like an overextended intro to some other piece. As a reference, my favorite fusion band is Chick Corea Elektric Band where the compositions have almost classical-like structure and development.

I have never been a fan of Spyro Gyra, too smooth for my taste (even cheesy at times), however I had a cassette tape of Tom Schuman’s “Extremities” for GRP (Dave Weckl on drums and many other GRP stars) that I literally tore apart from listening. The sound is typically GRP and similar to Chick Corea Electric Band although slightly smoother and more accessible. The last track is my favorite: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=04mBcftf0SY

What's the weight of Argon8 (the 3-octave one), does anyone know? I've tried to find it but oddly enough it's not listed on the official specs, nor in the manual or on any online store specs. P.S. Apparently they updated their website and the weight is listed now: Weight: 5.60 kg / 12.4 lbs

That's also what I thought. On a side note, I'm also a non-native English speaker and I've often contemplated about creating YouTube videos where I review something in English for a wider reach but the prospect of making native speakers laugh at my pronunciation has always discouraged me 🧐

For a €100 more you can get the Argon8 which is a poly synth that would give you a much more expansive sound palette too.

https://www.behringer.com/product.html?modelCode=P0DNG But I don’t see it being sold anymore, maybe it’s discontinued.

I owned the SL73 for a while and hated its keyboard action, so I was happy when I sold it. You should definitely first try it yourself. BTW, I recently purchased the Numa X Piano 73 and it's a great keyboard. I used to own a YC61 in the past, as well as YC73 and CP88. I am perfectly OK with the Numa replacing the Yamaha boards although admittedly they are the more polished products. However in many respects the Numa is better, especially with a top-notch external MIDI zone support that is better and easier to use than the Yamaha one.

How about a Fantom-06 or even a Fantom-6? The latter has encoders with LED rings, sliders with LED strips and is closest to what a gigging musician would use on stage when combining multiple keyboards. It also contains a VA engine with a real analog filter and a dedicated control section with encoders. It might be pretty useful for a student trying to split/layer, say, a sampled sound with a synth sound and program/control them on multiple zones and through multiple controls such as the wheels, pedals, aftertouch.

Yes, the X seems more intuitive than the Xm due to having more controls and sliders. I still think it's rather difficult to program in terms of more advanced modulations, etc. As to synthesis learning, I was a complete noob a few years ago and I learned most from the Moog Model 15 app on my iPad. Before that it was a total mess for me. Once I got the basic concepts the next two synths that helped me most were the Behringer Model D (for not having patches and with the simplest possible classic layout) and ultimately Hydrasynth for allowing me to create multiple modulations in a very intuitive way with the encoders and the OLED screens. Before purchasing the Behringer Model D, I owned a Roland SE-02 for a while and loading patches whose actual settings I couldn't see was the most confusing thing. So, I understand the need for encoders when learning synthesis. Seeing actual knob and slider positions is crucial for beginners who are not used to recognizing settings by listening to the sound and reaching for the corresponding control to change it. With that in mind, are iPad synths or computer plugins out of question?

I don't think so, they have exactly the same user interface, screen, design, architecture, etc. The X only has more more sliders and knobs, more octaves and aftertouch. But I might be wrong. P.S. Well, if you mean different user interface by the fact X has more controls, hence less need to browse through the menu, then I agree. I'm looking at a picture comparing both and the X seems more intuitive indeed. If you like it but don't need the very advanced features and samples and instead need only the VA capabilities in a more affordable price, then you might also want to look at the System-8. They say it sounds better because it uses an actual electronic component modeling (ACB) rather than DSP (Zen-Core) but I guess that's not important for your needs.

I ordered the Jupiter Xm some time ago. While waiting for it to become available I downloaded the manual and it completely convinced me I won't like it due to a tiny screen and a lot of menu diving with non-intuitive concepts, so I canceled the order. I consider myself a rather experienced synth guy but I still had problems understanding its design. Not sure it's the best synth for students learning synthesis.

BTW, the above patch makes use of polyphonic aftertouch (I play on a CME XKeys Air 37 and the Peak supports it straight away) and I would prefer a Peak again over a Summit which only has channel aftertouch.

The Peak was absolutely great in any respect, build quality, feel of the pots, concepts, manual, usability, attention to detail, refinement, patch management, software. I still miss it for these reasons alone. Just having a simple sine wave with slight analog distortion and the ultra-creamy reverb was something that I could use for hours. However at the time I was (and still am) obsessed with having vintage analog sounds, ones that resemble a Moog, a Prophet, an OB, etc. and it's where I struggled with the Peak. Here's a demo I recorded on the very first day I received it with a patch I created basically for a few minutes from scratch: Listening to it again, I miss the Peak so much! I need this patch again.