Bosendorphen

Still have (an occasionally use) C64 running Glass Tracks (1987), Kawai Q-80 (1991, with conversion to SMF software), Fantom X7 sequencer (2008). On the PC its Cakewalk by Bandlab (been using Cakewalk since the late 80s).

I agree on bar gigs and particularly quick get up - play- get off showcase type gigs. I've used just a Numa Compact 2 for the last two years and since we added an electric violinist (who plays through effects) I have less lead work to do since he covers string, brass, guitar and even flute lines quite well. So the Numa with programmed splits and layers is quite enough and I really like the action. I've occasionally added my Mellotron Micro but that's no major schlep.

Glad Dr. Metlay has some for you! I have every issue but cannot bear to part with them. They only take up 3-4 shelves in my studio.

nice pic, Ellsworth Thank you Dave!!! It's a light setup, the Invisible Stand, Numa Compact 2 and Mellotron Micro.

My oldest piece of gigging equipment is my Invisible Stand that I bought in 1985. http://flyboyfilms.tv/Aethellis/Anchors%20Aweigh.jpg

Like Eric I too have every issue and would never part with them. I just love the articles and photos and the ads are great fun too. I particularly like the Mellotron giveaway in the first issue. I started subscribing in 1977 after picking up some issues at the local bookstore (my first was the Brian Auger issue, April 1977). Then I ordered all the back issues and had been a subscriber ever since (until the print version ceased publication). It opened up a world for me with all these great artists and all these cool keyboards! At the time in 1977 I was turning 19 and using a Univox Compac electric piano and Korg Mini-Korg (branded Univox) in my band. Oh how I wanted a Freeman String Synth after reading the Brian Auger issue.Or ANY string synth at that time. But I did have a cool Yamaha D3 Electone organ in my bedroom at the time and my Baldwin Acrosonic in the living room. So i was a budding multi-keyboardist.

I've played ELP's "Eruption" live (from Tarkus - and yes I have video!) My band have an original that's got several sections in 5/4. We've played quite a few originals in asymmetrical meters including an original of mine I wrote in 1982 that's in 4/4, 7/4, 11/8 and 13/4. Fun stuff! What got me started on odd meters in high school was playing things in my Jazz Workshop class by Hank Levy (like "Indra" in 9/4) and Frank Zappa. Soon after I discovered RTF and Mahavishnu Orchestra and prog rock. Bless the 1970s!

This thread takes me back to a gig I played with my band at a local college in April 1979. I was a week away from turning 21 so not the most mature. We had been playing Jeff Beck/Jan Hammer's "Blue Wind" and I didn't have a Minimoog but rather a MiniKorg! No pitch bend wheel on that so I'd manipulate the pitch slider and try to get it back to the center (no center detent). Well, our next song was Kansas' "He Knew" and I hadn't gotten the pitch slider back quite far enough - probably about 50 cents off and my synth riff at the beginning sounded HORRIBLY out of tune. I quickly corrected but was mortified!!! Depressed for a week or so but the audience barely noticed. Ah, youth!

I have the 2x predecessor, the 2. Odd thing at rehearsal last week, after about a half hour into practice the EP sounds went wonky. Most of the keys above middle C sounded like the hammers were misaligned from the tines (clunky sounds) and one note, the D below middle C made a sound like a hammer hitting a jaw harp. The acoustic piano sounds seemed unaffected as were the organ patches. Seemed to be a software issue. The next day at home it played normally. I was going to do a hard reboot (after backing up my performance patches) but decide to upgrade the firmware first to see if that would help. So far so good.

The Polysix was my first programmable as well (and I still have her). I remember fiddling with my MiniKorg between and even during songs back in the 70s to change sounds. Then it was my only synth through a delay box along with a Roland MP600 piano through a MXR chorus and Farfisa Matador through a Mutron phaser. Low budget to be sure compared to the other massive rigs noted in this thread. But I was only in my late teens on limited funds. I also had a Yamaha D3 organ at home along with my Baldwin piano. I was so grateful to have the Polysix as it could nicely emulate a Hammond (for the time) and a bunch of other stuff so I could take fewer keyboards. Programmable was the key word back in the late 70s and early 80s.

At least where my band plays (mid-Atlantic region) we can get away with mixing our originals with covers people know and like and that we enjoy playing as well. We sell our CDs at gigs in conjunction with online airplay and downloads. Ain't loads of $$ but at least people are hearing, enjoying and to some extent buying our original music. I HAVE to play original music in some capacity. Doing strictly covers is not something I ever want to do. But that may not be an issue for Dan or other folks. YMMV.

The only thing I actually threw out in the recycling is a Korg MS2000. Bought it in 2000 for $750 and two years later it went all wonky with patch change strangeness and finally just crapped out. Took it to an authorized Korg dealer and they said the mobo had to be replaced. The board itself was $400 then add the labor. It just wasn't worth the repair. It wasn't well made and was always giving me static electricity shocks when no other piece of gear has EVER done that. Still have my Polysix and last year replaced the IC30 chip as it wasn't storing patches; but that was a quick fix and she's fine now. I guess I've sold off old gear before they started having issues - recently my Kurzweil SP76 to our guitarist. I donated a second Kawai K4 to a school although the volume slider was always on full a volume pedal would mitigate that. Keeping my original K4 though.

Whaaaa?? I did not know that! (jumps out of bed to go check - yup!) What a cool easter egg! I needed that. Came home from rehearsal tonight for a replacement drummer for 2 gigs this weekend. Kid can't hold a beat much less a groove. Sure wish I had a manual... Hmmm... I sent Markus email with my serial number and he emailed me the manual. It's short but does have info on how to create setups for live performance. Try again and see if you hear back... if not maybe you can PM me and I can help.

COOL!!!! I love it!!! My wife got the Mellotron Micro for a present last year! And then white shelving to support it on my Invisible Stand. I also love that you can change the color of the "M" on the back by touching it! Enjoy Mate!!! http://flyboyfilms.tv/Aethellis/Anchors%20Aweigh.jpg

I was on a Kawai kick back in the late 80s and early 90s. Got the K1 and loved it in 1988. Sold it to my guitarist friend (who had a MIDI guitar) after buying the K4 in 1990 which I still have and use. At the time it was one of the few synths with a resonant filter. Got the Kawai Q-80 hardware sequencer in 1991 which I also still have and still use on occasion. Played a K50000W in the store and was very impressed.

On the hardware Polysix, there is the switch that gives you the option of the filter envelope following the ADSR settings or just having a simple organ/gate envelope in case you want the filter doing something different like a sweep attack. However on the Polysix VST, this doesn't seem to work the same way. The gate envelope just seems to work the same on the filter envelope as if the filter is not independent with the gate envelope switch on. Is there some other setting that is overriding this? I know there are additional options that the VST had that the hardware P6 doesn't have.

When I was a kid it was the opposite - my mom wanted me to play for the guests. Usually she wanted me to play "Alley Cat" or "Tonight We Love." There's 8mm film of me doing just that in 1969 that I still have.

Yeah, I still have and use mine that I got in 1991 and haven't even had to change the battery yet! Quite versatile and powerful editing.

Thanks Morizzle and Dockeys!!! It's a great space to create and play around to get ideas and work on soundtracks. Oddly, it's was my bedroom when I was a kid (I live in the house I grew up in). Plus of course there's the virtual synths and orchestra stuff (tend to use UVI Synth Anthology 2 and Miroslav Philharmonik 2 quite a lot). I have the virtual Polysix as well as the old girl which are nice together at times. As for the Mellotron Micro, that was a gift from my wife last year; a sort of belated 60th birthday present (6 months late). I'd played a real taped-based beast and even a Vako Orchestron back in the day and always wanted to own a Mellotron (or Chamberlin) but of course they were quite expensive and required maintenance back then. When Markus Resch came out with the digital versions (24-bit samples from the original tapes) I was excited but kept putting it off. My wife got tired of me whining and bought me the Micro. I love the action and it's got 100 sounds from the Chamberlin Music Master and M1, Mellotrons Mark I, Mark II, M300 and prog-road-tested M400. The fidelity is incredible and the action is great. Even has the 8-second limitation which I actually like. You can edit the attack and release time and even the quality of the "tape heads" for that well-used instrument sound. Funny, it was mainly to use live with my band (prog/jazz fusion) but I record with it all the time even though I've got virtual Mellotron software. I like having both.

This my studio setup - I have what I call "legacy gear" that I've been using to take old sequences (some as far back as 1987) and audio (on my Yamaha MT-44 and Tascam 34 4-tracks) and porting them to Sonar to rework for music library material and my band. Still have my Commodore 64 and sequences (on 5 1/4" floppies that it can still read!), Kawai Q-80 sequencer (you can see it lower left hand corner), and a recently acquired Ensoniq SQ-1 Plus that can play back stuff I originally recorded on my KS-32 (sitting above my Fantom X7). Then the CME UF7 controller which I still love; a Mellotron Micro (which I use all the time); Polysix above a Kawai K4, both which are two of my favorite ever synths. An Alesis QSR, Emu Mo Phatt and Roland MKS-100 are the rack stuff. I scored a Simmons controller (beneath the K4) for $40 two years ago and our drummer at the time was quite good at playing it, recording an entire drum track for a song on it for our latest Aethellis album. http://flyboyfilms.tv/Ellsounds/Ellstudio%202019.jpg Live I currently just use a Studiologic Numa Compact 2 and the Mellotron Micro. I've retired my Alesis QS7 and occasionally use my Roland AX-1. Also have a Mini-Korg in the rehearsal area in the basement along with aformentioned live performance gear.

I'm 61 and we can still get friends to hear my band Aethellis. We have 3 albums out and we do play originals but mix them in with covers people recognize and like. So the audience (not just our friends btw) are willing to listen to our originals and even dance to them and buy our CDs. Sure we don't get the same size crowds we had in our 20s and fewer friends come out due to family commitments but it's still fun and satisfying.

Wow, all I could afford was the Roland MKS-100 that I got half price on a close-out deal at Chuck Levin's in November of 1987. I was thrilled though and used that sucker for all kinds of stuff for a music library and for creating sound effects for computer games. Still have it and the entire library on my hard drive as the Quick Disk drive is wonky.

Just re-read this as I've been looking at the Micro- M4000D. You should know that Markus resch bought the Mellotron name, not Streetly, thats why it's not on their website. My wife bought me a Micro some weeks ago. I love it! Using it in my band as well as on recordings (although I also have the UVI Mello as well).

Funny, the first issue of Keyboard I ever bought was the April 1977 issue with Brian on the cover. I didn't know who he was at the time but after reading the interview became a fan. Funny that he considered the Freeman String Synth "kind of obsolete" at that time.

Last week my wife surprised me with a Mellotron Micro! While I've been around the old tape-laden beast in the past I never owned one. I know it's just a boutique rompler but I'm loving it anyway. So cute!!!